43 - Anticlimax

Harry's nerves snapped taught when his hand seized up on the trophy's handle, his other locked around the shaft of his broom. He clearly felt the hook that yanked him away from the center of the maze. Every instinct he had was screaming at him that this was wrong.

I knew it was too easy, he mentally groused.

As the trip continued past the first second or two, he knew they weren't simply being transported to the judges. Wherever they were going, it was likely to be the point of the whole exercise. From the moment his name had been entered, there had been a purpose — and now they were going to learn what it was.

Possibly to their great cost.

All he could do right now, though, was mentally tally the situation. He could feel his wife bumping against him on one side, and could see Viktor and Cedric directly across, also carrying their brooms. This was a small comfort: whatever was happening, it was likely that whoever was on the other end only expected one person, not four.

A few moments later they all hit the ground and went sprawling.

"What the hell?" groused Cedric.

Harry, however, wasn't listening. While he was helping Fleur to her feet, he was otherwise busy taking in their surroundings — and what he saw was far from promising. They were in a graveyard, likely miles and miles away from Hogwarts.

A mouldering old mansion was visible atop a hill in the distance, and an old church off to one side, but other than that, there was nothing but trees and grave markers as far as the eye could see. Well, that and an ominous fog clinging to the ground, like something out of a Muggle Halloween special.

"This is not part of the tournament," noted Viktor.

"Non," agreed Fleur quietly. And then, showing that they were totally on the same page, she added, "Whatever zis is, it must be why 'arry was entered."

"I agree," Harry said. "I don't see anyone else around, though."

"They probably didn't expect us to be this fast," noted Cedric. "Let's get out of sight until we figure out what to do."

There was no need for any further prompting. Cedric quickly took the lead, drawing them over to and then behind a sizable mausoleum. Harry could tell that he had thought of entering the structure but decided against it.

It didn't matter, though; what mattered was what was written on a headstone that Harry spotted in the distance. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. It spelled Trouble, with a capital T.

"'Arry?" prompted Fleur, finally dragging him — almost forcibly — back behind the mausoleum with the rest of them. "What ees eet?" she asked nervously.

"I know where we are," he said faintly.

"Where?" asked Cedric.

Harry turned to look Fleur in the eye, since she was the only one present likely to understand the full implications. "That house on the hill?" he quietly gestured. "It's probably the Riddle estate."

The other two Champions were baffled, but Fleur's eyes widened, and her grip on him tightened. "You are certain?" she asked.

"That's what one of the gravestones said. I doubt it's a coincidence."

Fleur let go and started cursing in French so fluently that Harry fancied he could almost literally see the air turning blue.

"Whoa, slow down," put in Cedric. "Want to share with the class? What is the– the Riddle estate, you said?"

Harry shook himself out of his daze, resigned to explaining things. He had no idea how long they would be alone, however, so he needed to be quick about it. There was no time to be gentle.

"As in Tom Marvolo Riddle," he told Cedric, with Viktor listening in off to the side. "He uses a different name these days. He got it by rearranging the letters until they said 'I am Lord Voldemort.'"

Cedric and Viktor both immediately lost all color. "Please tell me this is a joke," choked out Viktor.

"Non," said Fleur quietly but firmly. "Eet ees no joke. We are in very great danger."

"The question is, what do we do about it?" mused Harry. "I have no idea how to get us home."

"Out of time," noted Viktor; he was currently peering up the hill toward the house. "Someone is coming."

It took Harry all of ten seconds to figure it out. "The brooms," he decided. "We stay low behind the gravestones until whoever that is passes, then we get up in the air. Worst case, we fly away as fast as we can and make our way back to the school. He can't chase all of us at once, so if we're spotted, we split up."

They all exchanged looks, and then nodded their agreement — nobody had a better idea — and nothing else was said. Harry led the way this time, slaloming silently through the graveyard, his wife hot on his heels. He hoped the other two were there as well — not that he was worried about Krum's chances on a broom.

He wasn't worried about Fleur either, truth be told; Cedric was actually the weakest flyer in the group, and he wasn't half bad in Harry's opinion.

It took some doing — and nearly five minutes of meticulous flying — but they slowly circled around the graveyard until they were behind the unknown party. Then Harry pulled up sharply, and they rapidly gained altitude, finally gathering directly overhead nearly a hundred feet up. Once on high they could see that, in their hurry, they had overlooked the presence of an enormous cauldron.

The unknown person was carrying something toward it.

"What on earth?" asked Cedric.

"Dark ritual," suggested Krum.

"If I had to guess?" said Harry, "Dark resurrection ritual."

"Merde," breathed Fleur.

"What now?" asked Cedric.

And that was the million Galleon question. On one hand, Harry felt like they should run and not look back. Getting involved in this was only going to get someone hurt or killed.

On the other hand, it was clear that Tom had a purpose here, and it probably involved having Harry present. Would he simply use someone else if Harry didn't show? It was highly likely.

"We should stop zis," said Fleur after a while. "I do not know what 'e is planning, but it cannot be good."

"Da," agreed Viktor. "Dark rituals are never good. Vill hurt many people if ve do not stop it."

"This is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named we're talking about," shuddered Cedric. "Can we even stop him?"

"Yes," said Harry flatly. "Tom is nothing more than a psychotic wizard. He's not a god. We can stun him just like anyone else. Just don't try to kill him."

"What? Why not?" gasped Cedric. "He's a monster!"

"Oui," agreed Fleur quietly, "but 'e is a monster zat 'as taken precautions. Eet ees not zat we do not want to kill eem, eet ees zat we cannot keel 'eem. It weel not end well."

It was the thickening of her accent that clued Harry in to just how calm Fleur was not — which otherwise did not come through in her voice. He quickly slid his broom closer to her and caught her in a one-armed hug. For all that she was a capable adult, she had never before been in a situation like this one.

Neither had the other two, but that was neither here nor there — they weren't his wife.

"Easy love," he soothed. "It'll be fine. We have the advantage here. He only expected one of us, and he doesn't even know where we are, or maybe even that we're here yet."

Fleur stared into his eyes for a long moment before suddenly grabbing his head and kissing him thoroughly — something she never did in public beyond a mere peck. "You will come home in one piece," she growled in French. "You hear me, husband?"

Harry couldn't help but smile. "I do," he replied in the same language. "And the same goes for you, love."

"Bon," she said finally, and then forced her mask back into place. He knew it to be an aspect of Occlumency; she was using it to suppress her feelings — and her nerves.

Turning back to the graveyard, Harry quickly took in the situation. Whoever was down there had put the bundle down, and appeared now to be tending something in the cauldron. Harry also spotted movement off to the side — something slithering through the underbrush nearby.

"Snake," he noted, pointing it out to the others.

"Da," nodded Krum. "Big, too."

"Probably belongs to He-Who," agreed Cedric.

"Zat one we can kill," noted Fleur grimly. She was clearly taking this all very personally.

Silence reigned as they studied the area. There was a town off in the distance, but it was unlikely to be of any help. The unknown person tending the cauldron was the only human visible for miles. The only other party they could see was the snake.

"Y'know, this could be relatively simple," Harry finally said. Then, looking at Krum, he suggested, "Wronsky Feint, attack at the bottom, right before we pull up?"

A smile slowly spread across Viktor's face. Harry'd had little contact with him since the Yule Ball, but he had seemed fairly boring then. Now, though, with that look in his eye, Harry understood. Krum found his fun in the air.

"Da," he said slowly.

"You take the snake," suggested Harry. "That might actually be the more difficult one. Use a cutting hex. I'll deal with our unknown down there with a stunner."

"What about us?" asked Cedric, motioning between himself and Fleur.

"Backup," explained Viktor.

"Exactly," agreed Harry, looking Cedric in the eye. "If something happens to us, it's up to you to save the day." Then, with an amused smirk he added, "I'd ask you to get Fleur to safety, but I don't feel like being char-broiled."

"Bon," smirked Fleur. "You are learning!"

They all had a good chuckle over that, but Harry felt their time was up now. They needed to get this done — before something else could happen.

"Alright, let's go," he decided. And then he and Viktor lined up on their respective Firebolts.

"Good luck," he told Viktor.

"Da, same," Viktor replied.

"Three, two, one–"

And they were off.

Harry forgot all his fears in the rush of air on his face as he streaked toward the ground, dimly aware of Viktor doing the same right beside him. If this had been a Quidditch game, it would have been immensely fun. But then the moment was over, and he raised his wand, poised to strike.

They crossed the distance in less than five seconds, and Harry roared his curse into the night, even as Viktor did the same.

"STUPEFY!"

"REZACHKA!"

Harry's curse slammed into the back of the person tending the cauldron, slamming his head into it with a resounding clang. Even as Harry pulled out of his dive, however, he heard Viktor's curse having a very unexpected effect, and forcefully yanked the broom around to see what had happened.

He was just in time to see an image of Voldemort screaming into the night as it disintegrated into nothingness where it hovered over the headless body of the snake that Viktor had targeted.

Viktor swore in his native language. "Vhat vas that?" he asked as he landed with a thud.

"Just be glad it's gone," said Harry quietly, choosing not to answer the question. He had a guess, and really didn't want knowledge of that topic to spread. Instead he also landed, and then turned to the unknown person and pulled its hood down.

"Wormtail," he growled upon recognizing the idiot.

He looked up and was just about to motion Cedric and Fleur down from the heavens when heard something that made his blood run cold.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

===[~]===

Fleur watched silently as her husband of three months lined up next to an internationally-renowned Quidditch star like it was no big thing. One would have thought that he flew with the famous Viktor Krum every day. And that was to say nothing of what awaited them at the bottom of their respective dives.

She had tremendous confidence in Harry, but that did not stop her from worrying over his safety. If whoever was down there saw them coming, it could get very ugly, very quickly. She could only hope that their presence truly was still unknown.

"Three, two, one–"

The look on his face as he dove was unsurprising to her. He adored flying, and if not for the fame aspect she would have recommended Quidditch as a potential career. He was, by all accounts, an excellent Seeker.

She saw as the spells flashed out, and then came the most unearthly shriek she'd ever heard. It sent shivers up her spine, and she had no idea what had caused it. Unlike Harry, she had never heard that sound before.

"What was that?" asked Cedric nervously.

"I do not know," she shrugged. "But zey do not seem to be worried about it."

She watched as Harry went over and examined the unknown person, but was quickly distracted. Her heart nearly stopped when a sickly green spell flashed out from the bundle on the ground, very nearly striking Krum in the back. He was barely able to dive out of the way.

She was in her own dive before she even consciously registered what she was doing.

By the time Fleur reached the ground, however, it was already over. Harry had quickly stunned whoever was in the bundle, and was now staring at it with a deeply disgusted expression on his face. She quickly landed and looked for herself — and promptly wished that she hadn't.

It was all she could do to keep her dinner down.

"Zat is disgusting!" she snapped, even as Cedric touched down next to her.

"I think it's Tom," said Harry faintly. "I have no idea what he did to himself, but yeah, that's disgusting."

"Homunculus," said Krum as he brushed himself off. "Am surprised it can cast."

"Looked like it almost got you," noted Cedric.

"Da," agreed Viktor. "Lucky I vas paying attention."

"Who is ze ozzer?" asked Fleur curiously.

"Pettigrew," explained Harry darkly. "He's not going anywhere."

Fleur had the sense that it was over; there was nobody else about, and as creepy as their surroundings were, they were now relatively safe. She could see that Harry was holding something back, but she would ask him later.

"What now?" asked Cedric.

"Now you go to the Ministry and find Madam Bones," ordered Harry. "Get her here with a gob of Aurors, and whoever else she needs to deal with Riddle and Pettigrew. Oh, and tell her I said that Gringotts needs to be involved. There's something here they're looking for, and you don't want to get in their way on that one. We'll be here when you get back."

Credric blinked in shock at Harry's decisive orders, but quickly shook himself out of it. "Right," he nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment to center himself, and then he suddenly twisted and vanished with a crack!

Fleur couldn't help staring hungrily at Harry. His take-charge attitude just then did funny things to her insides. He blinked back at her in shock when he spotted it, and that brought her back to herself. She gave him a look that promised many things that night, and then moved off to start cataloguing what was here.

There really wasn't much to see.

The cauldron had some sort of liquid in it, but she wouldn't have been surprised if it was little more than water. There was no smell, which supported that possibility. The thing had a base that allowed for firewood to be placed underneath, but there was none present. She wasn't sure if that meant the ritual would have taken place elsewhere, or if they just hadn't started it yet.

Harry had Pettigrew trussed up like a Christmas turkey alongside it, and the bump on his head doubly ensured that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

On the other side of the cauldron, the massive snake – now headless – lay cooling in the grass. It was positively enormous. Good thing they had decided to target it, or things might have been far worse.

"That was a horcrux," said Viktor suddenly, his voice hushed and laced with clear disgust. "In the snake."

Fleur's gaze snapped to Viktor at the same time as Harry's did. She had no idea what to say. While they had not been sworn to secrecy, this was not the sort of knowledge that should be shared.

Harry took the initiative, though. "Yes," he said flatly. "But please don't ever repeat that. Nobody needs to know that Tom made them. The Goblins are dealing with it, and if this really is him, then he'll be dead for good very shortly."

"Good," nodded Krum.

"Is zat what zat shriek was?" she asked curiously.

"Da," nodded Viktor. "Looked like him, too."

Fleur could do little more than blink in surprise. This was turning out to be a very productive night. Her only complaint was that they could have stopped it all if they'd gone after Riddle as soon as they knew he was present.

Then again, how would they have known that he was little more than a homunculus?

Giving up that train of thought with a heavy sigh, she leaned her broom against a headstone and wrapped herself around her husband from behind. The adrenaline was already leaving her system, and she was definitely feeling the effects. She rested her chin on his head, and as she closed her eyes she saw Krum smiling softly at them.

She hadn't known he was capable of that.

===[~]===

Harry wanted to close his eyes and melt into Fleur's embrace, but would not allow himself to do so. They were still in hostile territory. He doubted there would be further trouble, but one never knew. For one thing, he suspected that there was another horcrux somewhere nearby. If it was alive like the snake was, then there was no telling what could happen.

Ten minutes later, Harry was getting worried. Cedric had been gone for quite a while, and there were still no Aurors on the scene. He could feel Fleur's tension once more increasing through the grip she had on him, and even Krum was starting to look fidgety.

Could something have gone wrong?

Another ten minutes after that, and all three of them were considering leaving the scene together to try to get help. They were deeply worried that something might have happened to Cedric. As such, they were all on a razor's edge when help finally arrived.

It took all of Harry's considerable self-control to prevent himself from casting a stunner at Amelia Bones when she appeared in the graveyard — and with his recent power boost, it would have been one hell of a stunner indeed.

Her auror robes looked like she'd already been through a war tonight. They were singed and ripped in places, and on closer inspection, he could see that there was dirt streaked across her face. The aurors she brought with her weren't much better off.

"Mr. Potter?" she called. "What exactly happened?"

Harry blinked.

"I could ask the same of you," he frowned. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine, Mr. Potter," she sighed. "I'll explain in a minute. You first please."

Harry studied her for a moment longer before finally relenting and explaining what had happened. Cedric returned halfway through the explanation with a familiar pair of goblins in tow, causing him to have to start over again. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Riptooth and Ragnock were both taking a personal interest.

By the time he finished the story, most of the newcomers were in shock. Only Bones and the Goblins had taken it with any level of equanimity.

"Quite the night," said Ragnock in his gravelly voice, nodding in respect to Harry. "We will scan for what we require." Turning to Madam Bones he added, "The rest is yours. The People take no interest outside of certain… artifacts."

Madam Bones took that in stride. "I'm aware of your interest," she admitted, "and I have no intention of stopping you. All I ask is that you let me know when they've all been found." Then, eyeing Harry, she added, "or at least let Mr. Potter know."

Ragnok chuckled. "That will not be a problem, Madam Bones. He is, after all, the one who alerted our employee to their existence."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle. "More my wife and her mum, but that's neither here nor there," he grinned. But then he turned serious again. "So that's here, Madam Bones. What happened to you?"

Her grimace was not reassuring.

She took a moment to direct her people to start dealing with the scene, and then conjured a chair to sit down in. The Champions followed suit — and Fleur also conjured a pair of chairs for the two goblins. Harry would have, but he wasn't that good at it yet.

"What happened was a cock-up of massive proportions on the part of the Tournament organizers, Mr. Potter," she finally sighed.

Harry blinked at that description. "You mean beyond having a Task that involved the spectators watching hedges grow for an hour or so?"

Both goblins roared with laughter at that question, and Madam Bones rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, yes," she said. "Those hedges were spelled to self-disintegrate when the cup was taken."

The first stirrings of horror made themselves known deep in Harry's gut, and could almost feel the blood draining from his cheeks. "Please tell me that they had the creatures locked in place," he said quietly.

"Unfortunately, no," she replied. "Nobody was killed, but it was a close run thing. There were numerous serious injuries. If not for your Godfather and father-in-law, and a student named Hermione Granger, things would be quite a lot worse. They managed to subdue all but the manticore, with only scattered help from others, most notably the Weasley twins. It took Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Maxime and Mad-Eye all working together just to contain the manticore. We had to help them take it down."

"Zere was a manticore in zat maze?" asked Fleur faintly. "What were zey thinking?"

"Did not sign up as a sacrifice," growled Krum darkly.

"You're not the only ones saying such things," nodded Madam Bones. "Manticores are illegal for a reason, and the Tri-Wizard tournament did not rate an exemption, nor did it have one. I have people looking into the records, and whoever is behind that will face the full force of the law. I consider it four counts of attempted murder, at an absolute minimum. The only thing worse would have been a basilisk."

Harry couldn't help but agree. He knew enough about manticores from reading ahead in Care of Magical Creatures to know that they were utterly deadly. As Madam Bones had said, there was a reason they were illegal. A single manticore could have killed a sizable percentage of the audience before they could take it down.

They were lucky that it hadn't.

"Are my parents alright?" worried Fleur. "And 'arry's Godfather and 'ermione?"

"Yes, they're fine," nodded Amelia. "All of them have minor injuries, but nothing serious. I think Granger might be up for an Order of Merlin, too. She spotted one of those Merlin-bedamned skrewts targeting a group of Wizengamot members and managed to stop it with some dramatic transfiguration at the cost of getting slightly mauled by a rampaging hippogriff. Your Godfather managed to divert the hippogriff before it could do worse."

Shaking her head she added, "And she still kept going after that, even though she was obviously in pain. I'm hoping to recruit her when she graduates, she would make an excellent Auror."

"Good luck with that," chuckled Harry. "I don't know what she has planned in the long run, but I can't see her as an Auror."

"Non," agreed Fleur. "A teacher or a researcher per'aps, but she is too, 'ow do you say… black and white? for law enforcement."

"Da," agreed Krum.

"Department of Mysteries for that one," Cedric agreed. "She's certainly smart enough."

"We'll see what happens," chuckled Amelia. "In the mean time, we need to get you back to Hogwarts. My people can handle things from here."