Hermione's POV

It wasn't until a week later, after (Y/N)'s ribs and shoulder had healed that we heard what happened to Winky, "She's been sacked" Mr. Weasley confirmed sadly, I had hoped Mr Crouch would reconsider, either way, I was furious. 

"That's terrible, she'll be devastated" I said in a mix of anger, sadness and disgust, I briefly saw (Y/N) furiously writing on a piece of parchment, but payed it no mind. "Ron can I borrow Pig?" (Y/N) asked, holding up a letter, Ron nodded.

(Y/N) said "Pigwidgeon" politely and the bird flew immediately to his side, he then attached a letter to his leg and scratched the small birds beak, Pig flew off out the window, already seeming out of breath.

"Don't worry Hermione, I've got my best people working on it" (Y/N) said pointing to the window Pig flew out of, "Dumbledore can do something I'm sure of it" he smiled, I was overcome with gratitude, I pulled him into a hug. 

He just laughed and smiled patting my back. After breakfast Harry pulled us into Ron's room and explained the dream he kept having and the concerns he had about Trelawney's prediction.

(Y/N)'s POV

"It was only a dream," said Ron, shuddering. "Just a nightmare." "Yeah, but was it, though?" said Harry, "It's weird, isn't it? . . . My scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again." "Maybe you're making a big deal of it, the Voldemort fan club probably would have attacked either way" I argued, he shrugged.

"Don't say his name!" Ron hissed through gritted teeth. "And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Harry went on, ignoring Ron. "At the end of last year?" Hermione's let out a derisive snort.

"Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?" "You weren't there," said Harry. "You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance, a real one."

"And she said the Dark Lord would rise again . . . greater and more terrible than ever before... and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him...and that night Wormtail escaped."

"I told Sirius about my scar," said Harry, shrugging. "I'm waiting for his answer." "Good thinking!" said Ron, his expression clearing. "I bet Sirius'll know what to do!" "I hoped he'd get back to me quickly," said Harry. 

"But we don't know where Sirius is . . . he could be in Africa or somewhere, couldn't he?" said Hermione reasonably. "Hedwig's not going to manage that journey in a few days." "Yeah, I know," said Harry.

"Yeah, bloke needs a holiday... and a tan" I added, then Ron piped up "Come and have a game of Quidditch in the orchard, Harry," "Come on three on three, Bill and Charlie and Fred and George will play"

"Ron," said Hermione, in an I-don't-think-you're-being-very sensitive sort of voice, "Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now... He's worried, and he's tired...We all need to go to bed" "Yeah, I want to play Quidditch," said Harry suddenly.

"Hang on, I'll get my Firebolt." "Me too, If I can borrow a spare broom, I'll just be a sub or ref or something" I added, not really wanting to play, but wanting to cheer Harry up. Hermione left the room, muttering something that sounded very much like "Boys."

"Do you even know how to fly a broom?" said Ron cheekily as we started our way towards the orchard. "Better than you ever could" I smirked back. "You sure?" said Harry, I put my hand on my chest in mock offence.

"I am appalled you think that of me, I spent most of my childhood on a broom, do you know who my brother was?" I said, they both looked at each other with an awkward laugh, "Now I think of it he doesn't have the best track record, but still..." I trailed off.

"Speaking of your family" said Ron awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable and trying not to offend me, "Why was your mum at the cup?" he asked, "Well, she is an auror, it's her job," He frowned at me, "You know what I mean!"

I chuckled, "If you must know, oddly enough, for a few years now, stopping people falling from high places is kind of a speciality of hers, so they brought her in to help the Muggles" "She got in trouble for punching Crouch though, but because she helped the muggles it all sort of cancelled itself out." 

"She said I should expect a letter soon with good news, whatever that means. Now, Ready to lose Weasley?" Turns out, I didn't end up being the ref, The Weasley's needed all the help they could get against Harry and his Firebolt. 

I spent the next few hours playing Quidditch with the others, filling in any position I could. It was a lot of fun, I had forgotten how much I missed Quidditch. Even If i did spend a while arguing with Ron over the Weasley house rules.

Our time at the Burrow went by fast, nothing else of note really happening. That was until we were on the train to Hogwarts, I received one of the biggest shocks, and disappointments of my life.

I went to reach for my coin purse to pay the trolley woman as Ron went up to see what he wanted "What?, where's my-" then it dawned on me, I cursed angrily, causing Harry and Hermione to both ask what was wrong in shock.

"That slimy git Bagman. All my money's gone, Leprechaun Galleons." "The next time I see him, he's dead!" The only thing that brought me comfort was the fact that I hadn't paid him the full amount. But I was so angry, I barely registered as we made our way to the Great Hall as Hermione tried to comfort me. 

"Don't worry, he won't get away with it" she said calmly. Then something was announced that pulled me out of my stupor. "It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"What?" Harry gasped. Dumbledore went on, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

Suddenly, a loud booming noise of thunder echoed through the hall, there was a few screams, the ceiling was suddenly a scene of a storm, I reached for my wand, I was admittedly a little jumpy after the World Cup, but a figure stepped out of the darkness and cast a spell on the bewitched ceiling, and everything returned to normal. It took me a second, but I realised who it was.

"Holy-" I said in disbelief to the others, "That's Mad-Eye Moody" I whispered, "Who?" said Harry, "Ex-Auror, best of the best according to mum, used to have her job" "Are you sure?" asked Harry, "Oh no your right, I must have mistaken him for someone else, look at him!" I said sarcastically, he gave me a look, but turned away as Dumbledore spoke again.

"As I was saying, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly. The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. 

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar . . ." Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly. 

"Er, where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation and allow their attention to wander freely."

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang." 

"A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities," 

"Until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued." "Death toll?" Hermione whispered, "Awesome" I said before I could stop myself, there were some more chuckles.

Dumbledore continued "We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween." 

"An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money." "I'm going for it!" Fred Weasley hissed down the table, his face lit with enthusiasm at the prospect of such glory and riches.

But then Dumbledore spoke again. "Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said, "the Ministry of Magic has imposed an age restriction on contenders this year." 

"Only students who are of age, seventeen years or older, will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." 

His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over Fred's and George's mutinous faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen."

"Well, there goes my shot at eternal glory" I sighed. "D'you reckon they'll let me in if I try to convince them I'm seventeen, I mean, I look the part" I nudged Ron who snorted. Hermione looked at me very crossly.

After he had explained the rules and presented the Goblet of Fire, an old fancy cup that was on fire. Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "Now if you will please welcome me in joining the lovely ladies from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their Headmistress, Madame Maxime" he raised a hand to the door, Suddenly, it burst open.

The room was filled with at least two hundred girls, dressed in matching blue uniforms, each of them beautiful in their own right, "Bloody hell!" said Ron admiring the view, "Posh French girls? I love this school" I said.

Hermione huffed at me "They have boys too" she muttered, Ron shrugged, "Who cares?" As I admired them. they marched in formation, stopping to add some flair to their entrance with magical butterflies.

I must say, the view from both the front and back was exquisite, their voices all perfectly singing a rendition of what I can only assume was their school song. Behind them stepped in the largest woman I had ever seen. 

"Oh, thank god, tall people, I was getting neck ache" Hermione elbowed me, but there were a few laughs. Dumbledore greeted her fondly, with a kiss on each cheek, I could see Hagrid blush from here. 

As many of the boys, myself included, gave loud cheers and enthusiastic applause, the girls sat down among the Ravenclaw table, as I scanned the crowd, I briefly locked eyes with the girl from the World Cup, she smiled at me and I gave a half wave.

Then for half a second I thought the ceiling was playing up again, but it turns out it was the thundering of feet outside the door. Dumbledore addressed us again. "And now our friends from the north, please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang, and their high master Igor Karkarov."

They were much less graceful then our other guests, they basically charged into the hall, all of them brandishing staffs, as a drumbeat was played behind them they grunted and slammed the staffs on the ground as it left little marks on the floor I turned to Seamus.

"They just strolled in and wrecked the stonework" he snickered, "It is a bit much" whispered Dean Thomas, we continued to laugh as their routine reached its climax, they started doing flips and acrobatics in front of the main table. Much to our amusement.

"Now they're trying to show off by dancing about like a bunch of prats" I said to Seamus who nodded gleefully, unfortunately at this moment, the music ended, all eyes were on me, "Why does this always happen to me?" I thought.

"Uh...Welcome." I said with sort of jazz hands, much to the amusement of my peers, but I could feel the Durmstrang lot glaring at me as they settled down by the Slytherin table. I tried to make myself smaller in the crowd, it did not work. At all.

It's fair to say I made a few enemies among the new guests. After a busy first week, we dealt with Blast-Ended Skrewts in Care for Magical Creatures, and finally, we had our first Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

As we arrived after dealing with a few burns from the Blast-Ended Skrewts, we sat down, instantly Professor Moody got to work. "Alastor Moody" he wrote angrily on the whiteboard. "EX-Auror, Ministry malcontent, and your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher" 

"I'm here because Dumbledore asked me to be. END OF STORY. GOODBYE. THE END." "Well...bye then" I smirked, pushing my chair out to leave, Hermione stopped me. He ignored me "When it comes to the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach." 

"But first, who can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" I raised my hand, but Hermione spoke over me, "Three sir." Moody scrawled on the whiteboard, "And they are so named?"

"Because they are unforgivable" she answered, I scoffed, "Brilliant observation that was, ten points to Gryffindor" I whispered, she just scowled at me. "I suppose you think you know about curses do you boy?" said Moody, I was surprised he heard me.

"Not really professor, just saying, it's not that hard a question, it's in the name" he grumbled something, looking at some paper on his desk, "(L/N) correct?" I nodded "Glad to know my reputation precedes me."

"Your reputation?" he scoffed, "Your mothers maybe" there were a few snickers from the class "I bet she's seen things that would make your blood curdle boy" I nodded "Probably, just not from as high up" I countered, much to the amusement of my class, he scowled at me.

He moved on, "Performing any one of these spells will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban!" "Now, the ministry said you shouldn't know about these spells, I say different! You have to know what you're up against!" "You need to be prepared-"

"You need to find better places to hide your gum then under your desk Mr. Finnigan!" I turned with the rest of the class to find Seamus trying to do exactly that. "The old codger can see out the back of his head..." said Seamus in disbelief.

"And hear across classrooms!" said Moody, throwing some chalk at him, I tried to stifle laughter. "So, which curse should we see first?" "WEASLEY!" Ron made a very frightened sound "Give us a curse?"

"Well, my dad did tell me about one... the...um... Imperius curse" "Mhhhm yes, your father would know all about that, gave the ministry quite some trouble a few years back" "Perhaps this will show you why"

Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it, Ron made the frightened sound again. Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand , bouncing between desks and dancing around at the whims of Moody, he made it perform for us essentially, scaring several students as it danced on their desks, Ron especially. Everyone was laughing, except Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" The laughter died away almost instantly. "Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. 

"I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats . . ." Ron gave an involuntary shudder. "Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody. 

"Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. "The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it." 

"Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" and everyone jumped. Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" 

Hermione's hand flew into the air again and so did Neville's, much to my amazement, but then I remembered the sad story of the Longbottom's, who mum told me about when I told her about my friend Neville for the first time and she almost cried.

Neville looked surprised at his own daring. "Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville. "There's one- the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice. Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes. 

"Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries, much to my relief. Turning back to the class at large.

He reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move. "The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. 

"Engorgio!" The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!" At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. 

No sound came from it, but it was clearly suffering, Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently, I purposely had to avoid empathetically linking with the spider as it was being tortured.

That meant I had to keep constant eye contact so I could focus on not using it on accident, I still hadn't kicked the habit of trying to connect with animals absentmindedly, my eyes were transfixed on it, as it writhed in agony. 

I wasn't an overly squeamish person, but it was very unsettling to see. Luckily it was put to an end just as quickly as it had started. "Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly, her eyes darted between Moody and Neville, following her gaze.

I saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified. Others seemed to catch on too, "Moody! Stop it!" I added angrily to the murmur of disapproval. Ashamed with myself I let Neville witness this for so long.

Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch. "Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar. "Pain," said Moody softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse"

He pulled out the last spider, it seemed to know something was wrong, he clasped it between two hands. I felt panic from here, even from an animal. He pressured the class for the last curse, either nobody knew it, or nobody wanted to see it, either way.

Moody picked on someone, Hermione first, she refused to answer. "Well, since you like hard questions so much (L/N) perhaps you can tell us the last?" "The killing curse" I said quietly, I had only heard mum talk about it once, but I knew it wasn't something to be joked about.

"Yes, good" said Moody, surprisingly cheerful. "Do you know the incantation?" I gave a short nod, not looking at him. "Well...?" he pressured, "...Avada...Kedavra" I said. He nodded and pointed to the spider. 

"Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra . . . the Killing Curse." unfortunately, I couldn't prepare myself as I had before "WAIT..." it was too late. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air, and just like that, the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead.

As soon as the spider was hit, it died, my whole body lurched, I'd never felt this ill, the room was spinning instantly, I was short of breath, and sweating bullets. All I wanted to do was leave and throw up. I put my head on the table, the last thing I saw clearly was an odd smile on Mad eye's face, it looked like he was pleased with himself.

"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no counter curse. There's no blocking it" "Only one person is known to have survived it", he said almost sadly, "And he's sitting in this room." 

Normally, I would make a joke to break the tension, something like "Show off" but I couldn't form words. Hermione pat my back, asking if I was ok in a hushed, concerned voice. The lesson continued as if nothing had ever happened, but I didn't pay attention to the rest of it.

When we exited into the corridor, Hermione was already on the warpath. "It's barbaric! I mean did you see Neville's face!" Now it was my turn to nudge her, she looked at me confused, but we had just walked past Neville and to be honest, I didn't think us talking behind his back would do him any good.

Neville was standing alone, halfway up the passage, staring at the stone wall opposite him with the same horrified, wide-eyed look he had worn when Moody had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse. "Neville?" Hermione said gently. 

Neville looked around. "Oh hello," he said, his voice much higher than usual. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm — I'm starving, aren't you?" I put an arm on his shoulder, "You good mate?" I said softly, he shrugged me off and nodded.

"Neville are you all right?" pressed Hermione. "Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. "Very interesting dinner — I mean lesson — what's for eating?" I looked at him, he wasn't even focusing on our faces.

"Mate, I think you need a sit down, C'mon, I'll take you to the common room yeah, you can help me with Herbology, take your mind off..." I stopped there, he nodded, but still seemed reluctant. But an odd clunking noise sounded behind us, and we turned to see Professor Moody limping toward us. 

All of us fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than normal. "It's all right, sonny," he said to Neville. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on . . . we can have a cup of tea. . . ." Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody.

"Nah he's alright professor, we'll just take him to the common room" I argued but Moody insisted. Moody turned his magical eye upon Harry. "You all right, are you, Potter?" "Yes," said Harry, almost defiantly. 

Moody's blue eye quivered slightly in its socket as it surveyed Harry. Then he said, "You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending . . . well . . . come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you." 

I turned to Neville and tried a joke to cheer him up, "Don't drink anything he gives you, Constant Vigilance" I whispered, Neville barely smiled but did make a sort of scoffing noise, Moody smirked, "You laugh now boy, but it will keep you alive one day" I shrugged and Moody and Neville left.

"You knew he would hear you!" scolded Hermione as we walked to our classes "Do you purposely antagonise Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers?" she snapped, "No, but I suppose I could if you want." 

"Tell you what, if I can get one to curse me by the time we graduate, I win. Five Galleons?" I held out my hand to shake, she huffed and stormed off. Much to my amusement. "Ten if they kill me!" I called after her.