Hoot Hoot
The third task was fast approaching and Harry was worn thin. Who knew one single year could be so taxing? He didn't even have any exams! Granted, he did have a death-defying tournament to somehow get through. Hermione and Draco had been helping him prepare, holding study sessions almost every night and at one point, shooting spells at him randomly in the corridors. After being hit twice from behind by a Jelly-Legs jinx he had put an end to that particular study method.
Harry actually felt quite optimistic about the last task. This was his forte, defense against the dark arts, the subject he excelled at. But as the end drew nearer something just didn't sit right with him but he could never put his finger on what it was. After his run in with Crouch he felt increasingly on edge. He still couldn't get the man's expression of complete and utter madness out of his head.
Harry was still staring in horror at his beloved Quidditch pitch that they had defiled with their stupid hedges. They had the entire grounds to put this maze including a huge empty expanse right behind the castle. Or even between the pitch and the castle. But what did they decide? Put it on the pitch! He almost whimpered in pain. Suddenly the hulking figure of Viktor Krum loomed over him. "Ve need to talk." He rumbled.
Harry didn't hear him, alternating between staring at his pitch and glaring at Bagman's back as he strolled up to the castle with Dumbledore. Krum tsked and grabbed his arm. He tugged the much smaller boy towards the imposing line of trees that marked the edge of the Forbidden Forest, effectively startling Harry out of his stupor. "Wha'?" He blurted out.
"Ve need to talk." Viktor repeated urgently. "It is about Herm-own-ninny." Harry snapped to attention, rubbing his tired eyes in an effort to focus. "Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm up-um, I mean I'm listening." Viktor finally let go of his arm and sighed heavily.
"I do not like her." He mumbled. Harry stared at him in shock. "Sorry?" Viktor seemed uncharacteristically shy. A small pink blush tinged his cheeks as he mumbled something that Harry didn't catch. He strained his ears to understand the mutters. "I can't hear you." He sighed. Viktor scuffed his foot along the ground. "I like Ronald."
Harry had to refrain himself from gasping dramatically. Ron?! He liked Ron?! Well, Merlin's saggy pants. How was he going to tell him that Ron was straight. "Um, well, he-you see Ron is-" He stumbled around his words trying to find the right ones when suddenly he didn't have to.
A rustle and crack of a branch from beside them had both wizards whirling around, wands out. Harry was wide awake now, his eyes searching and scanning the impenetrable darkness in front of them. "I don't see anything." He whispered. Viktor replied in an exact replica of Harry's hushed voice. "Keep an eye out. Do not let your guard down."
They stood, poised for attack, in silence for a moment, ears straining to hear a sound. Then the trembling body of Berty Crouch pitched out of the darkness, chattering madly. His eyes were unfocused and unseeing, whirling around madly as he ordered an imaginary Weatherby around. "Help me get him up!" Harry barked towards the immobile Bulgarian.
The two of them had jumped into action. They rushed to the clearly insane man as he clutched a tree for balance, talking to it as if it were Weatherby. In the back of his mind, Harry snorted at Percy's new name. As soon as his hand came into contact with Crouch's convulsing shoulder, he whirled around.
His eyes were suddenly clear and utterly terrified. Switching from insane to sane very quickly he grasped Harry's arm with an iron fist and began to natter on about his son and Voldemort. Mere minutes later, he switched at the flick of a wand again and started whispering frantically to his old house elf, Winky.
Harry freed himself from his grip and yelled at Krum: "I'll get Dumbledore! Stay with Krum!" He ran off in a burst of speed without waiting for Krum's answer and wasted no time in getting the adults. However, it was all for nought.
By the time they got back, Krum was lying Stupyfied on the forest floor, practically invisible while Crouch had actually vanished into the night, no trace of him to be seen.
"You're pondering again." Draco interrupted his thoughts with one cocked eyebrow and a wry smile. Harry stared at him blankly before shaking his head. "That's ridiculous! I don't ponder." He protested. Draco rolled his eyes and went back to his book. "Yes you do. You get that glaze in your eyes, like you're having an existential crisis and cringing really badly."Harry huffed. "Not true." Draco didn't even deign to answer, merely patting Harry's tanned hand with his own pale one. After a moment, Harry sighed and closed his own book. "I need to get to Divination." He said gloomily. Draco pouted and Harry grinned slyly.
"I mean, I could stay and skip…." He suggested in faux resignation. Draco shot up and sent him the evil eye. He pointed towards the library door. "March." He ordered.
Harry laughed and landed a swift peck on his cheek before ambling off, waving one hand over his shoulder. "Bye love." He hurried to Divination, having delayed leaving to the last second. He clambered up the trap door just in time, breathless and gasping like the Giant Squid out of water.
Trelawny blinked owlishly at him behind her large round glasses. Her beads clinked obnoxiously as she hovered hesitantly near the first row of desks. "Harry, my dear boy." She wavered. "Please, sit." She waved one trembling hand towards one of her many pouffes. As Harry passed her, a whiff of sherry drifted towards him mingling with the stifling heat of the room, and suffocating him under its heady perfume. Trelawny whimpered after he passed and gazed at him in pain.
"My poor boy." She whispered, bringing one hand up to thin lips. "Destined for doom." Harry spun around in irritation. "Sorry?" He asked sternly, steel in his tone. She gasped lightly and turned away dramatically. "I've said too much." Harry rolled his eyes and stomped over to the harshly pink pouffe by the window, slouching in it irritably. He should have skipped.
Trelawny's lilting voice washed over him, fading to a drone in the background as he grew drowsy in the stifling warmth of the tower room. He gazed out through lidded eyes at the cloudless sky, lazily watching an owl circle above the Forbidden Forest as he slowly started succumbing to sleep.
He was riding on a tawny eagle owl as it soared through the dusky sky. No-he was the owl. He swooped down through a maze of graves, the haunting chill seeping through his feathers to his fragile bones. His small talons landed on the warped wood of a windowsill and he shuffled through the open window to a horrifying sight.
Wormtail lay writhing on the floor of the dark room before a roaring fireplace. The dancing tongues of flame illuminated his face eerily, casting dark shadows over it as it contorted in pain. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and a piercing scream wrenched itself from between his clenched teeth. His back arched upwards, rattling coming from his chest in place of breath, before he slumped onto the wooden floor once more, sweat drenching his clothes, his face a sickly pale colour.
With obvious effort and thinly veiled disgust, the small heaving man began to crawl towards an armchair that sat in front of the fire. Owl Harry scuffled around but couldn't see more than the back of the high arching armchair. "My Lord." Peter gasped. "Please forgive me." He raised one trembling hand only to flinch away, the pleading half-smile on his lips gone and replaced with pure fear.
"You are in luck Wormtail." A high, bone chilling, hair raising voice spoke into the near silent room. A large snake slithered over the back of the chair, tongue snaking out to smell the owl on the air. She turned away, much more interested in the delectable treat begging and scraping on the ground. "Your blunder has not ruined everything." The voice continued. "The man is dead. And soon, Harry Potter will join him." The eery disembodied voice cackled maniacally, dissolving into wracking coughs.
"My Lord, you are not well. Let me tend to you so you may rise stronger than ever." Wormtail pleaded pathetically. "I am well enough for this!" It snapped. "You need reminding again Wormtail, to not fail me once more." Wormtail's eyes widened as he tried to cower backwards. "M'Lord please no!" "Crucio!" His high screams rebounded again around the desolate room and Harry felt a searing pain in his forehead. "Harry…." The voice hissed. It echoed around them, repeating and repeating, over and over again. "Harry….Harry….Harry…."
"Harry!" He shot up with a yell, still screaming as his wide eyes whirled around frantically, still in the manor with Wormtail. Ron shook him again. "Harry!" Harry breathed raggedly, chest heaving laboriously. Slowly, his clouded mind shook off the haze that shrouded it. "Mate are you okay?" Ron asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"
Harry glanced away from Ron's frightened face to see all the other scared students staring back at him. The low conspiratory whispering finally reached his ears. "I'm fine." He muttered. Then: "I'm fine!" He announced loudly, shrugging off Ron's hands. He stood up on shaky legs and shoved everything in his bag, mumbling something about the Hospital Wing before bolting out of the room like a spooked horse.
I need to find Draco.