Magic? || Years 1-5

Stunning: Year 4

"Ha! She hasn't got wind of Crouch!" Hermione cried triumphantly after scanning the first few pages.

Harry -- what do you think you are playing at, walking off into the forest with Viktor Krum? I want you to swear, by return owl, that you are not going to go walking with anyone else at night. There is somebody highly dangerous at Hogwarts. It is clear to me that they wanted to stop Crouch from seeing Dumbledore and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You could have been killed.

Your name didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Ron, Hermione, and Amisty, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and arm yourself for the third task. Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either. There's nothing you can do about Crouch. Keep your head down and look after yourself. I'm waiting for your letter giving me your work you won't stray out-of-bounds again.

Sirius

"Who's he, to lecture me about being out-of-bounds? After all the stuff he did at school!" Harry exclaimed indignantly, folding up the letter and shoving it into his robe pockets.

"This is different, Harry!" Amisty hit his shoulder. "A few school pranks is nowhere near an insane person coming after you!"

Harry rolled his eyes, blocking another hit, "There's no insane person coming after -- "

"He's worried about you! Just like Moody and Hagrid! So listen to them!" Hermione scolded.

"No one's tried to attack me all year. No one's done anything to me at all -- " He retorted.

"Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire. And they must've done that for a reason, Harry. Snuffles is right. Maybe they've been biding their time. Maybe this is the task they're going to get you," Hermione hissed.

"Look, let's say Sirius is right, and someone Stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited till I was out of the way until they acted, didn't they? So it doesn't look like I'm their target, does it?" Harry snapped impatiently.

"They couldn't have made it look like an accident if they'd murdered you in the forest! But if you die during the task -- " Hermione insisted.

"They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they?" Harry cut her off, getting even more annoyed by the second. "Why didn't they just polish me off at the same time? They could've made it look like Krum and I had a duel or something."

"Harry, I don't understand it either. I just know there are a lot of odd things going on, and I don't like it... Moody's right -- Sirius is right -- you've got to get in training for the third task, straight away. And you make sure you write back to Sirius and promise him you're not going to go sneaking off alone again," Hermione's voice broke off into a whisper.

He stared at her blankly, still blind to the seriousness of the situation, "It's not like I'm -- "

"You could die, Harry!" Amisty snarled, gripping his shoulders tightly as her eyes blazed with fear and frustration. "You... you could die."

That seemed to snap him out of it.

"Am, I'm not going to die," He reassured softly, prying her hands off of him and holding them gently.

"Then train with us, and listen to the people who care about you!"

-=+=-

Amisty crawled up from the floor, having missed the cushions again for the millionth time and nearly getting a concussion. It wasn't the first time in the last few days that she was regretting convincing him to train.