For Harry Potter, not yet fifteen years old, the final month of his fourth year brought an exhaustion unlike anything he had ever felt.
First came the matter of Mr. Barty Crouch...
Harry had been secretly conversing with Viktor Krum in the Forbidden Forest when they encountered the deranged Mr. Crouch. Harry immediately ran to fetch Professor Dumbledore, but by the time they returned, Krum had been stunned unconscious and Mr. Crouch had vanished completely.
Then came his scar...
During a later Divination class, Harry had a nightmare: he saw Voldemort torturing Wormtail, even preparing to throw him to a snake. But suddenly, Voldemort received an owl-delivered letter. After reading it, he spared Wormtail, saying his mistake had been corrected—that someone who should not have been there was dead...
When Harry awoke, his scar burned fiercely, throbbing with pain.
Not long after, in Dumbledore's office, he "accidentally" stumbled upon a magical object called the Pensieve.
Inside, he witnessed one of Dumbledore's memories. From it, he learned that both Karkaroff and Snape had once been Death Eaters, that Bagman had served the Dark Lord in the past... and that Mr. Crouch's son, Barty Crouch Jr., had been imprisoned and died in Azkaban.
This string of 'accidents' left Harry utterly exhausted.
And of course, beyond all this, loomed the most important matter of all—the final task of the Triwizard Tournament...
Though he had long tried to reassure himself that the final task was nothing more than a formality—that Jon would almost certainly win the championship for Hogwarts—deep down, Harry still clung to a sliver of hope.
What if he still had a chance to win?
To be crowned the most outstanding student among the three great wizarding schools of Europe... what an honor that would be!
At the same time, whether it was Headmaster Dumbledore, his godfather Sirius, or Mad-Eye Moody—the three people Harry trusted most—they all agreed: if anyone wanted to kill him, the Third Task would be their last chance.
So, in the final month of term, Harry threw himself into study with unprecedented diligence.
He focused on spells that could protect him.
With Ron and Hermione's help, Harry learned a series of practical incantations—Impedimenta, Protego, Point-Me, and many more.
Fortunately, as a Hogwarts champion, he was exempt from final exams. Otherwise, with revision piled on top, he was certain he would have gone mad.
...
As June 24th drew near, Harry's nerves tightened, though not as badly as before the first two tasks.
This time, he felt he had prepared as best he could. And, after all, this was the final hurdle. Whatever the result, the Triwizard Tournament would soon be over, and the weight of it lifted from his shoulders.
Though exempt from exams, Harry was still required to sit at the back of the classroom during each one—watching his classmates while flipping through books, searching for spells that might prove useful in the Third Task.
...
After the last History of Magic exam, Professor McGonagall informed him that the champions' families had been invited to attend the final, and he could go meet them.
Harry could hardly believe the Dursleys would have come to watch him compete, but seeing Mrs. Weasley and Bill Weasley waiting for him filled him with genuine joy.
Viktor Krum spoke rapid Bulgarian with his dark-haired parents in one corner, his hooked nose clearly inherited from his father.
Elsewhere, Fleur Delacour chattered in French with her mother, while her younger sister Gabrielle clung to her mother's hand.
But Harry did not see Jon's parents.
"Mr. Hart's parents are not wizards," Professor McGonagall explained. "So he requested through Pomona that his relatives not be invited to the final."
Harry, Bill, and Mrs. Weasley spent the afternoon strolling around the castle before returning to the Great Hall for dinner.
Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour spent their final afternoon in much the same way.
Only Jon remained absent, reportedly holed up in the Hufflepuff common room, busy with something unknown.
...
Dinner that evening was more lavish than usual, but Harry ate little—his nerves were finally catching up with him.
As the enchanted ceiling above gradually darkened, Dumbledore rose from the staff table.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes I will ask you to proceed to the Quidditch Pitch, where the final task of the Triwizard Tournament will take place. For now, will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman to the grounds."
Amid applause, Harry left the Great Hall with Jon, Delacour, and Krum.
The Quidditch Pitch was utterly transformed.
A twenty-foot-high hedge encircled the entire field, and before them gaped a single opening—the entrance to a vast maze.
The passage beyond was shrouded in darkness, looming with menace.
Hagrid, Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick entered the grounds as well, their hats adorned with large, glittering red stars.
Hagrid explained that they would patrol the outer edges of the maze, ready to rescue any competitor who fired red sparks into the air.
Moody, however, would be moving inside the maze itself, preventing dangerous creatures from harming the champions. Thanks to his magical eye, he alone could freely navigate the maze.
Hearing that Moody would be inside watching over them, Harry breathed a sigh of relief. If the Death Eater hiding in Hogwarts planned to attack him here, Mad-Eye Moody would surely uncover it.
That meant he was safe.
Mr. Bagman went over the rules one final time.
The four champions would enter the maze according to their scores.
First was Jon Hart, with 85 points, who would enter the maze first.
Next was Viktor Krum with 58 points, entering fifty-four minutes later.
Then Fleur Delacour, with 55 points, who would enter one hour later.
Finally came Harry himself, with 54 points—entering two minutes after Fleur, one hour and two minutes after Jon.
Cheers thundered from the stands, followed by a sharp blast of the whistle. Harry watched as Jon dashed into the maze.
Professor Moody limped after him.
Harry sat down, forcing himself to calm his nerves. He had about an hour to wait... and then it would be his turn.