Just to Clarify Harry had his 'fit' in Divination and then went to Dumbledore's office before this. I didn't include because one it had no real way to involve Y/n and two it was so long it could have been its own chapter. If you want to know what happens read the chapters in the book, I am just assuming most of you know what happened seeing how long the books have been out.
"Dumbledore reckons You-Know-Who's getting stronger again as well?" Ron whispered as he stared into the common room fire. Harry thought he saw Ron shiver slightly, even though the evening was warm.
Everything Harry had seen in the Pensieve, nearly everything Dumbledore had told and shown him afterward, he had now shared with Ron, Y/n and Hermione...and, of course, with Sirius, to whom Harry had sent an owl the moment he had left Dumbledore's office. Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione sat up late in the common room once again that night,
"So Dumbledore trusts Snape? Even though he knows he was a Death Eater?" Y/n asked.
"Yes." said Harry.
"Then either he is more foolish than I thought or there is more to Snape than we know..." Y/n said.
Hermione had not spoken for ten minutes. She was sitting with her forehead in her hands, staring at her knees.
"Rita Skeeter." she muttered finally.
"How can you be worrying about her now?" said Ron, in utter disbelief.
"I'm not worrying about her." Hermione said to her knees. "I'm just thinking...remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks? 'I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl. ' This is what she meant, isn't it? She reported his trial, she knew he'd passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky too, remember... 'Ludo Bagman's a bad wizard. ' Mr. Crouch would have been furious he got off, he would have talked about it at home."
"Yes, but as stupid as he may be... Bagman did not pass information on purpose, did he?" Y/n pointed out and Hermione shrugged.
"And Fudge reckons Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?" Ron said, turning back to Harry.
"Yeah." said Harry. "But he's only saying that because Crouch disappeared near the Beauxbatons carriage."
"We never thought of her, did we?" said Ron slowly. "Mind you, she's definitely got giant blood, and she doesn't want to admit it..."
"Of course she doesn't." said Hermione sharply, looking up. "Look what happened to Hagrid when Rita found out about his mother. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her, just because she's part giant. Who needs that sort of prejudice? I'd probably say I had big bones if I knew that's what I'd get for telling the truth."
Hermione looked at her watch. "We haven't done any practicing!" she said, looking shocked. "We were going to do help Harry learn the Impediment Curse! We'll have to really get down to it tomorrow! Come on. Y/n, Harry, you need to get some sleep."
Harry, Y/n and Ron went slowly upstairs to their dormitory. As Harry pulled on his pajamas, he looked over at Neville's bed. True to his word to Dumbledore, he had not told Ron, Y/n and Hermione what he had learned about Neville's parents. As Harry took off his glasses and climbed into his four-poster, he imagined how it must feel to have parents still living but unable to recognize you. He often got sympathy from strangers for being an orphan, but as he listened to Neville's snores, he thought that Neville deserved it more than he did. Lying in the darkness, Harry felt a rush of anger and hate toward the people who had tortured Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom...He remembered the jeers of the crowd as Crouch's son and his companions had been dragged from the court by the dementors...He understood how they had felt...Then he remembered the milk-white face of the screaming boy and realized with a jolt that he had died a year later...
It was Voldemort, Harry thought, staring up at the canopy of his bed in the darkness, it all came back to Voldemort...He was the one who had torn these families apart, who had ruined all these lives...
Ron and Hermione were supposed to be studying for their exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, but they were putting most of their efforts into helping Y/n and Harry prepare for the third task.
"You both should be preparing for the exams. We do not want you to fail because of us." Y/n said as he cast a new spell from his wand.
"Don't worry about it." Hermione said shortly. "At least we'll get top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'd never have found out about all these hexes in class. "
"Good training for when we're all Aurors." said Ron excitedly, attempting the Impediment Curse Y/n had taught them on a wasp that had buzzed into the room and making it stop dead in midair.
The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term. Y/n and Harry were practicing hexes, charms and jinxes at every available moment.
Y/n felt nervous again. This task would be the last task and this time they had no real idea of what they would face in the maze. To make matters worse whoever had placed his and Harry's names into the goblet still had not made their move.
Tired of walking in on Harry, Y/n, Hermione, and Ron practicing spells all over the school. Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes. With Y/n's guidance Harry had soon mastered the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers. The Reductor Curse, which would enable him to blast solid objects out of his way and with Hermione's help the two had learned the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of hers that would make their wands point due north, therefore enabling them to check whether they was going in the right direction within the maze.
"Try to imagine the wall you are trying to create. Y/n instructed.
Harry was still having trouble with the Shield Charm. This was supposed to cast a temporary, invisible wall around himself that deflected minor curses.
"Protrego!" Harry chanted.
"Let us see how it holds up." Y/n said and he nodded to Hermione who raised her wand.
Hermione managed to shatter it with a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Harry wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterward before she had looked up the counter-jinx.
"You're still doing really well, though." Hermione said encouragingly, looking down her list and crossing off those spells they had already learned. "Some of these paired with the one's Y/n is teaching us are bound to come in handy."
"Come and look at this." said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. "What's Malfoy doing?"
Harry, Y/n and Hermione went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be keeping a lookout, both were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth and speaking into it.
"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie." said Harry curiously.
"A what?" Y/n asked confused.
"He can't be." said Hermione. "I've told you, those sorts of things don't work around Hogwarts. Come on." she added briskly, turning away from the window and moving back into the middle of the room. "Let's try that Shield Charm again."
Sirius was sending daily owls now. Like Hermione, he seemed to want to concentrate on getting Harry and Y/n through the last task before they concerned themselves with anything else. He reminded Harry in every letter that whatever might be going on outside the walls of Hogwarts was not their responsibility, nor was it within their power to influence it.
'If Voldemort is really getting stronger again, he wrote, my priority is to ensure your safety. He cannot hope to lay hands on you while you are under Dumbledore's protection, but all the same, take no risks. Concentrate on getting through that maze safely, and then we can turn our attention to other matters.'
And finally June twenty fourth arrived. Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing Harry and Y/n a good-luck card from Sirius. It was only a piece of parchment, folded over and bearing a muddy paw print on its front, but both 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 Y/n together, staring at her.
"Nothing." said Hermione quickly, trying to shove the paper out of sight,
Ron however grabbed it and he stared at the headline and said. "No way. Not today. That old cow."
"What?" said Harry.
"Not Rita Skeeter again?" Y/n asked.
"No." said Ron, and just like Hermione, he attempted to push the paper out of sight.
"It's about us, isn't it?" said Harry.
"No." said Ron, in an entirely unconvincing tone. But before either Harry or Y/n could demand to see the paper. Draco 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.
Y/n took out his wand now "Accio paper." He said holding his wand out and the paper shot out of Malfoy's hands and over to him.
"Hey!" Draco shouted but Y/n just ignored him.
"Let me see it too." Harry said to Y/n.
Y/n turned over the newspaper. and both found themselves staring at pictures of themselves, beneath the banner headline.
"HARRY POTTER INFLUENCED BY DANGEROUS GRINDELWALD?"
The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School.
Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead a relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him. On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting too badly to continue studying.
It is possible, say top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potters brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, and that his insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion.
"He might even be pretending." said one specialist. "This could be a plea for attention."
The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public.
"Potter can speak Parseltongue." reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."
Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue 'as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers. Similarly, anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence.'"
Violence being something that seems to come naturally to young Y/n Grindelwald who is rarely seen outside of Harry Potter's company. Doubts into his own temperament have been raised with his aggressive and violent use of magic to subdue a dragon in the first task when other champions found more peaceful methods. This reporter was in fact on the receiving end of an outburst from Young Grindelwald one Hogsmeade weekend. Young though he may be it is clear the boy has become used to making threats to those he dislikes...
Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Grindelwald will show no hesitation in resorting to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening.
"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?" said Harry lightly, folding up the paper.
"Well, she never liked me in the first place." Y/n said.
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've 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..."
"Bugging...Oh!" Y/n suddenly jumped from his thoughts shocking the three. "Oh that is very clever, and most distasteful...but clever." Y/n said
"What is?" Hermione quickly asked him.
"I believe I may have worked out how Miss Skeeter is overhearing conversations. Although I would need to check in the library, possibly speak to Professor McGonagall..."
"What's your idea?" Hermione asked him keenly and Y/n whispered something in her ear.
"Oh of course... then no one would be able to see...not 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! Just give me two seconds in the library, just to make sure!"
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 and Y/n. "She must really hate that Skeeter woman to risk missing the start of an exam."
"She is not the only who who dislikes her..." Y/n said.
What're you two going to do in Binns's class... read again?"
"What else would we do?" Y/n countered.
Exempt from the end-of-term tests as a Triwizard champion, Y/n and Harry had been been sitting in the back of every exam class so far, looking up as many fresh jinx's and hexes for the third task as they could.
"S'pose so." Harry said to Ron, but just then. Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward them.
"Potter, Grindelwald, 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 then moved away.
"Did you know about this?" Harry asked Y/n.
"No, I did not." Y/n said surprised by this news as well. "My Grandmother made no mention of it at all in her last letter."
"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?" Harry asked Ron and Y/n blankly.
"Dunno." said Ron.
"I hope for their sakes that they do not." Y/n said returning to his breakfast eager to finish it now.
"I'd better hurry, I'm going to be late for Binns. See you two later." Ron said.
Y/n 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. Though Y/n was finished he was waiting for Harry who was just staring down at his plate.
"Forget the Dursley's My Grandmother will take great insult if you do not come and meet her you know." Y/n said to him now hoping to give him an incentive.
"You sure about that, after everything the daily prophet's been saying about you and you're association with me." Harry said pointing to the paper on the table
"Harry please, my Grandmother's brother was a fanatic who tried to lead a mass rebellion in the wizarding world and her son was a notorious death eater... she has heard it all before in the papers." Y/n said dismissively. "Rita Skeeter is the one who should be avoiding her, She's been looking to give her a talking to for quite some time..." Y/n just let out an involuntary shudder at the thought.
"I don't know..." Harry said but the door of the side chamber opened, and Cedric stuck his head out.
"Harry, Y/n come on, they're waiting for you!"
"Come on you heard him." Y/n said getting up himself.
Harry reluctantly got up now.
They walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber.
Y/n went inside first followed by Harry.
Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his fathers hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. She waved at Y/n, who smiled and gave a small wave back. Harry saw Mrs. Weasley and Bill standing in front of the fireplace, beaming at him.
"Surprise!" Mrs. Weasley said excitedly as he smiled broadly and walked over to him. "Thought we'd come and watch you. Harry!" She bent down and kissed him on the cheek.
"You two all right?" said Bill, grinning at Harry and Y/n then shaking his hand. "Charlie wanted to come, but he couldn't get time off. He said you were both incredible against the Horntail and Hebridean."
"Hello Bill." Y/n shook his hand. "Mrs Weasley." He bowed his head.
"Y/n." Mrs Weasley said not greeting Y/n as warmly as she had Harry.
Harry looked between them, then said, "Mrs. Weasley, you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly, did you? Because Hermione's not my girlfriend. She's..."
Y/n just cleared his throat stopping Harry now as he noticed Krum's ear's perking up.
"Oh!" said Mrs. Weasley "No...of course I didn't!" She said brightening up now and greeting Y/n properly.
"Where is my Grandmother?" Y/n asked looking around the room but not seeing her.
"Talking with Dumbledore. She's still quiet angry that your name was in the goblet." Bill told him.
"I see... Poor Dumbledore." Y/n said feeling sorry for his headmaster. His eyes looked around the room. Fleur Delacour, Y/n noticed, was eyeing Bill with great interest over her mother's shoulder. Y/n could tell she had no objection whatsoever to long hair or earrings with fangs on them. "Bill." Y/n said quietly getting his attention.
"What's up Y/n?" Bill asked.
"I think someone has taken a liking to you." Y/n told him indicating to Fleur with his head.
"Oh yeah?" Bill grinned and looked over at Fleur now.
"This is really nice of you." Harry muttered to Mrs. Weasley now. "I thought for a moment... the Dursleys..."
"Hmm." said Mrs. Weasley, pursing her lips. She had always refrained from criticizing the Dursleys in front of Harry, but her eyes flashed every time they were mentioned.
"It's great being back here." said Bill, looking around the chamber. Violet, the Fat Lady's friend, winked at him from her frame. "Haven't seen this place for five years. Is that picture of the mad knight still around? Sir Cadogan?"
"Oh yeah," said Harry, who had met Sir Cadogan the previous year.
"Do not get us started on him..."Y/n shook his head.
"And the Fat Lady?" said Bill.
"She was here in my time." said Mrs. Weasley. "She gave me such a telling off one night when I got back to the dormitory at four in the morning..."
"What were you doing out of your dormitory at four in the morning?" said Bill, surveying his mother with amazement.
Mrs. Weasley grinned, her eyes twinkling. "Your father and I had been for a nighttime stroll," she said. "He got caught by Apollyon Pringle, he was the caretaker in those days...your father's still got the marks."
"Fancy giving us a tour?" said Bill.
"Yeah, okay." said Harry, and they made their way back toward the door into the Great Hall. As they passed Amos Diggory, he looked around.
"There you are, are you?" he said, looking Harry up and down.
"Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Cedric's caught you up on points, are you?"
"What?" said Harry.
"Ignore him." said Cedric in a low voice to Harry, frowning after his father. "He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament...you know, when she made out you and Y/n were the only Hogwarts champions."
"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?" said Amos Diggory, loudly enough for Harry to hear as he started to walk out of the door with Mrs. Weasley and Bill. "Still,.. you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?"
"Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble, Amos!" Mrs. Weasley said angrily. "I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry!"
Y/n decided not to point out her own hypocrisy having only just worked his way back into her good books.
Mr. Diggory looked as though he was going to say something angry, but his wife laid a hand on his arm, and he merely shrugged and turned away.
Y/n and Harry had a very enjoyable morning walking over the sunny grounds with Bill and Mrs. Weasley, showing them the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship. Mrs. Weasley was intrigued by the Whomping Willow, which had been planted after she had left school, and reminisced at length about the gamekeeper before Hagrid, a man called Ogg.
"How's Percy?" Harry asked as they walked around the greenhouses.
"Not good." said Bill.
"What's wrong with him?" Y/n asked.
"He's very upset." said Mrs. Weasley, lowering her voice and glancing around. "The Ministry wants to keep Mr. Crouch's disappearance quiet, but Percy's been hauled in for questioning about the instructions Mr. Crouch has been sending in. They seem to think there's a chance they weren't genuinely written by him. Percy's been under a lot of strain. They're not letting him fill in for Mr. Crouch as the fifth judge tonight. Cornelius Fudge is going to be doing it."
They returned to the castle for lunch.
"Mum... Bill!" said Ron, looking stunned, as he joined the Gryffindor table. "What're you doing here?"
"Come to watch Harry and Y/n 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 rebels' 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 soon 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; he had forgotten to worry about that evening's task, and not until Hermione turned up, halfway through lunch, did he remember that she had had a brainwave about Rita Skeeter.
"Are you going to tell us.."
Hermione shook her head warningly and glanced at Mrs. Weasley.
"Hello Hermione." Mrs Weasley greeted her as Hermione sat down.
"Hello Mrs Weasley..." Hermione said unsure as to the woman's mood.
"We have cleared up the Skeeter nonsense." Y/n whispered to Hermione.
"Oh...that's good." Hermione said feeling pleased. "Actually I think you were right on that idea..." She began but she never got to finish her sentence.
"Y/n." A voice called out behind them and Y/n immediately put down his fork and got up.
"Grandmother..." Y/n said pleased to see her. "I heard you met with Dumbledore."
"Yes...I felt someone need to give him quite the good drilling after the shambles of yours and Potter's name coming out of that Goblet on Halloween. I have had months to work up quite the storm."
Mrs Weasley shifted a little uncomfortably.
"Why don't you introduce me to your friends you talk so much about Y/n. " Y/n's Grandmother smiled ever so slitghly as Y/n noticed Atticus sliding out of the Hall, clearly not wanting to be caught up in the family engagement.
"Yes of course Grandmother." Y/n said clearing his throat now. "First let me introduce Ronald Weasley."
He indicated to Ron.
"Er...Hello." Ron said feeling quite put on the spot at the prospect of meeting another Grindelwald.
"A Weasley?" Y/n's grandmother said intrigued and now seemed to take notice of Molly who fidgeted uncomfortably. "Molly, I had no idea you were here. It has been quite some time since last we saw one another."
"Yes, Quite some time indeed Ms Grindelwald." Molly said behaving as if she was a schoolgirl again.
"Come now, It might have been some time but I told you long ago you and Arthur can call me Frieda. How is he by the chance. The papers seem to quote the ministry as busy these days." Y/n's Grandmother said back.
"Far too busy. Arthur hasn't been this busy since the days of...well you know..." Molly cut herself off.
"Only too well Molly." Frieda said as she cast her eyes to the others. "Yours as well?"
"Oh Yes!" Molly said proudly now. "You've already met Ronald. The twin are Fred and George just older than Ron by a year. Next to them is our youngest and only daughter Ginny. They have two older brothers who are working right now Percy and Charlie." Mrs Weasley explained and put her hand on Bill's arm now. "You remember Bill of course?"
"Eh?" Bill said confused.
"But of course." Frieda said as if remembering something a long time ago. "Bill had just been born when last I saw him. It seems like you have been productive Molly, but you did say you wanted a big happy family. Well done." Frieda congratulated her and Mrs Weasley looked as if she has just scored top marks on an exam.
"Thank you. Bill and I are here to cheer Y/n and Harry on with the final task tonight." Mrs Weasley explained.
"Ah yes." Frieda said as her eyes turned to look at Harry now. "Harry Potter...Y/n told me you two had become friends. How are you feeling? This tournament must be taking quite a toll upon you both."
"I'm okay." Harry lied a little.
"Modest." Frieda commented with a little smile. "I dare say you have an air of mischievousness to you that James carried."
"You knew my dad..." Harry quickly said.
"Oh yes." Frieda nodded and both Y/n and Harry looked at one another. Y/n had not known this. "I knew all four the 'Marauders' as they called themselves back then as well as Lily.
"Mum..." Harry said quietly.
"I did not see James and Lily often I must admit but I certainly saw plenty of Remus. He ad Sirius absolutely adored Y/n's grandfather and he would spoil the two with spells and tricks whenever he saw them."
"Grandfather?...But you never mention him...Grandmother." Y/n spoke up shocked by this news as he saw Mrs Weasley looking sad now.
"And I shan't anymore today." Frieda smiled sadly. "Come you still have one more person to introduce to me."
"What?" Y/n asked and then suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. "Grandmother...please allow me to introduce my best friend. Hermione Granger." Y/n said now.
"H...Hello." Hermione said nervous in the presence of Y/n's grandmother.
"How do you do dear." Frieda said looking at her as Y/n tried to get a read on his grandmothers face. "Y/n has told me quite a lot about you."
"He has?" Hermione asked and Frieda chuckled.
"I dare say he get's more excited by a letter from you than he does anyone else."
"Grandmother..." Y/n said feeling embarrassed once again by this statement as Hermione blushed red.
"We still have some time before your lunch ends. Will you join me and Y/n for some tea dear? I have managed to persuade Dumbledore to let us one of the free rooms. I am afraid this old woman is not quite up to the standards of these benches."
"Persuade or demand?" Y/n asked but the look he was returned with answered his question for him.
"Umm...Alright." Hermione said not feeling sure she had a choice in the matter.
"Excellent, I shall see the rest of you for dinner." Frieda said as she began to lead the way out of the hall.
Y/n and Hermione followed silently behind as they kept looking at one another. Until finally they had arrived at a room that had been very quickly turned into a small tea room with chairs, a table and tea cup, a teapot and a plate of sandwiches and cakes.
Frieda sat down first as Y/n and Hermione sat down opposite it her now.
"It is good to see you again Y/n. I can't tell you how worried I have been since you're name was drawn from that goblet." Frieda began as she took out her wand and wordlessly swished it to make the tea cups place themselves in front of the three and the teapot to pour.
"It has been a difficult few months. For all of us." Y/n admitted. "But we are close to the end now, Harry and I have been working hard for tonight's task with Ron and Hermione helping us whenever they can. We all cannot wait for this to be over."
"You must keep your guard up Y/n, now more than ever. Do not lower it just because you are close to the end. That is where most meet their demise for they are tricked into a false sense of security." Frieda warned him.
"Yes Grandmother." Y/n nodded looking down at his tea.
"Now...I want to address these rumours I have hearing about..." Y/n's Grandmother said lifting her cup showing she was all business now.
"Grandmother those are completely false an..." But Y/n stopped when his Grandmother looked at him over her cup with sharp eyes. She calmly sipped some of the tea and then lowered it back down its saucer.
"I wish to hear it from the young lady Y/n...It's Miss Granger isn't it?" Y/n's grandmother asked her.
"Y..Yes Ma'am." Hermione stuttered nervously.
"I must say you've made quite the name for yourself in the gossip rags. But I am not interested in gossip...I much prefer facts."
"Well..." Hermione began nervously. "Harry and I are just friends. Viktor Krum is someone who I think likes me but I only went to the Yule Ball with him when Y/n didn't look like he was going to ask me. Y/n and I..."
"I like her Grandmother." Y/n said now to make things easier on Hermione.
"Well I could tell that Y/n I am hardly a fool." Frieda replied. "A boy does not spend his money on thoughtful gifts such as the ones you have bought Miss Granger without being smitten by her."
"We are waiting till the tournament is over to discuss our future. So I can put all my efforts in to it." Y/n told his grandmother next.
"I see..." Frieda commented making no judgement yet as she sipped her tea again. "And why I ask did you not ask Miss Granger to the ball Y/n?" Frieda asked next.
"I did in fact ask Hermione." Y/n started. "Only much later than I should of, I had become obsessive over trying to trying to solve that second task that when I came to ask her she had already accepted Mr Krum's invitation having not expected me to ask."
"So you got you're priorities mixed up." Frieda said.
"At the risk of sounding childish my own life as well as Harry's rested on working on that clue." Y/n tried to defend himself.
"Well you are still a child Y/n..." His grandmother pointed out. "But one that's been placed in a difficult position." She sighed. "Very well, as long as you both are not behaving like the gossip rags report then I have nothing further to say. I did have my doubts anyway for Y/n said that you are a bright witch miss Granger."
He did?" Hermione asked feeling a little better now as Y/n started to drink his tea.
"I believe he referred to you as the brightest young witch for an age." Frieda said causing young to choke on his tea.
When lunch was thankfully over Y/n took his Grandmother to see the Gryffindor common room. While Harry, Bill, and Mrs. Weasley whiled away the afternoon with a long walk around the castle, and then returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast.
Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Harry thought her eyes looked red. Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her. Ron was delighted to see that Snape however was sat at the Slytherin table having had to give up his seat to Y/n's grandmother due to her back not being supported by the benches.
There were more courses than usual, but Y/n, who was starting to feel really nervous now, didn't eat much not even when Hermione tired to encourage him. As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."
Y/n and Harry got up now. The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding them, the Weasleys were loudest of all.
"Be safe." Hermione whispered in Y/n's ear as she hugged him for good luck.
"I will do what I can." Y/n said holding her before he had to let go, and both he and Hary headed off out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor.
"Feeling all right. Harry?" Bagman asked as they went down the stone steps onto the grounds. "Confident?"
"I'm okay." said Harry. It was sort of true; he was nervous, but he kept running over all the hexes and spells he had been practicing in his mind as they walked, and the knowledge that he could remember them all made him feel better.
They walked onto the Quidditch field, which was now completely unrecognizable. A twenty-foot-high hedge ran all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them, the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.
Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill, the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.
"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze." said Professor McGonagall to the champions. "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?"
The champions nodded.
"Off you go, then!" said Bagman brightly to the four patrollers.
"Good luck. Harry, Y/n." Hagrid whispered, and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze.
Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered. "Sonorus," and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands. "Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin!"
"Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each... Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "In second place, with eighty two points. Mr Y/n Grindelwald also of Hogwarts School!" The clapping continued but Y/n knew he was not as popular as Harry nor Cedric but he didn't care. He knew the people that mattered most to him would be cheering him on. "In third place on eighty points, Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause. "And in fouth place... Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"
Harry could just make out Ms Grindelwald, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione applauding Fleur politely, halfway up the stands. He pointed the out to Y/n and both boys waved up at them, and they waved back, beaming at them.
"So...on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" said Bagman.
"Good luck Harry and make sure you survive alright...that is all that matters." Y/n said to him.
"You too Y/n." Harry said nodding slightly nervous now.
"Three...two...one..." Bagman gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze.
Y/n just watched as Harry and Cedric disappeared now going over spells and ideas in his head as he waited.
Ludo Bagman brought the whistle up to his lips again and blew.
Taking a deep breath Y/n stepped forward and saw that 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 he entered the maze.
He immediately drew his wand and chanted "Lumos." to try and brighten the dark pathway as he continued to walk down it. He soon came to a fork in the path. Left or Right?
Bagman's whistle sounded for the third time. Krum was now entering the maze. Y/n had to quickly make up his mind and chose the left path starting to head down it with his wand held out in front of him, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still, there was nothing in sight.
Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the fourth time. All of the champions were now inside.
Y/n continued forward but it felt like with every step he took the maze was growing darker as the sky overhead deepened to navy. He reached a second fork on his path now.
"Time to use Hermione's spell. Point Me." he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm.
The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, to another path that didn't look particularly inviting. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go northeast for the center of the maze.
Knowing he had no choice Y/n started forward cautiously. The path was full of twists and turns and Y/n was careful to slowly peek his head around each corner to try and see if there was anything them.
He had reached another turn now, surely a new path should open up soon? He thought to himself. He began to move his head slowly to look around the corner but to his surprise and disappointment he finally spotted a creature.
It looked to be large black sphynx like cat with eyes of glowing purple and sharp teeth.
Y/n's head retreated. "A Matagot...damn. Why does Hogwarts have one of those and where on earth have they been keeping it?" Y/n whispered to himself.
A Matagot was a problem. This was not something Y/n would be able to solve with simple spell work, for a Matagot is resistant to most forms of magic, Meaning he would not be able to blind, confuse or constrict it. The Matagot would also multiply themselves upon being hit with offensive spells making the problem an even bigger one. His wand was useless here. He could always double back but he would risk losing a lot of time just to end up where he started.
Ideas ran through his mind but each one hit a dead end until finally he thought about the Matagot itself. "Sorry Professor..." Y/n said before he quickly placed his wand in his mouth and closed his eyes.
The Matagot's eye's were trained straight ahead but soon narrowed as they spotted what looked to be a small black cat with a wand in it's mouth slowly coming around the corner. The Matagot began to stride forward now as the black cat stopped on the spot and waited. The Matagot growled, it's large teeth beginning to show but the little cat stayed still and did not move as it looked up at it. The Matagot was mere inches from it now as it began to sniff the cat.
A few moments passed by and the Matagot's teeth began to disappear as it closed it's mouth seemingly now lost all interest in the little cat and returned it's gaze to the corner waiting for champion to appear.
The black cat slowly moved forward past the uninterested Matagot and disappeared around a corner. Once a fair distance away from the Matagot it changed back into the form of Y/n who took his wand from his mouth.
'It is a good thing I remembered Matagot's resemble Black cats in the muggle world.' He thought letting out a sigh of relief but it was short lived as a scream shattered the silence.
"Fleur?" Y/n said worried.
There was silence. He stared all around him. What had happened to her? Her scream seemed to have come from somewhere ahead. He took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist.
Y/n began to rush down the path as he tried to get closer to where he had heard Fleur's scream come from but he saw no sign of her. He had been hurrying along a new path for a few minutes, when he heard something in the path running parallel to his own that made him stop dead.
"What are you doing?" yelled Cedric's voice. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"
And then Y/n heard Krum's voice.
"Crucio!"
The air was suddenly full of Cedric's yells. Horrified, Y/n began sprinting up his path and turning a corner to see Cedric jerking and twitching on the ground, Krum standing over him.
Y/n immediately pointed his wand at Krum just as Krum looked up. Krum turned and began to aim his wand at him.
"Stupefy!" Y/n yelled before Krum had a chance to cast.
The spell hit Krum in the front as he fell backwards, and lay motionless in the grass.
A small hole in the hedge burned through and Harry struggled through it, tearing his robes.
Y/n helped pull him through it.
"I heard Cedric and Krum." Harry quickly said.
"As did I. Krum was performing the cruciatus curse on him." Y/n explained and pointed out the two of them.
Y/n and Harry dashed over to Cedric, who had stopped twitching and was lying there panting, his hands over his face.
"Are you alright Cedric? Harry asked.
"Yeah." panted Cedric. "Yeah...I don't believe it...he crept up behind me...I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me..."
Cedric got up. He was still shaking. Y/n, Cedric and Harry looked down at Krum.
"I can't believe this...I thought he was all right." Harry said, staring at Krum.
"So did I." said Cedric.
"Did either you hear Fleur scream earlier?" said Harry.
"Yes... but I could not find her.." Y/n said
"You don't think Krum got her too?" Cedric asked.
"I don't know." said Harry slowly.
"Should we leave him here?" Cedric muttered.
"No." said Harry. "I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him. . . otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a skrewt. "
"He'd deserve it." Cedric muttered.
"As much as I dislike him, we cannot stoop to such a level." Y/n pointed out.
Cedric just sighed and Y/n raised his wand and shot a shower of red sparks into the air, which hovered high above Krum, marking the spot where he lay.
Y/n, Harry and Cedric stood there in the darkness for a moment, looking around them. Then Cedric said. "Well...I s'pose we'd better go on..."
"What?" said Harry. "Oh...yeah...right..."
It was an odd moment. The three had been briefly united against Krum...now the fact that they were opponents came back to them.
The three of them proceeded up the dark path. "Harry..." Y/n whispered to him getting his attention. "It is better for us stick together."
Harry nodded and when they reached the end of the path Y/n and Harry turned left, and Cedric right. Cedric's footsteps soon died away.
Using the the Four-Point Spell Hermione had taught them Y/n and Harry continued forward, making sure they were moving in the right direction. Y/n was still thinking about what they'd just seen Krum do. The use of an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow human being meant a life term in Azkaban, that was what Moody had told them. Krum surely couldn't have wanted the Triwizard Cup that badly...
Every so often they hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made them feel sure they were getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as they strode down a long, straight path, Harry saw movement once again, and the beams of wandlight hit an extraordinary creature, one which they had only seen in picture form, in his Monster Book of Monsters.
It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion, great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond shaped eyes upon Y/n and Harry as they approached. Both raised their wands, hesitating. She was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking their progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice.
"You are both very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."
This was good news Y/n thought. The were close to the end.
"So... so will you move, please?" said Harry, knowing what the answer was going to be.
"No." she said, continuing to pace. "Not unless you can each answer a riddle. Answer on your first guess...I let you pass. Answer wrongly...I attack. Remain silent... I will let you walk away from me unscathed."
"...You and Hermione are the ones good at this sort of thing." Harry said to Y/n said looking up at the Sphinx.
Y/n weighed their chances. If the riddle was too hard, they could keep silent, get away from the sphinx unharmed, and try and find an alternative route to the center.
"I think I am going to attempt it Harry, but the choice is yours. We stick together." Y/n said.
"Right..." Harry said thinking for a moment. "Let us hear the riddle?"
"The first riddle is for you." The sphinx said to Harry as she sat down upon her hind legs, in the very middle of the path, and recited.
"First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard, During the search for a hard to find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Harry gaped at her. "Could I have it again...more slowly?" he asked tentatively. She blinked at him, smiled, and repeated the poem. "All the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?" Harry asked.
She merely smiled her mysterious smile. Harry took that for a "yes. " Harry cast his mind around. There were plenty of animals he wouldn't want to kiss, his immediate thought was a Blast-Ended Skrewt, but something told him that wasn't the answer. He'd have to try and work out the clues.
"A person in disguise." Harry muttered, staring at her, "Who lies...er...that'd be a... an impostor. No, that's not my guess! A...a spy? I'll come back to that...could you give me the next clue again, please?"
She repeated the next lines of the poem.
"'The last thing to mend.'" Harry repeated. "Er... no idea... 'middle of middle'... could I have the last bit again?"
She gave him the last four lines.
"'The sound often heard during the search for a hard to find word.'" said Harry. "Er...that'd be... er...hang on... 'er'! Er's a sound!"
The sphinx smiled at him.
"Spy...er...spy...er..." said Harry, pacing up and down. "A creature I wouldn't want to kiss...a spider!"
The sphinx smiled more broadly. "Correct. Now for your riddle." He head turned to Y/n who looked up at her.
"I am something people love or hate.
I change peoples appearances and thoughts.
If a person takes care of them self I will go up even higher.
To some people I will fool them.
To others I am a mystery.
Some people might want to try and hide me but I will show.
No matter how hard people try I will Never go down.
What am I?"
Harry looked to Y/n who had already begun to pace back and forth repeating the lines to himself.
"'If a person takes care of them self I will go even higher but No matter how hard people try I will never go down.' What goes up but never down? 'And some people might want to try and hide me but I will show.' So it is something people are self conscious about."
"Something that can only go up and somethin people are always self conscious about...Age...The answer is age!" Y/n said suddenly.
She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for them to pass.
"Thanks!" said Harry, and, still amazed at his brilliance at solving his own riddle.
They both moved forward. They had to be close now, they had to be...
"Point me." Y/n chanted his wand held in his hand. It pointed straight forward telling him they were bang on course, as long as he didn't meet anything too horrible, He and Harry might have might have a chance...
"Come on!" Y/n said breaking into a run with Harry.
A choice of paths opened up ahead. "Point Me!" Y/n whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one and saw light ahead. "Harry...look..."
The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Suddenly a dark figure hurtled out onto the path in front of them.
Cedric was going to get there first. Cedric was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup, and Harry knew he would never catch up, Cedric was much taller, had much longer legs -
Then something immense began climbing over a hedge to his left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with his own, it was moving so fast Cedric was about to run into it, and Cedric, his eyes on the cup, had not seen it...
"Cedric!" Harry bellowed. "On your left!"
Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the thing and avoid colliding with it, but in his haste, he tripped. Y/n saw Cedric's wand fly out of his hand as a gigantic spider stepped into the path and began to bear down upon Cedric.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, the spell hit the spider's gigantic, hairy black body, but for all the good it did, he might as well have thrown a stone at it, the spider jerked, scuttled around, and ran at Y/n and Harry instead. "Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"
But it was no use... the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it. Harry had one horrifying glimpse of eight shining black eyes and razor-sharp pincers before it was upon him.
"Incendio!" Y/n chanted as the large spider suddenly burst into flames screeching and thrashing around letting go of Harry dropping him to the floor.
"Aim for it's underbelly with everything you have!" Y/n shouted to Harry and Cedric.
Without pausing to think, Harry aimed high at the spider's underbelly and shouted "Stupefy!" just as Cedric yelled the same thing.
The two spells combined did what one alone had not, The spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.
"Aquamenti!" Y/n cast as water doused the spider putting out the flames now.
"Is it...dead?" Harry asked panting.
"No...but It will be very angry when it wakes up. We need to move." Y/n told him.
"Harry! Y/n!" he heard Cedric shouting. "You all right? Did it fall on either of you?"
"No." Harry called back, panting. He looked down at his leg. It was bleeding freely. He could see some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on his torn robes. He tried to get up, but his leg was shaking badly and did not want to support his weight.
"Here let me." Y/n said holding out his hand to Harry and helping him back to his feet.
Harry just leaned against the hedge, gasping for breath, and looked around. "Thanks..."
"That was NEWT level magic you used there Y/n..." Cedric said deeply impressed.
"It pays off to study hard...." Y/n said as he turned his concerns to Harry.
But Harry was looking at Cedric who was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, gleaming behind him.
"Take it, then." Harry panted to Cedric. "Go on, take it. You're there."
But Cedric didn't move. He merely stood there, looking at Harry. Then he turned to stare at the cup.
Y/n saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cedric looked around at Harry and him again and took a deep breath. "One of you should take it. You should win. That's twice you've both saved my neck. Three for you Y/n."
"That's not how it's supposed to work." Harry said angrily. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you or Y/n. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."
"I do not care about winning this ridiculous competition...You and I did not even enter ourselves into it. Cedric was the only who here who chose to be."
Cedric took a few paces nearer to the Stunned spider, away from the cup, shaking his head. "No." he said.
"Stop being noble." said Harry irritably. "Just take it, then we can get out of here."
Cedric watched Y/n helping Harry steadying himself, holding tight to the shoulder and the hedge.
"You both told me about the dragons." Cedric said. "I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."
"We had help on that too." Harry snapped.
"You helped us with the egg..." Y/n pointed out.
"I had help on the egg in the first place." said Cedric.
"We're still square." said Harry, testing his leg gingerly, it shook violently as he put weight on it he had sprained his ankle when the spider had dropped him.
"Well Y/n should've got more points on the second task." said Cedric mulishly. "You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."
"I was only doing what I thought was right Cedric." Y/n told him.
"Just take the cup!" said Harry bitterly.
"No." said Cedric.
He stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Y/n and 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.
"All of us..." Harry said.
"What?" Y/n asked.
"We'll all take it at the same time." Harry said. "It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."
"A Hogwarts victory...I like the sound of that." Y/n said.
Cedric stared at Harry. He unfolded his arms. "You...you sure?"
"Yeah." said Harry. "Yeah...we've helped each other out, haven't we? We all got here. Let's just take it together."
For a moment, Cedric looked as though he couldn't believe his ears, then his face split in a grin.
"You're on." he said. "Come here."
He grabbed Harry's other arm below the shoulder and both he and Y/n helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. When they had reached it, all three held a hand out over one of the cup's gleaming handles.
"On three." said Y/n. "One... two... three..."
He, Harry and Cedric both grasped a handle.
Instantly, Y/n felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet had left the ground. He could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup, it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling color, Harry and Cedric at his side.