บท 352: HPF241-250
Chapter 241
When the carriage dropped them off at the
castle steps Harry ushered his ladies inside
and they quickly made their way to the
Ravenclaw table. They were soon joined by
Luna, who had stayed at the castle over the
break.
"How come you didn't go home for the break,
Luna?" asked Hermione.
"Daddy was busy with the Quibbler and had
to go to Europe to research some parts for
stories he has for print. He wouldn't have
been able to return to England in time to get
me back for the return train. That meant I
would have had to stay at home alone for the
duration," she explained. "So, we thought it
best I stay at the castle, instead."
All three felt sad for the girl. It was bad
enough she used to get picked on and bullied
at the school; but, to not even have any
friends to spend the holidays with... that
sucked.
"Next time something like that happens,
Luna," said Hermione. "You let us know.
We're your friends. If you have nowhere else
to stay but on your own at home you can
come and stay with us."
Harry and Daphne both nodded. While
Daphne still did not know what to truly make
of the girl she considered quite odd, she also
knew she had an otherwise lovely
personality and could be fun to be around.
Besides, Hermione wanted the girl to be her
bridesmaid in August. And Xenophilius,
Luna's father, was planning their annual
excursion in search of what some folks called
mythical creatures, accordingly.
As soon as dinner was over the three
immediately made their way to their
apartment. And, as soon as they entered,
Daphne crossed to her carrel desk and pulled
out parchment, ink and a quill - taking them
to the coffee table - as Harry and Hermione
did the scan for tracking, listening and
monitoring charms.
"Dobby!" she called.
"Yes, Mistress Daff?" asked the little elf after
popping in.
"Can you get me a memory phial out of my
supplies, please?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied before popping
away and back with one.
"Thank you, Dobby," she said, taking the
phial. "Oh, and you can bring our trunks in
now and unpack; thank you."
After what happened with their luggage
being 'pawed' by the Headmaster on their
return from Christmas, they now left their
packed luggage at wherever they last stayed,
and then had it brought by the elves when
they arrived.
As her husband and sister-wife moved
around the apartment checking for the
Headmasters charms, Daphne pulled the
memory of their meeting with Malfoy on the
train from her mind, before dropping it in the
phial. She wrote a quick note reminding
Sirius of their discussion via mirror before
using it to wrap the phial.
"You do realise, with Malfoy looking to
distance himself from Riddle, we need to
choose a new 'blood donor'?" asked
Hermione, coming to sit opposite.
"I want it to be Nott," said Daphne.
"However, it could also be Crabbe, Goyle,
Selwyn, Avery, Flint, or a few others. But, I
want it to be Nott."
"We'll take who ever feels brassy enough to
walk down that corridor on their own with
no other Slytherin in sight," said Harry.
"However, if we can plan it that way, then
yes it'll be Nott."
"Good," she firmly said.
Hedwig was already on her roost and
watching as Daphne approached.
"Hey girl," she said, as she moved to tie the
bundle to Hedwig's ankle. "Take this to Sirius,
please. Take your time. He won't be
expecting it until morning."
With one last brush of Daphne's fingertips
down her back, Hedwig took wing and shot
out through the owl window, flying south to
London."
Turning, she saw Harry and Hermione had
completed their scan. "How many?" she
asked.
"Believe it or not... none," replied Hermione.
"It seems our ward kept the old man out."
"I'm surprised, actually," said Harry. "I
thought he might've been tempted to use
Fawkes to get in if he couldn't get in any
other way."
"I'd think Fawkes would not be agreeable to
such an action," said Hermione. "They are,
after all, a bird of the light. I think he'd find
'Breaking and Entering' not such a good
thing."
Harry grinned back.
"He could have also finally woken to the fact
that every single monitoring or listening
charm he places on us is very quickly found
and removed or tampered with," said
Daphne.
"Or he's just lulling us into a false sense of
security," suggested Harry.
"Whatever the reason for the lack of such,"
said Hermione. "We won't stop checking for
them; or telling Dobby to stop checking for
them, either.
"Agreed," said her husband and sister-wife.
The morning after they arrived back in the
castle, Hermione pulled out her recently
purchased copy of Moste Potente Potions.
Their plan to oust Barty Crouch Junior
required the brewing of the potion. However,
instead of using the 'bit' of the real Alastor
Moody, the bondmates decided on not
adding anyone. They hoped that, without the
final ingredient, Crouch would revert back to
his original form, as it would only be his own
saliva, even if he was in the form of Moody
at the time.
The book was not clear on what, exactly,
would happen in such an instance. But, from
similar potions, it would either be inert or
Crouch would simply not revert to his true
form.
Unlike Amortentia, Polyjuice did not have a
different smell or taste depending on the
person to whom it was keyed. Its only
difference was the colour. And, as Crouch
drank the potion from a solid metal flask,
unless he poured some into his hand before
drinking from it, he'd never know he was not
drinking 'his' Polyjuice Potion until it was far
too late.
During one of their trips to Diagon Alley, the
three individually purchased different
ingredients from the required ingredients
list.
Once in their apartment, Hermione set up
one of their 'spare' cauldrons in Daphne's
ensuite and began the process. The first step,
as with second year, was to stew the
lacewing flies for twenty-one days.
The three were no sooner used to school
activities again when, a couple of weeks later,
Harry had to get ready to attend his first
Wizengamot meeting. It was held on Monday,
the 3rd of May, starting at 10:00am.
Immediately after breakfast he headed back
to the apartment and donned his robes
before heading down to the Entrance Hall.
And, yet again, the Headmaster turned up.
"Now, Harry..." he began.
Chapter 242
"Don't even attempt to stop me attending,
Albus," sighed Harry. "You've not won any of
the confrontations we've had about me
leaving the school to attend to my duties.
You're not going to succeed this time, either."
Dumbledore sighed and said, "I really don't
think you should attend, Mister Potter."
"That is very much obvious, Headmaster,"
replied Harry. "And, yet, I've already received
a written rap over the knuckles for not
attending the previous one. The Wizengamot,
even the Minister, is insistent I attend this
one. Therefore, I will attend.
"Now, unless in the past few hours you've
somehow managed to completely rewrite
centuries old law about attendance at
Wizengamot meetings, the law states I must
attend. Do we need to go over how
even you cannot ignore the law just because
you want to?"
"No, Mister Potter; we do not," said the
Headmaster. "At least allow me to organise
an escort for you, for your safety."
"No need," replied Harry. "I've organised my
own." He looked out the door and said,
"And... here they are, now."
In walked Sirius and Matthias. "Ready,
Harry?" asked Matthias, looking a little angry
at Dumbledore.
"I am," replied Harry. "Shall we go, or do you
need to have words with the Headmaster?"
"As long as he's not stupidly trying to forbid
you from attending, no," said Matthias.
"Oh, he tried to talk me out of it," said Harry.
"But, even he cannot just ignore the law
because it happens to be contrary to what he
wants. Oh, yes; he's done it in the past,
alright. But, that was with people who didn't
know any better. His problem is; I know
better now."
"Very well," said Matthias as Dumbledore
just stood there. "Then, let us go."
Harry turned to Dumbledore and said, "I'll
see you there, Chief Warlock." And followed
the other two out the main doors.
On the way in, Matthias reminded Harry,
again, what was expected of him for the first
day, at least. By the time they reached the
Wizengamot chamber. Harry was as prepared
as he was ever going to get.
As the Wizengamot was called to order,
Dumbledore, as Chief Warlock, called for the
first order of business, the sitting of new
members. There was only the one - Harry.
As Harry came forward to the middle of the
floor, Dumbledore asked, "Is there a member
of this body who stands as reference for
Mister Potter?"
"I do," said the Minister, first to stand;
quickly followed by Madam Bones.
Dumbledore nodded and said, "We note that
both the Minister and Madam Bones stand
as reference for Mister Potter. Minister, the
floor is yours."
Harry then had to stand there for yet another
speech. This time it was of the Minister
praising his acts of bravery 'on behalf of the
witches and wizards of magical Britain' and
was pretty much a rehash of the
presentation ceremony. Harry thought
Dumbledore had deliberately picked the
Minister knowing the man would gush on
and on, annoying everyone.
When the Minister finished, quite pleased
with himself, Dumbledore said, "Mister Harry
James Potter, holder of the Order of Merlin,
First Class, on the recommendation of
Minister Fudge and the Wizengamot, you are
welcomed to take seat among your peers. As
I say, so I swear."
The entire Wizengamot rose and applauded
Harry as he walked to one of the sets of stairs
into the risers of seats. A few, unsurprising,
were rather slow in rising and rather
reluctant to clap.
Once he'd found a seat, planned in advance,
near the so-called faction for the Light, Harry
was first to be seated out of a mark of
respect. The rest of the Wizengamot sat
immediately after.
That then led into the normal course of
business for the day. And two hours of sheer
boredom.
The Wizengamot rose for lunch - on the
Ministry's sickle - and Harry was escorted
through to an antechamber set up with fine
dining. In there, the first of his now fellow
Wizengamot members began to approach
him trying to feel him out on various issues.
As he was already prepared for such, his oft
repeated response was, "That will require a
great deal of thought. I shall consider it."
Others were, "No, I do not consider myself a
supporter of Dumbledore," and "Just
because I may not support a policy of the
light, does not make me dark; nor vice
versa."
Through the whole boring session, both
morning and afternoon, Harry would look to
people like Madam Bones to decide whether
or not to support or oppose each matter. He
never rose to speak for or against such,
which had others within the tiers wondering
just where his personal policies lay.
On one occasion he specifically voted against
something Dumbledore clearly supported.
This had those within the tiers who were
watching him most carefully, look at him
with surprise if not shock.
'Idiots!' he thought. 'Surely, by now, they
know I'm not Dumbledore's man.'
Thankfully, Harry was able to escape the
chamber shortly before 3:00pm and make his
way, accompanied by Sirius, back to
Hogwarts.
As they walked together, Sirius said, "You
handled yourself well, Pup. It was quite
amusing to see you oppose Dumbledore
during one of the votes."
"It was necessary," Harry replied with a
shrug. "I need them to understand I'm not
one of Dumbledore's little blind followers. I
forge my own path. No matter how many
articles are written in the Prophet about how
I keep zinging Dumbledore; there are still
those who think I ride about on the hem of
his robes."
Returning to the apartment, Harry was
almost blasted with questions. While
Hermione's 'training' in curbing her
impetuosity and demand for answers
continued without the apartment, once they
were within and in private, she could ask as
many as she wanted.
"Well, I had to, once again, listen to Cornhole
Fudgepucker tell everyone how good he is,
while supposedly singing my praises," he
replied. "Then Dumbledore, bless his
shrivelled heart, had to 'invite' me to take
seat within the members' tiers.
"After that, it was almost two hours of
listening to people drone with much ado
about nothing, a long lunch in the member's
dining room, and another two hours of the
same thing. However, I now know why Binns
hasn't been fired as the Professor of History
of Magic. It's to train up the next generation
of Wizengamot seat warmers in staying
awake to someone who's as... riveting of
your attention as being forced to watch grass
grow."
Daphne lightly laughed. "Father would say
almost the same thing. He also said that, for
every hour of boring nonsense, you'd get
about five minutes worth of excitement. He
used to attend just so he'd be there for those
five minutes."
Chapter 243
"Yeah, well; if I don't get any entertainment
soon I'm going to start pranking the entire
body," he grumped. "If they're not going to
provide me with entertainment, I'm going to
provide it to them."
"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, obviously
scandalised. "You can't just go pranking the
Wizengamot!"
"Why ever not?" he asked. "They're now my
peers; and old Fudgy-boy forced me to sit
with them. They're fair game now."
"Harry," interrupted Daphne. "It's you who
originally led the idea that you should
receive an Order of Merlin. It's you who
made public your battle with the basilisk in
the Chamber of Secrets. As such, it's you who
set in motion the events that led to you
earning a seat on the Wizengamot.
"If you didn't want the seat we didn't have to
push Madam Longbottom to get you your
Order of Merlin. That means, you are now a
member of the Wizengamot because it's
something you wanted."
Harry looked back at his pureblood wife with
a look of incredulity and sulkiness. "The
Wizengamot didn't have to make the Order
of Merlin an automatic seat within their own
body."
"Now you're clutching at straws," she calmly
replied. "The rule that holders of the Order
of Merlin be seated upon the Wizengamot
comes from centuries ago. It's not something
new they introduced just to annoy you."
"Damn it," he grumbled, knowing he'd well
and truly lost this one. With a sigh he said, "I
can't hand it back now, can I."
"Nope," she replied with a light smile. "Nor
can they strip it from you without very, very
good reasons. One of which must include
that the reason is because the events that
took place for which you earned it were
falsely reported. And, we know that's not the
case."
"Alright," he sighed. "When can I appoint a
proxy?"
"After the first year," she replied. "And then,
only for the Wizengamot meetings. If you're
selected for any of the panels, depending for
what the panel is selected, you'll need to
appoint proxies for each from the
membership of said panel."
"No easy way out, then," he sighed.
"Deliberately so," she replied. "They want
their members to actually carry out their
roles, and not proxy them off to others."
"Well, something to worry about next year,"
he said. Changing the subject, he asked,
"What's up now? No, no - don't tell me -
homework, right?"
Both wives just smiled back.
During the time, both wives kept an eye on
the stewing lacewing flies for the Polyjuice
Potion. And, once the required twenty-one
days had passed, they set to work on the rest
of the Potion. The riskiest part was needing
to sneak out of the castle to pick the
fluxweed out in the Forbidden Forest on the
night of the full moon.
"Just as in second year, we'll have enough for
four doses," said Hermione, almost
absentmindedly. "It'll be a good idea to keep
the extra doses under a stasis charm. You
never know when we might need them."
"Do we know how much makes a dose and
how much Crouch keeps in that flask of his?"
asked Harry.
"Good point," said Daphne. "I recommend
just switching out one dose, though. With
the amount he's been downing on a regular
occurrence I doubt he'll realise he has a
different amount between before and after
we switch them out."
"Fair call," said Harry. "Besides, the weight of
the flask itself should throw off any chance
he has to doubt how much he had."
Harry then left his two wives to finish
brewing the potion, and returned to the
living room to further study and try to
memorise strings of ancient runes and their
The following month's Wizengamot meeting
saw Dolores Umbridge, once again, attempt
to introduce a 'dark creatures' law. This one
would require all 'creatures' to be registered
with the Department for the Regulation and
Control of Magical Creatures or face heavy
fines, if not a stay in Azkaban.
And, for the first time, Harry spoke among
his new peers. He spoke against.
During the week leading up to the sitting,
Harry sat with his wives and they went
through the points Harry would cover. They
included: Where would the money come
from to pay for it? If there is any leeway in
the budget to pay for it, why hasn't that
money already been assigned to boost their
Auror forces, who have been hit the most
due to budget cuts over the past decade? As
it isn't covered in the literature sent to
members for debate, what defines a
'creature'? Do 'half-breeds' count as
creatures? What defines a 'half-breed'; half,
quarter, one-eighth, one-sixteenth? Then hit
back that the matter has not been properly
thought through and requires a great deal
more effort on the part of the mover before
they submit such ill-thought 'concepts' to the
Wizengamot for their perusal.
In other words, slap the horrid woman down
where it hurt her; by showing her up to be
pretty much incompetent and ill-prepared in
her job. While, simultaneously, showing
Harry to being both a voice of reason and
considered thought.
On the day and when he rose to speak, Harry
was also mindful of not losing his temper,
and keeping his voice both measured and
displaying concern and disappointment. He'd
learned those from carefully analysing
Dumbledore's manner of verbal
communication.
In summation, he said, "Therefore, Chief
Warlock, it is my much considered view the
Bill requires significantly more work before
this august body should be forced to consider
it in detail. I believe this body's time would
be better spent on properly prepared
submissions rather than just a document that
appears to be no more than just an
over-reaching concept outline that gives
naught than just the appearance of a
legislative work. We debate law, here; not
ideas."
In the end, the motion went from a slight
advantage to supporting the motion to a
near landslide against. The feelings of the
Wizengamot were clearly so against the
motion by the time Harry finished speaking,
that the Pink Toad was forced to withdraw
the motion completely to 'give greater
thought to Mister Potter's concerns before
resubmitting it for a second time'.
As the session broke, Harry found himself
near-swamped by other members who
approached to congratulate him for his
concise and well-reasoned arguments. And
to 'wonder' at his views on other issues. Of
course, in among them were also remarks
such as they found themselves surprised that
such a young man could speak so well on
such a topic. A backhanded complement if
there ever was one.
Chapter 244
Four weeks before the start of the third and
final task Harry expected, and got, the
request to join the Champions in the
Entrance Hall to meet with Ludo Bagman.
From there, Bagman took them down to the
Quidditch pitch which had, for the last two
weeks, been surrounded by a barrier denying
entrance to all. As they walked through the
barrier and then started climbing the stairs
into the stands, Bagman told them about
how the third task would be held on the
pitch of the Quidditch stadium.
Once they reached spectator height, Bagman,
still nattering on, led them to look out over
the pitch. Of course, Harry knew what to
expect to see. However, the others did not.
When the ground of the pitch came into view
Cedric gasped. "What have you done?" he
exclaimed. "You've ruined it!"
"I assure you, Mister Diggory, that on
completion of the task the pitch will be set to
rights," Bagman almost snippily said.
"It's... sacrilege!" exclaimed Harry, getting
into the mood of things.
"This vas the Hogworts Quidditch pitch, da?"
asked Victor, staring at the ground.
"Da! Errr... yes!" said Cedric.
"It is crime to do this to pitch," said Victor.
"I assure you all, the pitch will be returned to
rights within a few days of the completion of
the task," said Bagman. "Now, who can tell
me..."
"A few days?" asked Cedric, interrupting and
a little angry. "How?"
With an exasperated sigh, Bagman said, "The
maze was planted... well, blast it all!"
"Clearly, eet eez a maze," said Fleur as if she
thought Bagman was being an idiot. "But eet
should be a Queedeetch peetch!"
"As I said, it will be put to rights after the
task," said Bagman. "Now, in the maze..."
"You'll probably have dangerous creatures
and magic traps, right?" said Harry. "And...
what... first one to the middle or whatever
wins?"
"The Tri-Wizard Cup will be in the
maze somewhere," said Bagman. "The first
person to reach it will win."
"Yeah, yeah," said Harry, giving a wave-off
gesture with his hands. "Will that be all?"
"Yes, Mister Potter," said Bagman starting to
grit his teeth a little.
"Frumos!" said Victor. "Now, vee leave;
not... plăcut... pleasant... to see Quidditch
pitch so... întinat... defiled."
"Defiled," said Cedric. "Yes... da... that fits."
"Fine!" snapped Bagman. "You now know
what's required of you. I'll see you on the
twenty-fourth of June!" And he stomped off.
"Hey, Useless!" called Harry. Surprisingly,
Bagman turned around. "I'm glad to see you
now recognise your new name! The Weasley
Twins want their winnings from their bet at
the Quidditch World Cup. You'd best pay up
pretty quick. They can be veeerrry creative in
their punishment of those who've wronged
them!"
That had the other three laughing as Bagman
glared at Harry for a moment before again
stomping off.
As they walked back from the pitch, Victor
and Fleur excused themselves and headed
back to the ship and carriage respectively.
Harry and Cedric walked together.
"Almost over, Harry," sighed Cedric. Clearly,
he wanted to talk about things and was
trying to find a way to bring up the subject.
"Yeah," said Harry. "I'm looking forward to
summer, already."
"This is my last year," said the older boy. "I
was looking forward, this year, to the match
between the Badgers and Lions to show that
I could beat you without a bunch of pesky
dementors coming in and ruining
everything."
Harry laughed and said, "You'd have been
sadly..."
He stopped speaking as both boys saw Barty
Crouch Senior stagger out of the forest. He
was in bad shape. Harry mentally
face-palmed himself for forgetting this event.
Immediately he drew his wand as Crouch
staggered forward.
As Harry remembered, he looked as though
he had been travelling for days. The knees of
his robes were ripped and bloody, and his
face was scratched. He was unshaven and
gray with exhaustion. His neat hair and
moustache were both in need of a wash and
trim.
His strange appearance, however, was
nothing to the way he was behaving.
Muttering and gesticulating, Crouch turned
and began talking to a tree.
"Isn't that Mister Crouch?" asked Cedric.
"What's he doing?"
Harry nodded and said, "Go get help, Ced. I
need the Professors down here. Possibly
Madam Pomfrey, too. Hurry!"
"Errr... right, Harry," replied the other boy.
He took a couple of steps before he turned
back. "Will you be alright here with him?"
Without taking his eyes of Crouch or the
forest, Harry said, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just go.
Go fast!"
And Cedric took off running, again.
Crouch was still talking to the tree. "... and
when you've done that, Weatherby, send an
owl to Dumbledore confirming the number
of Durmstrang students who will be
attending the tournament, Karkaroff has just
sent word there will be twelve..."
"Mister Crouch," called Harry.
"... and then send another owl to Madame
Maxime, because she might want to up the
number of students she's bringing, now
Karkaroff's made it a round dozen. Do that,
Weatherby, will you? Will you? Will..."
Crouch's eyes were bulging. He stood staring
at the tree, muttering soundlessly at it. Then
he staggered sideways and fell to his knees.
"Mister Crouch?" Harry said loudly, hurrying
over while keeping an eye on the treeline.
"Are you all right?"
Crouch's eyes were rolling in his head.
"Dumbledore!" gasped Crouch suddenly. He
reached out and seized a handful of Harry's
robes, dragging him closer, though his eyes
were staring over Harry's head. "I need...
see... Dumbledore..."
"Figured as much," said Harry. "If you get up,
Mister Crouch, we can go up to the..."
"I've done... stupid... thing..." Crouch
breathed. He looked utterly mad. His eyes
were rolling and bulging, and a trickle of
spittle was sliding down his chin. Every word
he spoke seemed to cost him a terrible effort.
"Must... tell... Dumbledore..."
"Get up, Mister Crouch," said Harry loudly
and clearly. "Get up, and I'll take you to
Dumbledore!"
Crouch's eyes rolled forward onto Harry.
"Who... you?" he whispered.
Chapter 245
"I'm a student at the school," said Harry,
pulling Crouch to his feet with his left arm
while holding his wand in his right.
"You're not... his?" whispered Crouch, his
mouth sagging.
"No," said Harry.
"Dumbledore's?"
"Yes," replied Harry.
Crouch was pulling him closer. Harry tried to
loosen the man's grip on his robes, but it was
too powerful.
"Warn... Dumbledore..."
"We'll get Dumbledore if you let go of me,"
said Harry. "Come with me, Mister Crouch
and we'll get him."
"Thank you, Weatherby, and when you've
done that, I would like a cup of tea. My wife
and son will be arriving shortly. We're
attending a concert tonight with Mister and
Missus Fudge."
Crouch was now trying to talk fluently to a
tree again, and seemed completely unaware
that Harry was there. It surprised Harry so
much he didn't notice that Crouch had
released him.
So, Harry latched onto the robes of the man's
upper right arm with his left hand and began
to drag him away from the tree line. Crouch
then swivelled to look at Harry and said, "Yes,
my son has recently gained twelve
OWLs. Most satisfactory, yes. Thank you, yes;
very proud indeed. Now, if you could bring
me that memo from the Andorran Minister
of Magic, I think I will have time to draft a
response."
Crouch suddenly reached out with his right
hand and snatched at Harry's left arm.
"Don't... leave... me!" he whispered, his eyes
bulging again. "I... escaped... must warn...
must tell... see Dumbledore!... My
fault... all my fault... Bertha... dead... all my
fault!... My son... my... fault... Tell
Dumbledore... Harry Potter... the Dark Lord...
stronger... Harry Potter..."
Harry kept dragging the clearly delusional
man away from the trees and towards the
castle while he kept a close eye on the tree
line. The further they got away from the
trees the safer Harry thought they'd be. The
safer he knew they'd be.
Harry had dragged a somewhat resistant
Crouch partway back to the castle when he
finally spotted staff running towards him
with Cedric Diggory. Of all people, in the lead
was Professor Snape.
Thinking fast, Harry said to the man,
"I'm Harry Potter." And tried to keep
dragging the man towards the castle.
Crouch reached out with both hands and
latched onto Harry, bringing both of them to
their knees. "Mister Potter!" the man gasped,
looking at Harry with wide, horrified eyes.
"The Dark Lord!... He's... getting
stronger!... He's coming back!"
By then Snape had reached them and was on
his knees next to them. He was waving his
wand over Crouch and muttering
incantations!
"My son!" cried Crouch. "He's one of them!
The Dark Lord... wants... your blood!"
"Potter," said Snape. "Help me get him up!"
By then Diggory was back and helped get
Crouch back on his feet as Harry almost
viciously disentangled Crouch's fingers from
his robes.
They'd just got the man on his feet when a
jet of green light flared out of the treeline.
Watching for it, Harry immediately dived at
all three and tackled Diggory and Crouch to
the ground.
Snape, seeing the tackle coming, managed to
step back to avoid it. He also managed to
avoid the curse in the process, as it flew over
the three tangled bodies right in front of him.
He immediately spun towards the tree line
with his wand drawn. "Get up, Potter!" he
demanded, as he watched the trees. "Get up
and get out of here!"
As Harry rolled off the pile, he surged to his
feet with his wand drawn in a crouch as
Diggory rose, almost terrified. He looked to
the trees.
"Potter!" called Snape. "Get Diggory and
Crouch and get out of here!"
Harry took one last look at the treeline and
turned his wand on Crouch, who was still
sprawled on the grass. Not even bothering to
help the man to his feet this time he
levitated him with a Mobilicorpus charm and
ran with him back through the arriving
Professors as Diggory ran after them both.
Snape stayed and backed away from the
trees, covering their escape.
Harry watched out of the corner of his eye as
saw a messenger patronus flash away
towards the Headmaster's office. It was
Professor McGonagall's lynx.
Once Harry was through some of the staff,
now with their own wands drawn and
looking to the forest, he didn't even bother
to look over his shoulder anymore. He just
raced for the castle with Crouch in tow.
He met Madam Pomfrey coming out the
front doors and called, "Infirmary, Madam
Pomfrey! A man's been seriously hurt!"
"Put him down right here, Mister Potter!"
she ordered. "I'll take a look at him first."
Harry spun and lowered Crouch to the
ground as the medi-witch knelt down next to
the man and cast diagnostic charms over him.
She was still going as some of the staff were
coming back.
She was beginning to rise as Dumbledore
came running out of the doors before almost
skidding to a stop and looking around.
"Bartemius?" he asked, as he saw who
Madam Pomfrey was working on.
"Yes," said Harry. "And someone just shot a
bloody killing curse at us from just inside the
edge of the Forbidden Forest!"
Diggory, panting his lungs out, said, "Yeah!
And if it wasn't for Harry, they'd
have got us!"
Dumbledore turned to give Harry a long look
before he turned to Madam Pomfrey and
said, "Take him to the Infirmary, Poppy. I'll
investigate what's going on in the forest."
Before he quickly moved off to where Snape
was still watching the edge of the forest.
"Take him to the Infirmary, he says," scoffed
the medi-witch. "Where else would I take
him? To the Ministry ball?"
She then turned to look at Harry and asked,
"Think you can levitate him to the Infirmary,
Mister Potter?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "No problem."
"Do so!" she said.
Harry immediately cast
the Mobilicorpus charm back on Crouch and
levitated him again. As he towed Crouch
behind him and jogged into the castle and up
the stairs, Madam Pomfrey kept pace and
kept an eye on him.
As soon as they reached the hospital wing,
Harry levitated Crouch onto the nearest bed
as Pomfrey bustled about to bring a potions
cabinet closer to the side of the bed.
"Well done, Mister Potter," she said as an
aside. "I've got it from here."
Chapter 246
Harry knew a dismissal when he heard one.
He turned to leave when he spotted Diggory
standing puffing his lungs out wide-eyed in
the doorway.
As Harry walked towards him, he said, "You...
you... saved my life!"
"Instinct, Cedric," said Harry.
The boy started to shake so Harry quickly
grabbed onto him and led him over to the
bed alongside Crouch.
Sitting him on the bed, Harry asked the
medi-witch, "Can Cedric have a calming
draught, please, Madam Pomfrey? He's just
had one hell of fright. Someone just shot a
killing curse at... in his direction."
From where she was working on a now
unconscious Crouch, Pomfrey took one look
at Cedric, reached into her potions cabinet
and handed a corked phial to Harry. Harry
uncorked it and firmly placed it in Diggory's
hand.
"Here. Drink this, Cedric," he firmly ordered
the other boy.
Without a word or even looking at Harry,
Diggory brought the phial to his lips and
tossed the contents back. A quick swallow, a
grimace and the boy gave a little shudder of
revulsion.
"Merlin!" he breathed.
Harry waited a few moments before he asked,
"Better, Cedric?"
Diggory looked at Harry and said, "Thanks,
Harry."
Harry grinned back and said, "You're
welcome. Good thing I've got seeker reflexes,
huh?"
"Yeah," said Diggory. A moment later he said,
"I owe you, Harry. I owe you a life debt."
Harry grinned and said, "Friends don't owe
friends life debts, Cedric."
Diggory, coming back to himself, gave a snort
and said, "Yeah, they do."
"We'll worry about it another time," said
Harry. "Thanks for running so hard to get
help. If Snape hadn't gotten there as fast as
he did..."
"Yeah," he said. "Who knew the gre...
Potions Master could run so fast?"
Harry grinned back as Diggory responded in
kind.
"If you two are done," said Pomfrey, "You
might want to clear out."
Both boys again grinned at one another as
Diggory hopped off the bed. Together, they
walked out.
They hadn't gone too far when Diggory asked,
"Ever seen the inside of the Hufflepuff
common room?"
"Nope," said Harry. "It's the only one
I haven't seen."
With a nod and a smile Diggory said, "Come
on, then. I'm about to show you a Hufflepuff
secret."
Curious, Harry followed on behind as Diggory
led him down in the dungeons.
Walking in through a secret door in a set of
barrels, Diggory led Harry down a light ramp
into a quite large common room. Though not
quite as large as the Slytherin common room,
it was easily the second largest of the four
Houses.
A couple of other 'Puffs looked back
curiously as Diggory indicated a sofa and said,
"Sit. I'll get us a couple of Butterbeers."
Taking a seat, Harry watched as the older boy
went over to what looked like another large
barrel, this one standing upright, and tapped
his wand on a knot in the wood. A hidden
door swung open and Diggory reached
within. When he pulled his hand out he was
holding a couple of Butterbeer bottles by the
neck. With his other hand he then dropped a
couple of coins into a box with a slot on top
before closing the door.
He walked back over and handed a bottle to
Harry before taking seat in an armchair
opposite.
With a snort and chuckle, Harry popped his
bottle open taking a huge swig. The bottle
and its contents were both quite chilled.
"The older years bring back sweets and
drinks from Hogsmeade each Hogsmeade
weekend," the other boy explained,
answering the unasked question. "They keep
the Hufflepuff Shop, there, well stocked. That
way, even the younger years have access to
what's available from Hogsmeade."
"Clever," said Harry. "I take it you have a...
House fund from which they take funds to
purchase it all?"
"Yep. It's looked after by the Prefects. And,
the price from here is about ten percent
above the prices in Hogsmeade," explained
Diggory. "When the kitty gets too large, we
use the funds to buy things for those in our
House who are... less flush, shall we say."
"No problem with thefts?" asked Harry.
Diggory smiled and said, "This is Hufflepuff,
Harry. We look out for each other down here.
Stealing means you're stealing from your
friends, and yourself. It's very rare for a theft
to occur. I won't tell you what we do in those
circumstances."
Harry gave a shrug and said, "Understood. I
just wish the other Houses, especially
Gryffindor, would be able to prove
themselves so trustworthy."
"Not everyone is worthy of being a
Hufflepuff," smirked the other boy.
As they talked, Harry looked around the
room. Where he'd expected a lot of black
and yellow, instead he saw brown and tans.
The floor was almost completely covered in
thick brown carpet. The chairs were done in
dark brown leather with yellow stitching and
black buttons. The tables and chairs were of
a dark, almost black wood, with tan padding.
The walls were in a pastel yellow with dark
yellow and brown curtains in front of the
windows that were along one wall.
Seeing Harry looking curiously at the
windows, Diggory said, "The windows are
actually in the cliff face directly below the
castle. They, of course, look out over the
Black Lake."
"What about windows for the dorms?" asked
Harry.
Pointing, Diggory said, "Boys dorms are that
way, one after the other." Then he pointed to
the opposite direction and said, "And the
girls' dorms are the same that way.
"Each dorm has windows on one wall that
are the same as the ones in here. In other
words, each dorm has a view out over the
Black Lake."
"I don't remember seeing any windows in
the cliff face when I've been out on the lake,"
said Harry.
"They're there," smiled Diggory. "You just
have to really look for them. Once you see
them, they then become obvious to you."
Harry sat and talked with Diggory for a while
before Dobby suddenly popped in. "Miss
Hermy-knee and Miss Daff-knee are worried
about you. They wonder where you are."
Chapter 247
"Errph!" said Harry, to Diggory. "I'm in
trouble." Turning back to Dobby he said,
"Please tell both ladies I'm sorry I worried
them and will be there, safe and whole, in a
few minutes. I take it they're in our
apartment?"
"Yes, Master Harry, Sir," replied the elf.
Nodding, Harry said, "Thank you, Dobby."
As the little elf popped away again, Harry
turned to Diggory and said, "I'd better go."
Diggory grinned and said, "Best not keep
your ladies waiting."
Harry stood and said, "Thanks for the
Butterbeer, Cedric." And shook the other
boy's hand before he left to return to the
apartment.
When Harry walked into the apartment, he
was met with two angry witches. "Where
have you been?" demanded Hermione.
"Coming back from the Quidditch pitch,
Cedric and I came across Crouch Senior
staggering out of the woods," he explained.
"I sent Diggory to get help while I started
dragging Crouch back towards the castle.
When Cedric got back with help, someone...
Crouch Junior, of course... shot a killing curse
at us. In the process, Diggory now thinks I
saved his life and he owes me a life debt.
"I then levitated and took Crouch to the
infirmary while Diggory followed. Once there,
the adrenaline in Diggory's system started to
wear off and he developed a dose of the
shakes from shock. After I got a calming
draught into him he took me down to the
Hufflepuff common room, where he supplied
me with a Butterbeer. I don't think I could
have refused. He was pretty shaken up.
"I'd just finished that when Dobby popped in
to let me know you two were worried about
me. So, I immediately came up here."
"We didn't know where you were," said
Daphne. "We heard that something had
happened out on the grounds, that someone
had fired a killing curse at you, and that you
were taken to the infirmary. However, when
we got there, Madam Pomfrey told us you'd
left a while earlier."
"Alright," said Harry, speaking soothingly.
"Next time you worry about me, remember
that Dobby will know where I am at all times.
All you need to do is call him and ask,
alright?"
Blushing in a little embarrassment, Hermione
said, "We forgot."
"Understandable," said Harry. "You were
worried and you weren't able to think it
through. You'll remember if it happens in the
future."
He then brought both girls in for a three-way
cuddle.
The three-way cuddle then moved to the
bedroom, and changed into something more.
A couple of evenings before the final task,
the three organised themselves to put
the second part of the originally conceived
plan of Hermione's into effect. The first was
the switch out of Tom Riddle Senior's bones
in the graveyard at Little Hangleton for a
complete stranger's. And the third would be
the switching out of Crouch's Polyjuice
potion.
This was also the first day of the end of year
exams for the fourth years, so they did not
expect a lot of people to be spending time
out and about. That Hermione was quite
alright with setting aside her last evening
before the Transfiguration exam showed the
importance of what they were about to
accomplish.
Immediately after dinner, Harry waited in the
direct route from the Great Hall to the
Slytherin dorms in the dungeons for Nott to
pass on his way to the Slytherin common
room. He was one they knew positively
would become a death eater. It would also
be a bit of payback for Daphne.
Waiting under a Notice-me-not charm with
his invisibility cloak in his arms, Harry was
standing just outside a disused classroom for
the wanker to pass.
He was just starting to worry, when the boy
finally made an appearance. And, thankfully,
with no one around to observe what
happened.
As soon as Nott passed, Harry tagged him
with a stunner and, as soon as the boy
collapsed, threw his invisibility cloak over
him. A quick Mobilicorpus charm on the boy
and Harry pulled him through the now
opened door of the classroom. Inside,
Hermione and Daphne were waiting with
what they needed to complete this part of
the plan.
Nott was levitated over to where two desks
were set side-by-side and hard together to
make a longer work area, and laid atop.
The cloak was removed and Hermione set to
work rolling Nott's sleeve up. As she worked,
Daphne was standing alongside, observing,
while holding a tray with certain objects on
it.
As soon as Nott's sleeve was up and over his
elbow, Hermione grabbed a tourniquet off
the tray and fastened it tightly around the
bicep.
As Nott was still out cold she couldn't get
him to pump his fist to speed up the process,
so had to wait for the vein to begin to
expand on its own.
As soon as she had a likely candidate, she
carefully picked up a syringe needle that was
affixed to a plastic tube - which was, in turn,
connected to a small, flat, pig skin bladder
stuffed with flat wadding.
Concentrating, she carefully inserted the
needle into the boys arm over and along a
vein until she spotted blood beginning to
flow down the tube. Then hung the bladder
from the edge of the desk, and released the
tourniquet.
Standing back up straight, she sighed and
said, "Now we wait."
"How long?" asked Daphne.
"It depends on how much fluid Nott's
recently drunk, and how strong his heart
beat is," she replied. "The more fluid he's
drunk and the stronger his heart beat, the
faster the flow."
"An approximation would do," Daphne
almost snarked.
Hermione seemed to think about it for a
moment, and carefully watched the bladder,
before she replied, "About... ten minutes?"
Constantly checking, Hermione finally had
the amount of blood she wanted after twelve
minutes. "That should do," she muttered.
Carefully, she grabbed a cotton ball off the
tray and, holding it in her left hand between
her index finger and thumb, lightly pressed
down on the wound point as she pulled out
the needle, before then pressing down,
firmly.
She handed the needle with its still attached
tube off to Daphne with a mutter of, "Be
careful with that."
While Daphne, out of her sight, rolled her
eyes while holding the needle. Hermione
drew her wand and cast a minor healing
charm on the wound point. Gingerly pulling
the now flattened cotton ball aside, she was
able to see that even the mark of the needle
was now gone.
Chapter 248
"Excellent!" she muttered. Then pulled down
the boy's sleeve, being careful to ensure it
was down neatly.
Meanwhile, Daphne had moved off to the
side to another desk with the needle, hose
and bladder. She carefully pulled the hose
out of the bladder and sealed the skin
around the hole, sealing the blood within.
Once ready, she cast a stasis charm on the
bladder and its contents before then
vanishing the tube, needle and the little bit
of blood that had spilled.
Looking back, she said, "I'm ready."
She'd turned back just in time to see
Hermione write the word 'Gay' on Nott's
forehead.
"I thought the idea was for Nott not to know
he'd been attacked?" she asked.
"No," replied Hermione. "It was for him not
to learn we'd taken his blood. At least this
way, when he wakes, he'll think he'll know
why he was attacked."
Daphne thought about it for just a moment
before she said, "Clever."
"We ready?" asked Harry, from where he was
near the door looking for people outside.
"We're ready," said Hermione.
"Okay, watch the door while I cover and
levitate the wannabe rapist," he said.
Daphne moved over to the door and kept
lookout while Harry threw his invisibility
cloak back over Nott. He gave a small snort
of amusement when he saw what Hermione
had written on the boy's forehead.
Another body levitation charm and Harry
was towing the boy back to the door. Daphne
quickly checked in both directions before she
ducked out and headed down the passage a
bit to look around the corner.
She gave a quick, 'Come' gesture and Harry
was out the door with Nott. He propped the
boy sitting against the wall and pulled his
invisibility cloak back off him.
Looking back as Hermione pulled the door of
the classroom closed again, all three then
nodded to each other before they all cast
Notice-me-nots on themselves and left the
scene.
Returning to their apartment the three
looked at each other and grinned.
"That was easier than I feared it might have
been," said Hermione.
"I still find it hard to believe muggles take
blood from each other like that," said
Daphne, a little disgusted.
"As I've explained, muggles don't have blood
replenishing potions," said Hermione. "So,
often, the only way to get blood back into a
person is through transfusion. It's all
perfectly acceptable."
On the eve of the final task, both wives
demanded an intimate dinner for three in
their room. Harry was happy to agree.
The Polyjuice Potion was now complete and
being stored under stasis in a flask of similar
size and shape to Moody's, which Crouch
was using. The 'pig skin blood pouch' was
with it, also under stasis.
"I know this is all planned out, Harry," said
Hermione. "But, there's just so much that
can go wrong."
"I know and agree," he said.
"You're still going to be careful, though,
right?" she asked.
"Of course," he calmly replied, before he
moved and took her into his arms. A move
for which she was very grateful.
"Your plan is brilliant, Hermione," he
soothed her. "When the rat pulls the bone
out of the grave it'll be that of a stranger, not
Riddle's father. And, when he jabs me in my
elbow with the point of the knife, it'll be
Nott's blood pooling in the grooves of it; not
mine."
"The only thing we can't change is the flesh
of the servant. But, with two of the three
changed, that should dramatically weaken
Riddle."
"I know," she sniffled. "But you'll also have
all the death eaters there, as well. And
they won't be weakened."
"I'll have the portkeys with me, I'll have the
second wand with me, and this time I can
apparate. If I can't get to the Cup, I've still got
multiple ways out of there," he calmly said.
She nodded as Daphne said, "He's right. He's
as prepared as he can ever be. And your plan
was brilliant. Harry is far superior to any
three death eaters in combat; and, with
Riddle being weakened by the ruined ritual, I
believe he'll be far superior to him, too.
"And, remember, he got away from the lot of
them last time. And that was when his mind
was muddied with potions, his head was
killing him from the horcrux within his
forehead, and Riddle was at his powerful
best with all his horcruxes still existing. None
of that exists in this timeline."
Harry looked from Daphne back to Hermione,
smirked, and said, "What she said."
Hermione gave a quick burst of laughter,
smacked him on the arm, and said, "Prat!"
"Good," said Daphne. "Now, let's eat. I want
to make sure Harry feels very lucky, tonight."
"Da-aph!" exclaimed Hermione, blushing.
"Oh," said Daphne, as if she'd just thought of
it. "I'm including you in that, too."
Harry, now used to Daphne's odd humour,
laughed as Hermione went red to the tips of
her fingers and ears.
After dinner, and a while of just talking a
little more to allow their stomachs to settle,
the three went to bed.
Over an hour later and just before drifting off
to sleep with a very contented smile on his
face, Harry thought it was the luckiest
he'd ever been.
Chapter 249
The next morning the three were down to
breakfast in the Great Hall. All three were
quite relaxed, contrary to the discussion
they'd had the previous night. Harry even
had trouble keeping a goofy-looking grin off
his face.
It wasn't just that he'd been able to 'relieve
tension' the previous night. The girls really
let their hair down, too. 'The things they did
together? Just, wow!' he thought to himself.
"Earth to Harry," said Hermione, waving her
hand in front of his face.
"Hmm?" he asked, coming back out of his
memories of the night before.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
From the grin he smiled at her, she
immediately blushed and said, "Never mind!
I think I can guess." Before she turned away.
"You wanted my attention," he reminded
her.
"Yes," she replied, remembering and turning
back. "Don't forget you need a hearty
enough breakfast as the families will be here,
this morning."
Surprised he'd forgotten, he said, "Oh; yeah."
As breakfast was winding up, Professor
Flitwick came down to see the three. "Mister
Potter... Ladies... the cha- errr... competitors
are congregating in the antechamber off the
Hall after breakfast. I know it's not a task;
but, I really suggest you attend."
"Thank you, Professor," he said.
"And we have the History of Magic exam,"
said Hermione.
The girls left with Harry giving them both a
kiss 'for luck' before he turned to the
antechamber door. "If Dumbledore's got the
bloody Weasley's in there..." he muttered.
Quickly, he strode up the Hall and through
the door into the antechamber.
"Harry!" he heard before he was nearly
knocked off his feet in a bone-crushing hug.
As the 'hugger' backed off, and as he
recognised from the voice, it was his
godfather.
"Hi Sirius!" he grinned.
As Sirius threw his arm around Harry's
shoulder he said, "Hiya, Pup!" Then guided
him further into the chamber.
He was greeted near the unlit fireplace by
Moony, Matthias and Deece. Deece gave him
a hug while Matthias and Moony both shook
his hand. "If I'd known you'd be coming...
Matthias, Deece... I'd have asked if the ladies
could do a makeup exam for History of Magic,
later.
"It's alright, Harry," said Matthias. "We'll see
them after the exam. It's only an hour, after
all."
Harry nodded and said, "So, what brings you
here?"
"Through the day of the third task, the
families of the cham- competitors spend the
day with the competitors before the
beginning of the final task," replied Sirius.
"That means we get to come here and relive
our own past Hogwarts glories and
reminisce."
"Ah," said Harry. "So, what do you want to
do while we wait for Daphne and Hermione
to join us?"
Sirius replied, "Let's take a walk. And you can
tell us how you intend to face the challenges
in the maze."
As they walked about on the grounds outside,
Harry told the three adults how he and the
ladies - who were acting as his trainers - had
been increasing and improving upon his
repertoire of combat charms, curses and
hexes. He expected to come up against
plant-based attacks, magical creatures,
warded areas, and similar.
"So," he said. "I've got the time advantage,
for the moment..."
"It should have been a greater advantage,"
near-growled Sirius. "You were denied your
rightful points in the first task because they
didn't like the fact you killed the dragon,
even though the rules didn't say you couldn't.
And that Death Eater, Karkaroff, marks
everyone low except his little sporting
celebrity, Krum."
Harry just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, look at it this way; the nonsense from
the judges is just pushing us competitors
closer together. I'm getting some nice friends
out of this."
"But, the way I calculate it, if you hadn't
been unfairly deducted points for killing the
dragon, and Karkaroff scored fairly, your
points should have you about another fifteen
to twenty points ahead of second place,"
said Sirius, annoyed on behalf of his godson.
"Yes," smiled Harry. "However, how
embarrassing would that be for the three
schools? Here's a mere fourth year kicking
the bums of the best the three schools have
to offer, and doing it resoundingly! And the
three champions, let alone their schools,
would also hate me for it. This way, I'm still
in the lead, the three champions I now
consider friends, no one in this rock pile can
claim I'm not good enough for this
competition, being a competitor
automatically emancipated me and pulled
me out from under Dumbledore's suffocating
control, and I'm free to come and go as I
wish.
"Plus, it was never my intent to win this
accursed event; only survive it. With the
Potter fortune at my disposal the one
thousand galleons prize money is pocket
change. And what do I need with the
so-called eternal glory of being a Tri-Wizard
Tournament winner, when I'm famous
enough as the Boy-Who-Lived? All of those
points the students, here, utterly forgot
when my name popped out of the Goblet."
"And corrected it, not too long later," added
Matthias. "You set up quite the panic among
the echelon of the Ancient families when you
did that, by the way."
"It needed to be done," Harry simply said.
"Agreed," smirked Matthias. "A good
cage-rattling every now and then is good for
the soul."
Harry just grinned back.
"Now I hear the Heirs are acting like Heirs
should, again," added Sirius. "And
Dumbledore and his staff have been forced,
by you and your wives, to take proper action,
for the most part, in dealing with trouble
makers and malcontents."
When the girls finished their History exam
and joined them, the group took a little walk
along the banks of the Black Lake, just
chatting about plans for the rapidly
approaching summer, before heading up to
the apartment.
"Any word on the progress of the
Longbottoms?" asked Daphne, as they slowly
ascended the stairs.
"They're good," replied Deece. "I was around
at Longbottom Hall a few days ago. Both are
now up and freely moving about. However,
they're also both still a little weak."
"I take it neither is looking at returning to
their previous occupations?" asked Daphne.
Chapter 250
With a little shake of her head, Deece replied,
"No. They both now just want to get on with
their lives and catch up on what they've
missed over the past near decade and a
half."
"Will Frank be taking the Wizengamot seat
off his mother?" asked Harry.
"Possibly," she replied. "However, it won't be
for quite some time. I think the entire family
is only focussing on getting the pair of them
back to full health before they look to their
options."
"Fair enough," said Harry. "I was just looking
to getting to know Frank through our work
on the Wizengamot. I'm getting bored not
being able to talk to a friend."
Once they'd returned to their apartment,
Harry noticed Dobby had already brought in
more sofas for the enlarged group. And the
coffee table had been lengthened to
accommodate more people sitting around it.
With everyone holding a beverage of their
choice, supplied by Dobby and a visiting
Winky, Harry broached the subject about the
third task.
While the three were changing out of their
school uniforms in their bedroom to get
ready for the third task later that evening,
Harry quietly asked, "Who's going to switch
the potions on Crouch?"
"I am," said Daphne. "I've been practicing
accuracy and silent and minimal casting of
the switching spell. I just thank Merlin that
the cast is colourless and invisible."
"As soon as he takes a swig from the flask, I'll
be using a sticking charm on both his hand
and his behind," said Hermione. "That way,
he'll not be able to use his wand, or rise from
his chair once he sits down. That should be
enough to stop him from being able to get a
curse off, or something, once he begins to
revert."
"Then, as soon as Daphne puts 'your' version
of the potion in its flask in her pocket, we'll
be ready to go."
The three left their bedroom wearing jeans,
collared v-neck t-shirts and light pullovers,
joining their families back out in the living
room.
"I meant to ask," said Harry, looking at the
pair of them. "How'd you think you went in
exams? Outstanding, or Outstanding Plus?"
Daphne just snorted and said, "Outstanding.
I'm still having problems figuring out muggle
currency. One minute it's called 'cash' and
the next they call it 'currency' and then call it
'money'. Weird."
"I find it easier than magical currency,"
shrugged Hermione. "Ten Pence to the
Shilling; ten Shillings to the Pound. It makes
calculating cost a lot easier."
"So, five Galleons equals?" asked Daphne.
"Ummm... Twenty-five Pounds, ten Shillings;
or, Twenty-six Pounds," replied Hermione.
"But, that's at today's exchange rate."
"Bother," breathed Daphne. "I got that one
wrong. I thought it was Twenty-six Pounds
but I didn't think it'd be a whole number of
Pounds."
"It's a whole number at the moment?" asked
Sirius. Before he was answered, he mused,
"That'll make it easy to figure out how much
we're worth in muggle currency. Take how
much you're worth in Galleons, divide by five
and multiply by twenty-six. Simple."
One of the problems they'd had was how to
switch the Polyjuice Potion from
faux-Moody's flask with what they had
brewed. They just hoped an opportunity
would present itself on the day of the task,
or they'd have to engineer such an
opportunity. The latter was more risky as
they didn't know how well they could create
such an opportunity.
However, they needn't have worried. They
were just walking in the door from outside to
head in for lunch with their family when
Moody came down the grand stairs and
approached them.
Faux-Moody walked right up to Harry and
dropped his hand on his shoulder. "Been
practicing for tonight's task, Potter?" he
asked.
"Of course, Professor," replied Harry.
"Any ideas about what you'll be facing?"
asked the impostor.
"Just creatures Hagrid would consider
'misunderstood', and probably some
enchantments such as confusion mists and
the like," replied Harry.
The imposter gave a very Moody-like grunt
and patted Harry's shoulder twice before he
said, "I think you're on the right track, lad. I
have every faith in you."
Before anyone could say anything, he quickly
stalked off to walk into the Great Hall.
Harry quickly glanced at Daphne, who
grinned back and gave a slight nod.
"Bit of an odd bloke, isn't he?" Matthias
asked of no one in particular.
"Yeah, but something seems off about him,"
muttered Harry.
"He's always been odd," said Sirius.
"Paranoid as all get up, he is."
The small party then followed Moody into
the Hall and to the Ravenclaw table. They sat
in the same area the three usually sat with
Luna.
When Luna joined them a few minutes later,
she plopped herself down next to Deece as if
there wasn't anything unusual about the
situation.
Harry, smirking, carried out the
introductions.
The three bondmates were keeping a close
watch on faux-Moody where he was sitting
at the head table. When he took a swig of his
flask Hermione nudged Harry under the table;
and Harry saw Crouch drop the flask back
into the breast inner pocket of his large coat.
He gave a nudge to Daphne and murmured,
"Any moment now."
Hermione was also watching carefully and, as
soon as she saw the effects of the Polyjuice
Potion begin to wear off she quietly said to
the adults, "Something seems to be wrong
with Professor Moody."
That had all eyes turn to faux-Moody as he
quickly fumbled for his flask again, pulling it
out and flicking the cap off before taking
another huge swig. As he was doing so, the
features of his face began to shift under the
skin and his hair darkened.
"That looks like the effects of Polyjuice
wearing off," said Daphne, just loud enough
for the adults to hear.
With a gasp from Deece, Sirius and Matthias
looked in shock before they stood and drew
their wands. Having mentally urged them on
to do so, and following their lead, Harry did
the same.
While all three stepped over the benches and
into the aisles, Crouch began to look around
wildly as his body, within his clothes, quickly
went through the changes to his natural form.
Either side of him, Snape had backed away
and drawn his own wand, just as Professor
Flitwick did the same.
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