Harry Potter The Final Straw

Not able to stand it any longer Sirius asked; "What's so funny?" which sent John into a fresh round of laughter and put a half smile on Harry's face at the same time.

When he was finally able to reign in his laughter, John replied, "Hermione's reaction and Harry's response were almost identical in every way to when we first saw this room."

Mother and daughter were both blushing lightly and rounded on their men at the same time with the same expressions on their faces. Unfortunately, for them all four men in the house could see their identical expressions and began laughing at the site.

After a few minutes of light laughter, erupting from various parties everyone settled down into the furniture in the room. Harry and Hermione had plunked themselves down on the love seat over by the fire while everyone else settled into the remaining furniture so that they were all facing each other.

To save Harry and Hermione from having to retell their experiences from the morning Remus spoke up "If you two don't mind," Remus indicated the two teens, "I can fill everyone in on what happened and you can fill in any spots that I miss; okay?"

The two teens nodded in relief at Remus' offer and Hermione nestled into Harry's shoulder for comfort, wrapping her arm across his chest protectively.

This reaction did not go unnoticed by the other adults in the room. They had not been around Harry and Hermione as much as Remus so the level of comfort that the two teens displayed together was a bit of a surprise for them.

Harry had closed his eyes, making himself comfortable, when Hermione leaned into him. He was finally starting to unwind from the events earlier that morning. Thankful that Remus had volunteered to retell the story Harry let his mind wander, feeling safe for the first time since the tournament started.

John, Annabelle, and Sirius all sat there riveted to the story as Remus spoke just above a whisper. They could not believe what Harry had been forced to endure. The trauma that he must have been subject too because of the task was immense. They were also very thankful that he had succeeded in rescuing Hermione from the bottom of the lake.

When Remus had finished telling them what Harry had seen and felt when he entered the hut there was not a dry eye left in the room. He did not spare any detail because everyone here needed to know what was going on.

Sirius was having a hard time not heading up to Hogwarts and paying a visit to everyone involved in setting up the tournament. 'How could they allow the students to be placed into life threatening events for a stupid tournament?' he thought helplessly. It was this thought that caused Sirius to reevaluate his thinking towards the Wizarding world and its attitudes.

Annabelle and John were holding onto each other's hands by the end of the tale. Both of them left speechless by the heartlessness of the magical community.

One thing had really been bothering Annabelle about this whole tournament business since she found out about it. Harry entered against his wishes and forced to compete did not sit well with her. Frustrated with her inability to come up with an answer on her own she blurted out her question. "Why didn't the judges alter the tournament tasks to something trivial and when they were complete just enter the names of the three legitimate champions? That way Harry wouldn't have been forced into these dangerous situations."

Remus was about to answer when he noticed that Harry and Hermione had dozed off in each other's arms. He motioned for quiet and pulled the afghan over the two teens. Gesturing to the others he moved to the other side of the room and put up a privacy ward so the two teens wouldn't hear them talking and wake up.

Remus finally spoke when they all took seats on the other side of the room. "They have been running on adrenaline all afternoon. I'm surprised that they lasted this long before falling asleep. Harry was wound so tight since he came out of the water that I was beginning to worry, and Hermione hasn't been much better. He said, with relief in his voice, "Both of them were taking things pretty hard."

A look of understanding passed between the adults and they silently agreed to try and not disturb the two teens sleeping on the love seat on the other side of the room.

"Well, to answer your earlier question Annabelle; I don't think that anyone even considered that idea. I know it didn't cross my mind." Remus said earnestly.

"It's a brilliant deduction but I don't think that wizards and witches think outside of the box like that." John pointed out before continuing to make his point. "From what I have read in the books that you lent us I have found that witches and wizards place too much faith into tradition and common practices to even think that there may be a better solution."

Annabelle was looking at her husband with pride and Remus and Sirius were in agreement with John's point, both of them thinking similar thoughts along the line of; 'Are we that set in our ways that we just accept what ever is dealt to us without question?

"The question now is what can we do to help them?" Annabelle said while gesturing towards the sleeping teens. In frustration she said, "I want to pull them both out of that school right now but I understand that I can't really."

"You are correct, the magic compelling Harry to compete could have nasty repercussions if he were to quit." Remus replied.

"Are you sure? Has anyone ever defied the Goblet before?" John asked the two wizards.

Both of them were stumped again by his question. "I don't know." Remus replied and then asked Sirius; "Do you?"

"Nope. I don't think anyone ever has that I'm aware. This is one of those lack-of-proof things, correct? Well, I won't risk Harry's life by telling him to not compete in the third task without solid evidence that it wouldn't hurt him." Sirius responded.

"We could safely pull Hermione out but I think that she would fight us on that based upon how close they seem to be now." John said in resignation. He did not want his little girl to grow up yet but it appeared to be happening despite his best efforts to deny it.

"I agree. We should not separate them. It sounds like Hermione is one of only a very few people that openly supports Harry at school. Removing her would be very bad." Annabelle said while grasping her husband's hand.

"I know. I just don't like that the headmaster put her in danger against our wishes! Is there anything that we could do to help protect her from that in the future? What about a Wizarding guardian other than the headmaster?" John suggested.

"Perhaps there is someone that would help us; we just need to get into contact with her first." Sirius said while trying to work out what he would say to his cousin.

"Who do you think would help us?" Remus asked, curious about which family member Sirius must be contemplating approaching.

"I was thinking about Andromeda and her husband Ted. If they won't help perhaps their daughter Nymphadora will." Sirius revealed his thoughts on the matter.

"Do you think that they will believe that you were innocent?" Annabelle spoke hesitantly. She knew that this was a sore subject for Sirius from their long talks about his life experiences.

"I think so. I guess we will have to have Remus here approach them on my behalf first. I think that we can supply them with some memories to view and maybe something from Harry and Hermione about that night last year when we all saw Pettigrew." Sirius replied wistfully.

Everyone could hear his desire to have some family members believe his innocence.

"Is there anything else that we could do that would help to convince them of your innocence? What about one of those invincible vows?" John asked Sirius.

"An Unbreakable Vow? That is a great idea! I can have Remus contact them and then I could swear an Unbreakable Vow that I was not the Potter's secret keeper. Thanks John." Sirius said enthusiastically.

"Glad to be of service. Do you think that we should wake them soon?" John asked as he glanced at the clock on the wall. They had been asleep for a few hours already and it was nearing dinnertime.

"Let them sleep until dinner is ready. They look so peaceful and I think that is a good thing after the day that they have had." Annabelle said while gazing over at the two sleeping teenagers.

Dinner was a quiet affair since no one wanted to bring up the day's earlier events. However, by the end of dinner Harry and Hermione would have given almost anything to be talking about the second task.

The adults had concluded that Harry and Hermione needed 'The Talk' based upon how close they seemed to be to each other.

This led to a very red-faced Harry and Hermione rejoining each other after they were led to separate rooms for privacy.

Seeing the two teens reactions to each other now that they had each received the infamous 'Talk' Sirius pulled out his Wizarding camera and snapped a picture, forever capturing the moment on film. The look that he received from Hermione sent the other adults into fits of laughter and made him fear that she was going to pay him back somehow.

After a round of hugs and kisses goodbye, Remus took a much more calm and collected Harry and Hermione back to Hogwarts. Spending the day away from the Wizarding world at the Grangers house had been just what they needed to recover.

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