Brooklyn and the Boy Who Lived

The Third Task

June arrived, the month of the Final Task, which Brooklyn was more than ready for to end this year at Hogwarts and just relax either at the Leaky Cauldron or the Weasleys.

Speaking of the Weasleys, after the exams were over, they had surprised Brooklyn and Harry by coming to watch the final task, and even Charlie and Bill were there!

Brooklyn gave Mrs. Weasley a big hug. He had missed her and even thanked her for her Christmas present.

"It was nothing, dear. I just thought you deserved some nice robes for the ball," she replied in her kind voice. But then Brooklyn spotted Katie walking by. He and Katie had grown pretty close in friendship ever since the Ball and the Second Task, sometimes taking walks together, and Brooklyn would every now and then help her study. Harry himself was happy that his bond brother found a new friend, a girl to spend time with.

"Katie!" He called. Startled, she looked around, and smiled seeing Brooklyn there with Ron's parents. She came over, grinning at them. Brooklyn knew this was the perfect chance to introduce her to this amazing family.

"Mrs. Weasley, I want you to meet Katie Bell, whom I'm sure you've heard about being a Chaser from Fred and George on the team. She was my date for the ball," Brooklyn introduced, having Katie put her arm around his own. Mrs. Weasley smiled, shaking Katie's hand.

"It's wonderful to meet you. I really think you found a lovely relationship with Brooklyn, he spent a great deal of time with Ginny when she was shy, and I'm happy you went to the ball with him."

Katie blushed again, smiling up at Brooklyn. Now she had to claim herself lucky to have found somebody like Brooklyn. Flint had tried to jump her one afternoon, but Brooklyn suddenly saw this and came out, pushing the bully back, and telling him to stay away, and that he was angry with him for grabbing her head that Quidditch final.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. I think he's great, too," she replied in a shy voice, and Brooklyn felt his heart flutter again. The possibility of finally finding the one he loved here made him want to soar! He just prayed that Katie really was the right one for him!

Eventually Harry joined them and Arthur asked Harry and Brooklyn for a tour of Hogwarts, to show him how much had changed since he had come here in his youth. They passed Cedric and his father, who still looked quite mad about the article about Harry and Brooklyn.

"Dad, you know Brooklyn wouldn't let anybody as young as Harry in," insisted Cedric, when Mr. Diggory had spoken aloud at why Brooklyn would do such a thing, possibly for revenge after the Quidditch match.

He still looked at Brooklyn suspiciously, but in a way saw some truth in his son's words, and simply moved along, with Mrs. Weasley speaking harsh words at him.

"Hey, sorry about my dad, he gets competitive," Cedric apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Brooklyn shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, Ced. That stuff's old news now, it's just taking him time to get over it, I really don't care," the gargoyle said honestly, and Cedric smiled at his humility. Brooklyn so far seemed to have more sense than his father did.

After they showed the Weasley parents the rest of Hogwarts, the time came to move down to the Quidditch pitch, where it was being used for the maze. Brooklyn stared as he confirmed this to be the biggest hedge maze he had ever seen, and they just didn't seem like normal hedges to him.

Magic, duh! Teased his inner voice, making him roll his eyes.

Dumbledore called order, as the Champions gathered near their own entrances. Cedric and Harry were tied first, so they got to start ahead of the others. Brooklyn watched from the sidelines. He and Harry had practiced for weeks, gargoyle training and spell training, in case he ever needed to use his Animagus abilities in there. He wished he could accompany Harry inside, though.