Halloween night made Sirius nervous. It always did. Even when he was in Azkaban and wasn't even sure it was really Halloween – he could have missed a day or two in his count, after all – he'd feel it there, the bad feeling. Just the previous year, it had made him edgy enough – or maybe mad enough – to consider breaking into Hogwarts and attacking a portrait a good idea.

Even though he was free, this Halloween wasn't an exception to that rule, though it wasn't as bad. The uneasy feeling was there but the sorrow wasn't as deep as before. Because he was home. He knew it would probably still be a lot of years before he fully got over the dark shadow that surrounded that date – maybe he'd never get over it for good. But it might get easier.

"Are you okay?" Mia whispered to him as she sat by his side on the couch and giving him what seemed to be a mug of hot chocolate. She was wearing baggy clothes, mostly his, as they made her feel more comfortable now that she didn't fit in her usual ones due to her pregnancy – she was more than halfway through it.

"Sure," he lied.

She looked at him for a few moments and then, when he didn't say anything else, she shook her head. "You're such a lousy liar, Sirius." She calmly took a sip of her own mug and shifted on the sofa so she was lounging on it, her legs resting on his lap. "You're having a dark day. I had one of those before, remember? April 21st? I used to hide from everyone, grieving for my sister until one day you showed up and refused to leave me alone. If you think you can lie to me about it, think again. I can be as pushy as you are."

He drank a bit of the hot chocolate before he placed his mug down and rubbed his hands up and down her legs silently. The problem with being married to someone who knew him so well was then he couldn't avoid a subject with a little white lie. He looked up at her and gave a sigh. "You don't need to worry about me, Mia. Really. The baby…"

"The baby is fine," she interrupted him, rubbing her overgrown stomach instinctivelly. "Don't use him as an excuse to brush the subject off. Halloween 1981 was one of the worst nights of your life. You lost a friend, your best friend, who was as good as a brother. You get to have a dark day over it… but you also get to have someone to make you feel better about it. That's what I'm here for, you know?"

"You lost one your best friends too," he pointed out. "Why aren't you having a dark day?"

Mia sighed sadly, placing her mug on the coffee table. "Because, as horrible as that day was to me too, it was also the day I won a son. Losing Lily and James, nearly losing you… it hurt so much, I can't put it in words. But I wasn't locked away and ultimately blamed for having Lily and James killed. I didn't see my best friend's dead body lying on the floor." Her hand reached for his and their fingers linked to his and she gave him a soft smile. "Talk to me."

"There's not much to say, Mia," he told her. "Not this year at least. It used to drive me nearly mad to be around the Dementors in Halloween. I think I opened myself more to them for being so… miserable. It feels different now – probably because I got part of my life back. I've got you here. On the other hand…"

"Oh the other hand what?"

He took a deep breath. "Well, this Halloween thing may be easier but there's other thing. It's partly about the kids."

"The kids?"

"This tournament," he specified. "I like the idea itself – kind of sounds like fun. But I have this bad feeling. The other schools arrived today and having Karkaroff, a known former Death Eater, in the castle at the same time Harry and Izzy are there… I don't like it. As if Snape wasn't enough to fill the role…"

Her hand left his and she used it to brush a strand of her hair off her face. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought of that. But by thinking, she had also found ways to make the prospect of having Karkaroff in Hogwarts a little less scary. "Look, I don't believe he would do anything to the students right under Dumbledore's nose. Plus, Mad-Eye is teaching there this year. Karkaroff would have to be completely mad if he pulled anything with the two of them watching him closely. Because there is no way Moody and Dumbledore are not watching him."

"Maybe so. But aren't Death Eaters a bunch of nutters, anyway?" he pointed out. "Remember my cousin Bellatrix? The crazy bitch with a deep fondness for the Cruciatus Curse?"

"She's a hard one to forget," Mia said dryly. "But didn't Karkaroff sell a bunch of his pals just to stay away from Azkaban? He's a wimp. He'd never risk ending up in a cell there – they'd find a way to kill him right away."

She had a point there, he had to admit. "Alright, so we're just supposed to lean on the wimp-factor and hope everything turns out okay?"

"If you haven't a better suggestion other than threatening, beating and/or killing Karkaroff, I'd say yes," she stated.

"Why do you rule out threatening, beating and/or killing him?"

She glared at him. "Because I'd rather not have you in Azkaban when I give birth to your son." And, as if she'd pulled a plug by mentioning him, Mia felt something.

"What?" Sirius asked when he saw her smiling widely.

"Give me your hand," Mia told him, reaching for it.

He watched, wondering what was happening, as she got hold of his hand and pressed it against her bump. Almost immediately, he felt a soft movement against his palm and looked up at her with wide eyes. "Wha… what was that?"

"He's kicking," she announced. "Our baby is kicking, Sirius."

In amazement, he felt his child move again under his hand. "Kid's really there…"

Mia chuckled. "I'd assumed my size had given it away already," she said. "You know, sometimes when I was pregnant with Izzy and I felt upset, she would kick me a bit. I liked to believe it was to remind me that she was still there, to make me feel better. Babies have a way of knowing when you're upset. Maybe he's doing it for you now."

"Maybe," Sirius repeated. Then, he lowered his head and lowered his head to lean his face against her bump. "It's sort of working, little guy," he whispered. He felt the soft kick again and chuckled, looking up at Mia. "I think the kid will make one hell of a Keeper some day. Kicking the Quaffles away from the hoop and all…"

His wife rolled her eyes. "Maybe he'll inherit my inability to fly a broom for more than ten seconds without hitting the ground or a tree."

"Ah, don't jinx him," Sirius protested, lifting his head again and touching the bump with one of his hands. "Don't listen to Mummy – she's just being silly."

"No, she's not," Mia replied, slapping his hand away. "In fact, considering the number of Quidditch-related injuries his brother has gotten so far, I may very well not let him go near a broom at all until he's of age."

"Merlin, you're a mother lion," Sirius mumbled.

Mia grinned at him. "Just looking after my baby," she said. "And, by the way… roar."

He burst in laughter, forgetting that bad feeling concerning the tournament that had had earlier.

But, as at that very moment in Hogwarts his godson's name was being called as the fourth triwizard champion, that bad feeling did have a very good reason to be.

---

Hogwarts

The staring was unbearable. Harry actually had the phantom feeling of holes being drilled all over him where everyone's eyes landed. That had supposed to be a fun night. He had hoped it would be his first Halloween in Hogwarts when there wasn't trouble.

But he had hoped too much.

It had all been working so well until his name had came out of the Goblet of Fire. He couldn't help thinking it was twice odd: once because he was the fouth competitor in a three wizard tournament; twice because he, an underage wizard who in theory couldn't have placed his name in the goblet, had been called at all.

Nobody had applauded this time. Not like they had when Victor Krum, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory had been called. No, he only got the stares. And couldn't blame then – him being called was something very wrong.

"Harry…" he heard Izzy whispering from the seat in front of his. She wasn't staring… she was just looking worriedly at him. He glanced for a moment at Ron and Hermione, who were looking at him blankly, then at Ginny, who shared Izzy's worried look, and then at his sister again.

"I didn't put my name in," Harry said to all of them. "I couldn't have. You know I couldn't have…"

Izzy gave him a faint nod, unsure of what to say.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore called again, rising by the staff table. "Harry! Up here, if you please!" The headmaster, didn't smile, didn't frown. He was expressionless, unreadable

"Go on," Hermione whispered to Harry, giving him a slight push so he would get up.

As she watched Harry go, Izzy reached for her bag. She knew she had put it in there just in case, but she couldn't find it. She needed it now, the two-way mirror, but she couldn't find it as she looked for it frantically.

"Give me that," Ginny told her, taking the bag away. "You're just gonna mess it even more and never find what you're looking for."

"The mirror," Izzy murmured to her friend, who proceeded to look for it more calmly. She pulled the mirror out seconds later and gave it to Izzy, who called her father's name. She hoped he had it his mirror with him. He needed to be touching it, to feel it heat up or he wouldn't know she was asking for him.

To her relief, her father's face appeared in the little mirror seconds later. "Hi, Izzybel," he greeted her with a smile.

"Harry's name came out of the goblet, Dad," she told him immediately. "He's… he's one of the tournament's champions."

She heard her mother's voice in the background saying 'what?!' and waited for her father to say something.

"He was selected for Hogwarts?" Sirius inquired.

"Yes… no… I'm not sure. Cedric Diggory's name came first. There are four champions," Izzy told him. "He didn't put his name in. He couldn't have, Daddy. Fred and George tried to pass the age line and ever they couldn't! They're geniuses and they couldn't."

"Alright, calm down. Let me think," her father told her and stayed silent for a few moments. "Okay, do what I'll tell you. Get to Hagrid. Tell him your Mum and I are coming and that we need him to open the gates for us. We'll be there in a few minutes. Just… stay calm."

"'Kay," she said seconds before her father's face disappeared from the mirror.

"They're coming?" Ginny asked her.

"Yeah, they are."

---

"I knew it," Sirius mumbled ten minutes later just after he and Mia had flooed to The Three Broomsticks and were making their way to Hogwarts's gates. "I just knew it. I had a bad feeling about this blasted day."

That and having their evening interrupted had put Sirius in a very crappy mood.

"He's not going in," Mia said as they walked. "He's not. I'm not letting Harry take part in that blasted completion. Still think it's fun?"

"Fun to see. But not when Harry's in it," he mumbled.

By the time they got to the gates, Hagrid's large form was already waiting for them.

"Good, yer here," the gigantic man said when they reached him. "It's nice to see the two o' yeh together again despite the occasion. I'll take yeh to Harry right now. Dumbledore knows yer coming."

"Hagrid, you were there when it happened, weren't you?" Mia asked him, one of her hands resting on her bump as they walked quickly up to the castle. "Tell me exactly what you saw."

"Not much to say. The three names came out: Diggory's, Krum's an' the french girl. Then another name came out: Harry. I don' need to say everyone was surprised," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore took him to the portrait room with the other champions then."

"Bloody Hell, the kid has some luck," Sirius mumbled. Maybe Mia had been right when she had suggested they gave him a paraphernalia of good-luck charms.

Mia's hand linked to his as if asking for comfort and he grasped it for her. They passed the castle's doors and walked into the Great Hall, where several students stared at them, some surprised from seeing their former History of Magic teacher walking in looking pregnant, others from seeing former fugitive Sirius Black in the room, others both.

From her seat, Izzy looked at them nervously and her mother mouthed to her that they'd talk later.

Hagrid took them to the chamber behind the staff table, the portrait room. There, Sirius recognized several members of the Hogwarts staff, especially Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Moody, Ludo Bagman along with Crouch, Karkaroff, Quidditch player Victor Krum and probably the tallest woman he had ever seen, an inch or two over Hagrid's height, whom he assumed to be Beauxbatons's headmistress due to her being speaking in quick French with a rather stunning, silver-blonde haired girl. Harry was standing by Dumbledore's side with another boy who wore Hufflepuff robes – Diggory, he assumed.

"…the champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests," Crouch was saying. "Good luck, Miss Delacour, Mr. Krum, Mr. Diggory and… Mr. Potter."

"What the hell is this?!" Mia exclaimed angrily approached them. "You surely can't be considering that Harry will take part in this tournament!"

"Amelia…" Dumbledore started.

"No," she interrupted, lifting a hand to stop him. "Harry is fourteen. He's underage and I'm his guardian. I say he can't compete. He won't, for heaven's sake. He's just a boy! People died in this tournament."

"We all agree, Amelia," Dumbledore told her in his usual calm voice. "But I'm afraid Harry has no choice. The Goblet of Fire produces Magical Bindings. From the moment Harry's name came out, he had no other choice but to participate."

"But how did his name get there in the first place?" Sirius asked him. "From what I've heard, there was an Age Line surrounding the goblet mad by yourself. Not even the Weasley twins were able to cross it!"

"I didn't put it there," Harry said as he stepped closer to him and Mia, looking directly at his godmother. "I swear I didn't!"

Mia placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke as calmly as she could, considering. Harry was nervous enough already. "I know you didn't," she said. "You do a lot of stupid, risky stuff, Harry. But only when you need to, when there are important things at stake. I have no doubt you were not the one to put your name in for the tournament."

Dumbledore coughed in order to get their attention. "Alastor believes someone may have used very advanced magic to put Harry's name in and make sure he was chosen. Possibly in order to harm him or… kill him."

"And he has to compete anyway?" Mia asked, pulling as godson closer in a protective fashion. "Isn't there a way to break the magical binding at all?"

This time, Ludo Bagman was the one to speak. "Apparently not. But I'm sure that if any kid is able to surv… er… finish the tournament, it is Harry."

"I still think it is outrageous!" Karkaroff said, offended. "Incedibly unfair for the other contestants. If Victor wasn't already bond as well, I'd surely leave right now. Just shameful!"

Sirius growled in the inside. Part of him wanted to launch himself at the man's throat and beat him to a bloody pulp – Karkaroff was undoubtedly on top of Sirius suspect list for placing Harry's name in the tournament so far. The other, the one who was winning, fought to contain itself in order not to upset Mia further – she'd had enough stress for a day and that couldn't be good for his unborn child at all. Still, it was good to imagine that any suspicion he had towards Karkaroff was probably shared by Mad-eye Moody multiplied by a few dozens.

"Igor, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it," Dumbledore told his fellow headmaster before turning to Sirius and Mia. "Once again, I am terribly sorry for this. I will give you a few minutes to speak to Harry alone before he needs to retire to his common room."

Mia bit her lower lip in order to keep the tears of fury from falling. Sirius's arm circled her and she felt he was tense as well. Were they just supposed to accept that? Apparently yes.

The others left the room quickly, leaving only Sirius, Mia and Harry there. With a sigh, Mia walked to a wide bench in the middle of the room and sat on it.

"I didn't…" Harry started.

"We know, kid," Sirius said before he could finish saying that. "The question now is: do you think you can do this?"

"I dunno," Harry murmured.

"When's the first task?" Mia inquired from her seat.

"November 24th," Harry told her.

She sighed. "Okay, that's over three weeks away. Do you think you can learn a bunch of defensive spells by then? Get ready?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. If I get help…"

Sirius nodded. "You will. Ask the twins and Hermione. They may know a little more than you do. Ask us anything if you have doubts, okay? Anything. We'll look for defence books at home. There may be a bunch in the old library. We'll find a way to send them to you."

Harry nodded silently.

Mia took a deep breath from her seat. "I'll kill whomever got you into this mess. I swear I will. I'll pull his or her tongue out and use it to…"

"Alright, honey, spare us the details," Sirius told her, knowing it was the hormones talking, not actually Mia.

Suddenly, the chamber's door opened and Izzy entered the room. "Dumbledore let me come here," she said before anyone could ask her how she'd gotten there. She turned to Harry. "He said you're really going to participate in the tournament."

"Yeah, looks that way," Harry mumbled, sitting by Mia's side. He was so dead meat…

"We'll help you," Izzy promised. "Ginny and I will. We'll do what you ask us to. Research, serve as guinea pigs if you wanna test spells – just make sure you don't actually send us to the Hospital Wing because that would really suck."

"Thanks," Harry said with a nervous laugh. "But I doubt I know a spell strong enough to give you a headache at all."

"We'll work on that," she promised. "Hermione wanted to go to the library right now to research on past tournaments right now but McGonagall told her to go to bed. Ron is still in shock, I think. He hasn't said a word so far. Fred and George were planning to throw you a party when you get back to the common room – they really wanted a Gryffindor champion, I guess."

"Well, looks like you don't lack people who want to help you," Sirius told his godson before approaching Izzy and putting one arm on her shoulder. "Thanks for calling us right away."

She looked up at her father. "I imagined you'd rather hear it from me or Harry than from someone else," she said, turning to her mother. "How's my little brother doing?"

"Fairly well," Mia told her with a sigh. "I think he's having a kick out of this… literally."

"Might make a good keeper," Harry pointed out, getting up and joining Sirius and Izzy.

Sirius lifted his arms and looked at his wife in triumph. "See?" he told Mia. "That's exactly what I said before."

Mia rolled her eyes. "I think we have more important things to worry about now than our unborn son's future Quidditch career. The tournament, for starters."

"Yeah," Harry mumbled. "Do you think Moody is right? That someone put my name in to kill me?"

"Might be," Sirius told him honestly. "But we won't let that happen."

Mia took a deep breath before talking – she needed to convince herself before saying. "You'll get ready and you'll do fine," she said. "Whoever did it will get one hell of a disappointment."

"And maybe you'll win in the end," Izzy added.

"I'll be happy if I live through it," Harry told her and glanced at a huge antique clock on the wall – it was almost ten. "I guess we should go back to the common room. Nearly curfew."

Mia nodded and got up from her seat, approaching him and giving him a hug. "Be careful."

"I will," he promised.

Then, she gave a goodbye kiss to Izzy and, seconds later, she and Sirius were alone in the room. "Do you think he'll make it okay?"

Sirius took a couple of steps in her direction and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chest on the top of her head. "If any fourteen-year-old can make it out of this tournament okay, it is Harry."

Mia sighed. She hoped he was right.

A/N: Finally managed to send my laptop to get an upgrade! It really needed it. Even though this may be great in a way, it's not so much in the other because for now I have to share my sister's computer... thus the updates slowing down a bit. Well, I hope you liked this one. Tell me what you think of it! Feed my addiction and review!