"Harry, I'm glad you could make it," Headmaster Dumbledore spoke up as Harry stepped through the door into the office, where the Minister of Magic and Professor Moody were present.
"I came as soon as I received your invitation, sir."
"Excellent." Dumbledore smiled. "Cornelius here had something to say to you as well."
"Harry, my boy, it's good to see you again." the Minister of Magic walked up to him and shook his hand. "You kept me quite busy with your statement to the newspaper." He forced a laugh. "Such a secret and you keep it to yourself."
"I didn't want to tell it. The students who were affected by the basilisk didn't need to get dragged into the public."
"That speaks highly of you, my boy... yes it does. I have had many visitors who have demanded that I come to thank you in person. Many of your peers have parents or other relatives who work in the Ministry. It's public knowledge that we are acquainted, so naturally people came to me."
"It's nice of you to take the time," Harry replied neutrally.
"Of course, Harry... it was the obvious thing to do. But I personally don't think a thank you is enough... No-no, someone who fought a basilisk to save their fellow students deserves more than just gratitude... So I've arranged for you to receive the Order of Merlin, Third Class at the ceremony for the winner of the Triwizard Tournament. I'm awarding those too, you know? So I thought it was the best time for you to get your award and maybe get a trophy at the same time." The Minister laughed.
But now Harry was literally in shock. "Thank you." were the only words he could get out.
"You're welcome, my boy. You've earned it."
"If you don't mind, Cornelius, I'd like to talk to Harry in private. Alastor here will escort you wherever you'd like to go."
"Of course, of course." The Minister understood that he was being shooed away, "I needed to leave anyway. It was good to see you again, Harry."
And soon, it was just Dumbledore and Harry. "Before we get into what I want to show you, Harry, I have a question for you."
"Yes, Headmaster?" Harry tried to get over the shock of getting Order of Merlin.
"I learned my lesson from your first year when I didn't discuss anything with you, and then you threw yourself into danger because you had no idea what was going on. Unfortunately, this danger is directly about you, which is why I have to ask you this. Imagine a situation where I probably know who threw your name into the Goblet of Fire, and if you wish, I can call in the Aurors."
"Then why wouldn't you do that, sir?" Harry couldn't understand.
"For two reasons, my boy. First, I can't be sure we have the right suspect, and if we catch the wrong one, we'll never find the right one. And second, we'll lose the opportunity to catch the man behind the operation."
"You think the one who threw my name in is just a pawn?"
"I can only surmise, but if my age is good for anything, it's that I can claim that most of my experience is like that."
"So the plan is that I'll continue to be a lure?" Harry folded his arms across his chest.
"I don't want you to look at it that way, Harry... but I'm not going to argue that you're right on some part." the Headmaster sighed wearily. "If it were another student, I probably wouldn't even be having this debate... but I don't want to make it sound as if endangering you is alright, because it is not. This whole thing is really a continuation of our conversation in the infirmary after you defeated Voldemort and prevented him from taking the Philosopher's Stone."
"I asked then why Voldemort was after me. Is this about him?"
"I believe it is... your dreams are most likely reality."
"So Wormtail is the one who threw my name into the Goblet of Fire?"
"Wormtail did many things, but I believe it was someone else who threw your name in."
"So the map didn't lie? Was it Mr Crouch?"
"That's what I'm not sure of because I'm still missing something, something small but terribly important, but as I mentioned, if I investigate further, you'll still be in danger."
"And will I be at risk on this task? If it happens in the last one, for example, I might leave you thinking longer..." mused Harry.
"I can't divulge anything about the task, but I've done everything in my power to make sure you're not in any more danger than what's included in the task."
"I'll take your word for it then, sir." Harry sighed. "I don't like being bait... but in the end, this is bigger than just me. Voldemort is the enemy of us all."
"Correct, Harry. Come on, I'll show you my thoughts, maybe you'll see something there that I didn't... and please ask questions about what you see, maybe if I reiterate and explain it, I'll think of something." With those words, he showed Harry the Pensieve and how to use it. It had been a long evening for them, but they both needed more information to get to the bottom of this.
***
"Sirius is meeting us right after the second task, as it's the Hogsmeade weekend... he said you have to decide whether or not you'd like to bring Fleur," Hermione said when the two of them were together in the unused room.
"Personally, I trust Fleur. But this isn't about me," Harry said with a sigh as he remembered all that Sirius had to go through, "I'll put in the letter that I trust her, and it's up to him if that's good enough. I don't want to argue with Sirius, and I completely understand that everyone is a potential risk. Of course, I understand that he's slow to trust people too. If someone betrayed me after seven years of friendship and it earned me thirteen years in prison, I'd probably be cautious and paranoid too."
"Poor Sirius." Hermione sighed. "I'll send the letter again, as usual. It's safer if it goes through me. But you need to focus on your next task, it's the day after tomorrow, and we still don't know anything."
"What's worse is that I can't take anything with me except my wand. The Sorting Hat was a good companion."
"At least you weren't alone. Even though Cedric was helping you, I was also glad you had something or someone with you who was fully on your side. Anyway, remind me again what Mr Bagman told you."
"That we'd have to show courage against whatever came our way... but that we'd have to show it on our own since nothing could help us... well, and that we'd only need a wand and that we'd meet again after lunch. So we'll eat again and then sit for an hour before the potential potions wear off."
"Some hints," Hermione snorted, "You ended up in first place. You might as well have gotten more information. What are the points for then?"
"Good question."
"Anyway, we'll keep practicing your shields. If anything is a sure thing, it's the ability to hide behind a shield and then some more spells. If it's a monster, you'll make do with what you already know well."
"But what if we go one against one? First against last or something?"
"Then you try to fight for a while. You have enough extra points to afford to lose. And I still believe you'll be safer against another champion than against an unknown."
"You're right," he finally agreed, "come on, let's practice those shields of yours. If I just sit here, I'll go nuts."
***
"Are you all here yet? Brilliant!" Bagman announced when Harry arrived at their waiting tent again an hour before the task was to begin. "As always, we'll wait here together for an hour, and then we'll get started. What do you say?" he winked at them, "We'll go in ascending order of points, so Mr Bonaccord will go first, followed by Mr Krum. Since Mr Diggory and Mr Potter have the same number of points, they'll draw straws to see who goes next to last. Your task will be simple yet difficult. You will head one by one into the Forbidden Forest and be guided by lights to your destination."
The jovial man glanced around the room. "Of course, I won't tell you what your destination is, but you will find a golden egg with your name on it on a pedestal at the very end. Each pedestal is surrounded by a barrier created by Albus Dumbledore himself so that no one tampers with your egg. Only you can remove it, and then all you have to do is bring it to us. You can do whatever you like in the forest, but remember that points are awarded according to your speed and whether you bring your egg and in what condition. Please note that it will be fragile. If you break it, you will lose points. Oh, and lest I forget, the Headmaster mentioned that the centaurs in the forest are not part of your quest, so ignore them, and they'll leave you alone."
"And what if we can't complete our task?" Harry asked.
"I'd get to that in a second, but good question. All the Headmasters will be ready, so all you have to do is let off sparks, and someone will come to rescue you or just turn around and come back."
"But does that mean we get zero?" Krum asked.
"Of course, anyone who doesn't bring their egg in some form gets zero points. And one more warning, you will be disqualified if you try to summon anything from the castle or other places. A couple of ministerial staff will be on broomsticks in the air to keep an eye on this. All you will be carrying is also what you will defeat this task with."
They all nodded to him. This meant no broom and no flying. When Bagman had said all he wanted, he sat down as well, and together again, like idiots, they waited a full sixty minutes.
"Well, Mr Bonaccord, come on, I'll walk you to the start, and when I come back, I'll get the next one," and in a minute, they heard applause for Sebastian, and then silence again.
"It must be entertaining to be a spectator of this task." Harry snorted quietly.
"Watching the Forbidden Forest for a few hours sounds like fun," Cedric replied.
"You're not allowed to talk to each other, so be quiet," a Ministry official told them sternly. They both just laughed at the ridiculous idea the Ministry had come up with and carried on doing nothing.
***
In the end, Harry was left alone because he had the honour of being the last to go to his own funeral. Unfortunately, he didn't even know how the others had fared because after Sebastian headed out into the forest, someone had cast a spell on their tent to prevent any sound from entering. So all the champions could be dead or back in a minute and enjoying full points. And if there was anything that bothered Harry, it was the uncertainty. If he knew no one had succeeded, he maybe wouldn't even try and keep as many points as he had now. However, if everyone got the maximum, he had to succeed as well in order to win.
Luckily Fleur had taught him meditation, so he didn't have to march around like an idiot. He just sat there like an idiot instead and let stupid thoughts run through his head... yeah yeah, the meditation totally worked.
About a couple dozen minutes went by, and someone arrived into the tent and motioned for him to go. So Harry followed him, but when he came out of the first tent, he appeared in the second. It was kind of a tent within a tent.
"We'll search you here to see if you have any excess belongings on you," someone said, and one of the male workers gave him a thorough pat-down. "Before we step out, we'll cast a spell on you so you can't hear or see anything. We'll escort you to the starting point, where we'll break these spells; that way, you won't know much about how the other champions fared."
"I understand. Just don't let me fall somewhere."
"Do not worry." Someone waved away his concerns. "Ready?"
"As ready as I can be," Harry replied and then suddenly, it was dark and completely silent. Then he could just feel someone leading him to the spot, and in a moment, he could hear and see again.
"Hold on to these lights. They will take you where you need to go. Good luck." was all Harry was told. He was satisfied with that, though, and he broke into a sort of seventy percent sprint to get there quickly, but at the same time not to pass out when he got there. However, what was wrong was that he knew this path all too well... It led to Aragog's lair.
"Fuck," Harry cursed and continued slower. He was going to need all his strength to make his way through the endless spiders. Fortunately, nothing threatened him on the way, so in a few minutes, Harry was standing far but in sight of the entrance to that cave of spiders. Now he finally understood the advantage of going last, for there were quite a few stunned or possibly dead spiders lying around the entrance that the other champions had taken care of. Before he went in, however, he heard barking, and turning quickly with his wand, Harry saw someone he had not expected cautiously come out of the forest.
"Siri-Snuffles!" Harry quickly corrected, remembering that there might be a ministry official within earshot.
"Woof!" He was answered with a happy bark, and Sirius came over to lick his hand.
"What are you doing here!"
But Sirius just gestured with his head, telling him to keep walking and not ask questions as he moved towards the cave. Harry understood the risk Sirius was taking, so he went where he was supposed to. The cave was perhaps even more giant than he remembered, but no one had viciously attacked him at all.
"Come in," came the aging, rough voice, and Harry's hairs stood on end immediately. This was Aragog. That much was clear. "We won't hurt you before you touch your egg."
"After our last encounter, I don't trust a word you say."
"Have we met?" Aragog asked curiously. It was apparent that his blindness persisted.
"Don't you remember? I came for advice, Hagrid sent me here, and you attacked me anyway!"
"Ah, the friends of Hagrid." Aragog realized. "It's too bad you escaped. My sons and daughters were rather hungry."
"I hope that car ran you over a lot," Harry shouted back.
"No invention is going to save you today though, boy," Aragog informed him, "come on, retrieve your egg so we can feast."
Harry was in no hurry, though, so Sirius hurried him along in his dog form. He kept shining his light in all directions, but it really looked like until he touched the golden egg, he wasn't going to be attacked. Albus Dumbledore must have made them a hell of a promise to obey like that. Either way, it was scary. There were hundreds of eyes following his every move. Everywhere he looked, there was a spider's leg... on the ground, on the ceiling, on the sides, and once he got to his egg, some spiders even moved to block his only exit. Damn.
"What are you waiting for, child? Don't you have a time limit?" Aragog taunted him.
But Harry cancelled his light and instead sent another spell to his robe pocket.
"What are you doing! One more spell, and we'll attack without hesitation!" Aragog warned him angrily.
"Alright, I'll just light my wand," and with those words, he did so, and when he saw the whole cave again, he noticed that no one had attacked him. He guessed the light spell was indeed allowed. Harry sighed out loud and headed for his egg, and the closer he got, the louder the clicking sound made by spiders became. "Can't you let me go as Hagrid's friend?"
"You must know my answer from last time," was the only response.
"Too bad," Harry sighed and immediately grabbed the egg with his left hand and ran for the exit. "Lumos maxima!" He dazzled all the spiders nearby and ran on without stopping. "Sonorus." He raised the volume of his voice and then mimicked the sound of the basilisk he remembered so well.
"Basilisk! Close your eyes!" shouted Aragog.
And that was enough for Harry. He sent the most powerful spells Fleur had taught him at the first spider blocking his path. The second was taken down by Sirius in his dog form by jumping behind its neck and biting it. Harry didn't stop speaking in Parseltongue between spells, but that didn't mean the spiders just stood still. They just couldn't see anything, but still, zigzagging in the Acromantula's lair wasn't easy. Sirius was an incredible help, though, biting their legs or wherever he could reach and generally getting everything he could out of their way.
Harry was almost surrounded, though, when he raised his voice again and roared like a basilisk, which stopped everyone for a moment. Harry hit the nearest one in the stomach, which was a clear K.O. and ran on through.
"Sirius!" he shouted to his godfather, who ran after him. Now Harry understood what all the physical training was for because sprinting is all you need when you have many spiders chasing after you. He just ran as fast as he could, and in a moment, no one was running after them, so he could stop to catch his breath.
But Sirius kept running circles around him and kept motioning for him to keep running.
"I'll go, but you need to get out of here too."
"Woof," Sirius barked.
"I'll see you in Hogsmeade as you wanted! But they can't find you here. You need to leave. Now!"
"Woof, woof," Sirius most likely agreed, motioning for him to run.
"No taking risks. I want to live with you, Sirius, don't get eaten here!" And with those words and one last hard look, he ran back to the start. There was a huge cheer when he got there, and Harry saw the first beacon of safety, which was Fleur. So he stopped by her side and let her hug him. But at that moment, the adrenaline was out of his system, so he dropped to one knee in exhaustion and almost took her down with him.
"Harry Potter is back, and if my watch is to be believed, he came in second best! An excellent performance! Provided Mr Potter didn't break his egg, he will be in first place!" Bagman exclaimed. Harry just stood up with Fleur's help, smiled at Hermione, who immediately ran over as well and showed everyone the undamaged egg.
This only triggered more deafening applause and cheers. "Harry, the egg." Dumbledore appeared beside him and immediately took the golden egg from Harry. "Take your friends and go to the infirmary."
Harry was about to argue that he was fine, but Hermione took him into her charge. She was almost dragging him into the tent where the infirmary was.
"Mr Potter! Come on, sit. I have the antidote ready," Madam Pomfrey spoke up as soon as she saw him.
"You know... I wasn't bitten," Harry scratched his head as he followed her instruction and seated himself on the open bed.
"That's probably the first time something hasn't happened to you. I hope you'll keep it up," Madam Pomfrey said in surprise as she gave him a complete once over. "It really doesn't look like you've been bitten anywhere. However, just to be sure, like all the other champions, you'll come to my infirmary tomorrow so I can examine you again."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Go on then." She dismissed him, and Harry made his way back, flanked by the girls.
"Harry, come forward so we can give you points." Came the voice of Bagman, and Harry walked over to the seats where the judges were sitting. "You showed the second-fastest time right behind Mr Krum, and you brought your eggs in safely, so we're giving you forty-three points!" And that was enough for Harry to raise his hand in a triumphant gesture. "So the overall results are as follows! First place goes to Mr Potter with eighty-nine points, second place to Mr Diggory with seventy-eight points, third place to Mr Krum with exactly seventy points, and fourth place to Mr Bonaccord with fifty-two! Congratulations!"
Harry received a double hug and thunderous applause, especially from Gryffindor. Life was suddenly fine, and especially knowing that he'd have a long rest... a rest to prepare for Voldemort wanting to kill him... life was suddenly not fine.
***
"Professor, may I ask a question?" Harry asked a few days after the second task when they were back in the Headmaster's office looking over more memories today. It was Karkaroff dropping the names of Death Eaters in court to save his own skin... it confirmed what he had thought of the man before.
"Sure."
"Did you know Sirius would be there?"
"I couldn't help you there, Harry, as much as I wanted to. Even though I spoke to Aragog and promised him many things to cooperate with the second task, I still had my doubts, and I shared those doubts with Sirius."
"You must have known that Sirius would come to help me with the task."
"If I had suspected that, I would never have written to him. After all, as I said, I can't help you in any way," Headmaster Dumbledore replied. "Sirius was only supposed to be there in case one of Voldemort's people showed up or if someone bewitched the Acromantulas. He was there to protect you, not to help you with your task." Dumbledore eyed him over his glasses. "Are you telling me that he helped you with your assignment?"
"No sir, Sirius was just making sure I didn't get hurt by Voldemort's minions," Harry repeated obediently.
"In that case, all is as it should be." the Headmaster finally smiled at him. "But I'm glad that my assumption was confirmed, and no one else showed up. I did everything I could to achieve that as well."
"Have you been keeping an eye on Mr Crouch?"
"Something along those lines, Harry," Albus Dumbledore said vaguely, "but the third task will be Voldemort's last chance. So if you're still on board with the plan to catch everyone in the act, we may have to risk disqualifying you because if I intervene, that's what it would mean."
"Better to be last than dead, sir."
"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed grimly. "But you shouldn't worry about anything like that now, Harry. Come, let us see my next memory. You may learn something new about Bartemius Crouch." With these words, Albus Dumbledore started his next memory, which they watched several times and then talked about for a long time.
***
"Harry, how are you and Ron doing anyway?" Hermione tried to ask subtly.
"There's a problem between us." Harry sighed sadly, "neither of us are gay."
"That's not what I meant!" She nudged him, "I mean, are you two fighting or is everything okay."
"We don't talk much," Harry admitted reluctantly. "Ron tries his best not to be jealous, or rather to keep his jealousy from coming out. However, every time he sees me with Fleur or maybe even with you... or you with Viktor. He'd be capable of pulling his hair out or biting the tip of his ears off, so he'd rather turn and walk away. Which I respect, of course, his behaviour has improved though. Maybe he still can't get over it and deal with it, but at least he won't blow up like a cauldron."
"But why the jealousy?" Hermione still didn't understand.
"Hermione," Harry sighed, "I'm dense, but even I noticed the way he was looking at you at the ball."
"Then why didn't he invite me!"
"You were already taken the first day anyway."
"But he couldn't have known. He could have come to me..."
"For you to turn him down? I think it was enough that Fleur turned him down when he almost ambushed her with an invitation... and then, of course, she went with me... and then you're always with me or Krum, his long-time idol. I don't mean to sound like I understand him... and I don't excuse him either, but when he wants something, someone around him takes it away."
"But we're not some things, Harry." Hermione sighed a little wearily.
"We're not... but the bloke is a bit unlucky too. Everything he wanted this year was taken from him by me or someone else somehow."
"If he'd come sooner..."
Harry just shrugged, saying that he understood but didn't have a convincing answer for her. "It's not easy being Harry Potter's friend."
"Don't say that Harry!" She grabbed his arm hard.
"Oh, come on, Hermione, it's wonderful that you're brilliant, and it doesn't bother you. However, suppose you didn't have to help me for half the day. In that case, you could enjoy yourself in other ways too... whether it's in the library or being shown Krum's broom somewhere," he only got another punch for that, "I meant flying!"
"Sure you did," She said with fake irritation before she started laughing.
"We just have to endure this year and don't expect more than small talk about wishing me luck for my next task or goodnights. And next year when Fleur and Viktor are gone... there's no tournament I'm winning and all that, Ron will be back with us."
"I hope you're right."
"Me too," Harry said to himself, wanting so badly to believe it.
AN:
Happy New Year and many thanks for your continued support of my work.
Once again heartfelt thanks to the members of the Harry/Fleur discord server (HonorverseFan, Wish, OfficeSloth and x102reddragon) for their beta-corrections on this chapter. This is the first story I am posting in English, which is not my first language and their help was invaluable.
If anyone wishes to join our community, here is a link: "discord . gg / skww8F4RFv" (without spaces)