Chapter 7 - The Greatest Weasley II

"Aaargh!" 

Harry! Ron heard Harry's painful groan and got steady quickly. He jumped onto the broom and took it towards Harry. 

However, just as he reached some altitude, he noticed a person coming out of the nearby building. Cedric pointed his wand toward the man, but Ron felt his blood boiling. 

T-That's… bloody Peter Pettigrew! That filthy man! I slept with him for years! He felt disgusted and enraged. You won't escape today, bastard! 

"Killlh da sp—" 

Right when a hideous, whispering voice came from whatever Peter was carrying, Ron threw something from the sky. 

Poof! 

The ball exploded at Peter's feet, creating dense brown smoke and spreading the nasty smell of dung. 

"Cedric, run!" Harry shouted right then. 

Ron took action as well and dived straight down to Cedric, who was the closest, and picked him up on the broom, shocking him that he was there. "Calm down and hide under the robes. That bastard… we have to catch him today." 

There was focus and a firm will in Ron's eyes. He wanted to wait for a perfect opportunity since Peter still had a wand, and he knew he wasn't strong enough to duel a wizard who served the Dark Lord. 

"Quiiick~" The hissing voice resounded from the dirty mist, coughing. "Ignore the spare…" 

"Of course, My Lord," Peter replied and quickly stepped forward out of the mist. He pointed his wand at Harry, who was running away while stumbling, feeling the searing pain on his forehead. He levitated Harry's body back, only to eventually bind him to the tombstone. 

"Do it! Now~!" 

Peter stepped back from Harry, lifted the little thing in his arms over the cauldron, and threw it into the steaming liquid. Then, he moved his wand and levitated a bone resting on the side. 

"Bone of the father…" 

Meanwhile, in the sky, Cedric kept nagging at Ron to do something, "Why aren't we stopping this? He's trying to revive the Dark Lord. It's obvious!" 

"I know! But not yet… As long as he has a wand, we can't win." Ron smartly measured each step he was going to take. "Don't worry, I will go down soon. But remember, show Peter no mercy… He's very cunning. He'll try to act innocent and pathetic to find an opportunity to escape. Use a freezing charm on him as soon as we step on the ground." 

"Peter? You know him?" 

"...I" Ron felt disgusted, remembering how he used to adore the rat. "Forget it. What's important is that we capture him." 

"...Unwillingly given." Peter continued, unaware of the floating broom behind him. "Flesh of the servant willingly sacrificed." 

"Wraaaaa…!" Peter cried in pain as soon as he cut his own hand, the wand wand resting inside the coat. 

Thud! 

Ron landed behind Peter right then and raised his wand, "NOW!" 

Woosh! 

"Petrificus Totalus!" Cedric roared much faster than Ron and struck Peter on the back. 

But Ron wasn't done, not even close to done. "Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Take one more, bastard! Stupefy!" 

"..." Cedric watched helplessly as Ron never stopped, even after taking the wand with Expelliarmus. 

"Ron!" Harry was excited to see his best friend. "Let me down." 

Cedric quickly did that. Meanwhile, Ron went ahead and transfigured a rope with Peter's clothes and tied his hands behind his back. Being more than paranoid with this one, he left no stone unturned to ensure the man couldn't escape. 

After all that, he walked over to the cauldron and kicked it, overturning everything what was in it, including the filthy body of whatever creature it was. It looked like a baby, but demonic. 

"What do we do with this?" Ron asked. 

"That's Voldemort!" Harry shouted and raised his wand at it. "Let's take it back. There is no bigger proof than these two." 

Ron nodded and took off his jacket. "Put that thing in this. Don't touch it… just in case. Constant vigilance, like what the Professor said." 

"It all makes sense now," Cedric muttered, realizing why Harry was forced into the competition. "If Ron hadn't come, I'd be dead, and Voldemort would have… returned." 

"Stupefy!" However, Ron was still focused on Peter and kept one foot pressed on his back. Whenever the unconscious man breathed too harshly, Ron felt like he'd escape. "Let's get back quickly." 

Harry and Cedric nodded firmly, levitating the Dark Lord's groaning body into the jacket, and wrapped him carefully so they wouldn't touch its skin. The creature was gasping for breath as whatever ritual they were doing was interrupted. 

"Come, put a hand on my shoulder," Ron felt the need to rush and called them over. Then, as soon as Harry and Cedric touched his shoulder, he flicked the wand. "Accio!" 

The Triwizard Cup flew and fell into Ron's hands. And with that, they vanished from the spot. 

Woosh! 

The next thing they knew, they arrived at Hogwarts, in the arena where everyone was waiting for the winner. 

"And the winner is Ron Wea… What?!" 

Cameras flashes. Trumpets, loud claps, and cheers echoed all around, but they were instantly engulfed by chattering, full of confusion. Why was Ron Weasley holding the cup? Why was he stepping on a man's body? Why were the two champions holding Ron's back? 

"This man is Peter Pettigrew!" Ron shouted at the top of his lungs so everyone could hear. 

He noticed Harry and Cedric place his jacket on the ground and open it to also show the demon baby. "This is Voldemort's body! The Triwizard Cup was a Portkey! Peter tried to resurrect the Dark Lord with Harry's blood as a sacrifice!" 

One after another, the bombshell announcements came. Ron wanted to make everything known before anything wrong could occur. Having lived with Harry for four years, he had no doubt how quickly things could derail. 

"Noooooo! How dare you!" 

For no reason, Professor Moody suddenly roared in rage and swung his wand at Ron, sending out an unknown curse. 

"Not on my watch!" Dumbledore roared similarly and neutralized Moody immediately with his superior magic. He rushed to Ron and stood in front of him, taking a glance at Peter's face and Voldemort's hideous body. 

"It is my oversight that you three had to face such a thing. Mister Weasley, we shall have a talk about this later." 

Harry thought his best friend would be in trouble and clarified everything, "Ron saved me, Professor. Without him, Voldemort would have fully returned." 

"He saved my life as well," Cedric added. "He doesn't deserve to be punished… This competition was a farce to lure Harry from the start." 

Dumbledore shook his head, "Punishment? He will be rewarded thoroughly, you two. Do not worry. I shall take care of it from here." 

Immediately, Professor McGonagall neutralized Moody fully, taking his wand and freezing his body. At the same time, the other professors, the Minister for Magic, and a few others made a circle around Peter and Voldemort's body. 

"Cornelius, I believe there is no doubt about the Dark Lord's return anymore?" Dumbledore spoke with Minister Fudge while looking at the demon baby. 

"N-No… No doubt… Albus," Fudge couldn't catch his breath. 

"Stupefy!" 

Everyone looked and saw Ron flick his wand again at Peter's body. 

Ron noticed the gaze and embarrassingly stepped back. "H-He moved… he can turn into a rat, so be careful." 

Clearly, that was the hidden trauma speaking. But no doubt, everyone's gaze returned to the Triwizard cup still in Ron's hands. 

Putting everything aside, now the question was, who won? 

#### 

Harry was chosen as the official winner of the tournament since he was the champion who touched the cup first. However, nobody seemed to care about it, as the revelation about Peter and Voldemort's living body brought chaos throughout the wizarding community of Britain. 

The real Professor Moody was found, and Barty Crouch Jr.'s ploy was revealed. Aurors went to the graveyard and also confirmed the existence of the cauldron and an attempt at a very dark ritual. 

Ron, Harry, and Cedric were individually questioned by Minister Fudge, Dumbledore, and the Head of DMLE, Amelia Susan Bones. In the end, Ron's revelation about Viktor's attack and the strangeness of the maze cleared more things. 

Once the statements by the three boys fully matched each other's, everything that happened that night was widely accepted, with no doubts or conspiracies left. Furthermore, the arrest of Peter meant Sirius now had a true shot at real freedom and exoneration. 

There were celebrations in the school the entire night and the day after. Especially the Gryffindor house, since Ron's actions and Harry's victory brought great merit to them. However, Ron felt somewhat suffocated after constantly being showered with praises; more so when there was something heavy weighing on his mind. 

So, to find some peace and calm to collect his thoughts, he left the common room and headed to the edge of the Forbidden Forest near Hagrid's hut. He was alone, and it was evening, probably two hours until sunset. 

After walking past a few trees, he stopped and sat down on a fallen log. Donned in a regular, full-sleeved t-shirt and brown pants, he stared at his wand in confusion. "I cast so many spells last night. Some were even high level… How did I cast them so perfectly?" 

Of course, he knew he wasn't the greatest spellcaster. And considering his previous record, he felt there was something different about himself. 

"Was it because of that potion?" He wondered. "Everything started changing from then on, after all." 

He sighed and stood up to try casting the spells again at a tree, "Stupefy!" 

"Expulso… It didn't work." He noticed he couldn't cast the stronger, more complex spells anymore. "Expelliarmus!" 

Once again, he felt nothing from his wand. And it confused him since he had cast this exact spell the previous night. 

"Expelliarmus… Ah, still nothing." 

Crunch! 

Suddenly, the sound of someone stepping on a twig came, followed by a melodic voice. "You're very good with your spells, Monsieur Weasley, truly. But just a leetle mistake in ze wand movement, I think." 

Ron noticed it was Fleur. What a beauty, he thought at the sight.

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