Grindelwald's Burden (Books 1-7)

59. The House Elf Liberation Front

Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione went up to the Owlery that evening to find Pigwidgeon and Hedwig, so that Harry and Y/n could send Sirius and Y/n's grandmother a letter telling him both that they had managed to get past their dragons. On the way, Harry filled Ron in on everything Sirius had told him about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first to hear that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, by the time they entered the Owlery Ron was saying that they ought to have suspected it all along.

"Fits, doesn't it?" he said. "Remember what Malfoy said on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup... I'll tell you one thing, though, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet, he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? You both only got a scratch and a few burns! Come here... I'll do it..."

'Only a few burns..' Y/n thought as he shook his head and attached his letter to Hedwig before she flew off gracefully.

Pigwidgeon however was so overexcited at the idea of a delivery he was flying around and around Harry's head, hooting incessantly. Ron snatched Pigwidgeon out of the air and held him still while Harry attached the letter to his leg.

"There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?" Ron went on as he carried Pigwidgeon to the window. "You know what? I reckon either of you could win this tournament, I'm serious."

Y/n knew that Ron was only saying this to make up for his behavior of the last few weeks. Hermione, however, leaned against the Owlery wall, folded her arms, and frowned at Ron. "Y/n and Harry have got a long way to go before they finish this tournament." she said seriously. "If that was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next."

Despite it having only been a few hours Y/n's mind had also begun to think about the second task.

"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" said Ron now. "You and Professor Trelawney should get together sometime." He threw Pigwidgeon out of the window.

Pigwidgeon plummeted twelve feet before managing to pull himself back up again, the letter attached to his leg was much longer and heavier than usual. Harry hadn't been able to resist giving Sirius a blow-by-blow account of exactly how he had swerved, circled, and dodged the Horntail and how Y/n had transfigured rock into sword and immobilized his Dragon.

They watched Pigwidgeon disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party. Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now."

Sure enough, when they entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface. Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks and Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted either Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt or Y/n with a ring of swords above him, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire.

At the sight of food Y/n immediately drew his wand. "Accio plate." He chanted and a plate from a stack flew into his hands. Y/n wasted no time in loading up his plate, with the task now over he was starving. Harry seemed to be in the same mindset as he quickly drained a goblet of Pumpkin juice down. 

When he had gotten his food Y/n sat down with Ron and Hermione letting it all sink in, he had gotten through the first task, and he wouldn't have to face the second one for three months. But that didn't mean he could rest...he needed to figure out what this clue inside the egg was if he was going to come up with a plan. But first, he needed food.