Chapter Text
Chapter Twenty: What Voldemort?
Harry reappeared on the grass outside the maze holding the Triwizard Cup.
For several seconds, nobody reacted.
“HARRY POTTER HAS WON THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!” Bagman shouted.
The crowd erupted.
Harry looked toward Hermione, held up two fingers for Nagini and Tom and then closed his hand with a grin.
Hermione closed her notebook and ran to him.
————-
Krum emerged from the maze after officials ended the task.
“You reached the Cup and disappeared,” Krum said.
“Briefly.”
“Did you win there too?”
Harry smiled.
“I do not wish to compete against you again,” Krum said. “I mean in anything.”
————-
Dumbledore intercepted Harry before Rita could.
“The Cup was not a Portkey when I inspected it. Yet it became one.”
Harry looked at him.
Dumbledore had learned not to expect the pause to help.
“Where did it take you?”
“A graveyard, sir. Little Hangleton.”
Dumbledore went still.
“Who was there?”
“A snake, sir.”
“And?”
Harry looked toward Cornelius Fudge approaching with several Ministry officials.
“Nothing that remains, sir.”
Fudge arrived smiling.
“Harry! Splendid performance. Extraordinary. Excellent showing for Hogwarts.”
“Thank you, Minister.”
“Dumbledore says there may have been some irregularity involving the Cup.”
“It transported me to a graveyard.”
Fudge’s smile weakened.
“Was there anything…Dark?”
“Dark?”
Fudge lowered his voice.
“No sign of You-Know-Who?”
“Voldemort?”
Several people flinched.
Harry snorted. “What Voldemort? Why would Voldemort be back?”
Fudge’s entire body relaxed.
“Exactly.”
Dumbledore closed his eyes.
Fudge put one hand on Harry’s shoulder.
“Exactly, my boy. There is no evidence whatsoever.”
“No resurrection? No Dark Lord standing about?” Fudge asked.
“Not when I left.”
Fudge hesitated and then decided not to examine the wording.
————-
Rita Skeeter was waiting ten feet away.
“What happened in the graveyard?”
“I won.”
“You had already won here.”
“Yes.”
“Was Voldemort there?”
“Why would Voldemort be back?”
Her smile developed slowly.
“Anything I should know?”
Harry trusted Lucius to look after Lucius.
“No. Not yet.”
“That answer,” she said, “I recognise.”
————-
THE DAILY PROPHET
POTTER WINS; DARK LORD CONTINUES NOT TO EXIST
By Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent
HOGWARTS. Harry Potter won the Triwizard Tournament yesterday after reaching the Cup first, disappearing from Hogwarts through an unauthorised Portkey, and returning with the trophy.
The Ministry has confirmed the victory. It has not confirmed much else.
The Cup had been inspected immediately before the task by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Tournament Director Ludo Bagman, and Durmstrang Headmaster Igor Karkaroff.
All four found it free of Portkey enchantments.
Examination after Potter’s return found unmistakable evidence that it had subsequently become one.
“The original inspection was accurate,” a Tournament official said.
Asked whether the inspection had protected the champion, the official repeated that it had been accurate.
Potter says the Cup transported him to a graveyard in Little Hangleton.
Ministry investigators found no ritual apparatus, no unidentified body, no unusual animal remains, and no evidence of a resurrection.
They did find a disturbed area of recently repaired ground.
Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has rejected speculation that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was involved.
Potter agrees.
Asked directly about the possibility, Potter responded:
“What Voldemort? Why would Voldemort be back?”
The Minister described this as a sensible question.
Headmaster Dumbledore declined to describe it at all.
Potter’s final Tournament record includes victories in all three tasks, one dragon rendered unconscious, one unexpected hostage returned, and a trophy that acquired additional capabilities after official inspection.
The Tournament has ended. All three champions are alive. Officials are calling this a success.
————-
Amelia Bones held a press conference with Sirius Black at her side. The photograph appeared on the front page of every wizarding newspaper in Britain.
With Peter Pettigrew in custody, the Ministry had formally cleared Black of Pettigrew’s murder and the Muggle deaths.
The Ministry also acknowledged that Black had been sent to Azkaban without trial.
His civil status was restored. The Black estate remained Harry’s.
The inheritance transfer had completed under family magic years earlier.
The Ministry could correct its records; the wards were less interested.
————-
Sirius arrived at Grimmauld carrying the ruling. He hugged Harry before handing it over.
“This says I was innocent.”
“And this says the estate transfer remains valid,” Sirius continued. “Why is that paragraph the clearest one?”
Hermione took the ruling from Harry.
“Property law.”
Kreacher appeared with Sirius’s luggage.
“Legally exonerated Master Sirius is returning to the island,” Sirius huffed.
“Legally exonerated Master Sirius who does not own the island,” Kreacher clarified.
“You have ruined him,” Sirius told Harry.
“He seems happier.”
Kreacher took Sirius by the ankle.
“Shoulders!”
————-
Ginny remained angry, mostly at Harry, but substantially at Fred and George. She had stopped hoping Harry would ask her out again.
The twins continued insisting that they had never asked Harry to take her to Madam Puddifoot’s.
She eventually stopped arguing the evidence and began hexing whichever twin mentioned Valentine’s Day.
————-
Ron continued carrying Fleur’s books; Fleur continued giving him instructions.
Her remaining magical ability was sufficient for ordinary schoolwork, although she had developed strong opinions about binding magical contracts.
Ron regarded the correspondence schedule she prepared for the summer as evidence that their relationship was serious. Fleur described it as “necessary follow-up.”
Neither appeared dissatisfied.
————-
Krum shook Harry’s hand before Durmstrang departed.
Cho and Krum exchanged addresses.
Then Cho handed him a photograph of them at the Ball.
“Would you sign this one?”
Krum took another copy from inside his robes.
“Only if you sign mine.”
————-
That evening, Harry and Hermione stepped through the cabinet into their private room.
The second bed had disappeared beneath books, ward components, Rita’s clippings, and the folder marked HARRY.
On the wall remained the blackboard Hermione had maintained since September.
Every name was crossed out.
DIARY. RING. LOCKET. CUP. DIADEM. NAGINI. TOM.
Hermione leaned against him. For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Then Hermione looked toward the desk.
“What do we fix now?”
Dobby appeared carrying two bowls of pudding.
“Nothing until after dessert,” Harry said.
Hermione accepted a bowl.
For once, she found no procedural objection.