Harry Potter The Final Straw

Hermione felt Harry tense for just a split second before he relaxed under her delicate, but unexpected, touch. She smiled to herself and continued with her research. She had narrowed the noise in the egg down to something to do with the water. She thought that the noise was from something that lived in the lake or spent the majority of it's time in the water. What she did not know was what the task was going to be.

She turned to Harry and said, "I think that I have a basic idea of what the noise from the egg is. I guess that we will have to hear it later to get any more information. I think that Cedric wants you to open it underwater in the bath."

Harry smiled at Hermione. "You're really brilliant you know? I'm still trying to figure out what an egg and water have to do with each other and here you are figuring out the basics of the second task without hearing the clue yet." He said with a smile in his voice as he leaned over to look at what she was reading.

Hermione tilted the book so Harry could see the page that she was reading. "Here, I think that these are the most likely things that you will encounter in the lake. I need to go look up something else, be back in a tick."

Harry pulled the book to him as Hermione got up and disappeared amongst the shelves, looking for another book. The chapter heading was 'Creatures found in the Great Lake.'

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry began reading. He got about five pages into the chapter when he realized what book he was reading. It was 'Hogwarts, a History.' He and Ron had jokingly made a vow during their first year that they would never read the book because Hermione had carried it everywhere.

When Hermione returned to the table, she looked quite satisfied with herself. The book in her hands was about mermaids and speaking Mermish. She saw that Harry was looking at the book with a half smirk, half scowl, on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Harry replied "I can't read this, Ron and I jokingly made a vow to never read 'Hogwarts; A History' during our first year."

"Why you..." Hermione started before she realized that he was having her on. "Oh, I see how it is then. I guess that I will never read 'Quidditch; Through the Ages' then. She said while putting her nose in the air with a look of superiority.

Harry almost laughed aloud at the thought of Hermione not reading a book. "I see, so we can just forget about you reading any of these other wonderful books too?" he said with a teasing lilt in his voice as he began to pull her stack of books towards him.

"NO!" Hermione cried while reaching out and pulling the stack back to her side of the table. Realizing that she had just lost their little game, Hermione began blushing while grinning back at him. The heat in her cheeks felt like a miniature flame.

Still chuckling, Harry pointed to the book on merpeople and said, "Can I read that with you?" Without waiting for a response, he pulled her chair next to his and leaned his head down on her shoulder.

"Okay." Hermione replied, enjoying the feeling of contentment that came with having Harry's head resting on her shoulder.

After about fifteen minutes of reading, Hermione realized that Harry had fallen asleep. He gave a mighty shudder and slumped onto the floor, in the throes of what appeared to be a nightmare, when she was about to wake him.

Harry gave a start as he realized that he was having another vision of Voldemort. Wormtail was on his knees in front of a large, winged back, chair. He was begging for mercy and Harry felt a sense of jubilation coming from Voldemort.

Before he could figure the feeling out, he raised his wand and lazily said "Crucio." Peter Pettigrew was writhing on the ground, screaming in pain. Oddly enough, Harry thought that he got a flicker of a feeling of pleasure from Voldemort.

He could not see what Voldemort looked like, because he was seeing things from Voldemorts' point of view. This vision was a bit different from the one just before the Quidditch World Cup. This time he was Voldemort instead of just watching things unfold as if a bystander.

Harry was struggling to keep his wits about him as the vision continued. The shock of seeing his tiny, scaly, arm come up and cast that unforgivable shook him just enough that he was able to pay attention but not getting the feeling that he committed the acts himself.

Voldemorts' voice issuing from his own mouth was even scarier if possible. There was no way that sound was human! His speech had a hissing quality to it.

"You are lucky that my other servant saved you from your mistake. If Crouch Sr. had been able to reach Dumbledore we would have been exposed, on the run again, and our plans ruins. Lord Voldemort is merciful. Now go and milk Nagini for my evening feeding." Voldemort hissed in a low voice as he motioned his tiny hand towards the door.

With a start, Harry's eyes snapped open and he began wildly looking all around him, fear plainly visible on his face.

"Shhh. You're in the library. Can you stand?" Hermione asked, very concerned.

.....

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