The first completely original chapter! Yes! We accept all your claws and boos, it feeds into our author ego, although at this point, we have published 25 so we are celebrating whilst you have no idea.

Is this chapter short? Yes. This is because the topic suggested did not fit well into a 10k chapter, do know that the next few should be longer, and if they aren't then I have likely cut this out so you don't see it so :shrug:

To the inattentive readers who think this is all our own work, hate to break it to you but it hasn't been, next time read the AN in chapter 1.

And since it is completely our own work, we no longer feel bad for begging for favorites, follows and reviews, and trust me, we will compensate for the missed 28 chapters before. Personally I don't think anyone who wouldn't have favorited or followed or reviewed will change their mind when they read this, but to be honest it is more cultural that it is practical.

There is also a quick summary of everything we have changed from the original story at the bottom of the chapter, excluding some foreshadowing we have done because explicitly stating it is foreshadowing kind of ruins the point.

For the second time, enjoy! Or don't, if you don't like our inexperienced style of writing, then we honestly can't blame you.

Chapter: 29 – and underwhelming training arc

Cedric barged past the inhabitants of the Ravenclaw table in his pursuit of Archades.

"Archie, Archie!" He yelled out clearly slightly distressed.

"Here, here, what the fuck has got you so haggard?" The person in question spoke up a few seats down from Cedric's current position, drawing his attention.

"Haggard? You mean the fact that the second task is soon, and my so-called advisor has yet to rear his head and do any advising? Or the fact that he left me with the word," he leaned down and whispered, "Chimera, and abruptly disappeared for a few weeks? What the fuck man?"

"Hey, that is your fault for choosing Harry, don't punish the rest of us with your own lack of foresight. I mean, sure he could probably get first place with no preparation, after doing a list of exhausting things and handicaps I can't be bothered to list, but helping you is at the very bottom of his priorities list," Cedric stared at him for that impromptu rant, "No I am not jealous."

"Right…"

"He is probably in kitchens right now."

"Thank you…"

"Very welcome…"

Deciding not to draw it out anymore, he hastily brushed past the rest of the Ravenclaws, sparing one look back at an extremely lost and uncomfortable Archades.

Yes, the kitchens seemed like a great place to be.

XXXX

Harry was enjoying a glass of coke next to an assortment of other various food products. He was well aware of the consequences of overindulging, but luckily a wizard's body is sturdier than a muggle's. He had no idea why that was true, they had a stronger immune system due to a higher average body temperature, which made sense, Veela were immune to most diseases that affect wizards for the same reason, but temperature aside, there is no scientific reason why wizards recovered faster, maintained their body mass and muscle better, or any other trait that separated them from their muggle counterparts. That made sense though, in its nonsensical way, magic seemed to be along a parallel line to science, there was some correlation, and understanding one lends some knowledge to the other, but ultimately, they were separate entities. It didn't help him solve the knowledge of course, but it is interesting to know.

As he took another sip from his cup, the doors to the kitchen burst open. He frowned in annoyance, the kitchen is his morning sanctuary because he wants to remain undisturbed, this new event ruined the point.

As he took a preemptive sip from his flask, he because dimly aware of someone shouting.

"…ry, Harry, where in the world were you these past weeks? What is with that flask? Never mind that, why did you leave me with 'Chimera' a few weeks ago then completely disappear? Can you help me?" The newly identified Cedric began raving wildly.

Pulling out his wand, he silenced the boy before he could react, not willing to try and speak over him with the receding headache, "In order, that is my name, I was in some undisclosed room, or here or with Septima and occasionally Luna, Stephanie, Archades and Fleur – though that was only intruding on one conversation, and in my room for a few hours, I left you with 'Chimera' to inform you the task will be Chimeras, and yes I can, I can do many things, helping you included, the pertinent question would have been whether I am willing to."

Having finally dispelled the charm, he looked at Harry, "So? Help me then!"

"I didn't say I am willing to, just clarifying what the question should have been."

As irrational as it is, Cedric felt like every second reasoning with a stubborn Harry reduces his survivability, and he exploded in frustration. "Oh for fuck's sake Harry, I see you aren't too busy right now, and, if you haven't noticed, I might die here, your help lowers that possibility."

"You might die anywhere any time Cedric, and my help almost always lowers that possibility," Harry informed him, "You increased that possibility yourself, don't make it my problem."

"YOU MADE IT YOUR PROBLEM WHEN YOU BECAME MY ADVISOR," a few weeks of frustration came pouring out, "Don't give me that look, I know you would have found a way to get out of it if you really wanted to, I freed up some of your time, fucking do what you are meant to do."

"Huh, I did, didn't I?" He asked semi-rhetorically, "In that case, first place to go in the library."

As he followed his sometimes scarce friend, he frowned in concern, his friend has been acting extremely erratic lately, he didn't actually forget his role as advisor right?

XXXX

After an uneventful trip to the library, the two could be found scanning books. To be more accurate, Harry was skimming through books, occasionally sliding a few onto a table while Cedric was sitting cross-legged and confused.

"You still haven't told me what we are looking for Harry."

"You are not looking for anything, just sitting their patiently after I have done the looking for you, and I am looking for my will to continue helping you."

Neither of them spoke up again until he was finished, a pile of books almost as tall as Cedric's head lay on the table.

"Right you will find useful runes in these books, there was supposed to be one more but it isn't here for some reason, anyways these should be sufficient."

Cedric gaped at the table, "I don't know runes! You can't tell me you don't have a plan that uses skills that I have! And what kind of runes are these? These books are massive!"

"Well I wouldn't be much of an advisor if I just told you to use your own skills would I? And whilst I could do just that, your skill set is frankly unsuited to both the task at hand and the way the judges would assess the task, and lastly of course the books aren't solely dedicated to the one or two runes you will be able to use, the relevant page numbers are listed below."

He looked down, and sure enough there was a list of ten page numbers, despite having seen Harry with neither ink, a quill, parchment, nor write it down.

A few questions remained in his mind though, "Do you expect me to learn runes in a week? And what do you mean my skills wouldn't 'suit the way judges would assess the task'?"

"Runes? No of course not, but these ten specific runes? Possibly, I specifically chose them because they work even if you mess them up a bit, well more or less work, and the judges will judge the task based on preparation as well as performance. There is a reason we know the task beforehand, because it will be most likely more challenging than the first task, and so we have time to prepare for them. It stands to reason that the judges will take into consideration how well thought out your preparation is, which most likely includes spells, plans, as well as other objects you can take with you. You lost marks in the first task due to the fact it was obviously preplanned, this time if it isn't preplanned, they will deduct marks, it is that simple."

Cedric silently agreed with his assessment, and quickly flipped to a page listed. "Silencing ward? Couldn't I just use a silencing charm instead?

Harry looked amused, "You could try, but it wouldn't end well."

"Why? Is the spell not powerful enough or something?" Cedric is confused, he has never heard of the spell not working before.

"The effect of a Chimera's roar is magical, meaning it isn't transferred through sound waves. That means that even though the Chimera won't make a sound, the stunning effect of the roar will still work on you. What this ward does is block the sound from going past a certain perimeter, usually a circumference around the source of the ward. Now unlike spells, wards are adaptable, you can change them without completely changing what you need to do. If you want a silencing charm to target magic rather than sounds, firstly the wand movements and incantation would be completely different, and I don't know if it is even possible in this time frame, God knows ostensibly simple things have been made far more complicated by Arithmancy then anticipated," at that he muttered something suspiciously resembling 'prime numbers', "Whereas with the ward, all you need to do," he took out a quill and quickly traced out the ward, with one pivotal difference, "is change this symbol," he pointed at a character on the book, "to this."

Having a less than basic understanding of both Runes and Arithmancy, Cedric could only nod in confusion.

"Anyways, I think you better start practising, the task is only in a week after all," Cedric stared at Harry, as if asking 'and whose fault is that?', something that was ignored, "Unfortunately for the both of us, Septima will not be pleased with me if I leave you to do this alone, meaning I will be reading on this chair while you struggle through it.

As he finished saying that, Archades crept up to him and whispered something in his ear. Harry looked startled for a moment, before jumping to his feet, "Right it seems like I have to cut it short today, meet me in…" he was about to say the Room of Requirements, but was unwilling to disclose that secret, and thought it unwise to mention his dormitory, "…the kitchen."

The sound of, "Hurry up Archades," resounded in Cedric's ears as he stared at the page blankly.

XXXX

Fleur awoke to a slight ache in her back and feeling like she dislocated some joints in her neck, something quite impossible but that fact didn't stop the persistent sensation. She remembered falling asleep on a pile of books, having sifted through them to see if she could find any useful spells, or any references to the Chimera she would be fighting. Yawning delicately, she moved the books to the side and arched her back, trying to bring feeling back to her spine.

It was then that she noticed moon-shaped eyes peering at her curiously.

Startled she dropped her arms and wracked her brain trying to think of how she should respond. By all accounts it was a rather creepy greeting, this girl is entirely foreign to her and she does not enjoy having her personal space invaded. She tried to match a name to the face, succeeding a few seconds later. Luna Lovegood, a few years below Harry, the shining star of her year and Harry's on-and-off student. Rumours said she was pretty eccentric, although, she snorted depreciatingly, one would have to be to hang around Harry so often.

Whilst she has established a context, she still has no idea why this girl is standing in front of her and raised her eyebrow challengingly.

"You have wrackspurts," Luna stated simply.

Was that an insult? A compliment? A threat? A warning? Was that some esoteric part of the English vocabulary no one but she had ever discovered? Fleur voiced her confusion in an extremely emotive, "Eh?"

"Ah there they are!" She exclaimed joyously, as if having discovered something revolutionary, "I always wear this necklace to protect me from them," she indicated so the ring of butterbeer cans around her neck, something that Fleur refused to accept as a necklace, "it keeps them away from me, there can only be so many wrackspurts in one place, and when I am wearing this necklace, they go to other people!"

Luna suddenly lunged forward, almost nose to nose with Fleur, peering into her eyes, Fleur instinctively recoiled, but it seems Luna is satisfied with what she saw, "But I see your wrackspurts are the ones protecting you aren't they? They muddle up your thoughts like a spoon in pudding, I did always like pudding, a gelatinous mess, trying to slump lazily on the table, you can mould them in any direction, but I always feel bad about it. I tried to make a pudding castle once, but that only made it harder to eat…" She stared blankly over Fleur's head. Meanwhile Fleur was extremely confused, with the strangest of digressions, Luna had proved her rumoured strangeness many times over.

She seemed to return to herself, curiously reaching out a finger to Fleur, almost touching her, "They toss you in the wind, pulling you this way and that way, making you lose your sense of direction, the once gold-lined road becomes blurry and when you touch the ground again, you dizzily lunge forward, and suddenly, there are many roads," she suddenly giggled, "and you don't know where to go, but you keep moving, refusing to stop, moving means progress right? There is no time to stop or everyone else will pull ahead won't they? And when you finally pause in exhaustion, the road is gold-lined once more and there are no other paths are there?" Luna pulled out her wand and replicated Harry's fire writing trick a few days ago.

A female figure materialises before her, disorientated, running in circles before finding a road to run along as all the others disappear in the distance.

"Harry taught me this spell," she exclaimed suddenly, "well actually I helped design it, he wanted a combat spell that can float in mid-air, sectioning off areas in a duel but that is so boring," she shook her head, "Harry doesn't have wrackspurts that keep him from stopping, he creates his own monsters you see, because he is afraid of stopping more than anyone else," Luna giggled again, "Sometimes he needs to breathe."

Fleur shook her head, it seems Luna is the one who actually needs to breathe, "What does that have to do with me? I am 'following the path' not because of 'wrackspurts', but because I will die if I don't, in case you haven't realised, a Chimera," she paused, before ultimately deciding there is no harm in this child knowing, "a Chimera is a more tangible threat than any wrackspurt."

"Aha," Luna exclaimed, seemingly unsurprised, "but that isn't the path I am talking about," she started illustrating again, a girl appearing again, "you," she continued to draw, "and Harry," she punctuated that by finalising a by holding her hand.

"You are just jealous," Fleur exclaimed triumphantly, "I am the only one who has a chance…"

Luna shook her head, frustrated, "That is where you are deluded, I am a cup of chocolate pudding, and no chocolate pudding aspires to be vanilla. You have been plagued with dangerous paths, rocky paths, deceitful paths and unattainable paths your whole life, when you saw Harry's golden path it is like ice cream in a savannah wasn't it? Suddenly it became the only path, and you didn't consider how it might be the most dangerous, rock, deceitful and unattainable of them all. The wrackspurts didn't help did they? Lifting you up and twirling you around, setting you back down and suddenly there were more paths, and you needed to find Harry's once again."

"Let's say you get to the end of the path, what awaits you won't be a beaming husband of the happy father of your children, it will be a mirror, and when you gaze into it, a different person glares back. I haven't come here to confuse you; I have come here to warn you."

Fleur tried to snort derisively at that but found the sound stuck at the back of her throat, "Harry is possibly the most talented person in the world, there is something tangibly different about him. He stopped tutoring me last year not at his insistence but mine for a reason. Every time he speaks to you, he teaches you, he looks at you, you lose part of yourself and become part of him. Around him everything is stripped to their barest elements, things like love and hate become mundane, and in the world of equations, all you know is that you know nothing, and he knows everything. He is your guide, but at times, he knows as little as you do."

Luna stares at her seriously, "They say that if you gaze into the abyss long enough, the abyss gazes into you, well around Harry you know the abyss isn't real, the only thing that is real is himself, and he gazes into you with more intensity than the abyss ever could. You lose your identity around him, when personality traits could be broken down to environmental causes and genetics, he sees no one as special, not even himself. But for you? He is the only thing that is special, and when you see yourself becoming more like him day after day, you react, clinging to those last strands of identity with all your might."

She smiled humourlessly, "I am not as smart as Harry, but I can observe more, and far deeper than he can. Cedric and Sirius are so polygamous because that is the exact opposite of him, Stephanie has become more and more moral and more and more feminine because he is not. By striving to be different, they lose what makes them unique. Archades is less affected, as he can claim to be even more accomplished in some areas than Harry – even shielding Stephanie in some ways, but he has become less unique as well. As much as Harry dislikes Stephanie because of her influence on his friend, he has been almost as much of a factor. Archades lets other tread on him as much because Harry wouldn't, as due to his childhood trauma."

She shook her head once again, sending strands of gold twine flying in a halo, "You are too deep in your path to be swayed, I know that now, the horizon is very near, strive for it, but remember, you can be his moral compass, you can see the human side that he cannot, you can be unique without being different. Don't lose that."

Fleur stared at the girl, speechless.

Luna fiddled with her necklace, "You know, neckless is such a strange word, wearing one doesn't make your neck any less of a neck, if anything, it reinforces your neck, it conceals the otherwise exposed spot."

Suffering from slight whiplash, Fleur could only stare.

"Ah, I see the wrackspurts are back," and she daintily skipped away.

Staring at the retreating Luna's back, Fleur could only think one thing. Wasn't necklace spelt with -lace not -less?

XXXX

A frustrated Viktor Krum was in the library, searching for a book about codes – the High Master had been too busy to aid him for a few days, delegating the task of continuing to work out the code to him. The progress the duo had made was discovering the extremely underwhelming word 'Cipher', not that it was of much help, neither of the two were well versed in codes at all as security spells had prevented them from being used in the wizarding world.

He was skimming through a book unambiguously named 'Codes', when he heard rather rapid conversation on the other side of the bookcase, from where he took the book. His curiosity piqued, he turned towards the source of the sound, recognizing the sound of his girlfriend's voice as she talked to the red-haired boy and his youngest competitor.

"Neville, how many times do I need to say this? I will never forgive you for dying because of your laziness, so get to work already!" She sounded frustrated, and for good reason if the topic of discussion is any indication. "You have mastered the summoning spell right?"

"Of course Hermione, you saw that awesome spell work in the first task right?" It was fairly impressive, she had to admit, the difficultly of a summoning spell is based on the distance between the summoner and the object, or so her textbooks told her. The distance from the forest to the castle is quite large, and beyond what is usually expected.

"Well we can employ a similar strategy here," she exclaimed, ignoring the embarrassed blush on her face, something Krum found looked quite flattering on her, "It should be able to hide you from all three heads, that is great!" Three heads? The only creature Krum knew that had three heads is the Cerberus, and that is because there is one guarding their school.

"Didn't work last time," he muttered under his breath, though clearly still audible.

"What was that?" She questioned rhetorically, "That is because you didn't learn the scent masking and silencing charms, hey!" An idea had come to her, "You can try and nail the lion head with it!"

Neville nodded in a non-committal manner, clearly unpleased at the extra spells he would need to learn, but unwilling to dispute their possible usefulness.

"Stop talking so loudly Hermione," he suddenly realised the relatively public space they were in, before sighing relief, having missed Krum, thinking they were not overheard, "Moody said we should be discrete when we talk. Constant vigilance and all that. Do you know any?"

Krum tuned out the conversation as a happy smile spread on his face. High Master Karkaroff will surely know what creature they were talking about.

XXX

The word 'Chimera' bounced within the confines of Krum's skull, pushing him past the point where he would have otherwise given up. The effects were painted across his body and clothes, in sweat primarily, though splatters of gore and swipes of dirt mixed up the canvas a little. His wand was held directly in front of him, shakily clutched in his palm, aimed at his adversary – a transfigured lion.

"Bravo Victor, much better!" High Master Karkaroff accompanied him, transfiguring various animals.

Spurred on, a blasting curse careened out of his wand, blasting – as the name of the spell of indicates – the lion into a shower of viscera.

When he delivered the information, Karkaroff's face tightened in shock, something that surprised the young man, having never seen the man so disturbed before. From betwixt his lips, the word, 'Chimera' echoed out like an executioner's axe.

Chimeras are renowned for their resistance to magic of almost any sort, potions had little effect on them, and spells were even less effective, runes work – but not in many meaningful manners, especially not for Krum, and all but the most expertly done transfigurations collapse when encountering them. Krum is skilled in transfiguration, but not prodigious, and didn't have the tenacity for any of the other tentative ideas posed by his teacher.

He is a blunt hammer, and Chimeras are the antithesis of blunt hammers.

They had eventually and reluctantly devised a strategy – instead of sharpening the edge of his hammer, they would increase the weight behind it. The spell he had just cast, whilst easily exploding the meat puppet transfigured, would at most make the Chimera stumble.

He gritted his teeth, almost tasting the coppery tang of his bleeding gums.

He had a week to improve, that would be enough, it would have to be enough.

XXX

Fleur had some issues. Quite many of them in fact, Harry's avoidance, or general apathy towards her has been bothering her for months. Annoyance, anger and disappointment are emotions, and emotions she could deal with, she was well versed in using them to get others to leave her alone. Apathy is not something she had ever dealt with before, when people avoided her, it was a demonstration of how much they did care, to adjust their schedule, to inconvenience themselves for her sake is quite a compliment. Harry had not gotten out of his way for her, in any way lately. It stung to be considered as low priority, or, even worse, to not be considered at all. Compounded by Luna's earlier speech/rant, she was quite confused.

An issue that required more immediate attention is the tournament, after all she can't address the other issues without being alive to see them through, can she?

A Chimera… it could have been worse, something like a hydra is what popped into her mind first, as unrealistic as that would be, however a Chimera is still not quite ideal.

Most magical attacks would just fail against it, though thankfully she isn't limited to them. Veela are magical creatures, if humans are streams, a conduit of magic, using the iotas that pass through them, magical creatures are like reservoirs, accumulating magic over time. Just as some wizards have inclinations towards transfiguration or charms, Veela as a species have a predilection towards both fire- and water-based magic, as contradictory as it is… apparently it has something to do with their ancestry.

Either way the extra kick in those types of spells should give her an edge over her more limited competition.

Of course she couldn't rely on either drowning or burning the Chimera, just because her magic will have an effect, doesn't mean it will be an effective effect.

She didn't have Harry's skill on a broom to reliably dodge its attacks, not even considering the extreme area of effect from the lion. Luckily for her, Veela were all extremely agile and flexible, well for a humanoid creature anyways, hollow bones do actually reduce their body weight, unlike in birds, as well as fulfilling their avian purpose of extending their respiratory system. Longer legs are not there for aesthetics either, it elevates their centre of mass giving them more control over bipedal movement.

A few Veela fanatics use their biology as proof of Veela superiority over humans, though no one listens to those nut heads – however there is certainly truth in their more well adapted physiology.

There is still the issue of the lion's roar… she would have to think of something.

She grasped at her wand, twirling it around, conjuring a chain. Practice may not make perfect, but it certainly made better, and all she needed is better.

Hopefully all this is unnecessary and she can just roast it, but somehow she doubted that.

XXXX

It is the day before the task and Cedric is panicking.

"Why the fuck does it matter whether I flick the quill up or down?" He had gotten semi competent at the adjusted silencing ward, something that filled him with artificial confidence and set him up for the resounding failure of every other ward. Who flicks a quill anyways? It isn't a paintbrush!

"Cedric, I know you are too idiotic to understand this, but I am not teaching you wards, I am teaching you a ward. One ward. Not the subject. Asking questions like this wastes both of our times, if you really want to know, bother a teacher after the task. Understanding why it works doesn't help you make it word." It was times like these that made Harry seriously consider leaving Cedric to fend for himself, it isn't like these wards are even that hard! The fire repelling one is something he taught Luna in an hour before letting her work on a fire-based spell. It was made abundantly clear over the past week that wards, or anything too technical, are not Cedric's forte.

"You know what? For some reason I am not willing to let you die in the task, and as much as it conflicts me, I am going to do this, pass me a parchment," he ordered the boy.

Immediately after receiving the aforementioned parchment, he started scribbling some symbols on it before conjuring a blackboard, writing a few equations that Cedric could not begin to try and understand. Ten minutes later he vanished the board and began delicately inscribing a rune on the parchment, before handing it to befuddled boy.

"There, you have a solution, place this on the ground and cast a stunner at it, well actually any spell with inherent kinetic energy, but a stunner is the easiest to aim, it will transfer that energy into electrical energy and seek out the nearest organism with bio-electricity – you have no idea how hard that part was to make, god damn electrons really don't want to do that, basically disabling its nervous system for… well with the average stunner, about ten minutes, meaning it can't move at all. Make sure you are further away from the rune than the Chimera is, or it will get you instead and that won't be nice," Cedric shuddered at that.

He could see one problem though, "What about insects?"

Harry thought about that for a second, "Better stick it on the Chimera then, there is a chance that it will just fry the insect and arc towards the Chimera, but no need to take chances."

"Right now that I have solved it for you, I am going to go and… I will do literally anything else, toddles."

As the doors to the kitchen closed shut, Cedric stared at the rune in front of him with conflicting emotions.

Was an entire week's worth of work discarded just like that? He should be elated at being given a deus-ex-machina, but for some reason his guts spiked up at the thought of using it.

He entered the tournament to prove himself, to prove the House of Hufflepuffs, it wasn't to prove how Harry had a gold touch. He wanted to prove, to himself, that he isn't defined by his relationship with Harry, choosing him as an advisor wore down that resolve on its own. He wanted to be more than a side-character in Harry's story, he thought that being selected as champion would facilitate that, but in the end, Harry is a better champion than he is without even trying.

He gave the rune lying on the table one last look before carefully putting it in his pocket, then turned to the book on the table, and began writing with renewed enthusiasm.

XXXX

The morning of the second task was a bright, sunny day. A short way from the Quidditch pitch, was a flat field with rocks covering a part of its surface. Behind sound and flame repelling wards were the thirty meter tall stands that housed students and teachers from all three schools, along with ministry officials from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. A short way from the field was a bright yellow tent where the champions and their advisors could be found, waiting for their head of their schools, and game organizers to arrive.

The champions were shifting in their seats, a few twitching towards their wands or pockets, the sounds outside making them feel naked and vulnerable. Having all grown up in a magical family, they were all aware of the power and intrigue the creature had. Of course the research on the animal over the past weeks/months amplified that, but the childish wonder towards the creature massively eclipsed that.

The advisors, with the exception of Moody and Harry, were little better. They had helped their champions prepare, and almost unanimously wished they had more time. Maxime was perhaps worst off in the advisor's sector, unable to help Fleur as much as she had wished to, and ironically having the greatest emotional attachment to their champion. Even Harry was quiet, not out of concern for Cedric, worrying is a useless mindset after all, and he had utmost faith in his rune. What he did not have confidence in is Cedric's willingness to use the tool given to him. He did see the conflict across his face when the rune was provided, in more ways this would be more of an internal conflict than one against the Chimera for his champion, not that Cedric would see it that way.

Moody was actually rather surprised at how willing Neville had been to learn, completely uncharacteristic. Perhaps he had some humility beaten into him over the past months, or, and more likely, his self-preservation skills, as atrophied as they had become, finally kicked in and gave the boy some inspiration.

Karkaroff knew his Krum had trained as hard has was possible for the task, but also is aware he is at a disadvantage. His life isn't at risk here, Krum's broom skills are almost unsurpassed, at that he glanced at a fellow advisor in disdain and is therefore confident in his ability to stay alive. Correspondingly, he was having the shortest introspection period in the room.

A sudden sound drew the attention of everyone in the room, and with a flourish, the flap of the tent opened, and the tournament organizers entered with the Heads of the three schools – well only Dumbledore actually, considering the other two were advisors and those were already seated, if no comfortably, but inside.

"Good morning to you all! The morning of the second task is upon us," said a Bagman bouncing on the balls his feet. "Has everyone managed to decipher their puzzles?" A resounding yes of varying honestly came from all the champions in the tent, most having pilfered the answer from someone else, "Excellent! As we haven't told you this in the puzzle, your job is to collect a hair from the Lions mane, a part of the Goats horn, and the scale of the Dragon. As Miss Delacour is the current point leader, she will face the Chimera first. Your points are as follows: Miss Delacour with forty-one points, Mister Diggory with forty points, Mister Krum with thirty-five points, and in last place Mister Longbottom with thirty-one points. You will be going in this order. Good luck everyone!" With a big grin, he left the tent with a pale and sweating Fleur Delacour.

The preparation era had finally resigned, long live the reign of anticipation.

XXXX

For the promised change list:

Harry doesn't hate promiscuity as much as the original, because we don't hate it as much as the original author, it makes a convenient excuse for him when people ask him why he doesn't date though.

He doesn't like Stephanie as much.

Archades' behaviour is explained more (hopefully everyone who complained about it is satisfied with the rant Stephanie got a few chapters ago).

Harry doesn't have the elder wand because we thought that contradicted the themes.

He didn't piece his ears.

His tattoos are more like make-up than tattoos.

The magic system is elaborated on a lot more, not sure how much more I can say about that here.

Flint was set-up, in a sense, it wasn't completely his own idea.