Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Eighty-Eight

The Next Day

Harry felt very uncomfortable as he sat down at the Gryffindor table the morning after becoming a champion. He could feel the glares from the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff tables, the Slytherins were also glaring at him, but he was use to that. Harry was sure that he wasn't going to be liked very well any time soon, and he hated that. If it had been something that he actually did, he might not have minded as much, but, just like when he was a baby, Harry's world was crediting him for something he had no control over.

"Hey Potter," someone called from behind him and he turned around with an annoyed expression before he realized it was Cedric. "Er … I mean Harry."

"Hey," Harry said raising an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to say sorry about yesterday," Cedric said. "And to let you know you have a very good friend in Hufflepuff."

"Neville stood up for me," Harry smiled; he wasn't surprised his friend would do that.

"Yeah," Cedric smiled. "He would have fought our whole house if he had to. Good luck in the tournament, Harry."

"You too," Harry said, holding his hand out to Cedric and they shook hands.

The murmuring in the Great Hall after what had just taken place between Harry and Cedric filled the room. Harry could detect a change in the looks that he was getting and he was grateful to the Hufflepuff for making this public show of acceptance.

"If he's going to act like that, I'm not going to be able to hate him anymore," Ron said, his eyes on Cedric. Ron still held a grudge about what happened during last year's Quidditch match.

"You shouldn't hate him, Ron," Hermione pointed out. After Ron had stormed out of the Great Hall last night she feared what might happen between Ron and Harry. She had been pleasantly surprised this morning when the boys had come down the stairs from their dormitory joking around like normal. She noted how mature Ron had become as he was able to control the jealousy that she knew he had felt the moment Harry's name had been called. It couldn't have been easy for him to be overshadowed by Harry again, especially after he had accomplished something so incredible, and still he was able to overcome it and see the truth.

"Yeah, well, with Harry and Diggory competing against each other, it's sort of my job not to like him," Ron shrugged.

"It's not like we want Harry to win … we just want him to survive the tournament," Hermione said.

"Well that's a happy thought," Harry muttered, "thanks Hermione."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said biting her lip, "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried."

"Yeah I'm …"

"Oh crap!" Ron hissed before Harry could say more and he got up.

"Ron, where are you going?" Hermione asked, looking worried as Ron left the room

"It's the post," Harry explained, "He's sure he's going to be getting a Howler from his mum. You know, because he had entered the tournament."

"Well, he can't out run a Howler," Hermione said.

"No, but he can get out of the Great Hall where all the other students will hear it," Harry explained as his eyes landed on a red thing soaring around among the owls and the letters they were holding. "It looks like he was right to run."

"Damn, and here I was hoping to hear what Mum shouted," George sighed as he sat next to Harry. "So how's our champion holding up?"

"Not so well," Harry sighed. "I told Padfoot and Moony last night what happened … I wouldn't be surprised is Snuffles comes back this year. Luckily they believed me when I said that I hadn't entered the tournament though … so, I might not be grounded when I get back home this year, at least not for that."

"Do you know what you'll have to do for the first task?" Fred asked and Harry shook his head. "Well, you know we'll help you if you need it."

"You're being oddly serious," Harry noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Just making sure you know that before we start goofing off again," Fred shrugged.

"Yeah, we're just worried about our ickle Harrikins," George added, rubbing Harry's head and messing up his hair (though it didn't make that much of a difference).

Harry moved away from George, glaring at him, "lay off the hair man."

This caused them all to laugh.

O

"Dumbledore! What the hell happened?" Sirius demanded. "I thought it was impossible to get pass your protection!"

"It seems that I was wrong about that," Dumbledore sighed. "In more ways than one, but at last what has happened to Harry is very disconcerting."

"Disconcerting!" Sirius growled.

"Calm down," Remus said putting his hand on his friend's shoulder to keep him in his seat. "Dumbledore please … how did Harry's name come out of the goblet?"

"Alstor's theory seems to be very likely," Dumbledore said and then went on to explain what that theory was. "Someone had confused the goblet into believing that there were four schools that compete in this tournament."

"How is that even possible," Remus grimaced. "The goblet has a lot of magically protection on it that prevents it from being tampered with. It wasn't just your protection that the person would have to get past."

"I fear that any protection that I had put surrounding the goblet would not have helped at all to prevent what has happened," Dumbledore sighed, almost looking his age. "As Ronald Weasley has shown me, there have been a few gaps in …"

"Ron?" Sirius interrupted. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"He was able to come up with an ingenious way to get past my age line along with the other protections I had used," Dumbledore said.

"Did he become a champion, too?" Remus asked, in awe and yet worried about Harry's best friend.

"No, Cedric Diggory is Hogwarts's champion," Dumbledore answered. "As I was saying, Ronald Weasley had shown me that I had not thought of everything … I fear I should have thought of something more to stop Harry's name from being entered in any way."

"You can not foresee everything," Remus said.

"After hearing about Harry's dream … I should have foreseen this," Dumbledore sighed grimly. "I can no longer do anything about Harry being in the tournament now, but we can do things to try to figure out what has happened."

"What are you planning?" Sirius wondered.

"I don't believe I have gotten to planning yet, but there are a few things that I know," Dumbledore said. "For one, it would be good if we find out who put Harry's name into the goblet."

"How many suspects do you have?" Sirius asked, going into his Auror mode, as opposed to worried parent mode.

"Are you asking how many people are capable of confounding the goblet, or, out of those people, how many people I think might have done it," Dumbledore asked, already knowing how Sirius was going to respond to that.

"Capable of doing it," Sirius said. "I know better than anyone, even the people you're closest to can betray you."

"Then there are about ten people, including myself," Dumbledore sighed. "I will give you the list of people before you leave. But we have more things to discuss first."

"Er … are we going to discuss them now?" Sirius asked after Dumbledore paused for a few minutes.

"Yes, I'm just not use to sharing this particular type of information," Dumbledore said.

Remus and Sirius shared a look and then Remus said, "Does this have something to do with a Horcrux?"

"I believe it does," Dumbledore said. He had not been sure if he should have shared this information, being use to acting alone when it came to Horcruxes. However, it was just over a year ago that he had discovered a Horcrux in Sirius's home and he had to tell the two before him about all of this. He reminded himself that now that they knew, it would not hurt to have them involved. Riddle was a devious man, and it was a good idea to have a second (and third) pair of eyes to help him. After all, he had been shown just the day before that he could not see everything.

"When I went to Little Hangleton to see if Harry's dream had been real, I sensed powerful protection charms nearby," Dumbledore continued.

"Was Voldemort there …?" Sirius started to ask, but Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, or at least the protection charms that I sense had not been recently put up," Dumbledore said. "They were very old … years … decades even. No, I'm sure that Voldemort had put something valuable there."

"One of his Horcruxes," Remus nodded his head. "Have you investigated this?"

"At last, I have not had a chance to investigate as of yet," Dumbledore said. "It is not something I, or anyone else, should rush into. However, with things moving as they are now, I think it's prudent that we discover what is going on there."

"How do you want to handle this?" Sirius asked.

"Well, that is the trouble isn't it," Dumbledore frowned. "I would of course want to go myself. Having taught Tom Riddle, I have an understanding of his methods. However, knowing that someone inside of Hogwarts is working with Voldemort and has already made an indirect move against Harry, I do not feel comfortable leaving Hogwarts at this time."

"That … didn't answer my question," Sirius pointed out.

"Yes, I am aware of that," Dumbledore sighed and looked thoughtful as if neither of his options were good. "I'm not sure which option would be better … but we don't have much time to decide …"

"Why wouldn't we have time?" Sirius wanted to know.

"Riddle's plan is already in play," Dumbledore said. "It would be best to try to destroy as many of his Horcruxes as possible before his plan is completed," at this point he gave a heavy sigh.

"What's the matter?" Remus asked.

"Unfortunately, I still do not know how many Horcruxes Tom made," Dumbledore admitted, yet another things he had to do outside of Hogwarts. He wished that he had made his move over the summer, but he really didn't want to leave the school right now. Still, Horace would not have wanted to talk to him … would not have given him what he needed. Perhaps he could get Sirius to get that information. Horace had always wanted to collect Sirius after all, but something told Dumbledore that would not work and it would end up hurting his plan in the end.

"So if we somehow kill Voldemort, we won't know if he's dead or not?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, I'm sure we will know it when Tom is truly killed," Dumbledore said, his eyes closing as his worst theory came to the front of his mind and he wished that he was wrong (despite the recent evidence that showed that he had been right). "But it's not easy to kill Tom and to defeat him before all of his Horcruxes are destroyed would probably result in a lot of lives lost on our part without truly stopping him."

"Do you know a way of finding out how many Horcruxes he made?" Remus asked.

"Yes, I do, but it's a delicate matter that has to be handled just right," Dumbledore answered as a thought came to him. "Hm … Harry would actually be quiet capable of getting this information."

"Huh?" both Sirius and Remus said.

"What does Harry have to do with anything?" Sirius asked.

"Horace Slughorn is the key to discovering how many Horcruxes Tom has made," Dumbledore explained.

"Argh," Sirius made a face thinking of the old potions master. It wasn't like he hated Slughorn for say, it just he didn't like that Slughorn had over looked Remus because he was a werewolf.

"I can see what you mean about Harry," Remus was the one to say. "He is exactly what Slughorn would want … but how would you get the two together."

"Another question that we need to find an answer to," Dumbledore sighed. "There is so much for us to do and I'm afraid that we won't have time to finish everything."

"Well, we'll do as much as we can," Remus said and Dumbledore smiled at him as he nodded his head. "As for going to Little Hangleton, I was thinking that Harry could come home for the Christmas Holiday …"

"I'm afraid he'll have to attend the Yule ball, as champion he'll have to be in the first dance," Dumbledore said and Sirius barked out laughing.

"I'd really like to see that," he said still laughing.

Remus looked amused by that thought too, but he decided not to make a comment. "What about after the dance. There will still be time after the dance that Harry could come home."

"True," Dumbledore said, he still wouldn't want to leave Hogwarts knowing someone dangerous was in the school, but knowing that Harry would be gone (and that the boy was the one in the most danger) he thought he would be able to leave. "That would probably be acceptable."