Despite succumbing to her exhaustive state, there was very little rest that Eleanor experienced after falling asleep in Moody's prison trunk. There was no telling how long she had been out, upon opening her eyes, she found herself in the Hospital Wing. However, it didn't really matter as most of her focus centred on the sensation of her head being torn in half while nearly throbbing in sync with her heartbeat. And although the lighting of the Hospital Wing seemed dim, the flicker of the flames brought on the sudden onset of nausea.

Sitting up in the bed to keep herself from vomiting, Eleanor touched her fingers to the space between her brows and slowly began massaging it in hopes of some relief. All the while, she tried to remember the events that led her to end up in Madam Pomfrey's care. For a moment, it seemed all she could do was draw blanks until the memories came flooding back in an instance. From the time of her discovering the imposter Moody to being attacked and tossed into the trunk where she was introduced to the real Alastor Moody.

Wondering what events had followed that led to her escape, Eleanor squinted her gaze as she looked up to take a glance around the wing. Almost immediately, she caught sight of familiar red hair as Fred was slumped over in a chair to her right. And although he was asleep, he looked awfully uncomfortable. A small sympathetic smile formed as she went to reach out her hand to wake him, but before she could a voice stopped her.

"He only fell asleep about twenty minutes ago," Cedric's voice rang out, "you might want to let him sleep, Ellie."

Regret washed over her instantly as Eleanor whipped her head in the direction of his voice, only to see Cedric resting in a bed a couple over from her. And loyally at his bedside was Marnie, asleep as well.

"Cedric," she whispered his name loud enough for him to hear, "what's going on? What happened?! Did you get hurt? What happened in the maze? I heard Harry's voice, but I didn't know...the maze! The maze, what- "

"Ellie," he cut her off before she could ramble any further, "what happened in the maze...it doesn't matter right now. What matters is you saved my life. If Marnie hadn't given me the socks before I entered... I would have been dead if it weren't for you and your socks."

Dead? Eleanor repeated in her head. Had she heard him correctly?

"I don't under- "

"How did you know they were going to work, Ellie?" Cedric asked her. "What charm did you put on them?"

"I- "

"I survived the Killing Curse," he said, his own tone carrying disbelief as he looked at her, "Harry was there. He probably reckoned I was dead. I felt it hit me, Ellie. I felt it and then it was like my feet were on fire. When I arrived back outside of the maze, they took my shoes off, and the socks were destroyed. Practically melted...they absorbed the curse!"

"Cedric, do you hear yourself?" she said softly, feeling her headache only grow stronger. "The socks were just...they were socks! I knitted them to keep your feet dry. I mean, there are a few other things that I think the socks are capable of but protecting you from the Killing Curse. No, no, that couldn't have been my doing. It's just knitting, it can't be that strong. It just can't be."

"Now is not the time to be humble," Cedric argued, "it all started making sense to me the longer I sat here and thought about it. The way the twins have been attempting to prank you and have been unsuccessful each time. The way your defence skills are always on point, even Moody couldn't catch you off guard in the class."

"That wasn't Moody- "

"But what enchantment are you putting on them, Ellie? Come on, you can tell me, I'm one of your best friends. You can trust me, can't you?"

With a heavy sigh, Eleanor shook her head. "It's not a matter of trust, Cedric, you know damn well that I trust you with my life. If I knew the enchantment, I would gladly tell you. But that's what I'm trying to tell you, there isn't an enchantment. It's not a spell, a jinx, or a curse that I'm placing on the clothing! I never really took notice of it until Fred and George brought it to my attention."

Cedric said nothing, but the expression on his face urged Eleanor to continue with her explanation.

"It has to do with me using my wand to knit, that much I'm certain of. But I've never consciously cast a spell while working. I think it has something to do with my thoughts at the time of my knitting. So, for instance, I've never liked my clothing getting wet from the rain. I always thought waterproof clothing would be nice and that thought somehow transferred into my knitting. And thinking back, I was nervous about Fred and George pranking, maybe that was at the back of my mind every time I was working on a piece. It might explain why their pranks were always avoided."

"And me? What were you thinking about when you knitted the socks for me?"

Lifting her eyes to look directly at him, Eleanor offered a small smile. "At first, I was thinking about just keeping your feet dry. It's hard to focus when you're uncomfortable and running in wet socks just sounds awful. But, of course, I've been worried about you this entire tournament, Queenie. I didn't want you to join in the first place and with each task only getting significantly more dangerous, naturally, I just wanted you to be safe. I wanted you to come out of the maze okay, whether you won or lost."

"That must be it then," he said, "somehow, you put a protective charm within the socks."

Eleanor let out a light scoff. "Do you know how ridiculous this all sounds? Dark magic being defeated by a pair of socks?"

"It sounds silly when you say it like that but not when you explain that you knit with your wand and almost put your...your soul into your work, Ellie. You're just going to have to accept that you saved my life."

"By knitting?"

"By knitting."

In an attempt to keep what was left of her sanity, Eleanor decided to change the subject off the topic of her knitting to something else. Looking once more around the room, she would have assumed that Mr and Mrs Diggory would have been at their son's side, or at the very least the Hospital Wing would be busier.

"Where is everyone?" she asked. "Where're your parents? Or Harry?"

"Professor Sprout took my parents to her office once Madam Pomfrey told them I was going to be fine. Really, the only thing wrong with me is that I feel a bit sore all over, but I'll take that over being dead. There were a lot more people in here earlier, like Fudge and some other Ministry officials, but Madam Pomfrey shooed them out. She tried to tell Marnie and Fred to leave too, I thought they were both going to attack her. But Professor McGonagall came in and told her to let them stay. I can only imagine the chaos that's taking place outside of the wing right now. I haven't seen Harry since...since the graveyard."

"The graveyard?"

Before Cedric could explain any further, Fred stirred from his sleep, slowly opening his eyes. He took a brief look around the room before becoming aware that Eleanor was no longer asleep, but fully awake and sitting up. She was about to tell him to take it easy however Fred didn't hear any of it as he nearly fell out of his chair as he attempted to make his way over to Eleanor's side. Practically crashing into her with his burly self, Fred had to grab Eleanor at the last second before she fell over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Fred blurted out. "Ellie, are you alright? Are you- "

She didn't mean to laugh at his panicked state but the way he was attempting to check her all over to see if she was okay brought her to chuckle before she was able to grab both of his hands.

"Fred, relax," she said to him, "it's alright. I'm alright."

Fred didn't seem very convinced as he shook his head. "I had no idea where you were all day. Marnie and I were looking for you all over the castle. When you didn't show up to the final task, I knew something was wrong. I went to Dumbledore, I figured he would help. None of us knew what was going on when Harry returned with Cedric, all hell broke loose from there. Then the next thing I know, Peeves is telling me you're in the Hospital Wing. I had no idea what had happened- "

"Wait a second," Eleanor placed up her hand to stop him, "Peeves told you I was in the Hospital Wing? Peeves the Poltergeist that calls me Little Loony Lupin and- "

"Yes, that Peeves!" Fred practically screeched. "He owed George and me a favour from last year, I told him to find out what he could. He can be useful when he wants to be. But that's not really important right now, is it? Ellie, what the hell happened? Where were you? You were hurt, weren't you?"

Eleanor had never heard Fred speak so quickly and had never witnessed him in such a panic state, leaving her slightly caught off guard with how to respond. It didn't help that her headache was still throbbing, and Madam Pomfrey wasn't around to give her anything to ease it.

"It was Moody," she said quietly, "I mean, it wasn't the real Moody, he was impersonating Moody. Don't you remember, I kept smelling the fluxweed and knotgrass? It was Polyjuice Potion. I should have figured it out earlier, but I just couldn't place it. But I finally did and when I went to get some evidence, well, he found me. He attacked me and he threw me into his trunk, that's where the real Moody has been the whole time."

Apparently, Fred cared very little about the events involving the real and imposter Moody but rather Eleanor placing herself in danger.

"Why didn't you just go to one of the professors?" He questioned her. "Why would you attempt to take him on like that? Ellie, what were you thinking?"

Hearing such a serious tone emit from a notorious prankster made Eleanor feel even stupider about her decision-making.

"I wasn't really thinking," she told him, "It just all came together when I was sitting with Artemis. I didn't want to waste any more time. Cedric and Harry, along with the others were going into the maze, I figured I had to do something quickly. He was the one who put Harry's name in the goblet. He clearly wanted Harry to get hurt...I guess it didn't matter though. I didn't really stop anything from happening."

"Didn't really stop anything from happening?!" Cedric's voice cried out. "Me not being dead? Does that not ring a bell with you?! I think that counts as something, Ellie! You tell her, Fred! Tell her it counts for something! That she did make a difference."

When Eleanor didn't look up, Fred frowned realising that while caught up in his own panic and concern that he was only scolding Eleanor, which she didn't need at the moment. Clearly, she hadn't placed herself in danger on purpose, only doing so with good intentions. Letting out a heavy sigh, Fred pulled Eleanor into his arms and held onto her tightly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I wasn't trying to make it sound like I was blaming you for any of this. Cedric's right, Ellie, what you did...I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. I'm not upset with you at all. I was just...I was really scared. When we couldn't find you, I didn't know what to think. Then when I heard you were in the Hospital Wing, I was even more afraid of what else I would hear. I'm just glad you're okay."

Peering up at him, Eleanor was met with a gentle kiss on the lips before Fred hugged her again, slightly rocking her back and forth. She could have sworn she heard an "aww" come Cedric's direction but before she could say anything, the sound of footsteps entering the Hospital Wing brought her and Fred to look over in the opposite direction.

Professor Dumbledore stood before the end of her bed wearing a gentle smile.

"Ah, Ms Ross, it's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, Professor," she answered, "I've got a bit of a headache, that's all. Professor, what happened to Harry, is he alright? I heard things when I was in the trunk, but I don't remember what- "

"Harry is fine," Dumbledore said reassuringly, "would you like to go and see him? He is currently in my office. I'd like to have a word with you as well if you're feeling up to it."

Truth be told, Eleanor was not feeling up to going anywhere besides back to sleep. However, she wanted to see Harry with her own eyes to make sure he was okay. She gave a slow nod of her head before standing up from Fred's arms. Both he and Cedric exchanged looks with one another, worried that it wasn't best for Eleanor to leave the Hospital Wing but as Eleanor made her way over to the Headmaster, Dumbledore winked in the direction of the two.

When Eleanor peered over her shoulder in Fred's direction, he forced a smile on his lips and gave a nod of his head.

"Go on, Ellie, I'll be right here when you get back. I promise."

It took longer than expected to reach the headmaster's tower as Eleanor was not in any condition to be racing around the castle corridors. Dumbledore didn't seem to mind the pace they were taking but he wouldn't answer any of her questions either as Eleanor tried to get more information about Moody and Harry's condition. He continued to tell her that everything would be revealed when they were in the privacy of his office as he didn't wish to discuss such matters out in the open of the corridors.

The flight of stairs to the office felt like the longest climb of Eleanor's life at the time, her breathing was strained as they finally reached their destination. But as soon as she walked in, hoping to catch her breath, she was swept from the side and pulled into a bone-crushing hug.

"Ellie! You're alright!"

"Dad?"

Remus' voice was distinguishable right away, leaving her in slight shock that he was there. She slowly brought her arms around him to hug him in return. Looking past his shoulder, she could see Harry and surrounding him was Sirius and Nixie. For a moment or so, Eleanor thought she was hallucinating, knowing that Sirius was still a fugitive to the Ministry. Would Dumbledore take such a risk of bringing Sirius and Nixie into the castle? It seemed so, especially as Sirius held Harry in a hug, while Nixie rubbed his back in a comforting manner.

"I don't understand," she said, mainly to herself, "Sirius and Nixie are here? But what about Fudge? I was told he was here. What if he finds out?"

"Shh," Remus attempted to quiet her down, "it's fine. Everything is okay right now. No one but the people in this room knows that they're here and we're going to keep it that way. Nixie was the one who came and told your mother and me what happened. I came here as soon as possible. Your mother wanted to come but you know she can't. I sent her an owl to let her know you were okay. You were still asleep in the Hospital Wing when I arrived. I figured it was best to let you rest..."

"I don't know what's going on, Dad," Eleanor's voice cracked, "Cedric told me that he was hit with the Killing Curse. He said it was the socks that saved him. But I...I didn't...I don't know what I did...the socks and who, who was trying to kill Cedric?"

"It was Wormtail!" Harry's voice called over to her as he pulled away from Sirius. "He tried to kill Cedric, but it was only to get him out of the way, so he could get to me."

"Wormtail was trying to kill you- "

"No, it was Voldemort! He's back!"

At the mention of his name, the room fell silent. Remus looked rather pale as he turned back to Eleanor who had yet to say anything else. She appeared frozen in place until Dumbledore cleared his throat before speaking.

"There is much to discuss," he said, "but we cannot cover everything in one evening. However, we must come to terms with one thing."

"What's that?" Eleanor asked.

"Now that Voldemort has returned, he will not rest easy. He will learn that Cedric did not die and he will want to know why."

Eleanor could feel all eyes settle on her, leaving her to swallow nervously.

"You must be completely honest with your answer, Ms Ross, who else knows the abilities of your knitting?"