Grindelwald's Burden (Books 1-7)

66. The Third Task

Just to Clarify Harry had his 'fit' in Divination and then went to Dumbledore's office before this. I didn't include because one it had no real way to involve Y/n and two it was so long it could have been its own chapter. If you want to know what happens read the chapters in the book, I am just assuming most of you know what happened seeing how long the books have been out. 

"Dumbledore reckons You-Know-Who's getting stronger again as well?" Ron whispered as he stared into the common room fire. Harry thought he saw Ron shiver slightly, even though the evening was warm.

Everything Harry had seen in the Pensieve, nearly everything Dumbledore had told and shown him afterward, he had now shared with Ron, Y/n and Hermione...and, of course, with Sirius, to whom Harry had sent an owl the moment he had left Dumbledore's office. Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione sat up late in the common room once again that night,

"So Dumbledore trusts Snape? Even though he knows he was a Death Eater?" Y/n asked.

"Yes." said Harry.

"Then either he is more foolish than I thought or there is more to Snape than we know..." Y/n said.

Hermione had not spoken for ten minutes. She was sitting with her forehead in her hands, staring at her knees.

"Rita Skeeter." she muttered finally.

"How can you be worrying about her now?" said Ron, in utter disbelief.

"I'm not worrying about her." Hermione said to her knees. "I'm just thinking...remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks? 'I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl. ' This is what she meant, isn't it? She reported his trial, she knew he'd passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky too, remember... 'Ludo Bagman's a bad wizard. ' Mr. Crouch would have been furious he got off, he would have talked about it at home."

"Yes, but as stupid as he may be... Bagman did not pass information on purpose, did he?" Y/n pointed out and Hermione shrugged.

"And Fudge reckons Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?" Ron said, turning back to Harry.

"Yeah." said Harry. "But he's only saying that because Crouch disappeared near the Beauxbatons carriage."

"We never thought of her, did we?" said Ron slowly. "Mind you, she's definitely got giant blood, and she doesn't want to admit it..."

"Of course she doesn't." said Hermione sharply, looking up. "Look what happened to Hagrid when Rita found out about his mother. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her, just because she's part giant. Who needs that sort of prejudice? I'd probably say I had big bones if I knew that's what I'd get for telling the truth."

Hermione looked at her watch. "We haven't done any practicing!" she said, looking shocked. "We were going to do help Harry learn the Impediment Curse! We'll have to really get down to it tomorrow! Come on. Y/n, Harry, you need to get some sleep."

Harry, Y/n and Ron went slowly upstairs to their dormitory. As Harry pulled on his pajamas, he looked over at Neville's bed. True to his word to Dumbledore, he had not told Ron, Y/n and Hermione what he had learned about Neville's parents. As Harry took off his glasses and climbed into his four-poster, he imagined how it must feel to have parents still living but unable to recognize you. He often got sympathy from strangers for being an orphan, but as he listened to Neville's snores, he thought that Neville deserved it more than he did. Lying in the darkness, Harry felt a rush of anger and hate toward the people who had tortured Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom...He remembered the jeers of the crowd as Crouch's son and his companions had been dragged from the court by the dementors...He understood how they had felt...Then he remembered the milk-white face of the screaming boy and realized with a jolt that he had died a year later...