The Forging of the Bonds

Chapter 41. Towards the Starting Line.

When, the day before the third task, Mike saw the exam which Potter had put together on the day before the third task, Mike, for the first time, regretted having entered the tournament. After a short essay, Potter led everyone into the Great Hall, where he made students duel against him in groups of four. Mike noticed that he usually picked one student from each house for the groups. Potter won all the duels, of course, but some groups did better than others. When Mike looked across the hall at Elizabeth, he saw from her expression that she would have liked to participate as well.

Mike ate hastily at breakfast next morning, worried about what the tree held in store.

There were only a few hours left, and Mike would have to spend most of them with his family. They were somewhat late in arriving, so he went to the meeting room and watched the Krum twins with their mother and father, whom they greatly resembled; Veronique Rossi and her parents; Fatima Dubois in the company of her very tall mother; and Elizabeth engaged in an animated discussion with her father and... Potter. What's he doing here?

"Mike!" his mother called out. He turned and saw her approach, followed by his father and his eleven-year-old sister, Lauren.

"Mike!" she shouted.

"Hey, sis. Miss me?" He hugged her. "Hi, Mum, hi, Dad."

His parents hugged him. "Hello, son," his father said.

"Hi, Mike. Worried?"

"No, Mum," Mike lied.

"Good," his father said. "Malfoy giving you trouble?"

"No," he lied again.

"Ron!" his mother chided, clearly continuing something that was interrupted when they arrived. "You're proud that the only thing he inherited from me is the height?"

"That's not true, Hermione. He also has your talent for Transfiguration."

"It was useful, Mum," Mike said. His mother blushed.

"Thanks," she said, looking around. "This place really sticks with you."

"It's not the place, Hermione. It's the people."

Hermione looked at him.

"Too many people are no longer with us, one way or another," his father muttered. "Dumbledore. Hagrid. Charlie. Ginny. Harry..."

"Ron, we can--"

"Hermione, not--"

"It's okay," Mike said. "Professor Potter told us."

"What?"

"How you stopped being friends."

"His version, you mean," his father said.

"His version is that you never forgave him for Aunt Ginny's death."

Ron stood aback. "What?"

"He showed us--"

"Hermione, is it possible that--"

"I've had no more contact with him after that than you did."

"What? I always thought--"

"I might have, but he told me not to."

"Why not?"

"To save our marriage. The fewer secrets between us the better. His words, not mine," she said. "I still have that last letter."

"'Mione?"

"What?"

"And you didn't try--"

"It'd be about as effective as telling him not to go fight Voldemort after Dumbledore's death. He had hidden himself so well that I had no clue where he was until this year."

"Well, I better talk to him tonight."

"Ron are you sure--"

"I have to, 'Mione."

"Then I'm coming with you. I've waited too long."

"Mike!" Kate ran up. "Oh, I'm sorry. But it's starting."

"Hi, Kate," Ron said.

"Hello, Katherine."

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley. Mike, I'm sorry, but Professor McGonagall told me to send for you already."

"Oh," Mike said.

"Good luck, son," Ron said.

"Stay safe." Hermione kissed him on the cheek.

Mike nodded and ran down the stairs.

"By the way, Mike," Kate said. "You should try to be a bit open to Elizabeth."

"Why? She--"

"We've had a little chat in fencing club. If it didn't get her thinking, she doesn't deserve you."

"What?"

"I've wielded the stick on your behalf, Mike. You'll have to provide the carrot."

"Where's Nadine?"

"In the audience. I'll join her in a moment. Good luck, Mike." She kissed him.

"Mike!" the voice of David Jordan boomed.

"Hey, Dave!"

"Though I'd not come to see you off?"

"Hey, Mike," Laura Whittle greeted him.

"Well, go get them," Dave half-ordered. "Malfoy or not, you're still miles beyond the competition. And you get to choose first."

"That might cause a problem," Mike said. "I've got to go. Thanks."

Dave hit him on the shoulder. "You're the school champion, you get out of exams, you'll win a thousand Galleons--what's there to worry about? Just go, before they start without you!" Dave nearly pushed him out towards the pitch.

Mike smiled, despite his misgivings. At least, while not being pleased with his partner, this time around, unlike in the first task, he intimately knew her strengths and weaknesses. He could pull through.

XXX

Elizabeth met Mike outside the pitch and headed towards the starting area in silence. Mike spoke first.

"How come Potter was at the families' meeting with you?" he asked.

"None of your business, Weasley."

"Elizabeth, we're supposed to be partners. It wasn't my secret to reveal."

"Whatever, Weasley," she said.

"Are you happy?" he asked.

"What? Why are you asking me--"

"Are you happy? You don't have much company these days."

"You've been watching me, Weasley?"

"It doesn't take much watching," he said. "Don't you regret it?"

"No," Elizabeth replied, making an effort to sound certain. The truth was, she missed both Nadine and Mike. However, she hadn't yet lost all her dignity and wasn't going to beg them to accept her again. Of course, this was a problem.

"Please give a welcome to the third task for the championship teams of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang!" the voice of David's father exploded. "The Triwizard Cup has been placed on the top of this large Graht Tree, over six hundred feet from the ground. The tree is full of dangerous obstacles, which our contestants will have to deal with while risking a plummet!"

The tree had grown substantially since the briefing, and was now almost a hundred feet across the bottom. Three enormous branches grew out almost level to the ground, before lifting up into the sky. Branchlets from those three intertwined among themselves and created an enormous green shroud, which permitted almost nothing to be seen. The three main branches all turned at angles and eventually, as they headed up, intertwined and joined once more.

"So each team gets to tackle one branch," Mike said. "Ingenious."

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Weasley. We've got to choose which one we'll take."

Mike looked at her. "What's that for?" he asked, pointing at the sword at Elizabeth's side.

"Well, I finally bought it from Potter," she said.

"No, why'd you bring it here?"

"You might find out soon enough--"

"If we lose because it slowed you down--"

"We're more likely to lose because you hit something you're not supposed to."

"I resent that!"

"Champions!" Padma Patil called out.

Elizabeth and Mike quickly ran up to the small tent at the bottom of the tree, where the Krum twins and Fatima Dubois were already waiting. Veronique Rossi showed up a moment later.

"As you were told at the briefing, the teams will choose their path--the main branch--given their point standing. You have a minute to confer." She nodded at them and the Beauxbatons team.

They separated. "So which one?" Mike asked her.

"I like the northern one," she said. It was the longest, but was never as steep as the other two.

"Yeah, but see that--it's got a dark hole in it. Want to bet there's a boggart there?"

"So?"

"So, I've never seen one, or practiced the spell."

"Fine! Which one do you want?"

"Southwest. The crooked one."

"It's crooked, all right. How'd you propose we climb that?"

"Hey, I'm a good climber. I can handle it."

"Are you sure that's not your ego talking, Weasley?"

"Positive. I'd never put you in danger because of my ego."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack with that stunt you pulled with the torch."

"Really? Maybe I should reconsider everything between us if you're such a weakling."

"I am not a weakling! But I still think we should take the north branch."

"I guess we'll need a compromise."

"Compromise?"

"We'll take the southeast branch."

"But--"

"Mr. Weasley! Miss Malfoy!" Padma yelled. "What's your decision?"

Mike resigned himself. "Southeast," he said.

"We'll take the north," Fatima Dubois immediately added, casting a glare at them.

"Very well. Take your positions," Padma ordered. "If you need help, send up red sparks. We'll have patrols on broomsticks flying around," she said.

The three teams took their positions. Elizabeth looked up, where a huge branch, some ten feet thick, hung over them.

"The champions are at the starting points!" Lee Jordan announced.

Elizabeth waited in silence. A few seconds later, a bright flash of light and a crack came out of Padma's wand. "And the task begins!" Lee Jordan shouted.

Elizabeth ignored it. She and Mike were both climbing, on opposite sides of the southeast branch.