"Expecto Patronum!"
My Room of Requirement now looks like an ancient temple with a peristyle, flooded with sunlight.
After Luna and I finally succeeded - she managed to send an image, and I managed to "see" it - I was so happy that now my patronus simply must take form. Though I shouldn't celebrate so actively around Luna. She's like a powerful receiver, and such loud "sound" of others' emotions makes her feel bad... and she's in a castle full of children who constantly generate these emotions. That's probably why Luna herself, when no one's influencing her, is always so detached, with muted emotions, slightly sluggish - not of this world.
Focus, don't get distracted. I concentrate on happy moments: the still-fresh feeling of delight from the cat image Luna transmitted, the joyful flutter of my heart from a sharp turn with Viktor, comfort and peace - my parents and I celebrating Christmas as a family...
"Expecto Patronum!"
A silvery animal flies out of my wand and begins running through the air around me. It's not very big, cute and incredibly fluffy. Come here, my joy! I feel tenderness looking at my creation. Who are you, little dog?
My fluffy creature approaches its mistress...
It's an arctic fox, comrades!
I can't help but burst out laughing. I wanted a big cat, but an arctic fox definitely characterizes me better. My patronus bounces playfully around me.
***
I did show Luna the Room of Requirement. She needs it even more than I do. And she definitely won't tell anyone else. And if she does, they won't believe her. Besides, we need somewhere to practice. The ability to speak with thoughts is, in my opinion, one of the coolest possibilities of magic. Perhaps even cooler than flying on broomsticks. Too bad my gift for mentalism apparently manifests in something else, so it's going slowly. Luna shows me the most primitive things: fruits, animals, geometric shapes, numbers... I show her entire scenes with several characters, and she sees everything perfectly. Additionally, we're trying to figure out how Luna can muffle strong foreign emotions that hit her brain. I feel like we're reinventing the wheel, but where can we find information? Luna's father, who also has similar abilities, didn't give us any useful advice. I told Luna about the "quiet room" principle, and now we're trying to somehow translate the idea to mental work. Maybe when we succeed, it'll turn out to be complete nonsense. We have to act exclusively by trial and error.
"I liked the mother duck with ducklings the most," Luna's voice finally carries her own emotions. Her silhouette under the disillusionment charm bounces cheerfully while walking. I'm happy for her, though in this situation I shouldn't express my delight so loudly.
"I'd also like to see the mother duck with ducklings. And also find out where you found them in Hogwarts after curfew," came a reply in a sarcastic tone.
Luna and I jumped. A light breeze rolled over us, and the disillusionment charms fell off.
"Well, well, Miss Granger and Miss Lovegood. Please explain what interesting activity you've been engaged in tonight after curfew? And don't flare your nostrils like that, Miss Granger. Answer the question."
Damn, Professor Snape, how did you end up here? I checked the map before leaving the Room of Requirement. You were in the dungeons. And anyway, why does it always happen like this: all professors patrol the school, but nine rule-breakers out of ten run into Snape specifically!
"Hermione and I are talking in pictures!" Luna cheerfully reported our activity. "Hermione showed me a mother duck, and also a puppy that's chasing its own tail and falling, and a ballerina..."
Snape interrupts:
"Miss Granger, you're our translator, translate into human language. And lower your wand already, attacking a teacher is forbidden by school rules."
"What about attacking students?" I muttered under my breath.
"Don't, Hermione, the professor's wrackspurts won't attack, they're sad," Luna pleads.
I sigh, strangely, I immediately feel calmer. I put my wand in its holster - I didn't even notice when I drew it. After Pettigrew, it sometimes practically jumps into my hand on its own.
"Alright, Luna, I believe you..."
"That's wonderful, but I'm still waiting for you to deign to explain yourselves."
"Luna and I were walking around the school after curfew, Professor. We confess to breaking school rules," I report. "Detention, sir?"
Snape looks suspicious.
"Detention, Miss Granger," he agrees. "Come with Miss Lovegood tomorrow after dinner. Oh yes, minus ten points from Hufflepuff and minus ten points from Ravenclaw. I'll escort you to your common rooms, I'm afraid you might not manage this difficult task on your own."
The next day we come to Snape. Before detention, I beg Luna not to tell the professor anything. Because everything we say can always be used against us. And some people can only be told secrets under an oath of non-disclosure and non-harm, and even then it's better to think thrice. Alas, it seems my wrackspurts tried to bite Luna too.
Cauldrons awaited us, splattered with something particularly dirty. Not so scary, as if I've never washed burnt pans. I scrub my cauldrons, Luna hers, Professor Snape checks essays. We're silent. After two hours Snape approaches:
"Well, Miss Granger, I see you've handled your work. You may be free."
"May I wait for Luna, sir?"
"You may wait for Miss Lovegood outside the door, though I would advise you to go to your room."
"Professor Snape, may I help Miss Lovegood finish her share of work?" I say pleadingly.
"Haven't worked hard enough yet, Miss Granger? Nothing, this won't be your last time here. And now please exit."
I'm afraid for Luna, but I have no reasonable arguments. So I foolishly remain silent and stay in place. Snape gets tired of this, he waves his hand, and I'm carefully carried out the door, which immediately slams shut with a loud sound. Damn! I stomp my foot. The door opens again for a second, and my bag flies forcefully into my hands. The door slams again.
I wait for Luna for an hour and a half. Luna comes out cheerful. Professor Snape will teach her legilimency! She really does have the gift, as I said. He took the mentor's oath, and now he definitely can't harm his student. The professor showed the first exercises and taught the basics of meditation, which she'll need to do every day before sleep and after waking. Luna will come to lessons twice a week.
My worry for Luna has passed, with a mentor's oath you can trust even Snape. This is much cooler than any vow of non-harm.
Well, imagine that, he gave Luna an oath so easily and simply, but couldn't give me a promise not to forcibly invade my head. Though a mentor's oath is a very powerful thing. It's not that I'm envious, but... But I still feel annoyed. Why does he treat Luna humanely, but me like this?
Well, fine, to hell with Snape, but if he teaches Luna, I'll be able to train occlumency with her. I trust her sufficiently. You can train on the most ordinary memories, a benevolent teacher with a gentle teaching system won't pry into their students' terrible secrets.
***
Exams have been successfully taken and tonight the third task of the tournament will take place. I'm afraid for the boys. The map hasn't shown anyone unaccounted for on the grounds all year, but I haven't been looking at it around the clock.
All week I've been nagging Harry, reminding him that he has a portkey to Godric's Hollow. And that if the situation gets out of control and he's in danger, he shouldn't risk it but should relocate. Finally Harry began to get irritated in response to my nagging. But at least now he'll remember for sure.
In the morning I approach Cedric and ask him to promise me one thing.
"I understand this is silly, but I had a dream last night where you're the first to reach the cup. But the portkey works incorrectly, and instead of the platform in front of the judges, you end up in the middle of criminal showdowns. And they kill you! Please promise me that if the cup transports you somewhere wrong, you'll immediately apparate away! Yes, it's just a dream, I know. But please!"
Cedric promised to calm me down.
Not the most reliable method, but before this I spent a month racking my brain about how to save Cedric. At first I thought I could knock him out on the day of the task and lock him in a closet. Or even in the Chamber of Secrets - no one would have found him there. But everything comes down to the contract with the cup. We don't have the full text, and the brief version says that non-participation by a champion is punishable by rollback. And a person can lose not only magic, but also life. Is an attack on a champion and physical inability to participate a valid reason? If not, then Cedric still faces rollback. This way I could kill him with my own hands. Why is information search such a problem in the magical world?
The second option was to break Cedric's leg right on the day of the task. Skele-Gro wouldn't have had time to work and Cedric would have had to limp through the labyrinth. Sadistic, yes, but in that case participation would be counted, but limping to the finish first would be problematic. But, as far as I remember, there was an acromantula in the labyrinth, and Cedric barely fought it off. Or was it not Cedric? And a broken leg could prevent making a dash from danger, steal those fractions of seconds needed for the right spell. And this way I could kill Cedric again. Not to mention that attacking champions might also be punishable by rollback. And I want to deprive myself of magic or kill myself even less than Cedric.
So I still settled on a simple warning, presenting it as a dream.
After lunch, Viktor and I went for a little walk before the most crucial stage. I also told him about the dream, only with him in the main role. He reassured me that all Durmstrang students have emergency portkeys to the ship. After all, they don't know the country and can't apparate around it. This is good, this is encouraging. There's a problem - I don't communicate with Fleur and therefore can't warn her. I can only hope she doesn't find the cup first. After all, she's currently in last place due to failure in the second task and will enter the labyrinth last of all. We spend the remaining part of the walk mainly kissing and hardly talking about anything.
This could probably be called a holiday romance - we ended up in the same country thanks to the Triwizard Tournament, but soon it will end, and our dates too.
It's time for me to go to the stands, and for Viktor to the champions' tent.
We've been sitting in the stands for an hour and a half. There's nothing to look at except the green walls of the labyrinth, and the walls are motionless, as normal walls should be. People are frankly bored, Susan, Hannah and I are playing spells - it's like word association, but with a magical twist. The game calms my nerves a little, but the longer we wait, the more I worry.
Suddenly red sparks flash over the labyrinth, and the duty group of wizards on broomsticks heads to the call. If we assume that someone was attacked by Hagrid's blast-ended skrewt or an acromantula or the Sphinx got angry at an incorrectly guessed riddle, then the wizards' help will amount to collecting the corpse. This rapid response group isn't actually rapid at all. And we can't see anything from here!
After some time the wizards fly back with passengers. Three senior champions sit with them on broomsticks. Harry isn't there, I'm afraid he was kidnapped after all. But he has a portkey. I mentally beg Harry to think to use it. The group flies up to the judges, and some kind of sorting out begins. Why are they so quiet?! After some time the arguers start shouting loudly. But from the stands you can only catch one thing: the cup is missing! The champions came to the center of the labyrinth and found nothing.
Meanwhile, someone from the spectators points in a completely different direction and shouts:
"Look, that's Harry!"
And indeed, Potter is running toward us from the Hogsmeade road as fast as his legs can carry him. Thank God, he's alive! He figured it out.
The spectators start clamoring, and even the angry judges are distracted from the problem of the missing cup. The breathless hero runs up to the judges.
"Voldemort is returning!" the boy tries to catch his breath.
"Harry?" Dumbledore asks in surprise.
"Voldemort is returning!" Harry finally managed to cope with his breathing.
"Harry, did you see the cup?" Ludo Bagman asks about the most important thing. And for him it's definitely not Voldemort.
"The cup transported us to a graveyard!"
"Harry!" Dumbledore interrupts authoritatively. "Let's go to my office," he nods to the other judges, leading away the boy who once again survived.
Well, now we won't learn anything for a long time.
Three champions forgotten by everyone stand before the stands, confused and angry. Yeah, they were seriously screwed over. Made to run for the cup, overcoming blast-ended skrewts, and the cup disappeared. Potter doesn't have it either. I feel like there's an international scandal brewing.
"I'll go to Viktor," I tell the girls.
"Right, don't forget to find out everything from him," Hannah reminds me of the most important thing.
I hug Viktor, next to me Cho, who also ran from the stands, hugs Cedric. And we finally learn what happened.
Viktor and Cedric reached the center of the labyrinth simultaneously, approaching it from two sides. Viktor thought there would now be a little duel, but then both champions noticed that the cup was no longer on the pedestal. Could Fleur have been so fast? Or Harry? The little champion wasn't initially taken as an equal, but still the guys admitted that Potter is talented. The former competitors spent some more time talking, and then Fleur came onto the platform. After ten minutes of waiting it became clear that no one intended to take them away, despite the fact that there was no cup - meaning the task had long ended. So the champions decided to launch red sparks. No one wanted to go back on foot through all the traps.
***
The next day both delegations from foreign schools departed with a terrible scandal. England seriously damaged its reputation with this tournament. It happened that champions died, but the cup had never been lost before. I think wizards have wrong priorities, because obviously - it's better to lose the cup than for a person to die. Most likely, Hogwarts won't see such trust again, and tournaments will be held exclusively on the continent.
I still haven't managed to cross paths with Harry, but I kissed Viktor goodbye so much that my lips swelled up. I promised to write, but didn't promise to visit, because if Harry was right about Voldemort, we're going to have a war here. Durmstrang students were accompanied by Karkaroff's deputy, he himself, according to Viktor, departed somewhere yesterday on urgent business.
After the foreign students left, it was discovered that Harry had disappeared. I write on paired parchment to the Black house and find out that Harry was transferred to Grimmauld yesterday evening by floo. And that I'm also expected as a guest after the official end of the school year. Damn, now I won't know what happened for several more days. How did my plan work, and in general - at what moment did Harry relocate? In his place I would have done it before they cut me, and in that case Harry still doesn't know how the ritual ended.
***
The day before departure, Dumbledore summons me. I don't expect anything good from him, so I make a detour to our dean's office. Professor Sprout was clearly surprised when she understood that I'm somewhat afraid of the headmaster, but immediately agreed to go with me.
Dumbledore was also clearly surprised that I didn't come alone, but when did such trifles stop him?
"Pomona, I have no complaints about Miss Granger. I want to talk to the girl about Harry. He's had to endure so much," the headmaster shows with his expression that he took everything Harry experienced very close to heart. "I think it would be better to discuss this without you. After all, Harry Potter is not a student of your house."
You can't argue with such a peremptory tone. Especially with your superiors. Especially when there are apparently no obvious reasons.
Headmaster, what a cunning bitch you are.
Pomona looks at me guiltily, but leaves.
We sit in silence. I examine my hands. Dumbledore sighs. I look at a hangnail on my ring finger, must remember later.
"My dear girl," the headmaster broke the silence, "I think you've already understood that something very bad has happened? Harry especially needs your help now. You've been caring for him so much all these years..."
I want to ask if Voldemort really has returned, but I don't want to hear another sermon about the greater good. Better to find out everything from Sirius later.
"...when dark times come, we need more than ever... to stand shoulder to shoulder against the forces of evil... we need to support each other... it's necessary to unite for the greater good..."
But who cares what I want if today the greater good is scheduled.
And the phoenix is beautiful, bright and with a long tail. Last time it wasn't in the office.
"What is required of me, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Maybe he'll give at least some specifics?
"My dear, Harry now needs the support of friends, sensible friends. Who can prompt and guide when needed..."
And you're apparently now going to tell me exactly where Harry needs to be guided.
I listen to veiled instructions that Harry needs to be motivated by reminding him that Voldemort is universal evil and killed his parents, so Harry would study harder, and also be his brain in difficult situations.
I'm not going to remind him about the evil, he remembers perfectly well himself, and I've been helping when possible for the last four years, so nothing will really change. Which I tell the headmaster.
The headmaster asks me to live at Grimmauld this summer, as moral support for the hero. I agree that yes, Harry needs a friend nearby now. The main thing is that it goes without magical pressure, like last time. Because I'm not actually planning to live at Grimmauld. I need to persuade my parents to move, and no one's cancelled exams at regular school. I'll just write to my parents to wait for me a couple days later.