When the pulling sensation behind his navel vanished, when the rushing wind and swirling colours stopped, Harry Potter's feet hit the ground.
He fell, releasing the Goblet of Fire, and looked up into a heavy, unfamiliar darkness. A sense of foreboding settled over him.
Harry thought he really ought to give Ron's Divination final a more generous mark. The eight-eyed spider had been exactly where Ron described; now he was standing somewhere unknown in the dark, not sure what would come next. What else had Ron said?
Before Harry could even process his surroundings, Cedric reached out and pulled him to his feet.
Harry was grateful, at least, that he wasn't facing this alone.
"Where are we?" he asked quickly.
"I don't know," Cedric said.
He looked down at the spot where the Goblet of Fire had landed and found the blue-white flame was gone. In its place lay an ugly black stone.
"Look at the Goblet of Fire," he said.
Harry was already scanning their surroundings, a persistent feeling that someone was watching prickling at the back of his neck. Draco's training had given him a conditioned wariness he hadn't expected to be grateful for. He heard Cedric and looked down at the dark stone on the ground with a sharp intake of breath.
"Has anyone told you the Goblet of Fire has Portkey properties?" Cedric asked.
Harry hesitated, then said nothing.
He did know of a plan to turn the Goblet into a Portkey. But Dumbledore and the others were supposed to have stopped it. This was meant to be a secret.
"Either this is part of the competition," Cedric said, his voice slightly tense, "or someone used exceptional Transfiguration to swap the real Goblet for a fake. Do you think it was one of the other champions?"
"I don't think so," Harry said at once. "If they'd found the Goblet first, why not just take it?"
"Fair point. Besides, they've both forfeited — and according to the rules, no one other than a champion can be in the maze." Cedric glanced around uncertainly. "If it wasn't you, and it wasn't me, and it wasn't them — could this actually be part of the competition?"
Harry was full of doubt. He followed Cedric's gaze. His eyes had slowly adjusted to the darkness by now.
He could make out that they were standing somewhere gloomy, overgrown, and rocky. The hills surrounding Hogwarts were gone — they had definitely left the castle grounds. The dark outline of a small church rose behind a tall yew tree to the right. A hill lay to the left, and on its slope sat a charming old house. Everything was unfamiliar.
Harry took a few steps toward a dark shape in front of him and found it was a tombstone. A black raven perched atop it, fixing them both with a cold stare before letting out a hoarse, unsettling cry that sent a chill down his spine.
It must have been the raven watching him earlier.
By the faint starlight, Harry squinted at the tombstone and made out the name carved into it.
Tom Riddle.
Voldemort's name.
In an instant, everything fell into place.
This was the graveyard. The very graveyard where Barty Crouch Jr. had intended to bring him.
"Cedric — this isn't part of the competition." Harry's throat tightened. "This isn't Hogwarts. This is dangerous."
"Not Hogwarts?" Cedric asked, startled, a chill moving through him.
Had that arrogant Slytherin been right? They had actually been taken outside Hogwarts entirely.
"We've been tricked!" Harry said.
"Are you certain?" Cedric asked, not quite there yet.
"Completely certain," Harry said. "We need to leave. Now."
"Wands out first," Cedric said, his voice sharp with urgency. They drew them at once, pressed back against the tombstone, and kept scanning the darkness.
How do we get out of here? Cedric thought rapidly. The black stone on the ground was a Portkey — but it had already been used once and its destination was unknown. If it still worked, where would it take them?
Strangely, at that moment, a drawling voice came to him unbidden — the rude Slytherin boy from school — "You passed your Apparition test, didn't you?"
Apparition. Worth a try.
"Someone's coming," Harry said softly, his grip tightening on his wand.
Cedric listened and heard it too — a soft sound approaching through the darkness.
He squinted and made out a figure moving among the graves, coming toward them step by step; someone hooded, carrying what appeared to be a bundle.
Under normal circumstances, Cedric might have held his ground and waited to see whether this was some additional trial. But Harry's words rang with a sincerity that made the competition feel very far away. And Cho Chang's face appeared in his mind — the way she had looked at him before he'd left. "If you encounter something insurmountable," she'd said, "please don't rush in. Protect yourself first. Promise me."
Cedric took a breath. "Harry — take hold of my arm—"
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, still squinting at the figure.
As the distance closed, he could make out that the bundle the hooded man was carrying seemed to contain something alive. And there was another sound — a dry, papery rustle across the ground, like a very large snake.
The hair on his arms stood up. He gripped his wand hard. Six feet away, the hooded figure stopped before a towering marble tombstone.
"—Hold on to my arm!" Cedric said urgently, leaning closer. "Now—"
Harry was moved by the earnestness in his voice. He reached for Cedric's arm, and at that instant, a sharp, electric pain blazed through his scar.
A cold voice cut through the darkness. "Remove the nuisance—"
And then two voices overlapped: a somewhat familiar male voice shrieking "Avada—" and from another direction, a commanding shout — "Now!"
In the blinding, intertwined light of red and green, Harry's head seemed to split open. He couldn't breathe. His stomach lurched. His soul seemed to float upward from his body.
He heard many voices chanting "Stupefy!" all at once.
He tried to cry out. No sound came. His consciousness tumbled away into the dark inside his own skull.
Something fell heavily before the tombstone.
The next second, Remus Lupin's face appeared on the other side of the stone, his hand shooting forward — and grasping at nothing.
"Harry!" he shouted.
No one answered.
---
Remus Lupin had been lying in wait in the graveyard at Little Hangleton for a long while.
At around six o'clock that evening, he and his partner Tonks had arrived at the edge of the village and made their way along a quiet road.
"That's the church, over there?" Tonks said, pointing to a pointed steeple in the distance.
"That's right." Remus looked around and said, "We'll have to go through the village. Come on."
They walked the road for a while, passing a cluster of low buildings — small shops, signs already turned to "Closed." A few elderly people moved slowly along the pavement.
Most of them wore dark, loose clothing, quite different from the well-dressed Muggles Tonks was used to seeing in central London.
"Look at us — we fit right in, don't we?" Tonks said cheerfully. "I imagine we look quite approachable."
Remus, in his worn military-green jacket, pulled his cap down a little lower and glanced over her oversized T-shirt and ripped jeans. He smiled. "Not bad at all."
Then he noticed an elderly Muggle woman with grey hair walking past — staring very openly at Tonks's vivid pink hair.
"You might want something a little less striking," he said.
"What, you don't like it?" Tonks called a small smile at the old woman, who was still looking back.
Remus shrugged. "It's not that it doesn't suit you. But in a small, quiet village where people aren't very adventurous, it draws rather a lot of attention."
Tonks watched the elderly woman grow visibly uncomfortable and turn her face sharply away. She pushed her walker hurriedly forward and nearly walked into a bus stop sign.
"Can I help?" Tonks called kindly. The woman glanced at her in alarm, shook her head, and shuffled off as quickly as she could.
"You may have a point," Tonks allowed.
"You've thoroughly frightened her." Remus looked thoughtful. "We should find a secluded spot and use a Disillusionment Charm."
Tonks shrugged agreeably. Once the Muggle woman had gone, she slipped into a narrow alley, changed her hair to the same quiet grey-brown as Remus's, and asked, "Better?"
Remus adjusted his cap and said, "Much better."
The June twilight lingered long — the sky was still a deep blue even as the first stars appeared. They continued along the main road, past detached houses whose gardens were full of lilac, roses, lavender, hollyhock, and wild roses, and the occasional peculiar ornament.
"Remus — look, there are seven little — are those goblins? Do Muggles actually know what goblins are?" Tonks asked with a grin.
"Garden ornaments," Remus said carefully, eyes forward. "Tonks, let's not stare. You need to look like someone who knows this road well — as if you've simply decided to visit relatives on a whim. Not someone who's interested in everything."
"You said young people are already rare here," Tonks said. "We stand out regardless."
"You can still carry yourself as though you belong," Remus said. "It's less about appearance and more about behaviour. If curious locals keep watching us and talking, someone else who's watching might take notice too."
"How do you know all this?" Tonks gave him a sharp sideways look. "You seem very comfortable in Muggle villages. You have your own methods."
"I've spent time in villages like this, over the years." He gave a faint smile. "I was never able to stay long."
Tonks raised an eyebrow, intending to ask more — but they had already spotted the steeple of Little Hangleton Church.
They exchanged a glance and said nothing further. As the last of the daylight faded, they slipped together into a stand of trees, disappearing from any watching eyes.
In the shadow of the bushes, their postures changed. Remus gestured for quiet, pointed toward the large tombstone at the centre of the graveyard, and made a "wait" gesture. Tonks gave him a small nod and an OK sign.
They each cast a Disillusionment Charm on themselves, took hold of each other's hands to avoid getting separated, walked around the church, and crept into the dark and desolate graveyard beyond it.
They did not use the main gate. Instead they slipped through a gap in the hedge, crawled forward, and settled behind a large rock.
Remus silently cast Cave Inimicum, hiding them behind a magical barrier that made them invisible, inaudible, and scentless to anyone outside.
Then came the waiting.
The silence was absolute. So complete that Tonks could hear her own breathing, and Remus's, barely audible beside her.
"There's absolutely nothing here," she said at last, in a low voice inside the shield — anything said within wouldn't carry out. "We walked all that way from three kilometres off for this."
"Order of the Phoenix, rule number two," Remus said solemnly. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
"Fair enough." Tonks settled herself more comfortably. "Guess: have they arrived? The others?"
"I expect they're already in position, or on their way," Remus said. The old iron cemetery gate creaked occasionally in the breeze.
Tonks stared at the dark tombstone at the centre of the graveyard.
Were the other Order members already out there, silent in the shadows, surrounding it from all sides?
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Tonks glanced at the tombstone again, amidst the occasional harsh cry of a crow. "There's no trace of an Anti-Disapparition Jinx here. Should we go and look at that tombstone more closely?"
"Sirius has been here before. This is the place — no question." Remus's voice carried complete certainty.
"All right." Tonks shrugged. "I wonder how things are going for Alastor. I heard him mention the security measures for the Goblet of Fire and the identification system for the maze rescuers the other day. No Death Eater should have been able to get near Harry in that labyrinth."
The Order of the Phoenix had been divided into two groups.
One group was responsible for lying in ambush here in the graveyard, ready to intercept any Death Eaters — or what remained of Voldemort — who might appear.
The other group — those who were meant to be visible around Harry Potter — Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, Sirius Black, Molly Weasley, and Bill Weasley — were attending the Tournament openly at Hogwarts. This served two purposes: avoiding suspicion, and ensuring Harry's safety within the castle grounds.
"Quite right," Remus said. "They have Hogwarts very well covered."
"Then why," Tonks said, "did Sirius specifically assign us this particular task — rescuing any champion who might appear here? Everyone else is on ambush duty. We're on rescue duty, which assumes champions will actually show up."
"I believe there's a deeper intention behind it," Remus said calmly.
"But would a champion from the Triwizard Tournament actually arrive here clutching the Goblet of Fire?" Tonks asked, puzzled. "They did so much work to ensure that possibility was impossible. With protection on the Goblet, tight security at Hogwarts, and so many eyes on everything — it would be outrageous for any Death Eater to manage it."
She continued, "I always felt like he'd given me the least important task. A one-in-a-million possibility."
"Don't forget, my assignment is identical to yours," Remus said gently. "I don't think he's underestimating us in the slightest. On the contrary — if Harry does arrive here, his safety is entirely in our hands. Sirius trusts us with that."
"Maybe," Tonks said. "Though if it comes to saving Harry, one person should be sufficient. I'll probably just be watching from the side."
The conversation made time move faster.
Tonks glanced at her watch. Past eight o'clock.
The sky had gone from dark blue-green to black. The wind had died. The rusted iron gate stood motionless. Apart from the occasional crow, there was nothing.
Tonks felt the oppressive weight of the silence pressing down. She told herself to be patient and wait.
Then, after what felt like an age, two sudden thuds broke the stillness.
Tonks looked up. Two figures had fallen from above the graveyard onto the open ground before the tombstones.
She and Remus exchanged a startled look. They peered carefully around the edge of the rock. In the dim light, one figure was pulling the other to its feet.
"Who are they?" Tonks squinted hard.
"Where are we?" came a young voice.
Remus dropped his voice to barely a whisper. "That's Harry."
Tonks's eyes went wide.
"Merlin's — Sirius just got lucky! That one-in-a-million chance actually happened! But who's the other one?"
Remus listened. The second figure, slightly taller, said, "I don't know."
"The other Hogwarts champion — Cedric Diggory."
"How can you tell?" Tonks asked.
"He was in my Defence Against the Dark Arts class," Remus said. "We should divide this up. I'll take Harry; you take Cedric."
"Understood. But why are there two champions here?" Tonks asked, still surprised. "What if the other two arrive as well — can we manage four?"
Barely fifteen minutes ago she had been worried she'd have nothing to do tonight; now she was worried about being overwhelmed.
"I didn't expect this either," Remus said, his expression turning thoughtful. "Listen — let's hear what they're saying first."
"Look at the Goblet of Fire!" the taller figure said to Harry. "Has anyone told you it has Portkey properties?"
"By the way," Tonks murmured to Remus, "now that these two have the Goblet, the others can't reach it, can they?"
The taller figure continued, "Either this is part of the competition, or someone used exceptional Transfiguration to swap the real Goblet. Do you think it was one of the other champions?"
Tonks craned to look at the Goblet and found it was now a dark, dull black stone.
"Something's gone wrong at Hogwarts," she said, staring at it. Remus frowned, nodded, and said nothing, listening.
"I don't think it was them," Harry's voice said. "If they'd found the Goblet first, why wouldn't they just take it?"
"Fair point," Cedric said. "Besides, they've both forfeited — no one but a champion is supposed to be in the maze. So if it wasn't them — is this part of the competition?"
Remus breathed out quietly and said, "No other champions will arrive. We just need to choose the right moment and get these two out safely."
"Disapparation?" Tonks said, already reaching for her wand.
"Exactly," Remus said, approving. "We need to time it precisely. Strike when their attention is elsewhere, move simultaneously, and get them out before anyone can react."
"Taking them by surprise — just what I had in mind," Tonks said, gripping her wand.
"Be careful — there's a high probability of a confrontation. Watch your positioning. Don't stand in the direct line of attack between both sides," Remus said.
"Understood. Where are we taking them?"
"Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," Remus said. "There's a rather grumpy house-elf waiting there."
"Should we move now?" Tonks asked.
"Not yet — proceed as planned," Remus said, his tone tightening slightly. He drew his wand. "They were brought here despite all those precautions. The other side must have had something up their sleeve. Since they were tricked into coming anyway, there may be others lying in wait."
Two brave young men had suddenly appeared in a graveyard staked out by the Order. If Tonks and Remus could hear them, so could anyone else in the area.
If they moved now and took the champions away, they risked alerting whoever else was out there and destroying their one opportunity to capture Voldemort.
"If someone shows up, we move immediately—" Tonks said quietly.
"Remember what Dumbledore said — they need Harry for something. They won't kill him on sight. Stay calm, hold a little longer, and wait for my signal," Remus said. "I believe we're about to have company."
Tonks fixed her gaze on the figures by the tombstone. The shorter one took a few steps and, through the hoarse cry of a crow, called out, "Cedric — this isn't part of the competition! This isn't Hogwarts. It's dangerous!"
"It really was Cedric Diggory," Tonks said. "You were right."
Remus smiled. "I don't mistake my students' voices."
"Not Hogwarts?" Cedric's voice was sharp with surprise.
"We've been tricked!" Harry said.
"Are you certain?"
"Completely certain. We need to leave — now."
Tonks nodded to herself. Harry had grasped it immediately.
"Wands out first," she heard Cedric say.
Their reactions were swift, their wand-drawing instinctive, their alertness high. These two had real potential.
"Someone's coming," Harry said softly.
Tonks and Remus exchanged a glance. The fish had taken the bait.
Somewhere in the darkness beyond, the other members of the Order held their breath. There was a shared stillness — eyes meeting in unspoken understanding, wands tightening in hands.
Tonks felt it too. Footsteps in the dark. A hooded figure was moving slowly among the graves toward Harry and Cedric. She barely breathed.
Should we go? Tonks tugged at Remus, her eyes asking the question.
Remus gave a taut, controlled gesture — wait a little longer.
They needed the figure to move deeper in, closer to the centre of the encirclement, where escape would be harder.
Closer. Closer still. Tonks tracked the figure. She heard Cedric urgently telling Harry to hold onto his arm, and Harry asking something, his voice uncertain.
The hooded figure passed the large rock where she and Remus were hidden. Something made a dry, papery rustle on the ground. The figure stopped before the tall marble tombstone. It stood very still, facing Harry and Cedric.
This is not good. That person is about to act.
She could see the tip of something — a wand — extending from the figure's side.
"Those two are in danger!" Tonks said urgently. "We have to go!"
"Now!" Remus agreed.
The moment he spoke, Tonks vanished like a gust of wind. Half a second behind her, Remus followed — thinking, briefly, that new recruits were always a touch too eager — and disappeared.
The sudden movement of the hooded figure put Kingsley Shacklebolt, lying in the bushes, on immediate alert.
At the same instant, a cold voice rang out across the graveyard: "Remove the nuisance—"
Kingsley roared: "Now!"
As the hooded figure shrieked "Avada Kedavra—!", every member of the Order of the Phoenix burst from their hiding places — from behind tombstones, rocks, and hedge — wands blazing red from all directions, voices united:
"Stupefy!"
In the blinding collision of red and green, the hooded figure crumpled, and the bundle it had been carrying rolled into the shadows.
Something fell heavily before the tall tombstone.
The next second, Remus Lupin appeared at the tombstone, hand outstretched — and found nothing.
"Harry!"
No answer.
Something rustled across the ground. A gust of wind carrying a faint, fishy smell moved toward the cemetery gate.
"What happened, Remus?" voices called from all sides.
Arthur Weasley's was the loudest. "Where's Harry? Is he all right?"
"Did we hit him?" That was Dedalus Diggle's excitable voice. "Are they unconscious?"
Hestia Jones called out, "Did they fall? I heard something go down in front of the tombstone."
Emmeline Vance's voice was taut, nearly trembling. "I think I saw a green light — did someone fire the Killing Curse?"
The graveyard was completely silent. Even the crows had gone quiet.
"Go and look!" Kingsley Shacklebolt shouted. "Keep your wands up!"
All the Order members emerged from their hiding places and converged on the tombstone at the centre of the graveyard, wands lit, moving carefully closer.
Only Remus Lupin stood there already.
He was crouching over the fallen shape before the tombstone, his expression openly bewildered.
"Who is it?" Arthur asked in a shaking voice. "Remus?"
"It — it's a raven," Remus said strangely. "It was struck by the Killing Curse. It's dead."
"Thank Merlin!" Dedalus Diggle burst out. "Not that I have any particular fondness for killing crows — I simply thought it was Harry Potter! But I knew it — a boy who survived what he survived wouldn't go that easily!"
The relief rippled through the others.
Only Arthur stayed unmoved. "So where did they go?" he called out. "Charlie — are they behind the tombstone?"
Charlie jumped out from behind the stone and said, "Not a soul."
"Remus." Arthur's voice carried a note of panic. "Where have they gone? Weren't you and Tonks supposed to be rescuing them?"
"I didn't have time — I reached for Harry and he simply wasn't there," Remus said, looking thoroughly lost. "He vanished before I could take hold of him."
"Wait," Hestia called. "Where's Tonks? Where did she go?"
"I don't know," Remus said, spreading his hands helplessly. "She was supposed to have taken Cedric."
"So not only have we lost both people we were trying to rescue, but we've also lost one of our rescuers!" Diggle said with a gleeful sort of dismay. "Does this count as losing everything at once? Am I using that right?"
"Dedalus, this is hardly the moment!" Emmeline said reproachfully.
"It wasn't entirely for nothing," said Sturgis Podmore, straightening up with a grunt — he had been crouched over the hooded figure, and now rose clutching an extra wand. "I believe this is Ludo Bagman. He's completely unconscious."
"Bagman — how?" Diggle shone his wand over Bagman's face and bent close to look. "The light's terrible in here! It's extraordinary — Arthur, come and look!"
"Yes, it's him," Arthur said after a moment. "He looks wretched, but it's definitely him."
"Has he been put under the Imperius Curse?" Diggle asked.
"Tie him up first," Kingsley said. Sturgis Podmore nodded and complied at once with a flick of his wand.
"Should we Rennervate him and ask what he knows?" Emmeline asked. "He may have done something before he lost consciousness — like hiding the two boys."
"Worth trying," Remus said, stepping forward with a grim look. Arthur and Charlie, equally grim, rolled up their sleeves and positioned themselves around Bagman, clearly intending to get answers.
Just then, a sharp voice cut from somewhere to the side.
"Stay away! Don't touch me!" It sounded almost hysterical.
The others turned. Hestia was poking at a bundle on the ground with the tip of her wand. The sound was coming from inside it.
"Be careful, Hestia — don't get too close," Emmeline said quickly. "That thing could be dangerous."
"I don't think it's dangerous," Hestia said, unimpressed. She lit the tip of her wand and shone it at the thing she had just opened, and said flatly, "Just rather disgusting."
Emmeline looked. "I have to agree. Extremely."
Yes. Disgusting.
She had never imagined anything like it could exist.
It resembled an infant, with thin, soft limbs — but no infant in the world could look like this. It was completely hairless, covered in scales, its skin a strange, raw, dark red — like something that had been stripped of its outer layer, leaving behind a sticky, tender, exposed flesh. Its face was flat as a serpent's. Its eyes glowed with a terrible red light. It lay helplessly in the bundle of cloth, too weak to do anything, like something that had crawled out of a nightmare.
"How dare you call me disgusting!" the creature shrieked in fury, its voice growing sharper. "I curse you to die!"
"Oh, do shut up," Hestia said contemptuously. She nudged it with her boot and flipped a wand out from under the bundle.
She had used a little too much force. The wand skittered across the ground and came to rest at Remus Lupin's feet.
Remus crouched and picked it up.
In the torchlight that Dedalus Diggle had just conjured, he could see it clearly.
It was bone-white. The handle bore sharp protrusions like basilisk fangs.
Very few wizards had wands so distinctively unpleasant.
In all of Remus Lupin's experience, only one wand matched a description like this — the one Ollivander had spoken of in whispered terms, with that specific quality of dreadful pale gleam.
Voldemort's wand.
The wand had fallen from the bundle and ended up beneath this mangled, barely recognisable heap of flesh.
And in that instant, everything fell into place.
Could the thing those two women were calling "disgusting" be Voldemort himself?