~oOo~

Harry was still rooted to his chair wishing himself anywhere but here when a childlike voice interrupted his utter lack of thoughts. "Haru-chan?"

"I didn't... I mean I wouldn't... I mean I..."

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Fujioka, will you join us?" Dumbledore gestured to the door. Not knowing what else to do, they rose and moved to the indicated antichamber, followed by the entire judging panel, Professor McGonagal (as the head of Harry's house), Professor Moody (because he suspected the dark arts to be involved) and Professor Snape because - well actually Harry couldn't think of a single valid reason for Snape to be in there except to cause Harry more trouble. As soon as the door closed behind them, Dumbledore rounded on Harry. "Did you put your name in the Goblet?"

"No sir," Harry answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, sir."

He turned to Haruhi. "Did you put your name in?"

"No sir," Haruhi echoed Harry's answer.

Chairman Suoh gave a half-amused smile. "Do you know how your name got into the Goblet?"

Haruhi paused. "Yes sir, I do."

Every adult in the room turned to focus on Haruhi. "Care to enlighten us Mr. Fujioka?" Snape said in an acid voice.

"Will it negate the contract and allow Ouran to choose a more suitable champion?"

Dumbledore considered. "No. The contract is binding however it came to be."

"Then I see no point in getting someone else in trouble."

Headmaster Suoh smiled. Her answer did not displease him. "And you, Potter-san? Do you know how your name came to be in that Goblet?"

"No sir, I do not."

"He's obviously lying, headmaster," Snape said. "At last the Japanese student admits to knowing."

Harry bit back his angry retort knowing it would only make things worse.

Madame Maxime looked down her nose. "Perhaps ven ze spell on ze Goblet vas altered to include a fourth school, eet vas poorly done and ze Goblet vas convinced zer ver five?" She sniffed at the incompetence of British sorcery. Karkaroff grunted his agreement.

"What school does it believe Mr. Potter belongs to?" McGonagall asked.

"No school was listed," Dumbledore passed her the parchment with Harry's name on it.

"No school at all?" She said appalled as she looked over the paper.

Mad-eye leaned over her shoulder. "Then this is not a simple error; this was a powerful confundus charm cast by a skilled wizard. And the other choices may have been corrupted incidentally." He gave a nasty appraising look at the other champions.

"Corrupted or not, if the contract is binding, we move forward," Karkaroff said. He, at least, was sure the Goblet had chosen the correct student from his school.

"Well said!" Ludivine Bagman slapped Karkaroff on the back. Karkaroff gave him an evil look and Ludo immediately backed off.

"Can ve relight ze Goblet to allow ze other schools to haf a second champion too? Zat would be fair."

"I'd be all for that!" Haruhi piped up. Given the grumpy looks of the adults all around her, she probably shouldn't have said anything.

"Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Once the Goblet has gone out it will not relight until the next tournament begins."

~oOo~

The students were dismissed so the adults could go on arguing. Fleur and Krum returned to the carriage and ship. Haruhi and the Hogwarts champions paused in the corridor. Cedric nodded to Harry. "So how did you beat the age line?"

"I didn't," said Harry. "I wasn't lying about that."

Cedric obviously didn't believe him. He gave Harry a disappointed look and left.

"Well that sucks," said Haruhi. "If your own senpai doesn't believe you, no one will."

"You believe me?" said Harry, surprised.

"Why would you lie? Everybody thinks that makes you the cleverest person in the school. If you really were, you'd be wallowing in it."

Harry blinked. "I guess so. How did your name get in there?" He didn't want to accuse the only person in the school who believed him of lying.

Haruhi told him how, but not who.

"That actually is really clever."

The Japanese kid gave sideways nod. "I just wish it had been clever for somebody else's benefit."

.

Back in the floating pink palace, Haruhi found her six club mates waiting for her.

"Well?" Kyoya said.

"Well what? I didn't put my name in that Goblet."

"I don't see any need to assign blame at this point," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, done is done," Kaoru added. "We need to figure out how best to move forward."

Haruhi tried very hard not to growl.

"Indeed," Kyoya said. "Unfortunately, the entire international reputation of Ouran Academy is now hanging on your performance. I'm afraid if you lose this, we will be forced to double your debt."

"Fine," Haruhi snapped. "But if I win, I'm using the money to pay off the debt."

"Hm." Kyoya pushed his glasses up and immediately began calculating ways to run up the amount so her winnings wouldn't be enough.

"Our biggest problem right now is making sure that Haru-chan won't get hurt," Honey pointed out. "People have died in this tournament in the past. Starting tomorrow, we train her every day."

"Hn," Mori concurred. "Before breakfast you are to run around the castle five times."

"How is running going to help me… Well OK yeah that one would make sense," Haruhi reluctantly agreed.

~oOo~

Harry returned to the Gryffindor Common Room to a party, complete with snacks, banners and butter beers. A loud cheer went up when Harry entered. Streamers popped out of nowhere and draped all over Harry.

"Gryffindor has it's own champion!" Fred shouted. More cheers went up. Lee draped a Gryffindor banner over Harry's shoulders like a cloak. "C'mon Harry! Tell us how you did it. How'd you beat the age line?"

The question was already getting old and the fact that it was going to be asked fifty more times didn't help. "I didn't. Somebody else put my name in."

"Who?"

"I don't..." Harry started but was interrupted by Neville of all people. "Forget it guys. Harry would never rat out a friend, would you?"

I absolutely would, if it got me out of this, Harry thought. Well, probably. Maybe. On the other hand, offering hadn't got that Japanese kid out of it. Maybe not. "Never." Neville, Dean and Seamus dragged him off into a corner, enjoying their new elite status as Harry's roommates. Ron was nowhere to be seen.

.

The next morning, Ron rose early to avoid Harry. He plopped down next to Hermione. "How's Harry doing this morning?" Hermione asked, which was of course exactly the wrong thing to say.

"Don't know, don't care."

"He's your friend, Ron!"

"Could've fooled me. Didn't tell me he was going to enter, didn't tell me he knew how to beat the age line."

"He didn't! You'd have to be an idiot not to realize someone else put his name in."

"Well that person could've put my name in too!"

"They weren't doing Harry a favor," Hermione said exasperated. "Honestly, Ron, what's gotten into you?" She grabbed half a dozen pieces of toast, wrapped them in a napkin to take to Harry, and stalked off.

What's gotten into me? Ron thought sullenly. How about Harry is yet again the cleverest, most daring student in the school: The Hero of Gryffindor and I'm an afterthought. Harry and Ron. Just once, I'd like it to be Ron and Harry. But the thought sounded petty, so he didn't put it into words. Not that there was anyone nearby to listen.

~oOo~


A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short. The next one may be kind of short too, but I promise I have some longer ones looming on the horizon.

Thanks for the follows and reviews. Meshing the whimsical style of OHS and the Adventure style of HP has proven challenging. I appreciate your giving it a chance. And yes, Mamabug, poor Draco Malfoy is about to find out what self-assured, confident old money looks like in someone his own age.