Seventh Horcrux

Harry Potter vs. Alastor Moody (Pt. 3)

This was a small improvement over the rest of the judges, who appeared livid.

"It was a perfectly logical decision," I insisted. "The mermen were using their environmental advantage against me. So I took it from them."

"You banished all the water in the lake. You truly don't consider that excessive?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not at all. Besides, I figured the spectators would have a better time if they could actually watch the task. Really, I was doing you all a favor."

Dumbledore said, "But the merpeople are unable to survive on air for more than a few minutes. You greatly endangered their lives, my boy."

I raised an eyebrow. "They greatly endangered mine first when they attacked me with spears, and, really, a few less mermen is hardly a problem. They kill more students than the moving staircase...and we all know what I did to the moving staircase."

The denizens of Hogwarts simultaneously shivered, though the foreigners seemed rather perplexed. Karkaroff scowled. "Viktor Krum also had gills at the time, and he was already injured by your attack."

"And my Fleur was fifty feet in ze air when ze water disappeared!" Madame Maxime said, "and zat is after ze 'orrible boy cast a Silencing Spell on 'er."

"There weren't any rules that said I couldn't attack the competition. Honestly, I thought that was the entire point," I said.

"It was a race, not a duel," Karkaroff said.

"Yes, exactly, and I won," I said. "In fact, I'm the only one who brought his hostage back at all...whichever one she was."

"Ginevra Weasley," Dumbledore said.

I shook my head, dismayed by their ridiculous expectations. "How was I supposed to guess that? We aren't even friends."

Some distance across the grounds, a still-dripping Ginevra said, "We will be!"

I shivered. This was beginning to remind me uncomfortably of the Bellatrix situation. "And I'm not sure why you think it's my responsibility to protect everyone. It's your competition. You should have expected I would do something like this."

Moody grunted, "That's why I put up the splash guard."

"See, why can't you all be like Moody?" I asked. We all turned our attention towards the ex-auror, who was currently shimmering with no less than twenty protective charms.

Dumbledore sighed. "Could you return the lake water, now that the task is over?"

"I would do that," I said, "except that I'm not entirely sure where I sent it."

Meanwhile, at Privet Drive

Petunia Dursley stood knee-deep in the flooded street, staring blankly at what was once her house. The front door had floated to the very end of her waterlogged lawn. Every window was broken, and what little she could see of her immaculate carpets and organized kitchen was entirely ruined. She didn't dare to think of what had happened to the garden.

As she picked up a floating photograph of baby Dudley, Petunia wondered - for a moment - where her life had gone so wrong. But the answer was obvious:

The moment she accepted Harry Potter into her life. This was all his fault. Things usually were.

With a firm set to her mouth and her spindly fingers curled into a fist, Petunia trudged towards her home in the hope that some of her previous life was still salvageable.

They were, she decided, moving.

"Holy harpies! Have you seen this?" Ginevra Weasley cried, ruining a perfectly peaceful breakfast.