Disclaimer: don't own
The Hogsmeade trip was a rousing success, Harry thought. He was even surprised by Sirius and Remus, who had decided to come and see him in the village.
The Marauders were ecstatic to learn that Harry was no longer single, and the smirks they wore foretold much teasing.
They bought Harry and Ginny lunch, and then made themselves scarce, allowing the two Gryffindors to continue with their date.
Harry hadn't really thought of what they would do, but as it turned out, he didn't really need to come up with anything. When he and Ginny were together, he didn't have to try. They wandered up and down the main street, stopping at Honeydukes, Zonkos, Scrivenshaft's, and Dervish and Bangs, before they wandered away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd, and spent the rest of the afternoon just talking, hand in hand. Harry told her more about growing up, his summer, his thoughts and fears on the tournament, and what he hoped to accomplish in the future. In return, Ginny told him more about her childhood, her fears and struggles, growing up the youngest girl in a family of boys, and what she had thought about for the future.
When they entered the Great Hall for dinner that night, they both felt like it had been a wonderful day. Neville entered behind them, leading Susan over to the Hufflepuff table before joining them. His ear-to-ear grin told them all that he had enjoyed his day as well.
Ron and Hermione had spent the day together by default, though it sounded like they had met up with a few students from the DA - Luna had joined them for lunch, and Blaise and Daphne had wandered through a few stores with them.
XXX
Ron was a teenage boy, so he figured he should be used to his hormones playing with him. But as he sat at a table in the common room working on homework that his friends had all finished several days previously, he couldn't help but contemplate one certain witch who seemed to send his hormones for a ride on a daily basis.
Hermione Granger had been a staple in his life for the last three years, and he had never really thought much about it. She was Hermione. But recently, he had begun to see her differently. She had done some growing up, just like they all had, and he had begun to actually realize that she was a girl.
Their day in Hogsmeade had been nice, though he had been a bit put out to realize that with four of them pairing up, that left he and Hermione as the odd ones out. But he had had fun, and was happy to report that he hadn't put his foot in his mouth once.
He didn't know if he would do anything with this newfound insight he had, but he vowed to think on it at a later time.
XXX
Potions class Monday morning got off to an interesting start. Malfoy tried to get a rise out of Harry, but it was Ron who threw the spell, which bounced off of Malfoy's.
The fungus curse Malfoy used rebounded and hit Crabbe. Ron's toenail growing jinx knocked a chip out of the wall right behind Hermione, who ducked out of the way in barely enough time to avoid it.
Snape's arrival was slightly less fortuitous, and he docked Gryffindor twenty points before sweeping inside and starting the lesson.
Colin Creevey interrupted as they began, pulling Harry out for the wand-weighing ceremony. Harry stifled his groan and hurried to meet with the tournament officials.
He was glad to see Minerva there as well. She gave him a small wink, and he smiled. He avoided a fake-looking woman who tried to corner him, and went to stand next to the other champions.
"Ah, good, now that we are all here, we can begin." Dumbledore gestured to Ollivander, who was seated at a wooden table.
The old wandmaker nodded, and held out his hand for Krum. The Bulgarian placed his wand in the man's hands, and Ollivander nodded. "A Gregorovich creation if I am not mistaken. Hornbeam wood and Dragon Heartstring, ten and a quarter inches, correct?" Krum nodded. "Thicker than normal, and quite rigid, but if it works." He then made a fountain of wine appear. "In perfect working condition." He handed the wand back, and moved on to Fleur. "Hmm, this is an interesting creation. Nine and a half inches, rosewood and... my, oh my! Is that Veela hair?"
Fleur nodded. "My grandmozzer's," she informed him.
Ollivander nodded, creating a bouquet of roses from thin air, and handing it to the witch with a smile. "Very nice." Cedric was next. His ash wood and unicorn hair wand passed inspection, and soon enough the wandmaker was inspecting Harry's wand. "Yes, I remember this wand. Eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather. Nice and supple." He made a sweeping gesture, cleaning up the wine before handing it back to Harry and nodding at Dumbledore.
"Pictures!" Bagman cried, before the next few minutes descended into chaos, with the former Quidditch star arranging all the champions to his satisfaction, and then getting the photographer from the Daily Prophet to take the photos.
Harry had just thought that he could get out of there without losing his mind, when he was once more cornered by the bottle blond woman with fake glasses and green fingernails.
"Harry, darling!" she cooed. "Rita Skeeter, I would just love to do an interview with you. How do you feel, being in this tournament against those so much older than you? Do you regret entering yourself now?"
Minerva cut in before she could say anything more. Her voice was clipped, and it sounded like she was trying very hard not to hex the woman as she spoke. "Mr. Potter is not willing to speak with you, Ms. Skeeter. And as a minor, it falls to me, his guardian, to approve or disprove of interviews. If you publish a single word on him without his or my consent, you will face not only my wrath, but the combined wrath of the Potter and Black families." Her smile was not at all comforting. "Believe me, Lord Black takes his godson's wellbeing very seriously."
Rita was left spluttering, as Minerva led the champions out of the room. "That was awesome, Professor," Cedric grinned. "I was about to hex her myself."
Harry blushed at the protectiveness the older boy displayed. Cedric definitely seemed to have installed himself as Harry's older brother over the last couple of months, something Harry secretly enjoyed, but outwardly tried not to show how touched he was.
"Professor, why were you there?" he asked curiously. "Shouldn't you be in class right now? I know Susan has Transfiguration."
Minerva smiled. "One of the things Sirius and I have discussed, Mr. Potter. As you are underage, legally, you are entitled to have your guardian with you at formal functions. I wanted to be there, just in case. I know how pushy Skeeter can be. She also takes quite a few liberties with her articles, so be on your guard around her, and know that if she publishes anything without your consent, you do have rights. You are a minor, and she needs approval first, so tell me, if she shows up again."
Harry nodded, and blushed as Cedric threw an arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, Professor. I'll look after him."
Minerva looked at the Prefect and smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Mr. Diggory. I am very pleased with your display of caring for your fellow student."
All three of them knew that Minerva was talking about more than just that moment. She was pleased that he had taken such an interest in her young charge.
Minerva said her farewells before heading back to her classroom. Cedric left Harry at the Charms corridor, before he headed off to his next class.
XXX
The DA lesson on Thursday was a relief for Harry. He had been the subject of much whispering and pointing, and he was eerily reminded of his first week at Hogwarts, when everyone was ogling the Boy Who Lived. He was happy that there wasn't much hostility, but he still didn't appreciate all the attention. Being around the DA students allowed him to get some normalcy. The students in the club weren't treating him like a celebrity, so it was nice for Harry to be able to just be Harry for a little bit, without worrying about what everyone else was saying.
He was interested to hear from the Slytherin contingent at the meeting, that Malfoy had tried to cause some trouble by creating badges that insulted him, but he hadn't been able to find enough people willing to wear them.
XXX
There wasn't a cloud in the sky on the morning of November the twenty fourth. Harry woke up feeling like his stomach was lined with lead. Hagrid had made him go down and meet him in the middle of the night a few days previously, and he couldn't believe it.
Dragons! Apparently, they had to get something past the creatures. Harry and his friends had put their heads together to come up with a plan, and it was Ginny who suggested using the summoning charm to retrieve his broom. "You're a fantastic flyer, Harry. If anyone could get past a dragon on a broomstick, it would be you."
They didn't have anything better to go with, so Harry decided to try it.
He had informed Cedric of the task, as he assumed both of the other champions would already know, and he wanted to even the playing field. Hagrid had appeared to be on a date with Madam Maxime when he had shown him the dragons, and he had seen Karkaroff skulking around the forest a few times.
Ginny had to force Harry to eat some toast for breakfast, which tasted like cardboard to him, and he hoped it didn't just come back up later.
McGonagall came to collect him from the Gryffindor table, leading him out onto the grounds, offering him what support she could. Ginny walked with them until they reached the arena, giving him a kiss before going to find their friends in the stands. Minerva hugged her charge before she also left, and Harry entered the tent set up for the champions, his stomach churning.
Cedric gave him a small smile, which he returned, before heading over to a corner and sitting down. He put his Occlumency studies to good use, and tried to quiet his mind.
Bagman and Crouch entered the tent a few minutes later, calling all the champions over. "Now, inside this bag, we have what you will be facing, so, ladies first!" Bagman held out the small sack to Fleur, who pulled out a model of a Common Welsh Green dragon with a number two on it.
Viktor was next, pulling out a Chinese Fireball, and the number three slot.
Harry noted with interest that neither champion seemed surprised, confirming his theory that Maxine and Karkaroff had already told them.
Cedric's pull revealed a Swedish Short Snout with a number one around its neck.
With some dread, Harry pulled out the last dragon - the Hungarian Horntail. His dragon had a number four around its neck.
Bagman set the sack down and clapped his hands together. "Now, as you may have guessed, each of these models represents a very real dragon that you will shortly be facing. Each one has been given the charge of guarding a nest of eggs. Your task will be to get past it and retrieve the golden egg hidden amongst the others. That egg will give you your clue to the second task."
Bagman then disappeared, with Crouch following behind, a scowl on his face.
A whistle blew a few minutes later, and Cedric took a deep breath, casting one more glance at Harry.
Harry smiled encouragingly. "Good luck," he offered.
Cedric smiled. "You too," he replied, before exiting.
Harry looked at the other two champions, and then went back to his corner, returning to his Occlumency.
He was surprised when, a few minutes later, he felt a presence sit down next to him. Opening his eyes, he saw Fleur watching him curiously. Viktor was also staring at him, though his confusion was more masked.
"What are you doing?" the Veela asked.
Harry studied the girl in front of him. She was beautiful, no question, but to be honest, he really didn't see why so many guys were falling over themselves for her. He much preferred red hair. She had also been rather cold to him for the last month, what little interaction they had. She clearly had not believed him about not entering himself, and she rather treated him like a little boy. He was younger, sure, but she didn't have to act so self-righteous.
Harry shrugged. "Meditation," he replied. "It's one of the steps to learning Occlumency, and it helps to quiet the mind."
Viktor moved forward at this. "You are learning Occlumency?" He looked genuinely interested, so Harry relaxed his posture and began to talk about his progress. He was learning, though it was slow going. The hardest part was building the walls. Every time he thought he had it, they collapsed, and he had to start over again.
Viktor and Fleur both seemed interested, and they spent the next few minutes talking about their various attempts at the art. When the whistle blew, they were all surprised.
Fleur stood up, looking suddenly nervous.
"Good luck," Harry said, with Viktor echoing the sentiment.
Fleur looked back at them, and smiled gratefully. Their discussion had been a good way to pass the time and keep their minds off what they were about to do. She was also surprised at how the youngest champion acted. He was much more mature than most his age. And it was quite a nice surprise to be able to hold a conversation with two men who genuinely wanted to talk to her, and who weren't too caught up staring and drooling to speak.
Viktor and Harry spent some more time talking about the mind arts, trying not to pay attention to the cheers or gasps of the audience out of sight.
When the whistle blew again, Viktor stood up. He offered Harry a sort of smile, before he left the tent, and Harry was alone.
It took another ten minutes for the whistle to sound again, and Harry entered the arena.
He took a moment to get his bearings, before he immediately ducked behind a boulder.
And not a moment too soon, as a pillar of fire torched the area he had just been standing, and the crowd gasped. He tuned out the noise, and Bagman's commentary, and simply stuck his wand in the air, crying out, "Accio Firebolt!"
He then moved to another location, not wanting the dragon to figure out where he was.
It took a minute for his broom to reach him, and when he saw it hurtling through the air, he wasted no more time in jumping out from behind his current hiding location, and landing perfectly on the broom.
The crowd cheered, and he was certain that he could hear Ginny's voice loudest of all.
He ducked and dodged around the dragon, trying to get it to move. It took about five minutes before he finally got it airborne, and then it was only a matter of executing a few crazy seeker moves. Once he had the egg in hand, he immediately flew off, narrowly avoiding another stream of fire. He didn't stop until he was at the exit.
The crowd was cheering loudly as Harry landed, holding up the egg for them all to see.
Before he could do anything else, he was slammed backwards by a large object.
This object was capped with bright red hair, and Harry recognized that flowery scent immediately. He clutched Ginny just as tightly, and comforted her as she appeared to be sobbing into his shoulder.
When she stepped back a minute later, she seemed embarrassed, but Harry just smoothed her hair lovingly as he leaned in to kiss her.
A wolf-whistle separated them, and Harry looked slightly embarrassed to have been caught by the entire school, though the whistle appeared to have come from his mangy godfather, who would definitely be getting a chew toy for Christmas, Harry swore.
Sirius, Remus, and Amelia were waiting off to the side, by the rest of Harry's friends, all of whom were wearing identical knowing smirks.
Sirius started to move forward to congratulate his godson - both on the task, and on getting the girl - when yet another large object hurtled past him and got to Harry first.
Sirius stared. Remus stared. The rest of the current Hogwarts students stared.
Minerva didn't care though, as she hugged her young charge for all he was worth.
Harry blushed at the affection, but he was pleased with it nonetheless. Sirius was next, followed by Remus. Before the rest of his friends could do anything though, the judges began to announce his scores.
Dumbledore gave him a nine, Bagman made a silvery ten appear, Maxine gave him an eight, and there were multiple outbursts when Karkaroff went with a five.
Ginny was growling. "How dare he. He gave Krum a ten, and his dragon ended up crushing half the eggs."
Harry shrugged, just happy to be done with the task in one piece. He didn't protest when Ginny led him towards the healer's tent.
Madam Pomfrey clucked at him as she pointed him towards a bed, muttering about the dangers of the tournament, as she looked him over for injuries. Apart from a few scrapes and bruises, he was deemed fit.
Pomfrey left to take care of the other champions, as Ginny began to fill Harry in. Minerva had left them before they went to get Harry checked out, but the rest of the group had followed the couple, though they had to stay outside as there wasn't enough room inside the tent.
Ginny grasped Harry's hand in hers, and indicated each champion in turn as she told her boyfriend what they had done. Cedric had begun well, transfiguring a rock into a Labrador to distract the dragon. He had been successful at first, but the dragon had lost interest after a few minutes, and went after the sixth year. Cedric would be fine, but he was currently being treated by Madam Pomfrey for burns on his face.
Fleur had tried to use some sort of charm - Ginny said she thought it may have been her Veela powers - to lure the dragon into some sort of trance. It had worked, but the dragon had let out a stream of fire that ended up lighting her skirt.
Viktor had used a conjunctivitis curse on his dragon, though it hadn't worked out as well as he had planned, and the dragon ended up stumbling around blind and crushing half the eggs.
"Come on," Ginny said, dragging him up. "If I know the twins, they've already got a party set up. Let's go celebrate."
Harry smiled, giving the other champions a small wave as he left the tent.
The others hung back to give Harry some privacy to say goodbye to his godfather, his godfather's girlfriend, and his honorary uncle, but soon enough they were all heading back inside the castle.
Ginny's prediction was right; Fred and George had managed to cajole the house elves into providing a rather impressive looking spread of sandwiches and snacks, and they had apparently also used one of the secret passages to sneak into Hogsmeade, because there was also butterbeer and Honeydukes chocolate.
Despite many requests, Harry refused to try and open the egg that night. He maintained that he had just completed the first task, and he wanted to just relax for the rest of the evening.
Ginny was very supportive of this idea, and spent most of the night sitting on his lap, snuggling into her boyfriend, drinking butterbeer and smiling in contentment.
Most of the Gryffindors gave them their space, recognizing that they just needed to be with each other.
The last few weeks, Harry had noticed a change inside him. It had started that night with his and Ginny's first kiss. That chord between them - because he didn't really know what else to call it - seemed to connect them no matter the distance. He didn't know how far it went, but it was there when they were in separate classes, and between the common room and the Great Hall.
The last few days, he had noticed something different; he could feel emotions that didn't belong to him. That didn't come from him. The best he could describe it was that they seemed to be coming from that strange glowing bond that connected him to Ginny.
The common room emptied out around them, until finally, around midnight, it was just Harry and Ginny alone, as Neville dragged Ron up to the dorms with a wink at the couple still sitting by the fire.
Harry grinned as Ginny turned around slightly so that she was facing her boyfriend. She smiled. She was feeling a sense of contentment mingling with her own, and her brow furrowed.
"Harry..." she trailed off, not exactly sure how to describe what she was thinking.
Harry nodded, understanding what she was saying - or not saying. Her hand moved up to rest lightly on his chest, right where the chord was resting. The feeling was more pronounced now - happiness, belonging, but also an undercurrent of uncertainty.
Ginny gasped. These excess emotions, they were coming from him! Their eyes locked, and Harry nodded, thoughtful.
"So we can feel each other's emotions," he commented, his voice barely above a whisper. "I wonder..." He trailed off, contemplating. Ginny gave him a minute before she huffed impatiently. Harry chuckled. "Sorry, Gin," he said. "I was just thinking we need to do a little more research in the library. That one book I found on bonds mentioned soul bonds, but only in passing. It didn't have much information, but there was a suggestion that soul bonded couples could feel the other's emotions."
Ginny nodded. It made sense. "We'll be sure to fit that in, in between studying for the next task, and exams," she said wryly.
Harry chuckled and nodded his agreement. A glance at his watch showed that it was time and passed for bed, so he sighed and escorted his girlfriend to the staircase, said goodnight, and then headed up to bed. They would have plenty of time to think this over tomorrow.