Harry once again appreciated the benefit of learning to jump, crawl and fall safely with Fleur. If he didn't know how to do that, he would have ended up sprawled on the ground like an idiot after using the Portkey. This way, he just landed on his feet, helped his balance by getting down on one knee and was ready with his wand in no time. But of course, Albus Dumbledore landed like the biggest badass in the world.
The Headmaster just nodded at Harry. It was dark; they didn't want to draw any more attention to themselves than they had to. The Headmaster immediately motioned for him to hide behind him, though, and Harry did so without hesitation. Maybe the others would have taken it as hiding behind a woman's skirt, but Harry didn't. Standing behind the strongest wizard in a battle like this was an honour. Harry was pretty scared, so he was glad to have someone of that caliber with him. He looked around slowly. They must have moved far; there was no indication that they were less than ten miles from Hogwarts. Quite the opposite, everything he saw around him held no clue that they were anywhere near. And the fact that they were standing in a gloomy graveyard late in the evening didn't give him any courage either.
"I'll apparate you in a moment, Harry," was the only thing Dumbledore had time to say before they heard footsteps heading their way.
"Barty did something wrong," came a cold voice, and Harry dropped to both knees due to the pain in his scar. "Why did two people show up? And what does the darkness mean?"
"But the one screaming is Harry Potter, sir," came a second voice. Indeed Harry was screaming in pain, so the voices were somehow mixed up in his head.
"Kill the other one," came the last harsh command before the dark-robed figure got close enough to see them. If Harry had been saner, he would have understood that Albus Dumbledore had done everything he could to make sure no one knew he was there as well, but understanding context was not really in Harry's abilities now.
"Ava-," the figure wanted to aim at the one who wasn't shouting and therefore wasn't Harry, but trying to beat Albus Dumbledore in a fight was very naive. The Headmaster just flicked his wand, and without any words or anything that amateur wizards do, he sent a spell that hit the dark hooded figure in the body and threw it dozens of feet away. Albus Dumbledore then used another spell to light up their entire surroundings to reveal if there was anyone else with them.
"Harry! You have to get up!" the Headmaster shook him lightly, and Harry was awoken from some kind of painful trance.
"Sir?" Harry said, still clutching his head in his hands.
"You'll be safe in a moment, but for now look around, you will forever be a witness to this event, I want you to be able to describe it all and give me a powerful memory of it. May I ask you to do that?"
"Yes," Harry stood up with a strength he didn't know he had in him and scanned his surroundings. A massive gravestone next to him, a bubbling cauldron, Wormtail lying nearby, some little abomination hidden in the fabric, and Albus Dumbledore still conjuring something. "I think that's everything."
"Well done, you did great, Harry. I will handle all this with Madam Bones now," and then Dumbledore just clapped his hands, and Fawkes appeared. Fawkes landed on Harry's shoulder, and then they both disappeared. Harry knew immediately that he really wasn't going to have a smooth landing now.
***
"Mr. Potter!" a voice echoed from beside him as he nearly collapsed on something wooden.
"I'm alive," Harry replied when the pain in his scar finally passed. But someone lifted his head, forcing their eyes to meet his. "Madam Bones?"
"What did you see?" she tried to shout over the cheering crowd.
"Headmaster Dumbledore is waiting for you!" he said immediately in a voice that sounded a little desperate. Why was she still standing here and not going where she was needed? Amelia Bones just nodded and, after a brief glance at Fawkes, disappeared as well.
"Mr. Potter, stand up and enjoy your victory," one of the Aurors helped Harry up, and the other used some sort of spell on him to make his clothes less wrinkled and torn. And then it finally dawned on Harry. He managed to win! The Headmaster had handled it in the graveyard too! Everything turned out better than expected!
"Harry! Harry!" came a mighty chant of his name, and he finally looked up at all of Hogwarts, who were clapping and cheering for him. Even a large portion of Slytherin applauded lightly. Harry Potter was an idiot to them, of course, but he had won the trophy for Hogwarts, and that probably deserved light applause in their opinion.
"That' s right!" Bagman finally spoke up. "Harry Potter, our youngest champion wins the Triwizard Tournament!"
"Allow me to be the first to congratulate you, Mr. Potter," echoed the Auror to Harry's left.
"Thank you, sir."
"Come on, no one can hear you, let's tear this place down a bit, ladies and gentlemen!" Bagman continued, and since Harry remembered what Fleur had told him, that quite possibly him winning the tournament had saved Bagman's neck from the Goblins, he was probably more pleased with Harry's win than ninety-nine per cent of the people sitting here. "Mr. Potter, I'll be right with you, I must congratulate you!" Bagman shouted and started to move towards him. "Congratulations! You did it, Harry. Our school has once again proven its qualities through you, this is one of my happiest days!" Bagman was already waving Harry's hand back and forth as he congratulated him furiously. "The Minister will present you with the trophy of course, but we have to wait for the other champions to get here, they're still in the infirmary!"
"Thank you, sir," Harry said, smiling towards Bagman, but it seemed like he was whispering over the shouts of the people.
But then someone tapped him on the shoulder, and that someone was Professor Moody. "Good work, Potter."
"Thank you, Professor."
"Come on, I'll take you to the infirmary and we'll pick up the others. I'm sure Mr. Diggory will have a funny look on his face when you tell him you won," Moody laughed sort of forcedly.
"But sir, I have to stay here, Headmaster-."
"And who do you think I have orders from, Potter?" Moody fixed him with an unpleasant look. "I'd also rather sit somewhere than escort you around the school, but as a winner you deserve a little of my efforts as well," he pointed to his leg with humour.
"But aurors-," Harry didn't finish again.
"Those two were still in diapers when I filled half of Azkaban," Moody looked at them, but no one responded, "just come on."
Harry knew there was no chance of arguing, so he just shrugged and headed after Moody. On the way out, he just shrugged once more at Fleur and Hermione, who wanted to get to him but probably couldn't, or it was forbidden.
Moody didn't say anything on the way. He just limped towards the castle; only when they were inside did Moody half turn to look at him.
"Tell me what happened there, Potter."
"In the labyrinth, sir?"
"Yes."
"Well, as I went first, I had a head start, in fact, I was lucky with the obstacles, encountered the minimum of them. And none of the champions attacked me either, they probably got each other," Harry said, not wanting to reveal to anyone that he had helped Cedric until they had worked it out together. It was better if they told one story together rather than two different ones.
"You were really lucky then," Moody agreed. "What about the end?"
"The end, sir?"
"What happened after you touched the cup?"
"You must have your answer, sir, if you've spoken to the Headmaster, and where are we even going? The infirmary is the other way."
"I left something in the cabinet, we'll go there first."
"Oh," Harry started to get a little nervous, "well..." he began to prolong his answers, "the trophy was a Portkey, can you believe it?" He laughed a little forcedly. "But someone probably enchanted it wrong, it took me somewhere else."
"Really? And where did it take you?"
"You wouldn't believe me, sir."
"Try me," Moody continued conversationally.
"Well, I don't really know where, but it was far away, no mountains that border Hogwarts, you know?"
"And what did it look like there? Did you meet anyone there?"
"I heard some voices, but I don't know who it was."
"And those voices didn't come to you, Potter?" Moody turned to him and paused.
"Well... I guess so... but you know who was there with me, don't you?" Harry paused as well, trying to smile, but failing miserably.
"Of course, you met Diggory before the end right?"
"Yes," Harry nodded nervously, knowing immediately what was happening. Albus Dumbledore had told him in front of the Cup that he had sent away the one responsible for everything, so he wouldn't know anything after he met Diggory. "I made him surrender though, he was very hurt."
"So you apparate alone then, and what about the voices? Who spoke to you? What happened there?!"
"My scar hurt, sir," Harry pointed to his head with his hand, "it was a great pain, I fell to my knees and didn't know anything for a while."
"And what happened then, Potter?!"
"Stupefy!" echoed behind the professor, but Moody must have expected it because he had his shield ready. "Run, Potter!"
Harry wasn't going to run, though, because he wouldn't have made it anyway, so he quickly pulled out his wand and stunned the professor in the back. It wasn't too hard since Moody was standing less than a meter away from him, his wand holding the shield towards the other side. "It was self-defense!" he said immediately as Snape ran up to him. Snape took no notice of him and tied Professor Moody up with magical rope.
"You're not that stupid, Potter," was all Snape said on the subject. "If one doesn't count, you should have stayed out."
"He's a professor, should I have told him to fuck off when he told me to go with him?" Harry didn't understand anything and backed away a little.
Snape just gave him a nasty look.
"How did you know we'd be here?"
"The Headmaster lent me that pesky map your pathetic father and godfather came up with," Snape explained reluctantly, "Now close your eyes, Potter, and if you open them before I tell you to, I'll stun you and tie you up too... And then I'll coat you with something and throw you into the Forbidden forest."
So Harry closed his eyes and dared not look. "Expecto patronum," came Snape's voice, and in a moment, there was silence.
"You can open your eyes, Potter. I'm glad you're at least good at obeying simple commands."
"I learned that from you, sir... because you never explained anything properly in your lessons," yeah... Harry knew this about himself; he was snappy when he was upset, nervous, scared... sometimes even when he was cheerful, happy... Harry was actually quite snappy and sarcastic often.
Snape just scowled at him but said nothing in response.
Then they stared at each other for a minute before several people came running over at once, the two Aurors standing out there with him and Professor McGonagall.
"Severus?" Professor McGonagall was the first who broke the silence.
"It's someone who's under the effects of the Polyjuice Potion," Snape explained, "my office is the closest and the Headmaster knows I'll probably be there, come on, we'll wait for him there."
The Aurors didn't know what to do, but when the bound professor began to levitate in the mentioned direction, they joined in as an honour guard as well.
"Are you all right, Mr Potter?" McGonagall asked worriedly.
"I wouldn't say I'm exactly fine, Professor, but I'm not hurt."
"It'll be over soon," she tried to smile at him, but it didn't quite work, but hey, at least she tried. Soon they were all in Snape's office, where they tied Professor Moody or whoever it was to a chair really tightly.
"Are we really going to stand here for an hour?" Harry pitched.
"Do you have any practical knowledge with the Polyjuice Potion, Potter?" Snape frowned.
"I'm self-taught, Professor, because I didn't pick up much from your classes."
"That's because you're stupid-."
"Enough, gentlemen!" Professor McGonagall grounded them both, "Harry, stay behind me just in case."
"Yes, ma'am," Harry eventually nodded and stood in the corner of the room.
"He's about to transform," Snape said, "it's been exactly fifty-nine minutes since he last took a drink, if he didn't when he was with Potter."
At that, everyone turned to him. "I haven't seen him drink anything."
"Okay," Professor McGonagall said, gripping her wand tighter, "you're only here to help," she turned to the Aurors, "remember, you have no jurisdiction here without the Headmaster's or Minister's approval."
The Aurors must have known this very well because they reluctantly nodded but also pointed their wands at the stunned professor.
"Barty Crouch Junior!" McGonagall exclaimed a moment later, more than a little surprised.
"He's supposed to be dead!" Auror Number One echoed.
"Apparently not," Snape stepped closer and kicked his wooden leg away before removing his magical eye. "He will remain stunned until the Headmaster arrives, those are his orders."
"Let's get Mr Potter to the infirmary then."
"He has to stay here," Snape said with distaste, "the Headmaster's orders were clear."
McGonagall just scowled at Snape, then turned to Harry. "Sit here," she gestured to Snape's personal chair, "I'll at least look at you, I'm not Madam Pomfrey by any means, but I'm not leaving anything to chance."
With that, Harry sat down and let her wand wave over him. "If the Headmaster wished you to be here, I can't offer you a calming potion, you wouldn't be completely coherent, but I trust Severus won't mind if we take a invigorating potion," and the smile she threw at Snape said that even if he did mind, he was just out of luck.
So Harry dutifully drank what was handed to him and was feeling better in no time. "What I want you to hear, Mr. Potter, is that I'm proud of you," she said with a smile. "When your name came out of the Goblet, I feared it would be a huge disaster and that you would spend weeks in the infirmary again, but you have done the impossible. You managed to change the school to support both champions together, you managed to beat much stronger and more experienced opponents, and in the end you won it all."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry smiled.
"And you even found a date to dance with," she said with a hint of humour to their inside joke.
"That was the hardest part of all, ma'am," Harry was still smiling.
"I'm not stupid, Potter, I knew you'd end up with Miss Delacour eventually."
"And if I didn't?" Harry grinned.
"Then I would have accompanied you to the first dance," McGonagall said.
At this, one of the Aurors laughed.
"Any problems with that, Kingsley?"
"Of course not, ma'am, I only wish I could be there for that."
Harry knew that quite possibly she was just lying to make him think of funny things instead of feeling depressed that he was standing here with a wanted Death Eater who was supposed to be dead and that Dumbledore was out there somewhere dealing with who knows what with Voldemort. And it kind of worked.
"I think they would all turn to look at us, Professor, but they would ignore me over your beauty."
"Save this talk of yours for Miss Delacour," McGonagall said harshly, but it was apparent she was smiling.
"She's going to kill me for letting myself get dragged here without saying anything."
"Professor Flitwick has taken it upon himself to assure all your friends that you are in the infirmary and that they are to wait until you arrive with the other champions so they can congratulate you."
Harry just nodded gratefully at that, and then the whole room fell into silence again. The uncomfortable kind of silence.
Eventually, the door opened and in walked both Dumbledore and Madam Bones, as well as the Minister for Magic himself. Plus, there was one other person there, as Dumbledore casually levitated Wormtail.
"Well done, everyone," the Headmaster said immediately, leaving Wormtail to the Aurors and Snape, who tied him up as well. "You did brilliantly, Harry, and since we have all the culprits, here are the points you were promised. Two hundred points for Gryffindor," the Headmaster announced casually.
Snape turned sour, of course, because it was clear that Gryffindor was going to win again, but it was also evident that he had sort of expected it.
"But now we must move on to more important things. Severus, bring me Veritaserum, Madam Bones is willing to conduct the first interrogation here."
Snape returned a moment later with the required vial.
"Take notes, or remember well what you hear," said Dumbledore after a moment, "for I trust it will not be many days before we shall testify at the Ministry," and so Harry stood up to see better. "Madam Bones, it is in your hands."
And in a moment began what will probably go down in history for quite a long time. Both suspects started to talk. Barty Crouch Jr. confessed to serving Lord Voldemort, to ambushing the real Alastor Moody, to kidnap him so that they could have his hair at their disposal at all times to use the Polyjuice Potion. He also confessed to throwing Harry Potter's name into the Goblet of Fire and that he did his best to make sure Harry got to the trophy first and was transported to the graveyard where Pettigrew, known as Wormtail, could use Harry's blood to bring Voldemort back to life. He also, of course, confessed to stealing Harry's wand at the Quidditch World Cup and summoning the Dark Mark there.
Wormtail revealed much worse things. He killed Bertha Jorkins and helped torture her, and that he helped kill the Muggle who was guarding the old property where they lived. He then told what ritual they were going to use and that they had held Barty Crouch Sr. under the Imperius curse before he had escaped. Wormtail confessed everything, including admitting that he, and not Sirius, had betrayed the Potter family, which pleased Harry the most. Sirius will be free!
"Have you heard enough, Cornelius?" the Headmaster turned sternly to the Minister for Magic.
"But... he can't be back!"
"And he isn't, we took care of that with Harry here," Dumbledore said calmly, "we interrupted his ritual and forced him to leave what resembled the mutilated body of a small child, now Voldemort is without help in his phantom form."
"So he can't come back?"
"Not if we can stop him, but we need everyone's support for that," answered Dumbledore.
"Minister, you realise that if you don't agree, the public will hear it all from me anyway, right?" Amelia Bones was adamant about this.
"You can't ask me to announce this news to everyone! The world is not ready!"
"And it will never be, if they don't know," replied the Headmaster, "you have no choice, you must be aware of it yourself."
"What do you want me to say?" the Minister gave up the futile struggle.
"The truth," was all Albus Dumbledore said.
"Kingsley, your job will be to take these two to the cell. If anything happens to them before they confess before Wizengamot, you will go to Azkaban for the rest of your life in their place, do you understand?" Madame Bones commanded with tremendous authority. Kingsley just nodded, probably knowing what was expected of him.
"Minerva, escort the Aurors here to a place where they can apparate, it will be better than traveling by fireplace. Severus, go find Madam Pomfrey and go with her to the office where the real Alastor will be imprisoned, get there by any means necessary if you have to. Amelia, Cornelius, bring the other champions outside, I'll take care of something with Harry in my office and we'll come there too," Dumbledore gave out his orders and walked away with Harry. He was just so powerful that he knew everyone would obey him without a word.
"What do we need in your office, sir?" Harry asked after a minute or so.
"I want you to give me what you saw as a memory for the Pensieve. I'll want to get a better look at what you saw, as well as what I saw. Plus, Sirius wants to see you, and I believe you want to see him too."
"I do, sir," Harry smiled. "Will you tell me what happened there?"
"I stopped Wormtail from casting the Killing curse with a spell that threw him off and stunned him, because I didn't want to risk the curse going in your direction or somehow bouncing the wrong way. I may have messed up, but I still believe it was a good idea. What I hadn't counted on was that Voldemort's makeshift body was so fragile that it couldn't withstand the impact on the ground. Or maybe it could, but Voldemort gave it up just in case so we couldn't capture him. That's probably something we'll never know. Either way, Madam Bones and even the Minister for Magic have seen Voldemort's former body, the ritual cauldron, and heard the testimonies of both Bartemius and Wormtail, so there's no chance of this being swept under the rug, which unfortunately our Ministry sometimes likes to do."
"So we have failed, sir? We wanted to defeat Voldemort."
"And that's what we're going to do, for now we've bought maybe a few years of time before he's back to the form we saw him in in the graveyard. And that's enough time to prevent him from doing so altogether."
"But how can he keep dying and turning into a phantom?"
"I have a few ideas Harry... and one is more horrifying than the other, I'm going to have to visit a few of my friends over the holidays and ask them for advice, otherwise we'll never be sure."
Harry just nodded; dark arts were obviously very strange. "Now what about Sirius?" he asked the next important thing.
"I'll make sure his trial is as soon as possible, so you enjoy the second month of the holidays with him."
"But the first one I'll be back at the Dursleys," Harry sighed.
"Unfortunately I have to insist on it this year as well, but I believe I can do a few things to make your stay more enjoyable," Dumbledore hinted conspiratorially with a wink. Still, by then, they were almost to his office, and so Harry didn't ask. All he needed now was to see Sirius and be in his safe embrace.
***
"And here it is, ladies and gentlemen! Harry Potter, our champion! He comes to receive his well-deserved prize, accompanied by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore," Bagman roused everyone within a few miles when he saw them.
Dumbledore gestured for Harry to go amongst the other champions, and he dispersed to the other headmasters.
"The award will be presented by our Minister for Magic, Minister it's all yours," Bagman passed the floor, and they all waited for Harry to stand on some sort of podium.
Cornelius acted as if he hadn't seen Harry today and was pretty decently faking that he was glad to be here.
"Congratulations, my boy," the Minister said as he shook Harry's hand, "you are a credit to our school," and with that, he handed him the trophy, which Harry cautiously clutched. Still, when it didn't apparate him anywhere, he raised it above his head excitedly, triggering the end of the world... or so it seemed as everyone started cheering and clapping. Harry showed the trophy to everyone present and then had the other champions congratulate him. They also received praise as the Minister for Magic thanked them for their participation and all.
It was all a surreal moment, Harry was given a thousand galleons, the trophy for the winner, and finally, the Order of Merlin, Third Class, and everyone rejoiced or cried that their favourite had won or not. Still, no one knew that in a few days, their mood would change because everyone would know that Voldemort was back and that Harry was just a short distance away from bringing Voldemort back to life with his own dead body.
***
Harry then shut himself into one of the tents Dumbledore had directed him to, where he would have his privacy since he couldn't quite manage to shake everyone's hands anymore, and his ears weren't working as they should either. Harry immediately stretched out on some sort of couch there and sighed. This evening was the craziest of all, and that was saying a lot in his life. Thankfully, he didn't have to fight anyone now.
"Harry!" Hermione rushed in, immediately kneeling down in front of the couch so she could at least sort of hug him. She was so quick, of course, that Harry couldn't even get up to give her any help. "Are you okay? What happened there? What about the other champions? No one said anything about Voldemort, did he show up?"
But Harry only hugged her tighter. "Breathe, Hermione... I'm fine, really," he said, stroking her back. "I didn't get killed or worse, expelled," he repeated her line, which had somehow become his favourite.
Hermione didn't even punch him though, she just sobbed happily on his shoulders. The only one who laughed lightly was Fleur. However, Harry almost didn't see her because Hermione still weighed him down with her own body.
"You did it, Harry," Fleur said softly, and only now did Hermione release him at least a little so that he could sort of sit up and look at Fleur from a better position. Harry noticed, however, that she, too, had tears on her cheeks.
"And I owe it all to you two," Harry said with a smile, motioning for Fleur to come over and giving her at least a half hug as well. "I'm not going to say it was a walk in the park... well maybe it was, the one who was going to kill me made it easy enough for me to get to that end of the labyrinth safely. But despite all that, I saw things I wish I could forget."
"Like what?" Hermione asked, wiping away a tear. Harry just smiled sadly at her because the first thing that came to his mind was insane Victor, but that was just the kind of thing he could never tell her and would try to take, as they say, with him to his grave.
"A bruised Cedric, for instance. Poor guy had his own struggle, but he still made it to the finish line against all odds. I may be the winner, but if there was ever a champion with a capital 'C', it's him."
Hermione just nodded that she understood his point.
Harry knew that life just wasn't fair, if he was not entered into that tournament as well, Cedric would have won it for sure, he would have made his family famous, his House famous... and at the end of his journey, he would probably die for that fame. Cedric was a badass, but he wasn't someone who could beat Wormtail and Voldemort.
"I don't even know what to say," Fleur said after a moment of comfortable silence, "whether to congratulate you, thank the universe that you survived all that, or give you a big hug."
"I think I'd like the third one the most," Harry tried to lighten the atmosphere a little with humour, but what he wished for, he got.
"No more of this kind of nonsense okay?" she said against his ear as she literally snuggled up to him. "You've already made me famous, that's enough. Now you stay safe."
"But if I'm not going to be in danger, how am I going to get you to be here with me?" He suggested with a grin.
"I think you'll figure it out somehow, after all, you're the youngest champion and hero."
"I will start with figuring it out then."
"Uhm," she told him, perhaps a little wistfully still with her head resting on his shoulder.
Harry just looked at Hermione to see if she minded him ignoring her for those ten seconds, but she just smiled brightly at him. She was smiling a lot happier after she had her teeth adjusted, and it was pretty noticeable. So Harry just mouthed, "Thank you," and got an even nicer smile in return. There were days when he hated being Harry Potter, but now at this moment, being Harry Potter was the best thing that could happen to anyone.
***
Harry, of course, had to go to the Ministry a few days afterwards and attend the trial of two convicted Death Eaters. But Albus Dumbledore had been by his side more or less the whole time, and together they had managed to convince the Wizengamot, that is, the heads of all the important families, that indeed Voldemort was somewhere in his ghostly form, and that he would do everything possible to resurrect yourself.
At any rate, it was a shock for all magical people. No one had any idea that someone like Voldemort could return in this way, and it was evident that many people didn't know what to do with this information. According to Headmaster Dumbledore's words, it looked like they were all going to vote for Amelia Bones to take over as Minister for Magic and lead them all to make sure Voldemort never returned. Albus Dumbledore had been a big supporter of this decision. Still, the eventual election wasn't going to happen until sometime during the holidays anyway, so no one had given it much thought, least of all Harry.
All Harry cared about was that they had freed his godfather, otherwise let them do whatever they wanted at the Ministry. He had no say in it anyway. Maybe only by persuading the others to vote in what he wanted, but Harry wasn't willing to agree to that just yet. Still, if it looked like they were going to sweep Voldemort under the rug, he knew he'd have to ride in on his imaginary horses and take action. For now, he was only finding out how things were going through the papers or meetings with the Headmaster.
Both convicted Death Eaters were probably expecting a Dementors kiss, as both the current Minister and Madam Bones, who was likely to replace him, were in agreement on this decision. So there was probably no saving Wormtail, and Harry couldn't say he was bothered by that in any way. Harry might have lost a little humanity in this tournament, but he couldn't wish just prison to someone who wanted to disembowel his body to revive the most powerful Dark Wizard who had killed his parents on top of it.
But time went on, and before Harry knew it, it was the last meal before they went home. Harry had already packed, of course, and so, accompanied by his trusty friends, he sat down at a very lively Gryffindor table where everyone there was enjoying the fact that they had won another school cup. Harry noticed that a real Professor Moody was sitting at the table, and Madam Pomfrey was next to him. It was apparent that she was more or less acting as his personal physician and some sort of psychologist. Moody definitely needed it though, he must have been through some real torture, and Harry knew he had to talk to him before he left, at the very least, to draw a thick line about this whole tournament.
"Students, allow me to give my final speech," Dumbledore demanded their attention. "I have much to say, and I will start with the positive. I do not wish to create a somber atmosphere for the joyful things I have to say," he said, smiling at them. "As you can see, the winner of this year's House cup is Gryffindor! Many congratulations!" And with that, there was cheering from Gryffindor and respectful applause from other directions. "It couldn't have been any other way, of course, after Harry Potter became the winner of our tournament. I'm sure Godric Gryffindor is smiling now to see how far his House has come, I'm sure he's proud, as is our Professor McGonagall here," he said with humour, pointing to the professor beside him. "Even though I'm a month late, let's all still give Harry a collective round of applause for his courage, strength, intelligence, and all the other important qualities he displayed both during his various tasks and when he came face to face with Voldemort. But more on that later."
Some didn't feel like clapping when they heard the word Voldemort, but the enthusiastic Gryffindor somehow made up for it and subsequently infected the others. So in a moment, everyone close to Harry was patting him proudly on the back again.
"The Triwizard Tournament gives reward only to the wizard or witch in first place, but it wouldn't be me if I didn't do something weird at the end of the year," the Headmaster tried to amuse them, "the official trophy belongs to Harry, who has left it with us at Hogwarts for the time being so you can all have a closer look. Still I have one more trophy to present. Hopefully our guests will forgive me," with that, the whole school looked at the Headmaster in puzzlement, and every now and then, a student turned to his friend, and they both shrugged that they didn't know what the Headmaster was talking about.
"And here it is!" Albus Dumbledore said, pulling off some fabric to reveal a smaller, less impressive trophy, but a trophy nonetheless. There were only two words written on it. TEAM CERRY.
This caused genuine laughter from almost the entire school and amused applause from everyone with a sense of humour.
"Come on boys, come and get it, it's all yours," the Headmaster urged them on, and both Harry and Cedric strode towards him, where they beamed at each other and shook hands before giving each other a manly hug and a pat on the back. "Well, don't keep us waiting, the trophy is waiting for you," and that was all it took for them to each take one handle and raise the trophy above their heads together. Now the whole of Hogwarts was going crazy; those who didn't want to clap for Harry's victory wanted to clap for Cedric's semi-victory.
"Ah yes... this is an amazing moment," Dumbledore continued, "being a headmaster is a stressful job at times, but having amazing students always makes up for that and you just have to love this profession. When the decision was made to bring this tournament back, no one had any idea how it would go and if it would be able to stir up healthy rivalries and friendships... in hindsight it was a needless worry. Two students from different houses, two rivals, two competitors in a sport... these two came together at all the important moments to look out for each other, and that's exactly what we were after. You are the pride of your houses and professors, gentlemens."
"Take it home," Harry whispered to Cedric as everyone applauded them again. Harry felt like he was in a theater; people applauded there until the main characters went backstage. "Show it off at home."
"Thanks," Cedric smiled at him.
"Nothing of the sort, I'm the one who should be thanking, I couldn't ask for a better partner."
"That reminds me, we should adjust the decorations a bit," the Headmaster smiled and clapped his hands. As if by magic, half of the Gryffindor curtains changed. They were now part Gryffindor and part Hufflepuff. But what was most interesting about them was that it said TEAM CERRY on them.
Cedric just laughed and used his wand to adjust everyone's badges as well. It also said TEAM CERRY right there.
"But of course that's not the end of my list of thanks. I was having a monologue here about international cooperation, and one person has almost become the materialisation of that idea. Yes, this person is Miss Fleur Delacour! A Beauxbatons student who did everything she could to help Harry to victory and to keep him safe. From the position of Headmaster of this school please accept my sincere thanks."
Fleur just stood up and bowed to everyone, and the amusing thing was that she got more applause... yeah, beautiful women had it easier.
"You may be seated now, boys," Dumbledore said pleasantly, sending them both back to their tables. Cedric took the trophy to his friends, causing a great deal of joy there. Everyone wanted to touch and look. "But of course I would also like to thank all the schools involved, all the students, ministry staff, headmasters and professors. Without you, this tournament could never have happened," and then Dumbledore visibly grew serious. "Now, I have to say something unpleasant, but it is my moral obligation as a headmaster. Voldemort has returned. Many of you read about it already in the newspapers or in letters from your families, unfortunately everything you have read is true, and I want to warn you that such a danger is imminent and we should all stick together, for together we are invincible. Hogwarts will always be a symbol of hope and protection, so any of you sitting here, regardless of age, profession or school, can come to me and I will offer you sanctuary or advice," Dumbledore said, and Harry just looked around at his friends, he was glad that no one was taking this lightly. Dumbledore continued in this spirit for a bit longer, and it was evident that he had the attention of the majority of the Great Hall. Maybe the Headmaster would make a difference with his words. Harry really wanted to believe that.
***
"Professor Moody, may I have a moment?" Harry ran into his professor's office after lunch.
"I'm not your professor Potter, I never started, you don't have to call me that," Harry was answered and offered a chair.
"I think it's a title we use for people we respect, sir, no matter how long they've been in the profession."
"In that case, I'll leave it up to you," Alastor shrugged. "What brings you here?"
"I'm going to be a little arrogant and think only of myself, but I need to ask a question."
"Speak up, then."
"Did you talk about what happened with the Headmaster? I mean… like completely about everything."
"Yes," Alastor nodded, "Albus explained everything that happened in my absence, including the fact that your special map saved me. Good work."
"So you know we could have saved you sooner if we-," Harry pitched in, but Moody stopped him with his hand.
"I understand what you're trying to tell me. You can put it behind you, I'm Auror and Albus' long-time friend, and even though we obviously had no means of communication, if we did, I would have insisted that the plan proceed exactly as it did. You don't negotiate with terrorists, that's true in the Muggle world, and it's similar here, if we apply it to our situation. When a person joins the Aurors, they have to swear one oath, and it mentions that they will do whatever it takes to protect the innocent, even at the cost of their lives. So if Albus decided to save me and thus allowed Voldemort to rise or threaten your life, I'd just kick his ass. I'm not going to tell you that my imprisonment in that chest was something nice, Potter, but I've been through a lot in war, and in the end, we'd all rather sacrifice ourselves than see our loved ones suffer. And that's it for this sentimental and whiny subject," Moody laughed. "Believe me, you've done well, and I hope that one day I can teach you something too, and not have to leave it up to someone fake."
Harry just nodded in satisfaction at this. He kind of needed to hear this.
***
Harry never cared about the crowd of fans, and thankfully people understood that even now when he was in newspapers almost every day again. So as he waited in the entrance hall for the carriages to arrive to take them to the station, there was only the bare minimum of people standing with him and, of course, Hedwig in the cage.
"It's been an amazing year," Cedric said, sitting on his huge suitcase and watching his girlfriend chatting with her friend.
"It didn't feel like it the first few days," Harry replied.
"I won't say that I didn't feel like strangling you at first, when you stuck your nose into this tournament as well and I had to listen to Harry Potter this and Harry Potter that everywhere," Cedric snorted.
"It's a good thing Rita Skeeter hasn't been allowed to write any more articles about us," Harry agreed, "I wonder how many more people will ask me if I really prefer polygamy."
Cedric laughed heartily at that. "You must have always been special in some way."
"If you piss me off, I'll take away our trophy from you."
"As if I didn't say anything," Cedric gestured to lock his mouth.
"It's weird going home after everything that's happened," Hermione joined in the discussion, "it's been a crazy year."
"I think we were lucky to get the opportunity to be part of this tournament at all. I wonder how many generations of students have wanted this tournament to be renewed and it has happened in our lifetime. So I agree that it's been a crazy year, but I wouldn't change it for anything and I'm honestly glad to have another year at Hogwarts ahead of me. If I was just going to go somewhere to work after this year, I probably would have enjoyed it less."
"Admit it, you just want to enjoy another year at school with me," Harry teased.
"You found me out, it's all about you," Cedric said sarcastically.
"Can you even make it through the two months of the holidays without each other?" Fleur commented from a distance as she approached them.
"We will be writing to each other every day of course," Harry said as if it was perfectly clear.
"Yeah, Team Cerry stays together all the time, you Frenchies can't understand that," Cedric waved her off with a grin, "look at Sebastian, how he turned out, all you do is sunbathe and don't study at all."
"You're lucky I didn't get a chance to participate, Diggory, or I would have thrown those words in your face."
"The fourth place would be waiting for you with open arms," Cedric showed her the mentioned open arms.
Fleur just flipped her hair and grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him away.
"Muck, muck," Cedric indicated kissing, and Harry gave him the middle finger with his free hand in response.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked.
"Someone has a duty to walk me to our carriage one last time."
"You want to kidnap me!" he suggested amusedly.
"Maybe," she stretched out that one word and smiled at him.
"No locking in the trunk then", Harry replied.
"Too soon for that kind of humor," she tried to say reprovingly, but she couldn't stop her laughter, so the rebuke didn't really work.
"But what about you? Have you looked at any apartment?" He changed the subject when they were about halfway there.
"Something caught my eye, but I'll definitely be home in France for a fortnight, so we'll see if the offers change. Then I might want to finish up some exams at the Ministry so I have the right papers for what I want to do."
"If you need my help, just let me know. I promised you that if I win, I'll do the advertising for you."
"That's what I wished," Fleur agreed, "and I've gotten about a thousand more," she smiled, "I've gotten letters from home, for instance, that I've already gotten job offers there. News travels fast, obviously."
"You deserve only the best, Fleur," Harry said seriously.
"Even if I was only trying to use you, 'arry?" Fleur said slowly, with a hint of her seductive voice and Allure.
"Doesn't mean I didn't like that, sometimes it's not bad to be used when it makes you a champion."
"Don't let it go to your head, Harry."
"Coming from someone who was a nobody a year ago and now employers are fighting over you... all you had to do was be a good girl and help out the amazing Harry," Harry teased, dodging her light slap. "Are you 'arry Poza? My name is Fleur Delacour and I just didn't get picked for ze tournament," he mimicked her voice from earlier in the year very badly on purpose, "ze whole world is ganging up on me, come on 'arry, you 'ave to 'elp me!"
"Wait until you ever want to help again," Fleur played how much his words hurt her, all with touching her chest, like her heart would stop beating any second.
"Still, we've come a long way," Harry said, his tone now serious, "the first day I couldn't even stand you. You were insulting everything I love about Hogwarts, looking at us as if we were plebians... and now here we are, I'm walking you to the place you're leaving me from and instead of some interesting farewell, I'm philosophising here."
"You want to make this easier?" She laughed cutely with a mischievous look.
Harry nodded his head a little hesitantly.
Fleur then leaned over and gave him a kiss on each cheek. "I'll see you soon, I promise."
"Can you repeat this whole kissing thing? I missed it for some reason."
Fleur just smiled and gave him only one kiss on one cheek. "You'll get the other cheek when we see each other again," she winked at him and then gave him a hug. No flirting, no acting, just a gentle hug from someone who likes you in some way.
"I'll miss you, Fleur," he said sincerely.
"I'll miss you too. If you don't answer all my letters, I'll come get you."
"Promise?" he said invitingly with a smile. Fleur just gave him a mysterious smile and then headed off without another word. "You didn't answer me!" he shouted after her, but his only reply was a beautiful laugh.
AN:
Once again heartfelt thanks to the members of the Harry/Fleur discord server (x102reddragon and Wish) for their beta-corrections on this chapter. This is still the first story I am posting in English, which is still 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)