The morning of the third task arrived and again Melody woke up wrapped in Harry’s arms. She nuzzled herself closer underneath his chin and fell back to sleep from the rhythm of his breathing.
When she woke again, it was to an unpleasantly shrill version of Celeste’s voice.
“Melody! Get ‘arry out of ‘ere! Your mother and father are in the sitting room!” she squealed with her hand over her eyes.
Suddenly bursting to life Melody shot up (careful to pull the sheets with her) and searched the room for Harry. At first she didn’t see him, but she was startled as he shot up from the floor beside the bed. He was half way dressed and as red as a Gryffindor scarf.
“Remind me to lock the door next time,” Melody teased before Harry disappeared with a Pop!
Melody smiled and fell pleasantly back onto her bed thinking of nothing but Harry.
“Um, Melody,” Celeste began sharply, “I don’t know if you remember the fact that your parents are outside this door, but they are, and they may not be as ‘appy to see you naked as I was.”
Celeste couldn’t mask her panic behind sarcasm, but she made her point. Melody snapped her fingers and was dressed just as her parents stormed in.
“A little sleepy this morning, love?” her fathers asked while her mother admired the room.
“Zis is charming, Melly,” her mother said before kissing her daughter, “You must get out of bed and tell us all zat has been going on wiz you.”
Melody nodded and threw her covers off. She had only slept with Harry twice now and already she was almost caught. Laughing to herself, she changed from her pajamas to some of her more expensive clothes for her mother and proceeded to take her parent’s on a small tour of the campus.
The hours of the day passed rather quickly as Melody enjoyed the company of her family. She never would have thought that either of her parents would be there today or that she would be talking to them, but she was delighted that she had assumed wrong.
When the clock struck an hour before the competition, Melody departed from her parents to change into her uniform before making her way down to the pitch to see Harry before the task.
Upon arriving at the pitch, she was displeased to see that Harry was not there. For twenty minutes she waited for him before assuming he got caught up with the Weasley’s or directing the hoards of Hogwarts students that had arrived to watch the event.
There was still no sign of him at the time assigned for the champions to meet with the tournament officials. Slightly uneasy but fighting to remain rational, Melody listed off a number of places Harry could be at that very moment.
As the champions were informed to take their places in the center of the pitch, a huge pit began to deteriorate Melody’s stomach. Harry would never miss a task.
Her uneasiness carried out into the crowd as faces searched for the third champion, but he was no where to be found. The time of the task came and went, but still there was no sign of him. Anxiety filled the air but set most heavily with Melody as she kept a vigilant eye at the entrances in hopes of seeing the familiar head of jet black hair.
Half and hour had passed and the officials had dealt with enough waiting. They made this clear to Ms. Williams, who rose from her seat and pointed her wand to her throat to amplify her voice.
“It appears our third champion, Harry Potter from Hogwarts, will not be participating in today’s task, disqualifying him from the tournament.”
A rebuttal came from the Hogwarts students but as Dumbledore rose from his seat, they were all silent. He said nothing but disappeared down into the pitch tower.
Ms. William’s continued, “However disappointing, the task must go on. If the champions will please step to their designated starting marks, we may set up today’s task.”
Once Melody and Dobri were in their assigned places, Ms. Williams raised her arms in the air and suddenly a giant platform the size of the pitch rose from the dirt. It looked like an oversized staircase when she was finished, each step having a different station.
“On each step, as you see, there is a new station. This task is to test your complete knowledge of magic. The first to make it to the final step will win. However, this is the Tri-Wizard, so we decided to make it a bit more challenging. Therefore, each champion has been matched up with one they care the most about. Though this twist caused some trouble as it appears two of our champions are on friendlier terms than we expected, we have selected replacements. These partners will be fed potions that need to be reversed, be pit against monsters that must be conquered, and have spells cast upon them that will need to be undone. That is the task of our champions. For safety reasons, if you feel you cannot complete one of the steps, shoot red sparks in the air with your wand and an official or myself will put an end to the testing. But for now, here are your partners and you may begin on my signal.”
With that Celeste appeared before Melody and blue sparks shot from Ms. Williams’ wand. Immediately, a beaker of a pink fluid flew to Celeste’s lips and poured itself down her throat. Celeste’s complexion became very rosy on ingesting the liquid and she suddenly starting singing dreamily.
Melody instantly recognized this as a common love potion. With a fast wave of her wand, Celeste was returned to normal, but on the other side of the field Ron had been forgotten. The bottle had flown to his lips, but there was no one there to cure him. Melody assumed it would be best to leave him in this state than cure him and set the next awaiting station into action.
She returned to her own task and watched as yet another potion was poured down Celeste’s throat. This one caused her to immediately fall to the ground. This was Revertomium, a potion used to kill off the victim’s motor skills. Melody quickly waved her wand and helped Celeste up from the ground.
From the floor of the next station, a hideous beast sprang forth. Its bright red stripes on blue fur gave it away instantly as a Camisutarr, a beast known for its surprise attacks and its fear of darkness. Melody stopped the beast by summoning a cloth to cover its eyes. Instantly, the beast fell silently to the ground and pawed its way back to the hole from which it came.
Melody wasn’t even half way through her stations when she heard a terrible screaming from somewhere in the crowd. She turned around quickly to see Hermione not far off to her right, in tears, screaming out to her. Melody looked to Celeste who had been given a potion that made her fall asleep. She would be alright as long as the second bottle of the potion was not drunk. This in mind she immediately shattered the second portion and allowed Celeste to sleep while she summoned the Asteroid to get to Hermione.
The crowd reacted to her abandonment of her partner, but the commentator addressed the shattering of the second bottle before going into describing the curious action of the Beauxbaton champion.
When Melody reached the side, Hermione was a wreck over something she was holding in her hand. She couldn’t even form a full explanation.
“It’s Harry…….You have to go…….Look!” she said between gasps.
Hermione thrust the handheld mirror at Melody who turned it over to see Harry lying on a marble floor. Over the roar of the crowd, she heard a familiar hissing voice she had wished never to hear again and she knew instantly that Harry was in trouble. Harry must have been holding the mirror in his hand in hopes that someone would be watching, for he turned it on his antagonist to reveal what Melody had feared. Voldemort was standing in front of the staff table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, towered over Harry.
Melody knew what she had to do, so she concentrated on the Great Hall at Hogwarts and made to Apparate, but was reminded of the restrictions placed on the castle when it failed. Panic overtook Melody as she tried to think of a way to get to the castle, but thankfully, Hermione was beginning to calm down and regain her thoughts.
“That’s why I came to you, Melody,” she said, “You are the only one that can get there through Apparation. Use the potion Harry gave you this summer. That is our only hope of getting there in time.”
Melody had already had her wand up in the air as Hermione finished talking. Seconds later, the potion flew through the air to where Melody hovered on the broom.
In seconds, Melody was standing on the stone steps that led up to the front door of Hogwarts. Surprised to see no Death Eaters around, she cautiously made to open the door.
The huge door cast aside, Melody stepped into the dark entry. Nothing stirred, but as she stepped further into the room, all the candles were suddenly illuminated and she looked with terror upon the lifeless body cast down in the center off the hall.
The Last Line by Sparkling Star
Chapter Notes: Hey all! I'm sorry the chapters have been short. I just have a lot going on right now, but I am happy to announce that we are nearing the conclusion of The Last Line. I've been playing with the idea of making it a trilogy with the final one turning out as a sort of epilogue, but we'll see how demanding my classes get. Thanks for reading!