Harry awoke the next morning with Daphne held close in his arms. Though he wanted to remain in bed with her, he knew he needed to get up. Harry pulled himself from bed, eliciting a groan from Daphne, who was not ready to wake up. It was Thursday, and classes would start in about an hour.

After he had finished getting ready in the bathroom, which was just off the master bedroom, Harry awoke Daphne to get ready, and descended to the kitchen, where he set Dobby to work preparing breakfast. Though the second task had been yesterday, they still had class today.

Harry drank a cup of tea while he waited on Daphne to finish getting ready and for Dobby to finish cooking. Ten minutes later Daphne entered the kitchen, and Harry could tell that her cold had broken in the night. She still sniffled some, but her movements were much stronger. She joined Harry for tea and the eggs and sausage that Dobby had prepared.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"Much better, thanks. I'm glad you let me stay here last night. I needed it." Daphne replied.

"No problem. You can stay here any time you want."

Gamma materialized on the table. "You have twenty-four minutes until your first class begins." He informed Harry. The class in question was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which Harry and Daphne shared.

"Thank you, Gamma."

"I still think its amazing that you created him." Daphne said as she watched the tiny black figure.

"It was accidental. A potion Sirius gave me, in combination with the ambient magic here at Hogwarts, caused him to manifest. He's sort of like a storage unit for magic that I'm not strong enough to wield yet." Harry explained, having done some research into the topic, though there was not much information to be learned, as constructs were a very rare phenomenon.

"We'd better get to the castle." Harry said, as they finished their food. They both stood up from the table and walked to the entrance to the secret tunnel, which Harry had covered with a curtain, to keep out the draft. Passing through the curtain, they began the walk to the Whomping Willow.

Sticking his head through the exit, Harry tapped his wand against the root, freezing the tree. Quickly he climbed out, then helped Daphne out. They passed beyond the tree's reach as it began to wake up. They walked together into the castle and made their way to Professor Moody's classroom.

They arrived to a half empty classroom, with more students periodically entering. The pair set their bags down at the table they shared near the front of the class, next to the wall opposite the door. Eventually the last students filed in, and the grizzled professor entered the room from his office.

"Welcome class. Today we have something special." He growled. "I have finally received authorization from the Ministry to perform the Imperius curse on each of you, so that you will be able to recognize and eventually throw off the curse, should you ever have the misfortune of having it be used against you."

His words were met with shock from most of the class, and not a few objections.

"But that's illegal, Professor. You can't cast it on students." Hermione stated, and Harry found that he agreed with her.

"As I have said, I have special permission from the Ministry of Magic to do so, Miss Granger. Anyone else care to object?" Moody growled.

"Well you will not be casting it on me." Hermione said, crossing her arms.

"Then I guess you'll have to be happy receiving a failing grade on this assignment, Miss Granger." Moody responded, knowing that the bushy haired girl would do it if her grade were on the line.

"I could throw it off, easy." Malfoy said to Crabbe and Goyle in the back of the room.

"Then you won't mind being our first volunteer, Mr. Malfoy." Moody said, having heard the Slytherin ponce. "Come, come, if you're so sure of your abilities." Moody waved the boy to the front of the class. Malfoy came to the front, looking around warily. Moody pointed his want at Malfoy.

"Imperio." Moody said. Immediately the boy's body relaxed. Malfoy began cartwheeling around the room, pulling off some rather impressive acrobatic stunts before Moody released him from the spell. Embarrassed, Malfoy ran to the back of the class.

"Everyone up!" Moody shouted, waving his wand to pile the tables and chairs around the edges of the room. "Form a line in the center of the room." He instructed.

One by one everyone in class was put under the Imperius curse, and no one was fully able to resist. Ron had been made to stand on his head and spin in a circle, while Crabbe had walked around the room on his hands. Daphne been forced to do backflips. Only Harry had shown any resistance.

"Imperio." Moody had said while pointing his wand at Harry. Immediately Harry had felt a sense of relaxation wash over him. A voice in his head was telling him to jump. All Harry wanted to do was jump.

"Jump, jump!" the voice said. Suddenly Harry realized that the voice was not his own.

"Jump!" it said. Harry knew that he shouldn't listen to the voice.

"Jump!" the voice commanded.

"No!" Harry shouted, falling to the floor. He had simultaneously tried to jump and prevent himself from jumping, resulting in him falling in a heap to the floor.

"Well done, Mr. Potter. You were the only student who tried to resist the curse." Moody said as Harry picked himself up off the floor. "Class dismissed."

The students collected their belongings and exited the room while Moody drank from his ever-present hip flask. Harry joined Daphne and they walked from the room.

"What do you reckon he keeps in that flask?" Harry asked.

"If the look on his face whenever he drinks it is any indication, I don't think it's pumpkin juice." She replied.

"I think it's just his face." Harry joked. "Still, something doesn't seem right about him. I saw the look on his face when he was casting the Imperius on us. It was almost . . . gleeful." Harry shook his head and continued walking. His next class was history with Professor Binns. Though he tried his best to stay awake during that class he, and most other students, were usually put to sleep by the ghostly professor.

oO0OoO0Oo

Daphne's cold had completely gone by the weekend, proving that she was right and that it was nothing to worry about. The pair had continued to go to class as normal the following week, though they were excited for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, more so than the other students, for Harry had received a letter from Sirius asking them to meet him.

Harry,

I'm hiding out in a cave near Hogsmeade. I know that isn't very specific, but I can't exactly show my face around the village. Don't worry about looking for it, I have someone who will take you to it. Of course, your lovely companion Miss Greengrass is also invited. I want to hear all about the task. Also, a mutual friend of ours is with me, and he's eager to see you again.

Padfoot.

'A mutual friend of ours?' Harry wondered. Daphne had wondered the same thing and asked him about it.

"Remus, most likely. Professor Lupin, I mean. Remus was close with Sirius and my dad when they were students here." He answered.

"Professor Lupin, the werewolf?" Daphne asked, shocked.

"Yes, he is a werewolf, but more importantly he is my friend." Harry said, with some steel in his voice.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, but werewolves were creatures all pure-bloods grow up fearing, what with the likes of Fenrir Greyback running about." Daphne apologized.

"Greyback? Who is he?" Harry asked.

"Sometimes I forget you weren't raised in our world. Fenrir Greyback was one of You-know-who's supporters, and he was a werewolf. He didn't care about killing people, all he cared about was turning them. He's still out there, underground somewhere, turning as many people as he can. No one has heard of him since the war ended though. Parents use him like the Boogey-man now." Daphne explained. She turned and looked out the window of the Shack. "It's getting late. I should get back to the castle." She said.

"I'll walk you through the tunnel."

The pair left through the tunnel entrance inside the Shack and made the trek to the Whomping Willow, where Daphne pulled Harry into a warm embrace. She pulled back and looked him in the eye.

"Be safe, Harry."

"Always." Harry reached his hand out of the tunnel and tapped the root which would immobilize the deadly tree. Daphne climbed out of the tunnel and quickly walked out of reach of the Willow. Harry watched her enter the castle, then turned back, beginning the journey back to the Shack.

oO0OoO0Oo

Saturday came swiftly, and Harry and Daphne became two of many students flooding into the village. The pair wandered around, looking in shop windows, but not going in any. Harry felt a small hand take his, but before he could look he was apparated away. They both appeared at the mouth of a small cave, overlooking the village from the mountains.

"Harry!"

"Sirius!"

The two men pulled each other into an embrace, then pulled apart.

"Ms. Greengrass, lovely to see you again." Sirius held his hand out for Daphne but pulled her in for a hug when she took it.

"Sirius, how did you get us up here?" Harry asked him.

"I sent Kreacher to find you in the village and bring you up here. Kreacher was the Black family house elf, and as the lord of the house, he is beholden to me. He's quite useful, though we loathe each other." His godfather explained.

"You two don't like each other? But he's your elf, he's supposed to be devoted to you." Daphne said.

"Kreacher was especially favorable of my mother, who was notoriously anti-muggleborn. As you can imagine, we don't see eye to eye."

Daphne nodded, but didn't press further.

"So, is Moony here? You mentioned a mutual friend." Harry asked. Harry, who was facing the mouth of the cave, felt something rest on his shoulder. He reached up, stroking the beak he knew could only belong to one beast.

"Hello Buckbeak." Harry turned to face the hippogriff, who gave Harry a short bow, which Harry returned, though it was only a formality on both sides. Harry knew the creature was extremely fond of him after he saved its life a year before.

"Is that the hippogriff from Hagrid's lesson last year? The one that scratched Malfoy?" Daphne asked. At the sound of her voice Buckbeak sharply turned to regard the girl with critical eyes.

"Bow. Slowly." Harry said in a low voice. Daphne slowly leaned down into a bow, and after a few seconds, Buckbeak did the same. Harry gestured her over, then placed her hand on the hippogriff's beak. Buckbeak in response closed his eyes and lightly purred like some oversized housecat.

"Hagrid will be pleased to know he's alright." Harry said. Sirius led them further into the cave, where Sirius had a small fire going. The three sat around it, while Buckbeak began hunting for rats.

"How have you been holding up, Harry?" Sirius asked, a note of concern in his voice.

"The Second Task had me stressed for a while, but I'm better now. Since the Chamber burned I've been staying in the Shack. With some help from Dobby I've fixed most of the interior so that it's livable." Harry answered.

"Dobby, who's Dobby?" Sirius inquired.

"My house elf. I tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing him at the end of my Second Year. He's followed me around like a lost puppy ever since."

Sirius sputtered with disbelief. "You tricked Lucius Malfoy into releasing his own elf? I didn't think you had that much Slytherin in you, kid." He said. Noticing the look that Daphne had given him, and remembering that she was in Slytherin house, he quickly said that he meant no offence.

"Alright Sirius. I know you're dying to hear about the Tournament, right?" Harry said, grinning.

"Oh, its been positively killing me." Sirius replied dramatically. "Come on, pony up. Don't spare any details!"

"Here goes. It was under the lake like we thought, but what was taken turned out to be people. In my case it was Daphne. I used my wyvern form to swim to a merfolk village at the bottom, passing Fleur who was being attacked by grindylows. Krum and Cedric got there first, but Fleur never showed. I ended up rescuing Daphne and Fleurs younger sister. They gave me bonus points for that." Harry recounted to the pair. Daphne, having been asleep, didn't remember it the same way Harry did.

"What did you tell the judges? I know you wouldn't tell them about your animagus form." Sirius inquired.

"Gillyweed." Harry answered, smiling. Sirius laughed.

"I'm tied for first going into the Third Task, whatever that may be." Harry said.

Sirius nodded. "I'm sure they'll tell you what it is. You weren't given a puzzle this time."

oO0OoO0Oo

The trio continued to laugh and talk for a while, before Sirius noticed it was getting late, and ordered Kreacher to take them back to Hogsmeade. Before they left, He pulled Harry aside.

"How would you like to come stay with me this summer? For real this time." He asked. Harry pulled his godfather into a hug.

"I'd love that, Sirius."

*Author's Note*

Sorry again for delays in updates, but these two came out rather quickly. I'm off to college literally tomorrow morning as I publish this chapter, and it's going to be tougher to find time to sit down and write, but I am not quitting. The patient will be rewarded.