Time passed normally. Harry kept studying seriously in all his subjects and also spent a lot of time on additional studies, mainly of offensive and defensive spells that could come in handy in the third task, as well as some spells to identify enchantments and traps, things he was sure to encounter during the task.
Luna, with Hermione's help, also planned the runes she wanted to tattoo on Harry's skin.
"I'm not sure I need most of these under normal circumstances. Wouldn't it be better if you only paint most of them, tattooing only the most important ones?" Harry asked.
Both his wives shook their heads. "With Voldemort at large and with your luck, you're bound to encounter dangerous situations even outside the tournament. We want you to be as safe as can be. Besides, none of these protection runes will affect any of us when we pleasure each other. The stamina enhancement runes may even prove beneficial, especially if you decide to add another wife." Luna was certainly teasing him, but she was also right.
Harry sighed. "At least I'm lucky that magical tattoos don't hurt, unlike the Muggle version."
Both girls nodded and smiled.
–..–
Luna had some disturbing visions as the date for the third task approached, but they weren't clear enough to reach any practical conclusions. "There's someone dangerous to you at school, and there's something you shouldn't touch during the task, but I know no details."
Neither was content with the vagueness of her visions, but she had no control over them.
Hermione had another idea. "I read that Lord rings can warn one against disguised enemies. Doesn't your ring warn you?"
Harry shook his head. "I asked about it when I took my ring. I was told that this ring is too old to have had such enchantments. They became popular only about two hundred years later. I could probably let the goblins add such protections, but it takes close to two years and is prohibitively expensive. I may be able to pay, but they couldn't rush it, so it's no use for me during the tournament. The other rings are even older, lacking these enhancements too."
Hermione could only grimace in disappointment.
–..–
Luna's visions became somewhat clearer only a few days before the set date.
"I'm now sure that the goblet in the maze should not be touched. Even if you reach there first, don't touch it! You may banish one of the creatures into it, activating the portkey. That may put your win under some doubt, but if you touch it, you'll be in mortal danger. Whoever touches it will be, so try to ensure nobody touches it." Luna sounded almost panicked about that possibility.
Harry tried to calm her down. "I won't touch it, no matter what. Can't promise about others, but if I'm able, I'll banish one of the monsters at it. Will that work fine?"
Luna gave it some thought. "It should." She then sighed. "I may prove futile to warn the others about touching. They may think you only want to keep it for yourself. Try to reach there first, though."
Harry chuckled. "Isn't that what the whole task is about? I hope my lead in points may give me enough time to reach there before anybody else."
Luna shook her head in doubt. "We can hope," she said.
"Didn't you find anything about the disguised enemy?" he asked.
Luna sighed. "Nothing concrete. I only know I'll be able to identify that person once the task is over. I hope that's good enough.
Both her mates agreed.
–..–
As expected, Harry entered the maze first. He wasn't quite sure he could use the time efficiently enough to reach the goblet before any other champion. He knew he would try his best.
Due to his protection runes, he could easily overcome most of the obstacles as the runes made them mostly benign. His training with the two smart witches also proved beneficial when encountering the sphinx, allowing him not to waste time on anything.
He already saw the goblet on a pedestal in a small clearing. He knew he shouldn't touch it, yet he saw no creature nearby.
Then his protection runes activated again, and he quickly rolled aside, barely escaping one of the largest acrumantula spiders. Thinking quickly, he kept rolling until he reached behind the spider, just in line with the goblet.
Harry concentrated, trying to cast the strongest banishing charm possible to ensure that the spider reached the portkey. With such a big creature, he wasn't quite sure he had enough power. Putting everything in it and aiming as precisely as possible, Harry cast the banishing charm and was delighted to see the spider flying forward, pushing into the goblet and then disappearing in a blue flash of a portkey.
He waited a few seconds, walking slowly forward until he reached the now-empty pedestal. He then lifted his wand and sent red sparks.
It took about a minute before anybody came to check on him. Harry felt lucky that he didn't need any help. Had he needed, he would have been dead before any help arrived. He was also lucky that it was Professor McGonagall who came.
She looked at him with evident confusion. "Why did you call for help? You're in no danger, as far as I can see."
Harry sighed. "I saw the goblet and tried to reach it, but a giant spider attacked me. I banished it, and it touched the goblet and vanished along with it. Now I'm not sure what to do."
She frowned, looked at him with concern, and then turned her piercing gaze to the pedestal, where the goblet should have been. She then sighed. "According to the rules, once the goblet is taken from the pedestal, the task is over. As you can see, the hedges are already shrinking. Hop on my broom and I'll take you out. Whoever is still in the maze will be able to walk back soon enough."
Indeed, in the short time that took them to fly out of the maze and to the front of the judges' table, the hedges had already shrunk to half their previous height. Harry also noticed Hagrid passing over the hedges to collect his dangerous "pets". He only hoped the other champions didn't encounter any serious danger.
–..–
The giant spider was not at all content. Its prey escaped, and it was now flung about with no control whatsoever. It was then slammed into the ground. That caused it no damage but made it even more irritated. It then tried to stand up. From its normal height, it could see another prey moving towards it. It'd not let this one escape!
Peter Pettigrew wasn't a brave man. He wasn't a powerful wizard either. Still, if the portkey brought the Potter brat, he felt quite confident he could overcome the boy. Long portkey travels were known to dazzle the travelers, and Hogwarts was quite far from Little Hangleton. The boy would be dazed, and Peter would be able to stun and bind him before the boy would even notice, he was sure.
Then, as he approached the place where the portkey had landed, he noticed a shadow rising from the ground. It didn't look human at all, and it was rising and rising until it was at least twice his height. Peter slowed his walking, not minding the complaints of the Dark Lord in diapers.
Then the shadow moved closer, and a beam of light from a car passing on the nearby road illuminated it for a moment. Peter felt like his heart was jumping out of his chest. He'd never seen such a monster, and the monster was approaching much faster than he could run!
His survival instinct kicked in. He dropped the bundle on the ground and quickly changed into his Animagus form. As a common rat, he hoped he'd look too insignificant for the monster to notice. As soon as he could, he scampered under some bushes and moved as fast as he could to put more distance between himself and that monster.
Voldemort found himself dropped unceremoniously on the paved foot-walk. He screamed, promising Wormtail severe punishment. Then he noticed the pincers moving towards him. Without his wand, there was nothing he could do. With most of his magic used to just keep this form somewhat alive, he couldn't do much, even with a wand. All he could do was scream some more.
Not for long. The pincers grabbed the bundled form securely, and then either a pincer or some other appendage injected some venom into it. Voldemort couldn't see, and soon after that, was unable to even care. The venom was liquefying his body from within, readying it for the spider to eat. What remained of his soul couldn't accept such a fate. It ejected itself from the dying body, emitting a shrill cry of fury and despair before vanishing.
That small bundle could only serve as an appetizer for the spider. It wondered where the larger prey had vanished, but then noticed another prey. The new prey was moving in undulating lines – a snake. That didn't matter. It was much larger than the bundle and probably even larger than the other prey. And the spider already knew how to handle snakes, although this one was quite a bit larger than the ones it had experience with. That proved to be no problem. A swift movement brought the spider over the snake, and bending its legs, its body pinned most of the snake to the ground and put the pincers right next to the head. A second later, the snake was injected with the spider's venom, rendering it unable to move.
The shard of soul in the snake felt itself ejected from the dying body. It could do nothing to prevent it or even delay it. All it could do was to emit a cry of fury and despair before it was dragged to places unknown,
The spider couldn't identify its place. It didn't mind. It could build a new nest there. But first, it needed to eat. It had been in the maze for more than a day with no food.
Once it ate, although not to its fill, it started exploring its new territory. A large half-ball with hot liquid was resting above some dying embers. These were dangerous. They could cause a fire, and fire was an enemy. With two of its legs, it turned the half ball over, spilling the liquid over the embers to extinguish them.
That proved to be a mistake. Once mixed with the embers, the liquid exploded, breaking the metal half-ball into uneven metal pieces with sharp edges. Some cut several of the spider's feet, and a large one cut its head off. A much smaller shard, still carrying a bit of the potion that had been in the cauldron, hit the hiding rat, making it unconscious. The potion then did its trick, nullifying some of the rat's abilities. A short while after it was hit, the rat turned back into a man who remained unconscious between the graves.
–..–
At Hogwarts, nobody knew how to handle the situation. With the goblet removed, the task was over, yet nobody grabbed the goblet. Who was the winner, then?
While the judges were debating the right way to act, Luna and Hermione rushed to their husband, kissed him thoroughly, and checked him all over as much as they could. His runes proved efficient, so that the worst injury he had was a superficial bruise from his rolling on the ground when he noticed the spider. A simple "episkey" took care of that.
Another person was very unhappy to see Harry there. His presence there meant that he hadn't been portkeyed to the cemetery and hadn't taken part in the resurrection ritual for the Dark Lord. Fake Moody, who was Bartimeus Crouch Jr in disguise, knew that if he didn't act promptly, he'd be subject to his Lord's anger, something nobody would enjoy, not even a madman like him. He needed to act to put the plans back on track.
Moody approached the brat. "Potter, I need to escort you to the Hospital wing. Although you show no external damage, you may suffer some internal damage that only a healer can diagnose. Come!"
He was surprised to find two wands in his face. "Our husband goes nowhere without us!" the blonde girl said. Despite her dreamy tone, the look on her face was determined and even dangerous. He'd never seen her like that.
He sighed internally. "You can come along, of course."
He'd need to get rid of them one way or another before they could interfere anymore. He wasn't sure he knew how.
As soon as Luna saw the man approaching, she felt danger. It wasn't a vision. It was as if every part of her body was screaming, 'Beware! Danger!' She felt sure this was the man her visions warned her about, but what could she do?
She let the old Auror hold to one of Harry's arms while Hermione held the other and walked a step behind the three, still holding her wand. It then occurred to her what the right way to act was. Surreptitiously, without uttering the spell louder than a very quiet whisper, she cast a sleeping charm on the old man. He stumbled and would have fallen on the ground had Harry not kept him upright.
Luna turned to look around and found Professor Flitwick standing close enough. "Professor, I think that Professor Moody is unwell. He seemed to fall asleep in mid-pace."
The short teacher approached and cast a diagnostic charm. "Indeed, he seems to be fast asleep. He probably took too much on himself lately, and he's no longer in his full health. Let me conjure a bed and levitate him to it. No need to bring him to the infirmary."
He did as said, and the Potters returned to their previous place, awaiting the judges' decision. Moody was left to sleep on the bed, not too far from them, in full view of the audience.