When Naruto woke up on Sunday morning, he sat up and ripped back the curtains of his four-poster. looking around to see that everyone in the dorm was still sleeping heavily. Naruto dressed and headed out to the common room where people who had already finished breakfast broke into applause again which he gladly excepted. Moving out to the dungeons he made it out to the Entrance Hall where Luna was sitting down at the foot of the marble staircase, wand tucked behind her ear a strange look on her face as she rubbed to top of Yuna's head who she had sitting on her lap.

"Luna! Hey, I so what do you think Hogwarts champion." Naruto told her excitedly as he ran over to her to help her up off the steps. Luna took a moment to press down her uniform skirt before she looked up at him.

"Naruto. . . I really wished you hadn't entered. . ." Naruto as caught off guard by the looked Luna was giving him. His only thought had been about how exciting things would be as champion, he never wondered how his entering would affect others, especially Luna.

"Luna, I'm. . . I mean at. . . I didn't want to worry you or make you made -" Naruto tried to say was cut off when Luna placed her small slender finger on his lips to silence him.

"Just be careful, please. . . I just found you." Luna told him as she moved forward and reaching up on her tippy toes kissed Naruto lightly on his whiskered cheeks. This had been the first time after the forest that she had kissed him, smiling goofily Naruto touched to spot on his face her lips had just been on.

"Okay." Was all that Naruto could say as she led the way into the Great Hall. Once inside it was the same reaction as everyone but the Gryffindor's applauded Naruto and congratulated him for being chosen as the "real" Hogwarts champion. Taking their usual seats at the end of the Slytherin table Naruto and Luna where about halfway through their breakfast when they saw Ron and Hermione walk into the Great Hall, but not Harry. A moment later Hermione was now walking over to them.

"Morning Naruto, Luna" she greeted them happily.

"Morning Mione." Said Naruto "Hello Hermione, Ronald is looking rather upset today has it anything to do with Harry and Naruto becoming champions." Luna said dreamily as she looked over at the Gryffindor table.

Hermione hesitated before choosing to answer them "Yes. . . well he just needs time to adjust." Hermione told them but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself more them convince them.

"So where is Harry?" Naruto asked as he looked around the Great Hall.

"I expect he's having a bit of a lie-in." Hermione told them "but he probably won't want to come down to the Great Hall." And she showed them the stack of toast she was caring in a napkin.

"I don't think Harry was expecting his name to come out of the Goblet of Fire." Luna explained to Naruto upon the looked if misunderstanding on his face.

"Oh, well I thought he would be used to it by now." Naruto said. "Here well come with you." At this Hermione looked very grateful at them. and together all three left the Great Hall and stated to make their way up the Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the portrait of the Fatlady Naruto and Luna had plan to wait why'll Hermione went in after Harry, but someone had push it open and they came face-to-face with Harry.

"Morning." they all greeted him as Hermione held up the stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin. "I brought you this. . . . Want to go for a walk?"

"Good Idea," said Harry gratefully. They went downstairs, crossed the entrance hall quickly without looking in at the Great Hall, and were soon striding across the lawn toward the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning, and they kept moving, munching their toast, as Harry told Hermione exactly what had happened after he had left the Gryffindor table the night before. To his immense relief, Hermione accepted his story without question.

"Well, of course I knew you hadn't entered yourself," she said when he'd finished telling her about the scene in the chamber off the Hall.

"The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Harry . . . I don't think any student could have done it . . . they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's —"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted. Hermione hesitated. "Erm . . . yes . . . he was at breakfast," she said.

"Does he still think I entered myself?" Harry asked looking over at her. "Well . . . no, I don't think so . . . not really," said Hermione awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'not really'?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Well," said Luna dreamily, "it's always you who gets all the attention, the boy who lived, savior of the wizarding word." Hermione added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously.

"I know you don't ask for it . . . but — well — you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous — he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many."

"We have bigger things to worry about then Ron at the moment." Everyone looked over at Naruto. "Harry, write to Sirius. You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts." Harry and Hermione looked from Naruto to Luna shock clear on their face, but Naruto didn't pay them any attention.

"It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen." Luna said looking over at Naruto "I wonder if he can see Nargles?" finally Naruto realized his friends were still looking and he put two and two together.

"Oh, right don't worry I told Luna everything. . . EVERYTHING." Naruto said as he took Luna's small hand in his and gave it a light squeeze. Hermione was the first to recover

"He's right Harry I brought some parchment and a quill out with me —"

"Come off it," said Harry, looking around to check that they couldn't be overheard, but the grounds were quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered me in the Triwizard Tournament —"

"He'd want you to tell him," said Hermione sternly. "He's going to find out anyway —"

"How?" aske Harry looked over at Naruto suspiciously.

"Harry, this isn't going to be kept quiet," said Hermione, very seriously. "This tournament's famous, and you're famous. I'll be really surprised if there isn't anything in the Daily Prophet about you competing. . . . You're already in half the books about You- Know-Who, you know . . . and Sirius would rather hear it from you, I know he would."

"Okay, okay, I'll write to him," said Harry, throwing his last piece of toast into the lake. They all stood and watched it floating there for a moment, before a large tentacle rose out of the water and scooped it beneath the surface. Then they returned to the castle.

"Whose owl am I going to use?" Harry said as they climbed the stairs. "He told me not to use Hedwig again."

"borrow one of the school owls, anyone can use them," said Luna. They went up to the Owlery Hermione gave Harry a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink, then she and Luna strolled around the long lines of perches, looking at all the different owls, while Harry sat down against a wall and wrote his letter.

Dear Sirius,

You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes — I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is Naruto. Hope you're okay, and Buckbeak — Harry

"Finished," he told Hermione, getting to his feet and brushing straw off his robes. At this, Hedwig came fluttering down onto his shoulder and held out her leg.

"I can't use you," Harry told her, looking around for the school owls. "I've got to use one of these. . . ."

Hedwig gave a very loud hoot and took off so suddenly that her talons cut into his shoulder. She kept her back to Harry all the time he was tying his letter to the leg of a large barn owl. When the barn owl had flown off, Harry reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.

"First Ron, then you," said Harry angrily. "This isn't my fault."

"Don't worry at least it can't get any worse." Naruto told Harry as he patted his friend on the back.

If Naruto had thought that matters would improve once everyone got used to the idea of him and Harry being champions, the following day showed him how mistaken he was. Harry could no longer avoid the rest of the school once he was back at lessons. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who were usually on excellent terms with the Gryffindors, had turned remarkably cold toward the whole lot of them.

All the while Naruto tried to keep the peace between the rest of the school and Harry, but this only got more difficult because it was Care of Magical Creatures today. which meant seeing the Slytherins too — the first time he would come face-to-face with them since becoming champion. Predictably, Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin with his familiar sneer firmly in place.

"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of Harry.

"Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer. . . . Half the Triwizard champions have died . . . how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet." Crabbe and Goyle guffawed sycophantically, but Malfoy had to stop there when Naruto turned away from Harry and flashed his fellow Slytherin's a threatening look.

Just then Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin balancing a teetering tower of crates, each containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the class's horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain that the reason the skrewts had been killing one another was an excess of pent-up energy, and that the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely.

"Take this thing for a walk?" he repeated in disgust, staring into one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end, or the sucker?"

"Roun' the middle," said Hagrid, demonstrating. "Er — yeh might want ter put on yer dragon-hide gloves, jus' as an extra precaution, like. Harry, Naruto — you come here an' help me with this big one. . . ."

Hagrid's real intention, however, was to talk to Harry away from the rest of the class. He waited until everyone else had set off with their skrewts, then turned to Harry and said, very seriously, "So — yer competin', Harry. In the tournament. School champion. You too" he said looking to Naruto

"One of the champions," Harry corrected him. Hagrid's beetle-black eyes looked very anxious under his wild eyebrows.

"No idea who put yeh in fer it, Harry?" said Hagrid looking at the two of them. "Hey, don't look at me." Said Naruto simply.

"You believe I didn't do it, then?" said Harry, concealing with difficulty the rush of gratitude he felt at Hagrid's words.

" 'Course I do," Hagrid grunted. "Yeh say it wasn' you, an' I believe yeh — an' Dumbledore believes yer, an' all."

"Wish I knew who did do it," said Harry bitterly. The three of them looked out over the lawn; the class was widely scattered now, and all in great difficulty. The skrewts were now over three feet long, and extremely powerful. No longer shell-less and colorless, they had developed a kind of thick, grayish, shiny armor. They looked like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs — but still without recognizable heads or eyes. They had become immensely strong and very hard to control.

"Look like they're havin' fun, don' they?" Hagrid said happily. Naruto assumed he was talking about the skrewts, because his classmates certainly weren't; every now and then, with an alarming bang, one of the skrewts' ends would explode, causing it to shoot forward several yards, and more than one person was being dragged along on their stomach, trying desperately to get back on their feet.

"Ah, I don' know, Harry," Hagrid sighed suddenly, looking back down at him with a worried expression on his face. "School champion . . . everythin' seems ter happen ter you, doesn' it?"