Chapter 49

Harry stared at the man blinking. There was no possible way he could be the Hogwarts Champion he wanted nothing to do with this tournament. So, in puzzlement and thinking he was being pranked he asked, "What?"

Flitwick blustered, "This is outrageous."

"Finally, someone from the Hogwarts contingent speaking sense. The boy is clearly a cheat and has cost Hogwarts its chance at winning the tournament." The Headmaster of Durmstrang announced.

This caused an eruption of jeers, and shouts from the Hufflepuff contingent and even some from the other houses. Flitwick however practically screamed at the man in rage, "You accuse my apprentice of being a cheater, and I will place the accusations of a Death Eater aside where they belong in the trash."

Many people laughed at this, and the man turned red with anger clearly thinking about going for his wand, and Flitwick added as he pointed his wand blindingly fast at the man, "Do it I beg you."

Harry eyed the man in thanks for sticking up for him, and most of the crowd was shouting the typical teenage ooooh's and ahhhh's. Dumbledore stopped a fight from breaking out however saying, "This isn't helping Filius. Mr. Potter I would like you to join the other two champions in the Atrium down below while we attempt to sort this out."

Flitwick however shook his head, "Harry and I will investigate this matter personally before we allow the DMLE to contaminate this scene."

Flitwick pushed between Dumbledore and Karkaroff as he approached the Goblet of Fire with his wand out, and Harry right behind him following his master's instructions. The Headmistress from Beauxbatons said, "What are you going to do? Curse an ancient magical artifact?"

Harry and Flitwick however ignored the woman as they both began running diagnostic charms in an attempt to discover foul play, and what Harry found instantly surprised him. The same magical aura that had surrounded Moody now entrenched itself firmly on the Goblet. It was clear to Harry immediately that something was not right here, and that for whatever reason Moody had confounded the Goblet of Fire.

Filius looked at his apprentice in surprise, "You found something."

Harry's eyes flitted across the room, and saw Moody staring right at him. Trying to ignore the gaze he continued surveying the room, and found Mr. Crouch, "Mr. Crouch what are the consequences of me not participating in this tournament."

Karkaroff spat, "The boy wants to act like it isn't his great desire to compete."

Harry spat back quickly however, "Only an idiot would want to compete in this tournament. Do you not know who I am? I am an Heir to one of the wealthiest families in the world, why the hell would I put myself at risk for a thousand galleons. In case you haven't noticed I am the Boy-Who-Lived, and an international Dueling Champion, what in Merlin's name would I need more fame for? This tournament is suicide, and I wanted no part of it, and anyone in the house of Hufflepuff could tell you that, because we convinced everyone in my house not to participate. Now Mr. Crouch my question."

The man straightened up, "The Goblet of Fire institutes a magically binding contract. To not give your absolute best would see a forfeit of the contest, and your magic."

This caused the loudest eruption from Hufflepuff yet, and Harry sighed, "What if we destroyed the goblet? Would that allow the schools to pick their own champions?"

Many people looked ready to protest this as an option, but Crouch shot it down real fast, "The contract has already been accepted by the laws of magic itself. The destruction of the artifact would have no real bearing on this tournament."

Harry put his face in one hand and decided what had to be done first and foremost. He put his hand down and looked to his Master who seemed very curious to know what was going through his head, and Harry opened his mind and nodded at the man. He felt the Legillmens probe hit him, and he immediately showed the Professor his suspicions, and that was all Flitwick needed to see as he broke the connection. Almost everyone had missed the byplay, but not Dumbledore.

Harry looked to the Headmaster, "Sir I swear to you I didn't put my name in the goblet or make any sort of arrangement to have it done for me. Do you trust me?"

Dumbledore stared at the boy, and only a moment passed before he nodded his head, "I do my boy."

Harry swept his eyes to find the smirking Draco Malfoy, and Harry knew that Voldemort had struck again with the use of his servant. The only thing left to do is to go down and face the music away from Voldemort so he wouldn't see what happened next.

"What is there left to do Headmaster?"

"Go join the other champions. Myself, and others will be down shortly to discuss the first task, and what happens next."

Harry nodded, and looked at his friends. They were all sitting together at one table, and he smiled at them reassuringly. Hannah and Susan looked at him desperately to do something, and thankfully Darrel came to his side placing a hand on his shoulder, "Come on let's go downstairs."

Agreeing with the young man he started to follow him, but Neville stood up in his friend group and shouted, "Let's hear it for the Hogwarts Champion."

This caused a roar of approval, and all the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were on their feet applauding. Harry held his hand out in appreciation waving at his friends, but then Rosalie and Jack started something that warmed Harry's heart. They rose their wands in the air and caused a dim light to appear. The next to raise their wands were Hannah, Susan, Cedric, and Heidi. More followed, and more followed, and suddenly over half the hall was standing with lit wands. Professor Flitwick followed the motion, the marauders, and many of the other staff members at Hogwarts. The Goblet of Fire may have been tampered with, but Hogwarts had chosen its champion. The sign of allegiance in the Wizarding world, and Hogwarts showed who they were going to stand with.

Harry turned trying not to let the crowd see the tears that threatened to spill out from his eyes, and he followed Darrel with a smile.

Arriving downstairs Krum was the first to stand up, "Vat is going on it has been almost an hour, and ve have received no vord."

Darrel spoke to two, "It seems that Goblet of Fire has been confounded. Harry was selected as champion."

"This boy?" Krum asked incredulously.

Before Darrel could retort Fleur sighed, "Might as well just go home then."

Viktor Krum looked even more incredulous now at the French Champion, "Vat?"

"He is one the most powerful duelists I have ever encountered. He defeated moi at the European Championships, and made it look easy."

Harry grinned at the girl, "You were quite impressive Madame Delacour, and I am honored to compete with you once again."

This caused the girl to smile brightly, and Krum just continued to shake his head, "I still don't understand how did this happen?"

At this point Karkaroff reappeared with the Ministry representatives, Crouch and Bagman, along with the Marauders, the heads of house, and the Beauxbatons Headmistress arrived downstairs.

"Come Viktor this competition suddenly reeks with cheating Englishman." The man motioned for his student, and the French Headmistress did the same.

When Harry saw Moody bringing up the rear however he said, "Wait."

All eyes went to him, and he said, "Don't you want to know how this happened?"

They all stared at him puzzled, even the Marauders, but Harry saw the wand drop into Flitwicks hand, "When my Master and I began inspecting the Goblet of Fire we both detected a magical presence familiar to us. At first I thought that I was mistaken, and that it wasn't possible, but then I really began thinking about it, and it all made sense."

Harry strode across the room with dozens of confused eyes on him. Suddenly he had a clear shot at Moody though who looked completely impassive. Harry merely spoke simple words without turning to his Master; he sighed taking a deep breath, "Let's take him."

Flitwick nodded, and spun around attempting to stun Moody, but the man was fast and already had a shield up, but Harry had his wand out as Dumbledore pushed everyone away from the middle of the room with his wand. and the two had him down before anything could get out of hand. There were shouts of indignation immediately about the young man losing his mind and attacking another professor, but Dumbledore merely asked, "Harry are you sure?"

Harry nodded, "I have suspected something was off with Moody since he came here. His magical aura has changed, and I knew that was very odd considering how old he was. Master Flitwick and I suspected it could be interfered with because he has so many magical artifacts on his body including his eye, but when I examined the goblet, I felt the confundus charm, and knew that Moody was behind it."

Lily Potter was standing before the man summoning each of the items from his various coat pockets and opened the first flask she got her hands on. Taking a brief sniff, she announced, "Poly juice potion."

Grinning triumphantly Harry looked at Karkaroff, "Still thinking I'm a cheater Highmaster?"

The man looked put out, but now people were gathering around the impostor. Harry spoke to his mom, "Can you do it?"

She nodded her head, "Yes it will be my pleasure."

With this she twirled her wand murmuring a spell of her own invention, "Reverte Ejectum."

The man let out a scream of pain as his body began to revert back to its natural form, and a disgusting liquid came out of his mouth. Some thought it was vomit, but Harry knew it was Polyjuice. The spell his mom was using was something to remove potions from someone who could have overdosed or took an addiction. This spell was created by her and meant to help people no matter how unpleasant it was, but Polyjuice being as thick as it was made it particularly uncomfortable.

Looking at the man before him Harry had no idea who he was but James gasped, "Barty Crouch Jr…"

Faster than Harry was processing Sirius and Remus turned on Crouch Sr and had him stunned and bound in seconds. Karkaroff looked pale as he realized who the man was as well and knew that his life could have been forfeit if he had to spend any amount of time around the psychopath that was just unveiled.

Lily Potter turned to Professor Slughorn, "Professor do you still keep veritaserum on you?"

The man nodded absolutely dumbfounded at the turn of events and handed a small vial to his former favorite student. Dumbledore watched the whole scene with narrowed eyes clearly trying to piece the whole thing together. Dumbledore stepped forward, "Are you Alastor Moody?"

"No."

"Where is he?"

"Here."

Dumbledore swore and Harry recoiled having never seen the man so agitated, "Is he alive?"

"Yes."

"Is he in this castle?"

"Yes."

"Is he in your office?"

"Yes."

Dumbledore turned to Remus and Sirius barking out, "Go to Alastor. Quickly."

The two men immediately scrambled out of the room. Harry had never seen Dumbledore so agitated, "James get the aurors."

Prongs took his wand out and flicked a patronus charm out rapidly talking to it in some kind of code that he had with his boss Amelia Bones. Dumbledore asked, "Did Voldemort send you here?"

"Yes."

"Is he here for the Potter boy?"

"Yes."

Gasped led to this, but Dumbledore knew he didn't have long, "Did Voldemort interfere with any of the tasks of this tournament?"

"No."

Dumbledore sighed in relief, "Did Voldemort tell you to place Harry Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"Yes." This caused shouts of outrage, and Harry realized that at some point Igor Karkaroff had left the room.

Dumbledore looked at James and the man stepped forward asking, "Do you know the location of Potter Manor?"

"No."

"Were you going to harm my son Harry Potter?"

"No."

"Were you trying to harm any of my children?"

"No."

"What was your purpose here?"

"To infiltrate Hogwarts and make sure Potter wins."

"Why?"

"The Dark Lord wants him."

"Why?"

The man seemed to be screaming to fight back his retort, "It is foretold. Prophecy!"

James swore, and stunned the man to the ground hard, "We aren't going to get any more information out of him."

Harry shook his head, "You could've at least let me try legilimency on him."

James gave his son a look indicating that now was not the time. Dumbledore however merely shook his head, "What a mess."

Amelia Bones arrived very shortly after the silence overtook the room as people processed what the hell had been going on and of course that was the woman's first question when she saw Barty Crouch Jr and Sr stunned on the floor. Dumbledore quickly filled the woman in on what had happened so far, and she stayed silent with Tonks and Kinglsey who were taking in all the information.

When all the prevalent information had been passed, she turned to Harry, "Well I guess congratulations are in order Harry."

Harry smiled at the woman that his girlfriend cared so much about, "Hard to call it a silver lining to be stuck in this tournament, but it could've been a lot worse."

The woman nodded at that, "I will take both of these idiots to Azkaban and will be filling in for the remainder of the tournament to keep things running smoothly, and to keep an eye on potential Death Eater activity. All this happened so shortly after the Quidditch World Cup."

Fleur and Viktor were watching the scene clearly bewildered and overwhelmed. Dumbledore spoke next, "I need to take this news to the ICW. They will want to be informed that such a prestigious International event was tampered with. Mr. Krum I am thinking your Headmaster needed some air, and I believe if you were to find him this evening to inform him that we will be taking every defensive caution to keep Hogwarts safe for its guests and champions. Now Mr. Bagman can you perhaps go over what is coming for the tournament."

Bagman who looked completely lost without his counterpart spoke quickly, "Yes well the first task is going to take place on November 24th, and it is designed to test a champions nerve, skill, and courage."

Harry asked, "So you're going to tell us nothing I am guessing."

"Right in one dear boy!" Bagman exclaimed trying to sound upbeat.

Harry snorted and muttered, "typical", causing his dad to smack him the back of the head playfully, and 'Harry to grin. Dumbledore spoke again, "I think it best that everyone goes back to their places of rest to think on this startling turn of events. Champions congratulations. Go enjoy the parties I am sure your classmates will be holding for you in their respective places."

Fleur and Madame Maxime were the first to depart talking in rapid French, while Viktor followed awkwardly behind wondering where his Headmaster had gone off to. Harry traded hugs and congratulations 'with his family and promised they could have a meeting tomorrow. Flitwick however waited to speak with Harry last, and said that he would escort Harry back to his common room.

When the two were alone Flitwick spoke softly, "Are you afraid?"

Harry stared ahead as they walked, "No sir. Anxious, but not afraid."

The man nodded, "Good, because if my apprentice intends to compete, then I will intend for him to win."

Harry stopped at this and smiled at the man, "Thank you Master Flitwick. For everything. It has been a hell of a roller coaster tonight, but still an adventure. I don't say how appreciative I am enough, and I want it to be clear that I am. For your training, guidance, and adventures we are pushed towards together. Thank you."

Flitwick gave the boy a smile and Harry went down and gave the man a tight hug. When the two separated the half goblin wiped a tear away, "Go celebrate with your friends Harry. We will begin the unraveling of the rest of our mysteries and questions tomorrow evening. 8 o'clock. You made me very proud tonight in the Room of Requirements. Hold your head up high my young apprentice, you deserve to be Hogwarts Champion."

Harry bowed to the man, and the half goblin bowed back. Harry then turned to the large assortment of barrels that led to the entrance to the Hufflepuff common rooms and picked the right one allowing him entrance. He couldn't see the smile on the head of Ravenclaws face when the cheering poured through the night at his appearance.

{A/N} Appreciate all the reviews in the last chapter, and looking forward to more feedback in the coming days. Stay tuned and stay safe my friends.