"You're probably all wondering what the next task is" Bagman gave his crazy grin once again.
Harry shrugged "No."
Bagman looked shocked "No? You don't want to know?"
This gave way to a laugh from all four of the champions. The judges stared in confusion until Cedric spoke "Two things. One, we'd rather know what happened to Mister Crouch."
The judges exchanged worried looks as Fleur continued what her boyfriend was saying "Two, the boys 'ave gone flying for fun. And it was quite obvious to zem zat you are building a maze."
"Well" Dumbledore said, surprised at the response from the champions "The situation with Mister Crouch is very delicate. Even we do not know all the details and don't have the power to talk about it."
"I get attacked" Krum growled "And I can't learn why? This is absolute..."
"We will tell you more as we learn more" Dumbledore said, cutting off Viktor "And since you all know the final task, I see no reason to meet. You all can leave now. Good day."
The four champions left, chuckling at their small victory over the judges.
Harry grinned as he and Rishi walked outside after breakfast "You know, this family day is my favorite part of the entire tournament."
Rishi nodded "I'm pretty sure that it's a way to give the families closure if a champion dies. But, yeah. Pretty cool."
Harry rolled his eyes as they came under the rays of the sun. They looked and found Rishi's parents along with Lupin and Sirius. Sirius chuckled as Harry came into view "My little pup is in first place! Congrats!"
Harry brought Sirius into a hug as Rishi greeted his parents "Thanks Padfoot."
Lupin smiled as Harry then hugged him "You know, we have a surprise for you."
Sirius gestured for Rishi to join them and then lowered his voice "Me and Lupin missed teaching you guys. I don't think I could get the DADA job so I thought of other things I could teach. Then, it hit me! Around your age, we became Animagi! So, me, and Lupin will teach you how to become an animagi!"
The eyes of both boys lit up with excitement. Harry was the one to voice it "Awesome!"
Despite his excitement, Rishi was wary "What method are you using?"
"The one we used" Sirius answered.
Rishi shook his head "Talk to my dad."
The former Marauders seemed confused but listened to Rishi and went to the Gopals to talk. As the four adults talked, Daphne walked up to Harry "Hello."
Harry smiled "Daphne. How are you on this fine day?"
Daphne rolled her eyes "Well, I'm a tad bit worried that an idiot who I call my boyfriend will die in the Triwizard Tournament."
"I wouldn't worry about it" Harry said smoothly "He is one powerful lad."
Daphne laughed and kissed him. Sirius, who was leaving his conversation with Rishi's parents, saw the kiss "Pup... did you get a girlfriend?"
The word "girlfriend" caused Mrs Gopal to swivel around furiously "Harry has a girlfriend?!"
"I would recommend explaining, Harry" Lupin said calmly.
Harry put his hand on the small of Daphne's back "This is my girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass."
Sirius let out a happy chortle "Ha! Pay up Moony!"
Lupin grumbled as he handed Sirius 2 sickles "Damn it."
When all of the surrounding people looked confused, Sirius did his own explanation "When Harry was born, me, Remus, James and Lily placed a bet on when Harry would first get a partner. Whoever was the closest would get 2 sickles from all the others. I bet on his fourth year. Moony decided on 6th year while Lily said 5th year. James didn't think Harry would get one before him and bet on a year after Hogwarts."
"What if either of my parents won" Harry asked.
"We would pay the sickles to you" Lupin answered.
"Anyway" Sirius held out his hand to Daphne "It's nice to see you once again, Daphne."
Daphne shook Sirius' hand "Likewise Lord Black."
"Call me Sirius" was the response.
"When did you two get together?" Mrs Gopal asked.
"During the Yule Ball" Daphne told her.
Mrs Gopal turned on her son "Why didn't you tell me of this?!"
Rishi was shocked as everyone else laughed "How is this my fault?!"
As Rishi attempted to escape his mom's ire, Harry noticed Cedric calling all the other families over. Gathering his surrogate family, he went to the Diggorys and shook Amos' hand upon arrival "Hello, sir."
"Hello Harry" Amos said "I must say that you are doing a fine job in this tournament. Cedric will still win, though."
Harry laughed "I couldn't agree more."
At that point, Fleur and Krum's families had joined them and all four families engaged in a nice conversation regarding the schools, countries and other topics of the day. It also included Cedric introducing Fleur as his girlfriend which Amos took surprisingly well and Fleur introducing Cedric as her boyfriend which her family also took well.
"Welcome one and all to the Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman yelled to a cheering crowd "We are on the final task! One by one, the champions will enter the maze. The first to reach the Triwizard Cup wins!"
This set off more cheering and once that died down, Bagman continued "In first place, Harry Potter will enter! Next, Cedric Diggory. Then, Viktor Krum and finally, Fleur Delacour! Now, countdown with me!"
Everyone bar the champions and the judges began chanting "3, 2, 1, GO!"
Harry ran in. He had no idea what he would face but knew that he probably wouldn't die. And, he needed to keep his advantage over everyone else by going as quickly as possible. He ran around, and by the time he found something, he heard Bagman yell "Cedric can now go!"
He found a dementor right in front of him. Knowing that they would never place a dementor in the maze, he deduced that it must be a boggart. Laughing, he uttered "Riddikulus" and watched as the dementor began giving itself kisses all over.
He walked for some more time, as Krum entered the maze as well. After more walking, he really began hating the maze. There were so many simple solutions to it but after reading the rules, all his ideas turned out to be illegal. By the time he encountered the next obstacle, Fleur had entered as well.
He ran into a mist, and almost threw up. Everything seemed to be upside down. He took a step back and noticed that everything was normal once again. Taking a deep breath, he sprinted through the mist.
Harry then decided to walk leisurely after that. It would be pointless to exert himself right now. But when he heard Fleur scream, all thoughts of relaxing gone out the window.
That was a bad idea. He found himself looking a Blast-ended Skrewt, one of Hagrid's creations. It didn't help that the skrewt was about ten feet long and quite aggressive. Harry didn't want to take the time to defeat it, so he settled for stunning the creature.
He sighed. Everything was going well. He then heard Viktor and smiled. The smile turned into shock when he heard Krum say "Crucio."
Reacting quickly, he burnt a hole in the hedge and stunned Krum. Looking at the scene, he saw Cedric on the ground, and extended his hand "You okay, man?"
Cedric nodded "I'm fine. But, he and Fleur... is she okay?"
"I haven't seen her" Harry answered "But, they probably found her by now. What happened here?"
"Viktor was under the Imperius Curse" Cedric told him "He attacked and his eyes were glazed over. It wasn't him."
"This whole thing was fishy from the start" Harry snorted.
"You're damn right" Cedric agreed "First, you have to compete because..."
"What?" Harry said.
"Why do you have to compete" Cedric asked.
"What do you mean?" Harry didn't understand what Cedric meant. He had to compete. Dumbledore told him so in the room. He said that...
It all clicked for Harry "What happened in the trophy room?"
"I don't remember" Cedric said "Like, I really can't remember."
Harry growled "We were obliviated. Someone made me compete."
"If that's true" Cedric replied "Then, you got out of it somehow. They wouldn't need to do this unless you didn't have to compete."
"This is bullshit" Harry moaned "I'm so sorry about all this."
Cedric waved the apology away "It's not your fault. After all this, we can investigate all this. We can send a letter to someone at the Ministry."
The two shook hands and went their separate ways. Harry ran to the left while Cedric chose the right. Five minutes of walking led him to a sphinx. At that point, he easily figured out what he had to.
The sphinx stared at him for a moment and then began speaking
"First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard,
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"
Harry laughed. Being a Ravenclaw, he had to answer riddles every day so he had gotten VERY good at them. The first two lies eluded to a spy since they need a disguise and lies to who he spies on. The next two lines were trying to trick him into thinking hard, when in reality, it was very simple. The last thing to mend is "d" which is also the middle of middle and the end of the end. Finally, the next two lines made him think. But when he did that, he figured it out. He making the sound "er" as he thought and realized that "er" worked. Stringing the three parts together, he got "spyder" or spider.
He told his answer to the sphinx, who nodded and stepped aside for him to pass. He then saw it: the Triwizard Cup.
He ran to it but before he could grab it, he saw Cedric running towards. Cedric also stopped in front of the Cup.
Both took a moment to look at the other before turning and seeing a giant spider running at them. On the bright side, with two of them, the spider was dispatched quickly and they returned to the pressing issue.
"Um, how do we do this" Harry asked the older student.
Cedric gestured to it "You take it. I wouldn't be here without you."
Harry shook his head "You always stuck up for me. I want to repay you for all that."
"You don't need to" Cedric told him "Now, take it."
"No" Harry crossed his arms "You take it."
"How about both of us?" Cedric grinned.
Harry grinned as well "A joint victory. I like it."
"3" Cedric said as both got ready.
"2" Harry continued the count.
"1" both said as they grabbed onto the cup. Then, there was a flash.
Harry fell down upon landing while Cedric was on his feet "Where are we?"
"Is this a fourth task" Cedric looked around. The place was creeping both of them out. They looked to be in a graveyard.
"I don't think so" Harry answered as a hooded figure approached them. His scar flared up and he pieced everything together.
Harry turned to Cedric, panic evident in his eyes "GO! Apparate right now! I'll be fine! GO!"
Cedric nodded as someone muttered "Kill the spare." And he apparated away* as a spell went right where he used to stand.
The hooded figure dragged Harry and tied him to a tombstone. As the figure, who was apparently Wormtail, boiled water in a cauldron, Harry decided to get his bearings. It was quite obvious that he was in a graveyard with Wormtail. He also took the time to read the tombstone to which he was tied to. It read "Tom Riddle" which made everything much more clear.
Finally, he settled on watching Wormtail. He was better than most in wandless magic but he probably couldn't beat Wormtail without his wand so he was stuck. Wormtail dumped a bundled object with a snakey face into the cauldron. Wormtail then got dust from the grave of Riddle Sr and began speaking "Flesh of the servant."
Wormtail then sliced his right hand clean off which shocked Harry. He then walked over to Harry, and said "Blood of the enemy."
He cut Harry's upper right arm, and put the blood into the cauldron. Nothing happened but then, a man rose from the cauldron. Harry recognized him from his nightmares. It was Lord Voldemort.
Harry watched in horror as Voldemort pressed a mark on Wormtail's arm and examined his new body. Finally, Voldemort spoke to Harry "I killed the man who's tombstone you sit on. He was a failure. Abandoning my mother in her time of need. Letting me be carted of to an orphanage when my mother died. He was a freak, a disgrace."
More wizards came into the graveyard as Voldemort spoke to Harry and once Voldemort was done, he faced his death eaters. He paced the graveyard "You all seem quite... guilty. Is it because you left in MY time of need?"
One of the men flung himself in front of Voldemort "Please forgive me, my lord!"
Voldemort laughed mercilessly and cast a Crucio on the man. After a few seconds of torture, he cancelled the spell and laughed "What have you all missed? Last you heard, I was defeated by Harry Potter due to his mother's sacrifice. She begged me not to kill him so I got rid of her. But, her sacrifice caused the spell to rebound and cause my spirit to leave my body. I had to live in the bodies of snakes to survive, until Quirrel came to my forest. I possessed him in order to get the Sorceror's Stone but found that it wasn't there. Luckily, Wormtail found me, and reunited with another faithful servant, who helped bring Potter to me."
He then turned to Wormtail "For your loyalty, I have this." He conjured up a new hand and gave it to Wormtail, who bowed gratefully.
Voldemort then pointed at Harry "Give him his wand and untie him."
Harry knew that this was his chance. He had a spell from the Potter Grimoire for this occasion. It wouldn't last long, but would help. He looked at the Death Eaters who came to Voldemort and stopped at one. He knew that hair any day. It was Lucius.
Harry felt a pang of regret for what the spell would do to Lucius but knew it had to be done. So, once he had his wand, he pointed his wand at the Death Eaters and yelled "Manes tuum videre." He then sprinted for all he was worth to the cup, and upon grabbing, felt that tug of a portkey.**
* I never understood why Cedric didn't just apparate away from the graveyard
** Manes tuum videre is Latin for "Your ghosts see you"