The same but different

Chapter 20 Bonds

From that night on, time seemed to race ahead, until the third task was almost upon them. The night before, the four founders gathered up in the Room, going over Harry's ritual and the plan for tomorrow. Bagman had shown them the maze in late May, and the two boys were confident there was nothing in there they couldn't face. The real challenge would come in whatever happened next.

"Do we have a plan for if there's no actual secret plot in this tournament, and it just ends normally?" Neville asked, brow furrowing. Harry shrugged.

"I wait 'til summer and go Dark Lord hunting?" he suggested, earning a scolding poke to the shoulder from his brother. "I'm serious. I highly doubt Crouch has gone through all of this to just not have a plan, so I'm working under the assumption that something's going to happen. I'm just hoping he isn't going to involve the others. This isn't their fight."

"I'll keep them safe, the best I can," Cedric vowed. "You just worry about what you need to do." Between them, his hand was wrapped tight around Harry's, his shoulders tense and his jaw sharp. Harry leaned into him soothingly.

"It'll be fine, love," he assured.

"One way or another, it'll all be over by this time tomorrow," Luna mused. Harry let her words sink in, trying to imagine what that might be like. A world without Voldemort hanging over his shoulders, shadowing his every step. He hardly dared imagine it.

"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid," Neville requested with a long-suffering sigh. Harry grinned.

"Stupid is your area of expertise," he declared. "I haven't lost that much of myself to you lions. Every risk I take will be entirely calculated and necessary."

"Y'know, that doesn't reassure me in the slightest," came Neville's deadpan response. Harry sobered, looking at his three gathered companions, the other three quarters of his heart.

"I swear to you, I won't do anything to jeopardise this second chance we've all been given," he vowed. "I want to watch this school prosper again. I want to be part of shaping the world. I can't do that if I'm dead, or lose all my magic."

"Is that a possibility? Losing your magic?" Cedric asked in a strangled tone. Harry winced.

"A very, very minuscule one?" he admitted. "Like, less than half a percent likely. But still can't rule it out." He squeezed Cedric's hand. "I'm being as careful as I can, but this sort of magic is inherently unpredictable."

"It's as sound as we're capable of making it," Luna promised. "He's not going in half-cocked. For once." That made Cedric grin half-heartedly.

Neville checked his watch, and cleared his throat. "I think we'll call it a night. Let you two have a bit of time to yourselves. We'll see you both in the morning, yeah?"

He wasn't subtle, but Harry didn't need him to be. When he and Cedric were the only ones left, Harry turned in his seat to press his forehead to his boyfriend's. "Don't fret, my love," he soothed. "This is just something I need to do. One little ritual, and he's gone for good."

"Unless something goes wrong and it kills you instead," Cedric retorted. Harry cupped his cheeks, looking deep into troubled grey eyes.

"That's very unlikely. The scenarios I'm preparing for are the case in which all Marked people die, or the case in which it backfires and Voldemort lives through it. Even then, he should be mortal enough that I can just curse him and be done with it." He pressed a quick kiss to Cedric's lips. "You should be more worried about Professor Snape than me." His outcome was the most unknown, the one Harry was most concerned over.

Cedric growled. "I'm not in love with Professor Snape!" he retorted.

"I should hope not!" The attempt at levity didn't work, and Harry sighed. "Listen to me, my love. I am Harry Potter, and my whole life has been leading up to this moment. I'm lucky enough to have been given Salazar's memories, and given you and the others to assist me, but everything culminates in this, for me. I have to do whatever I can to rid this stain from the world."