Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

-oOoOo-

The Fourth School

Chapter 35

The half-circle of adults that jumped to their feet the second that Harry and Hermione walked into the large sitting room of Potter Haven froze the two teens as they entered. Harry's eyes darted from Remus to Sirius to Minerva and finally to Tonks. All of them gave off an air of expectation, although there was some difference between Minerva's slightly apprehensive look and Tonks' glee that almost had the metamorph bouncing where she stood.

"Uh, hi," Harry said.

"Hey, Pup," Sirius replied.

"It there something going on?" Harry asked.

"Indeed, Mister Potter," Minerva said, causing Harry's eyebrows to rise at the use of his surname, something Minerva only did when she was feeling particularly formal or particularly nervous.

"You do know what date it is, don't you?" Remus asked.

"May twenty-six," Hermione answered promptly.

Harry's mind darted about, trying to work out why the date was especially important. Suddenly, he had it.

"The potion! It's been two months!" he exclaimed. "Is it ready?"

"The potion is ready," Minerva confirmed. "The real question is: are you?"

"I think so," Harry replied. "I've been learning everything that I could about mongooses for the past two months. I've even been studying that skeleton that Sirius got me so that I know exactly how its body works. I think that you could ask me just about anything about mongooses and I'd be able to tell you."

"What do you think, Tonks?" Remus asked.

"Can't fault his metamorpth skills, they're nearly as good as mine now," she replied, eyeing her student carefully. "And we've done a few simple animal parts that have all worked fine."

"And I believe that your human transfiguration is at an appropriate level," Minerva added.

"Then I can take it? I can transform into a mongoose?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Yeah, Pup," Sirius grinned. "We thought that we'd do it in here so that you've got a bit of extra room to move around."

"Now," Minerva said, her tone indicating that she was entering lecture mode. "This potion is only designed to transform you into your animagus form for a short period of time, usually about ten minutes. And it can only be taken once. It's your job to concentrate on the transformation, both from human to animal and from animal to human. Not to mention to get a feel for how the animal moves and what its senses are like and what it feels like to have your body in that shape. After this, it'll be wholly up to you to train your body to transform. The potion will aid your ability after this, but it cannot do the transformation for you."

Harry nodded solemnly, taking in the information that he already knew.

"And it'll take Harry at least three months before he can transform completely by himself?" Hermione clarified.

"Generally, it takes between three and six months," Sirius nodded, "but with Harry's metamorph skills, we're betting on closer to the three month mark."

"So, can I take it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"And I can stay, right?" Hermione asked. "To see you transform?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Harry told her with a squeeze of her hand.

He crossed the room then and took the vial that Remus held out for him. The potion inside was a turquoise so bright that it was almost glowing.

As he stepped into the middle of the room where the various couches and chairs had been removed from, the others moved back, giving him room while also looking on intently. Harry looked at each of them in turn.

Sirius and Tonks were looking eager and expectant; Remus and Minerva shared a look of encouragement and nervousness; and Hermione didn't seem to know exactly what to feel, at least that's what Harry thought, judging by the myriad of emotions crossing her face. In the brief time that he looked at her, he saw love, worry, expectancy, interest, expectancy and a touch of envy.

"Well, here goes," Harry said, lofting the potion in a kind of salute before upending it and downing it in one go.

Oddly enough for a magical potion, it didn't taste half bad, very fruity and woody. Harry found himself annoyed at that fact – the one potion that tasted alright but he could only have it once.

Within seconds of the potion hitting his system, he felt his body begin to change. Knowing how vital this was, he concentrated hard on exactly what was happening to him.

It felt as though his bones were melting inside of him, a slight heat accompanying it. The world began to grow around him as he shrunk. A strange popping sensation erupted from just above his butt and he knew that his tail had just appeared. Looking down, he saw his arms shimmer as tawny fur appeared on his upper arms; dark, almost black fur on his hands and lower arms. His ears felt as though they decided to go for a wander, sliding up his head.

The strange weight distribution unbalanced him and he fell forward, landing on four paws. A final shiver swept his body before everything stilled.

It was dark where he was, trapped within the clothes that he had been wearing. Wiggling his nose and using a forepaw to help, he found a gap between his pants and shirt and stuck a head out.

The world around him looked completely different from this low to the ground. Thankfully though, it remained in colour, even if that colour appeared slightly washed out. Cautiously, he emerged from the clothes, stepping lightly across the rug before beginning to turn himself in a circle. His body felt long, as though it wouldn't take much to tie himself into knots, especially when he added in his bushy tail as well.

And speaking of his tail, he couldn't help but to chase it around in a circle before grabbing a hold of it with his front paws and running his claws through the thick fur.

"You're gorgeous," he heard Hermione murmur.

Looking across at her, Harry found that she'd sunk to her haunches, a look of awe on her face.

Feeling mischievous, he gambolled across to her before skipping into her lap and climbing up and around her body until he was draped across her neck. He brushed his head against her cheek eliciting a giggle from her when his light whiskers tickled her.

Then, knowing that his time was rapidly disappearing, he slipped back down to the ground and simply began running around the room. He slipped under couches before jumping up and running along their backs. From there he jumped back to the ground landing lightly and agilely.

Harry spent the next few minutes weaving in and out of the legs of the adults, a burbling laugh coming from his mongoose throat as Tonks tried to jump out of the way only to end up falling backwards firstly onto and then over the back of one of the couches.

And then he knew that his time was up: his body was beginning to warm up again. In a rush, he skittered behind a chair, concentrating on the feeling of his body returning to normal. Finally, it was done, leaving him panting.

A blanket dropped onto his naked body and he pulled it around him, smiling up at Sirius in thanks.

"Well done, Harry, well done indeed," Remus congratulated.

"I would have to say that your distinguishing feature is your green eyes," Minerva commented. "I've never seen an animal with that eye colour before. Something for you to keep in mind for when it comes time to register."

"And don't worry about the clothes thing, that takes a lot of practice to get, even after you learn to transform but you will learn to transform with them," Sirius stated.

Harry's arms were suddenly full of his bushy-haired girlfriend.

"Congratulations, Harry," she whispered, "you're so much closer to being an animagus, just like your dad."

-oOoOo-

"It is done," the blond-haired man announced as he dropped to one knee before his Lord's chair in the old, dilapidated house that they were using as a base.

"Any problems, my slippery friend?" the Dark Lord asked, a warning clear in his tone.

"None, Master. I used the same method as I did in the Second Task. It was child's play, then, to disillusion myself and to cast the spell," he replied.

"You have done well," the Dark Lord hissed. "Tonight. Tonight I reclaim my body and our true reign shall begin again."

-oOoOo-

"Welcome one and all!" Ludo Bagman's amplified voice rang out across the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, friends, families, students and guests to the Third and Final Task in the TriWizard Tournament.

"Tonight will see our three Champions vie to be the winner, the one to hold aloft the TriWizard Cup, earning for themselves and their school the title of Champion of Champions and eternal glory.

"Tonight's challenge is a maze. The three Champions will each enter the maze at differing times, depending on their current standings. Within this maze are numerous traps, vast challenges, creatures galore and danger at every turn. The Task is simple enough: merely be the first to reach and touch the TriWizard Cup. Whoever does so will be the winner.

"The points currently stand thus: in first place, Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with eighty-five points. In second place, Viktor Krum from The Durmstrang Institute with eighty points. And with sixty-six points, our final Champion, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Institute of Magic.

"On my whistle …"

A short blast of the whistle signalled Cedric Diggory bursting from the starting line before disappearing into the maze, a small shiny metallic ball whizzing after him just above and behind his head.

Harry's head immediately swivelled to the giant pieces of glass hanging in mid-air above the maze. Each one, he knew, would display the progress for one of the Champions. Everything that the Champions did and saw would be relayed by the tiny metal sphere and displayed on the corresponding piece of glass.

At the moment, two of them were showing Krum and Delacour waiting at the start of the maze for their turn to enter. The other showed an image that was bobbing and weaving along, following Cedric as he raced down the first path of the maze.

Around him, shouts of advice were called as Cedric reached a crossroads. The fact that the Champion couldn't hear any of the advice didn't seem to perturb the audience. As Cedric chose the left path, a second whistle blast sounded and the glass on the far left showed Viktor Krum entering the maze.

By the time that Cedric was approaching his first obstacle – a golden mist that stretched across the entire length of the path in front of him – Fleur had entered the maze.

Harry watched intrigued as Cedric waved his wand at the golden mist to no obvious effect. He glanced back, shrugged and promptly dove into the mist. As far as the audience could tell, nothing happened when he did. But obviously something was happening to the popular Champion for he instantly froze, his hands waving about as though he was trying to regain his balance. Tentatively, step by step, Cedric began to move forward, each foot sliding on the ground as he advanced.

Meanwhile, Fleur was the first to encounter one of the animals that Bagman had indicated was in the maze – this one a hippogryph. The majestic grey animal stood guarding the way that Fleur had chosen. Harry knew this one. He'd encountered a hippogryph before. And so, it seemed, had Fleur.

The silver-haired Champion bowed to the half-horse half-eagle, holding it until it returned her bow. Then, Fleur simply walked past, giving the hippgryph a pat on its neck as she did so.

When Krum suddenly sank from view, everyone gasped. It took the metal sphere swivelling downwards before the Bulgarian could be seen again. Harry goggled at the fact that half of Krum had disappeared into the ground. Luckily for the Bulgarian, though, his right arm and wand had remained above ground. A couple of spells later – freezing and blasting, judging by the colours and effects – a now hobbling Viktor Krum continued his journey through the maze.

Harry oohed, aahed, winced, shied and applauded with the rest of the crowd as the three Champions steadily made their way through the maze.

There were vines that whipped out from the hedge, attempting to ensnare the Champions; a host of mischievous blue pixies down one alleyway; a monstrous shelled thing with a dangerous stinger that shot fire from one end of it that all three Champions simply took one look at and ran from; a thick white fog that descended to obscure everything; more of the quicksand traps; and even some enchanted fire that sprang up either side of the Champions for them to get past.

It was Viktor who first found the Sphinx.

"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me," the melodious voiced Sphinx told him.

At this, Viktor raised his wand as though he were about to attack. The Sphinx, though, ignored this.

"If you can guess my riddle I shall let you pass," she continued. "Answer on your first guess and you shall pass peacefully. Remain silent and I shall allow you to walk away. Answer wrongly and I shall attack."

"Vat is your riddle?" Viktor asked suspiciously.

"A house has four walls. All of the walls are facing south and a bear is circling the house. What colour is the bear?"

For an instant, Harry thought that Viktor was going to attack, instead, he sighed, lowered his wand and jogged back the way he'd come.

"That was deceptively easy," Luna remarked. "She could learn something a bit harder from the Ravenclaw door knocker."

Harry was about to ask what the answer was when he was interrupted by the sight of Fleur Delacour arriving in front of the Sphinx from a different direction than Viktor had arrived by.

"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me," the Sphinx repeated her statement from before.

Fleur simply nodded.

"If you can guess my riddle I shall let you pass. Answer on your first guess and you shall pass peacefully. Remain silent and I shall allow you to walk away. Answer wrongly and I shall attack."

"What iz ze riddle?" Fleur asked.

"A frog jumped into a pot of cream and started treading. He soon felt something solid under his feet and was able to hope out of the pot. What did the frog feel under his feet?"

Fleur puzzled this one for close to five minutes before she, too, gave up and dashed back the way that she'd come.

"Oh, come on!" Hermione groused. "That's two I could have answered."

Once again Harry was prevented from asking the answer by the arrival of a Champion in front of the Sphinx who promptly went through her spiel once more.

"Right, give it to me," Cedric said.

"Take away my first letter and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter and I still sound the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five letter word. What am I?"

Cedric paced around the clearing, muttering to himself in a voice so low that the sphere couldn't pick it up to transmit it to the audience. Every now and again, he'd glance back at the Sphinx. Suddenly, though, he stopped, one hand raised. Slowly he turned to face the Sphinx.

"Are you 'empty'?" he asked.

The Sphinx simply smiled broadly at him, got up, stretched her front legs and moved aside for him to pass by.

The audience shot to their feet as Cedric rounded the corner to his right and a bright shining plinth came into view, the TriWizard Cup sitting on top of it.

Cedric took off at a run to the yells and cheers of the crowd. He was barely ten metres from it, though, when a flash of something big, black and hairy bowled into him, sending him flying. The sphere swivelled about until it had not only Cedric but also an enormous spider – an acromantula, Harry thought – centred in its view.

Flashes of red and yellow lights erupted from Cedric's wand driving the spider momentarily back. It was enough, though, as it allowed Cedric to take a diving lunge. His hand handed on top of the plinth and he pulled himself forward. Desperately, he swung his other hand up to grab hold of the Cup.

And promptly disappeared in a swirl of coloured light.

-oOoOo-

Once the TriWizard Tournament had been won, it took a surprisingly small amount of time to extradite the remaining two Champions from the maze.

Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic for Great Britain, was ecstatic. The Tournament might have started under a cloud with the fourth name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. And then there was the fiasco that was the First Task, not to mention that all of the deaths that had come from it was a nightmare, not only for him personally, but also for the Ministry.

But the culprit of those two events had been identified and killed by the dragon, thus preventing the necessity of a trial and dragging the good name of the Ministry even further through the hippogryph dung.

But then they'd turned things around. The Yule Ball went off without a hitch, as did the Second Task (even if it was dead boring). And now they'd just experienced the thrill of the Third Task. It was simply icing on the cake that the overall winner was the home-grown hero: Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Already, Cornelius could imagine how often Amos was going to be crowing about his son's prowess all through the Ministry. And really, who could blame him. The win was not just a win for young Diggory, but for Hogwarts, the Ancient House of Diggory itself, and the Ministry.

Thus, Cornelius' current course of action.

"As Minister of Magic, I really must insist, Dumbledore," Cornelius was saying.

"But Cornelius, it really should be the Headmaster of the host school who presents the TriWizard Champion with their trophy and prize," Dumbledore countered.

"No, no, no!. I believe that I should be the one to do it. And Merlin help me, I will be the one to do it," Cornelius stated, putting his metaphorical foot down.

Thankfully, Dumbledore conceded. Cornelius simply chose to ignore the old man's exaggerated sigh, slight lowering and shaking of the head and the dimming of his ever-twinkling eyes.

Soon, the impromptu stage was prepared. The three Headmasters were seated in their spots on the far right side of the podium with their Champions between them and the podium itself. To the podium's left, sat the various Ministry personnel who had worked so tirelessly to see this event take place.

As Minister of Magic and self-appointed prize giver, Cornelius was the first up to the podium, settling his trademark green bowler hat firmly on his head. He briefly considered giving a long-winded speech to open the presentation ceremony, but one look at the expectant crowd and he decided to reverse the proceedings: he would award the Diggory boy first and then give his prepared speech.

With a slight tap of his throat with his wand, he was prepared to speak to the hundreds of people filling the stands before him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, parents, students and distinguished guests," he said, his amplified voice echoing around Hogwarts' quidditch pitch. "I give you the TriWizard Tournament Champions! Fleur Delacour! Viktor Krum! Aaaand Ced-ric Dig-gory!"

At each name, the crowd roared its approval and Cornelius delighted in the positive, excited atmosphere.

"There are many people who we need to acknowledge tonight for the outstanding success that the TriWizard Tournament has been," he continued. "And we will acknowledge them, but not just yet. Firstly, let's get on to the exciting part – let's crown our winner! We watched him battle a Swedish Short-Snout dragon. We saw him dive into a frozen lake to rescue a hostage held in the village of the merpeople. And tonight, we watched as he battled all kinds of challenges in the maze behind me.

"I give you, ladies and gentlemen, the Winner of the TriWizard Tournament, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Champion: Cedric Diggory!"

The applause and cheering and whistling that resounded throughout the stadium drowned out even Cornelius' sonorous-charmed voice.

Diggory, for his part, stood from his seat, waving to the crowd, a massive smile nearly splitting his face. At Cornelius' gesture, Diggory approached the podium.

"As the winner of the TriWizard Tournament, Mister Diggory, you have earnt yourself the TriWizard trophy," Cornelius said, pausing in his speech to hand over the highly polished silver chalice that sparkled in the lights.

Diggory took the trophy and held it aloft, turning in a complete circle to show it off to the crowd.

"Also," Cornelius said after a suitable length of time and the crowd had quietened somewhat and he had picked up the other half of the Champion's prize, "you earn yourself one thousand galleons – "

The rest of Cornelius' speech was abruptly cut off as he vanished from the grounds of Hogwarts in a swirl of multicoloured light.