A/N

Hello everyone! I became inspired by some excellent time looping stories I had read and have not really come across any Harry Potter looping stories that quenched that desire I have.

I just want to state so that people aren't worried about Harry becoming overpowered and things becoming stale that there is more then just the triwizard tournament going on here. Yes I know canon Harry beat the triwizard tournament and survived Voldemort before just fine but lets be honest, that survival was pure chance. Plus this gives some neat options for Harry to train until he is ready for an epic duel with Voldemort.

But of course it isn't nearly that simple as the cause for this time loop will probably be the central theme this story seeks to uncover. Well that and escaping political machinations and cool custom spells that I am itching to write about. To that end welcome!

Just an FYI regarding British language, grammar problems, and all together writing problems, I really haven't written that many fictional stories and this is definitely my first British based work. So if you are a British grammar nut and want to give me tips I am happy to oblige and will work to improve. All other grammar notes are also welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The TriWizard Loop

Chapter 1

"I see the cup!" I think as I race towards the golden goblet sitting on the platform in the center of the maze. Unfortunately, just as I rounded the corner of the hedges I spot Cedric held off the ground with a spider attempting to skewer him with its pincers. I immediately halt while screaming "expelliarmus!". I felt the spell rip off my wand like a cannon bolt and the spider immediately dropped Cedric. In a rage the spider spun on all legs in a rotating motion and charged me. I saw into those deep black eyes and I knew fear. This creature was going to kill me. I shout a stunning curse at it and the spider shrugs it off like it was nothing. In fact, the spider runs at me even faster. "Blimey" I utter before the pincers skewer me straight through the heart. I have a few moments to process watching Cedric stand up and then everything goes black.

It felt like moments but then I awoke in my bed in my dorm room. So I do the only thing a fourteen-year-old bloke can do after feeling their own heart punctured. I scream. The screaming immediately awoke my dorm mates that there was something horribly wrong. I then sob my way through my story; to heck with pride after all that pain! Then eventually McGonagall comes in and soon follows madam Pomfrey. But still I explain my story and only receive incredulous glances.

"It's a bloody dream" Ron shouts angrily.

"Overreacting over nothin just before the first task Potter?" McGonagall says grumpily.

Yet still I implore until finally I am taken to Dumbledore. Which really should encourage me. But it doesn't. Everything in my body and magic scream to run. It says don't go to Dumbledore. But yet I respect him too much to not. He must have answers I convince myself.

"Harry my boy what seems to be the issue?" Dumbledore inquires with a gentle grandfatherly smile.

And so I explain again my story. My dream and the first three tasks. At first when I start talking about my dream he has a patient look. Then suddenly at the mention of the tasks and what each one entails his look remains but his eyes harden until finally he cuts me off.

"Enough!" Dumbledore says. "I see now you have had something of a vision occur to you. Unfortunately, I cannot be sure this vision had a negative effect on you without checking myself." And before I can even utter a response Dumbledore states "legilimens." Brutal mind shattering pain assaults my mind. My magic slams into my head with all the gentleness of a pit bull's teeth and then suddenly it stops and I am blinking away white spots. I see Dumbledore laying on the ground sitting up looking quite astonished. Then his eyes narrow.

"Harry Potter has no training in Occlumency." Dumbledore states. Then with a flick of his wand I am bound with ropes. "Who are you really? Is that you Tom possessing poor Harry here?"

Through my pounding head I managed to croak out "Professor… I don't understand… Who is Tom? What are you talking about?"

Dumbledore looks at me for a very long while and then begins casting a series of spells. When he finishes he must be pleased because his gaze softens and then I am released. "I'm sorry my boy. That vicious response to my gentle spell surprised me. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to remember the three tasks nor can I allow this meeting to leave this room. You must understand of course… For the Greater Good. Obli…"

At the start of that final word everything in my magic screams at me. It says "RUN! FLEE!" But I cannot my pounding headache and weary limbs are too much.

vi…

The torture that is my magic continues as it pumps through my body in a way it never had before. It screams for something anything. As Dumbledore's wand tip glows a faint white several things happen. Like a switch flicked my magic suddenly becomes very still. Then with all the tenderness of lava my arm erupts into roaring heat and my magic leaps out through my fingernails towards Dumbledore in an arcing beam slamming into his chest and launching him out the window of his office with tremendous force.

I watch in horror as his eyes widen into shock. His mouth opens to say something or maybe to cough as his wand slips from his fingertips. His wand clatters forwards and lands at my feet even as Dumbledore falls over the edge of the window sill.

I gasp in horror as his feet disappear from view over the sill. Then I'm in motion. I grab his wand off the ground and race forward to the window only to see a very still Dumbledore lying on the ground. He is not moving and I see red flowing beneath him.

From here on its pure chaos. The paintings begin screaming murderer all over the school and the staff race to Dumbledore's office where they find me standing there looking down frozen. Someone probably Snape peered over the edge wearing a lot of black. Then the next thing I see is an Auror demanding answers. I try to explain the whole conversation but he doesn't believe me. They grill me about everything and I even relay my dream to him.

Nothing works. I sleep in a cell that night and then the next day I wake up in my dorm room again. This time I do not scream. I look around and see Ron and Neville. Seamus and Dean. I grab my wand and utter a quick "tempus" and gawk at the date. It's the bloody day before the first task again!

But then I think logically. There isn't any proof what I saw wasn't a very vivid dream and so I smile for the Gryffindor's I see and I find Hermione. I briefly relate the dream and the strange ideas of time travel it gave me and she smiles through it all and pats me on the back. She even humors me and says "Really, Time travel on such a large scale. If such a thing is true, then it will prove true as you see more facts that line up with what you knew the first time."

Then we have a good laugh and head down to breakfast. I spent the day testing the accio charm some more and summoning my broom. It feels as natural as if I spent days already practicing it… Which I hadn't as far as I was aware. I really shouldn't even have this idea yet…

Finally, the task came and there I was standing before the dragon. I ended up drawing that horntail again like my dream. The others probably avoided the sharp spikes on it I tell myself. Then I move and summon my broom. I go through the motions to lure the dragon again and dive for the egg –only- the dragon doesn't react like it did in my dream. It seems to bait me in by making the eggs vulnerable and then when I start to be in reach of the egg, it swipes at me so fast I never saw it coming. I feel every bone in my body protest loudly as I thump against the wall and then I wake up on my bed in my dorm room again.

Now I was sure something was up. But just in case I go through the whole thing again. When I meet my second unfortunate end against a Hungarian Horntail I decide enough is enough.

So I talk to Hermione again.

"Hermione just for a hypothetical what would you do if you were stuck in a time loop and had all the time in the world to prepare for the tri-wizard tournament all of a sudden and you knew what all the tasks would be?" I ask.

Hermione gives me the strangest look as if I am actually stuck in a time loop because I asked such a ridiculous question. Apparently being subtle is far more suspicious for Hermione.

"Naturally I would read every book in the library and master each spell to perfection. Additionally, since the brain retains all knowledge from traveling anything can be trained from reflexes to wand motions endlessly as muscle memory is stored in the brain." Hermione concluded.

Reading the books didn't exactly seem fun for me yet… But I realized I could fix my broom problem by increasing my reflexes and so I hit the pitch practicing against spelled bludgers set to dragon speeds. It hurt. A lot. But I persevered.

The next day the dragon roasted me with a fireball in a feat of amazing dexterity.

So I hit the pitch again. I spent loop after loop on reflexes until I was dodging the bludgers at dragon speeds. Then I cranked them up to even faster.

Finally, it all paid off when I was dodging dragon strikes at near point blank range successfully and still coming out fine. I even managed to get the egg completely unharmed this time although Kakaroff that jerk still gave me a four.

Now I have nearly three months I can train for the second task since I already know what the task is.

Hermione still came up nearly balling her eyes out from the tension and my daredevil flying certainly wasn't helping her.

What does surprise me is that Ron comes back. I completely forgot he gets with the program when he sees me facing a dragon. Apparently its finally clicked that someone is trying to kill me.

He fumbles through an apology again and I reluctantly accept. Those weeks were really hard and with only Hermione there to keep me company I realized how much of a put down her attitude can come off as at times.

Then I hit the library and my temporary friendship with Ron starts becoming strained. I need to get through this and I won't unless I have the ability to advance.

Which is why I am talking to Dumbledore again even though every fiber of my magic protests the event. I'm pretty sure I know why now in the excitement I didn't remember but I think I heard him trying to oblivate me. Which if I'm stuck in a time loop and he kept oblivating me… I can only imagine how disastrous that would be or how many time loops I had to go through before my magic automatically attacks Dumbledore. I have never even heard of conditioning your magic that way before!

So here I am seated in front of the man who I used to look up to and then he tries to hit me with passive legillmency and I get a mind splitting headache from my magic responding and then the situation escalates wildly until my magic chucks him out a window. Apparently if you are placed into a situation where you cannot reach the next task the loop restarts as I am once again back at my dorm room.

So I hit the library to find out how to block legillmency subtly. I find out passive legillmency requires eye contact and that an accomplished occlumens can direct the intruder to only specific thoughts. Considering the headmaster could hit me with legillmency at any time I immediately begin searching for occlumency books.

Sadly, that still left the upcoming Yule Ball and I really had no clue who to ask. I let out a tired sigh.

"You sound like you are infested with nargles." A dreamy voice sing songed through the shelves. I glance up and look around frowning when around the corner comes a blond girl with blue eyes and carrot earrings. The girl locked eyes with mine and stared with a knowing look.

"You're not the Harry of yesterday." She said dreamily.

"What?" I asked back frankly completely confused.

"You are not who you were yesterday. In fact, you seem to be much older then the last time I saw you."

"Have we met?" I questioned with a confused tone.

"No." She answered as her eyes darted to look at something past my left shoulder.

I sigh again. "Look… I'm just looking for a book on occlumency and I can't seem to find it." I explain to the strange girl.

She hmms for a moment. "I know where it is," she says.

I look at her quite surprised, "That's epic! Can you show me?"

"Of course, come along then."

I followed the girl as she skips and hums through the aisles.

"What is your name?" I ask.

"Luna Lovegood," she replies. Then she stops and turns around and extends her hand to shake. I take it and give it a shake and open my mouth "And you are Harry Potter," She says quite firmly.

Then she takes off skipping again and I close my jaw with a snap. I was starting to be a bit creeped out to be honest with myself… Is she really leading me to the book? This is pretty far in the back of the library.

"Ah! Here it is," she says happily. "How to Secure Your Mind, A Guide to Occlumency by Maxwell Barnett."

I receive the book eagerly and flip it open to confirm its contents.

"Thanks," I say feeling slightly bad for the worried thoughts I was having a moment ago.

"You are most welcome," She responds dreamily. "Now if you could answer a question for me?" I nod slightly "Why are you fiddling with time?"

"…I'm sorry?" I ask as my heart starts pumping a mile a minute. It's not like it was a secret per say… But the last dozen authority figures I told keep oblivating me.

"You," She says pointing at me distinctly, "Have an aura of a person who has been fiddling with their timeline. It is quite distorting your original flow entirely."

I'm completely speechless. "You…" An indiscernible feeling surges through me. "Would you believe me if I said I am stuck in a time loop?" I question as I am still not quite sure I believe that she believes.

"Of course I do," She replies "Why shouldn't I? Your Harry Potter and yet Harry Potter does not read books alone in the library. It seems perfectly obvious to me that you are not you anymore."

I feel I should have been quite upset with that last sentence but the relief of someone actually believing me and not trying to oblivate me is mind boggling!

"Thank you," I say. "The last people I told never believed me and Dumbledore has oblivated the knowledge from me so many times now… If I go into the same room as the man my magic rises up in me."

At that Luna looks at me quite strangely. "How are you even functional then?" She asks.

In response to that I tilt my head and respond "What do you mean? I wake up every day regardless of what is done to me but it does seem that oblivations carry over resets or I imagine I would remember the previous times Dumbledore oblivated me."

Luna shakes her head and answers, "No I mean, for your magic to be responding to Dumbledore's presence means he has cast a negative spell presumably oblivate on you so many times that it has literally become a conditioned response to fight him off. I cannot imagine how many hundreds or thousands of times you would have had to been oblivated before your magic would behave that way. On top of that your mind should have shattered from the damage ages ago!"

Then she peers at me very closely and gasps. He eyes glisten over and she blinks a few times. "Well. I believe that answers that. I do recommend you discover how to restore lost memories quite soon as the mind is merely an access tool to reach your soul. It is not good for the two to be this heavily out of sync."

Once again in the same day I find myself utterly speechless. I don't really know where to start with this.

Still I tentatively respond with "Um… What do you mean conditioned response and what did you mean by the mind is an access tool to reach my soul?"

"I mean," She answers in a faraway voice "That the soul is where all our being is recorded and stored. It is why when we die we are still who we were after we are dead. To that end the soul is never altered or removed except in several rare cases. This means that right now your mind is completely out of sync of your soul and it is quite literally driving you batty."

At this my expression darkens quite a bit. Being told I am literally going insane since my mind is missing so much knowledge is quite scary. It would also explain my even less developed emotional range lately… Even when I defeated the dragon earlier I still cared about as much as I do when I brush my teeth. In fact, I do not feel much of well anything. I just have this looming depressive feeling and a single minded hum in the back of my mind to escape.

But then Luna's speech brought me back "But do not fret too much. Occlumency is a decent fix for this but not perfect. Sadly, even Occlumency cannot reconnect the mind with the soul if it has been broken as many times as yours has been.

I suggest you spend a significant amount of time on looking for ways to restore your mind with a spell after you have mastered Occlumency. It should be a sufficient patch job until you finish the research necessary. Of course I will do all I can to assist you but it is… Shall we say difficult to be a lasting support when only you remember these events. But I shall always be here to talk to or lean on if you require it." Then she smiles brilliantly with tiny creases around her eyes as if she truly cares for me and not just because of who I was but because I need help.

And just like that my dark mood was gone. I smiled back warmly feeling the stirrings of a feeling I had never felt before. I do not think until now I have ever had someone care about me just because I needed it. Even to this day Ron is my friend because of my name matching a famous persons and not because of who I am. But then again I may still be bitter because of that cold shoulder. I should probably avoid thinking about Ron for a while…

"As for your second question… Magic can respond when we are in danger or great emotional fright. I am sure you have had accidental magic yourself?"

At my nod she continues

"Well it would be similar to that but while you do not remember the emotional events, your magic certainly will as it is also tied to your soul rather than your body. This is why we have ghosts at all. So despite your lack of emotions your magic remembers your fear as the oblivate spell would wipe your memories. Over time and repeated events, it probably began acting up more and more until finally you reached the state you are at now. I imagine since you still have your faculties intact for the most part that your magic must physically act in such a fashion that Dumbledore cannot wipe your memory anymore?"

To which I nod again.

"Then it sounds like you have had to experience something no person ever should. The last person who had their memory wiped so many times spent six months as a vegetable until they recovered. I can only imagine a simple oblivate would be all it requires to have another six-month relapse."

Suddenly I felt quite cold and went very white. Six months… After how many oblivations? I may have spent years waking up broken and not remembering only to reset again and again until I was able to escape that hell only to stupidly go to the one man who put me there in the first place! I feel… I really am trying to muster any anger over this at all but strangely the feeling is vacant and this is really starting to worry me.

"I think I need to fix myself" I blurt out. "I can't seem to get angry in fact all I really feel in depressed."

Luna looks at me closely again and nods slowly as if she can tell with a look exactly how I feel. "Yes your aura is actually the most emotionally vacant one I have ever seen. Don't worry I will help you get through this as long as you find me. I will always know that there is something unique about your situation and will be happy to help you."

Again that odd feeling stirred but it quickly was smothered in a mass of emptiness I am suddenly acutely aware of.

"Thanks." I reply smiling what I hope seems heartfelt and not as empty as I feel now. After that she helps me with my occlumency and we continued to meet up every day outside classes. The beginning to occlumency is to mediate until you find the center of your mind.

However, Luna urged me to search instead for my magic. She insisted "that with my mind that fragmented no amount of searching will find it. But your magic is actually wrapped around your soul and mind as they are linked together. If you find your magic all the surviving pieces of your mind should be there and allow you to put them back together again."

And so I meditated. And I meditated. It's really quite amazing how hard it is to meditate when you actually want to. Thankfully true to her word Luna helped me every day cheering me up in her own way. She made no comments or blamed my situation on any more nargles but merely supported me completely. Then several weeks before the ball I found it. But it was not at all like I was expecting. My magic was alive and very big and very angry. How do I know it was angry you ask? Well it was roaring like a dragon in there and it was bubbling like a cauldron about to boil over.

After I explained what I saw to Luna she gave me a worried look like I might explode any minute. She calmly and quietly congratulated me and then said to go dive in and find your mind. She explained it would probably be like a fragment of a memory here or a familiar location there and putting it together will be like a puzzle and when I discover I am missing a lot of pieces I should take a deep breath and just tie it together with some magic and move on.

So I dove. It was quite odd diving into my own magic. I thought it may hurt or perhaps I would feel emotions again but instead I felt nothing but safety. I was completely encased in my monstrous power that seeks my enemies while protecting me. It felt like home and that was when I realized that the Dursley's residence is not home.

XXX

In a certain Old Professors office, a trinket blows a large raspberry and a certain houses blood wards collapses. Said Professor with his twinkly eyes and long beard immediately frowns and begins working on the problem.

XXX

As I continue to explore, I feel a strong connection to my magic grow. Slowly a message in my magic begins to reach me.

Protect

Destroy

Save

Defeat

Vanquish

Restore

These words kept echoing over and over. I wonder what they mean. But I put it to the back of my mind and dive deeper. It feels like quite a while before I find the first piece of my mind. It is a scene I do not recall but is clearly right after I have defeated a dragon in the first task.

-Flashback-

"Blimey Harry!" Ron spoke "I think that dragon was trying to kill you!"

My eyes darken immensely and a rage boils like one I have never experienced before. "Of course you oaf! That was what I tried to tell you ages ago! You can be so thick sometimes! You are practically as bad as MALFOY!"

-flashback end-

I suck in a deep breath of air or was it magic? I clearly do not remember that. I guess Luna was right… That depressing feeling wells up again and I can feel my magic boil fiercer. I have the impression that my magic is doing a great deal to keep me cognizant.

And so I continue the search. I find more and more fragments and variations of visions. Apparently other times I have discovered that Dumbledore does not have my best time traveling interests in mind and as a result I start Occlumency. As those memories return so too does the knowledge I gained and I remember how to enter my own mind and construct defenses.

With my new knowledge I gather up the pieces and bring them back into my 'mind'.

And wow. When Luna said my mind is shattered she means it. The ground is literally fragmenting into more crevices and splinters than I can count. It appears my mind is being held together by magic ropes probably a previous patch job. I desire to restore my mind better than this… But I know the only way to fix my mind completely is to find the missing pieces.

So I go back out searching again. As I regain all the memories with class sessions I previously had forgotten from each oblivation session I am beginning to feel… something… Not quite peace but more a sense of self.

Then I stumble upon something quite surprising.

-flashback-

"Luna." I said "I want to thank you for… Everything. If you hadn't helped me that first time at the lake I probably would have… 'sigh' Without you in my life it wouldn't be anywhere as good as it now."

Luna's eyes glisten and then replies by kissing me on the lips tenderly.

-end flashback-

I floated there for a while contemplating what I had just seen. Do I really feel that way about Luna? What does this mean? Why do I still not feel any emotion about these things!? It makes me want to tear my hair out how frust- Wait… I feel frustrated! Then I giggle at myself for feeling frustrated and yet happy about it.

I place that memory back in my mind next to a ruined building that is labeled precious. Then I proceed back out.

This process continues for weeks until the Yule ball is nearly upon me. My friends by this point are downright panicking. I have barely shown myself at all since I started piecing myself together. I really have no clue to ask… I spend all my time with Luna now a days fixing myself and besides that I barely can muster any positive emotion currently. I seem to come across nothing but negative memories and the only emotions returning are anger, hate and other negative emotions. If Luna wasn't with me I probably would have taken off the head of the first person who spoke to me.

To that end after much debate I decided who I would ask to the ball.

"Luna" I said suddenly after coming out of my latest meditation.

"Yes?" She replies still reading whatever book is on her lap.

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" I ask quietly.

Luna looks up from her book eyes wide mouth open and says "Yes." Then she looks back down and continues reading.

I felt an oddly large amount of relief flood through me and muscles relax that I didn't realize were tense.

So we attend the Ball together. Luna wears a dress made of some sort of vegetables and I attend dressed in some green dress robes. I do not have to practice dancing because of some previous memories I gained while meditating about my past.

It is surprisingly fun dancing with Luna. There is just something about being with her that settles me automatically. She doesn't even have to try too hard, it just happens.

Naturally there is a tremendous uproar when one of the champions come out onto the ballroom floor with Loony Lovegood wrapped around his arms. This is heightened even further when that champion is Harry Potter.

Naturally Draco has to come over and make a comment but it just flows off me like water. That is probably the nicest part of emotionally deficient, I can't get riled up. The remaining portion of the night is devoted to dancing and food. I try to give Luna a nice night but I hardly understand Luna anytime and I am even more lost now.

So instead I speak honestly to her. "Luna" I say, "Thank you for everything these last few months. I would probably be loads behind where I am currently with occlumency without your advice. Even your presence makes the whole experience easier. I could not desire a better friend at this time and I hope one day when I have pieced myself back together properly we can have a talk about my past and what I really feel about you. Until then I want you to know that I still value you for what you have done for me"

Luna just stares at me like no one has ever said that to her before. I'm not really sure she has had a real friend before. All I know is the next moment she is hugging me and saying thank you and promising that she will always treasure our friendship as well.

All in all the night ends well and I feel...Satisfied.