Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 55: Mystic Memories

"Now, I remember ... I remember when I first met you all." Hagrid recalled fondly as he led Shaye, Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the woods. After the second task, the four had gathered at his hut for a cup of tea. Afterwards, when Hagrid had needed to step outside for a bit to check on some of his creatures that lived among the trees, the students offered to join him.

Shaye and Harry were wearing their red champion sweaters, bits of their hair still a little damp from the lake. They were walking a meter or so ahead of Hagrid and the others, enjoying the cool evening breeze and the fact that there was only one more task remaining before they could finally be done with the Triwizard Tournament.

"Biggest bunch of misfits I ever set eyes on," Hagrid continued. "Suppose you remind me of meself a little. And here we all are, four years later."

Ron chuckled. "We're still a bunch of misfits."

"Well, maybe, but we've all got each other," Hagrid said. "And Harry and Shaye, of course. Soon to be the youngest Triwizard champions there's ever been! Hooray!"

Shaye couldn't help but smile. Despite the fact that she and Harry were clearly outmatched in this tournament, Hagrid never stopped believing in them. He was probably their biggest fan, alongside Ron and Hermione, of course.

Harry, however, didn't appear to have heard what Hagrid had said, or if he did, he hadn't really been listening. His eyebrows were knit together and he was wincing, his fingers brushing over his scar. Then his eyes settled on something on the ground.

Shaye followed Harry as he approached the object he had spotted, which upon closer inspection, was a bowler hat. The black hat sat atop the twigs and dead leaves in the dirt, but yet, there wasn't a single scuff mark or spec of mud on the hat itself, indicating that it hadn't been there long.

That was when Harry rounded the trunk of the tree the hat was sitting beside and gasped. Lying on the ground, eyes wide open but unmoving, Barty Crouch appeared to be dead. 

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry asked. There was no response. 

Shaye alerted Hagrid right away and before she knew it, the once quiet woods were swarming with teachers and members of the Ministry. Barty Crouch's body was whisked away before anyone else could stumble upon it and all of the students were sent back to their dormitories; all of the students except for Shaye and Harry, who were sent up to Dumbledore's office, which apparently was a consequence of discovering a dead body.

As the golden gargoyle staircase completed its series of tight twists, bringing Shaye and Harry up to Dumbledore's office, the two students could hear voices from inside. Standing outside the thick, wooden door, they were unsure if they should knock right away or listen in for a little while.

"A man has died here, Fudge." Dumbledore's voice was loud and desperate. "And he won't be the last. You must take action."

"I will not," Fudge refused as Shaye and Harry took a step closer to the door. "In times like these, the wizard world looks to its leaders for strength, Dumbledore!"

"Then for once, show them some!"

"The Triwizard Tournament will not be cancelled. I will not be seen as a coward!"

"A true leader does what is right, no matter what others think."

"What did you say? What did you say to me?"

"Excuse me, gentlemen." A third voice spoke up. It was Mad-Eye. "It may interest you to know this conversation is no longer private."

As Shaye and Harry hurried to knock on the door, it swung open, revealing them standing outside with their knuckles raised.