Raylynx's POV

"How is Snuffles?" I asked Harry, as soon as Harry had pulled his head out of the fire.

Harry paused, as though thinking. That in itself made me nervous.

"He seems a bit tired," Harry said finally.

I frowned. I had sensed that, too, the last time I had seen Sirius after Lucius' threat. I bit down on my lower lip, thinking to myself.

Finally, I decided that this was something that I would have to figure out later, because for the moment, I owed it to my godson to care unconditionally for him. I asked Harry, "What did Snuffles say to you? Anything helpful?"

Harry nodded. "Loads of stuff…" His voice faded away as he remembered that Sirius had told him not to tell me about his knowing that I'd gone to Albania in search of Voldemort. For a moment, Harry wondered if Raylynx had ever not been friends with Remus and Sirius, or if she had, why she had not told Sirius about what she'd been up to in the past…

"Did he say anything about that dragon?"

"Yes. He suggested the Conjunctivis Curse, and he said to aim for the dragon's eyes."

I nodded thoughtfully. "That's a good plan. It's a bit more aggressive than I'd like, but the spell isn't too hard to master. All right. We should start practicing soon."

"Are you allowed to help me?" Harry asked me knowingly, arching his eyebrow at me.

I frowned. "No, probably not. But I will."

Harry shook his head. "No, I don't want you getting in trouble because of me."

"Besides," Harry continued firmly, talking over me when I opened my mouth to respond, "I've got Ron and -"

He paused, suddenly sober. "Hermione. I've got Hermione to help me."

"Ron will come around, Harry," I assured him. "I know it's hard. I know you need him more than ever, but Ron's dealing with his own difficulties right now. Once he does, he'll be all right again."

"Well, I don't know if I'll want him back," Harry said bitterly.

I fell silent, thinking of Marlene. I'd always butted heads with her and yet, looking back, none of the things we'd fought about had been as important as our friendship… But I remained quiet, realizing Harry's hurt.

Both of us lost in thought, we fell silent for a moment.

Then, Harry asked me, "Professor, I was wondering…"

I looked up at him, listening attentively.

"You might think this is stupid, but I was wondering if I should let Cedric know about the dragons," Harry said, a bit uncertainly. "I'm pretty sure Fleur and Viktor already know. At this rate, he'll be the only Champion who doesn't know. It seems a bit unfair to me."

"Do you think I'm being stupid?" Harry blurted out. "Giving away my advantage and all that."

I shook my head. "No, Harry, you should tell him," I agreed.

"Really?" Harry said, surprised.

"Yes," I replied firmly. "Our goal is to keep you safe, Harry. Telling Cedric won't mean that you're any less protected. In fact, it's good to have allies in this type of thing."

I thought back to the hours that Julian, Jared, and I had spent together before the final task, and how much easier it had been to prepare with them.

And Cedric's already helped Harry once, by telling me about the badges, I thought.

"Yes," I repeated. "Let Cedric know. I think your instinct here is right."

Harry gave me a small smile, relieved to hear my agreement with him. In my head, I could hear Sirius and Moody both disagreeing violently with me.

I gave Harry a smile in return. "Tomorrow at lunch break, if you can, come to my classroom with Hermione."

Harry hesitated. Not giving him a chance to reject me again, I said stubbornly, "If you don't, I'll put you in detention and get you into my classroom that way."

At this, Harry grinned. "All right," he said, giving in. "Thanks, Professor."

Barty Crouch Jr.'s POV

What's Potter doing with Diggory?

Damn it, I cursed as I realized exactly what Potter was doing, as he talked to Cedric in private. He's tipping off Diggory about the dragons.

I groaned aloud. This minimized the informational advantage I'd worked so hard to create. Trust Potter to be this stupid… Dumb kid trying to make the playing level fair. Does he really think he stands a chance against the other Champions? Your pal Diggory's a seventh-year wizard, you complete fucking pisspot.

With Potter's so-called "act of generosity," which was really an act of sheer foolishness, I realized that I needed to find yet another way to give Potter a leg-up if I wanted him to not only survive, but also win, this First Task. I needed him to get into that Maze as fast as possible. I needed him to touch the Cup first...

I made a split-second decision. Walking up to Potter, I growled, "Come with me, Potter. Diggory, off you go."

The two of them shared a quick apprehensive look before they did as I ordered.

I led Potter to my office. Walking in front of him, I made Mad-Eye's magical eye swivel back to keep my gaze half on the boy. I could see the nervousness erupting in the boy's stomach. Most likely, he thought that if I found out that Hagrid had shown him the dragons, Hagrid would get in trouble. Stupid boy, I thought again, he doesn't even know that it was my suggestion to get Hagrid to show him the dragons in the first place. As if that oaf would have thought of it himself...

"Sit," I told Potter, as I closed my office door behind us.

Potter quietly sat, looking around anxiously.

In my head, I sighed deeply. It would take all of my patience to put on this "mentoring" role for Potter, but I knew that gaining Potter's trust was necessary to carrying out the Dark Lord's plans. And I knew that to earn Potter's trust, I would need to pretend to play to his values – however worthless I thought they were and however difficult they made things for me. I'd learned this skill not from Voldemort, but from my own father, Barty Crouch Senior, who had played his way up the ranks of politicians so beautifully by this very method. Even at home, he would pretend to care about me, even though I knew full well that he had no time for me or my mother…

Shaking my head slightly, I grunted, "That was a very decent thing you just did, Potter."

Potter hesitated, a little taken aback by my response.

"So, found out about the dragons, eh?" I asked.

When Potter grimaced ever so slightly, I barked out a soft laugh and said, "It's all right. Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been."

As I told Potter this, I thought to myself about how Raylynx Kingsley had never found out that Julian Sorentis had been helped immensely by Hamish MacFarlane, the prior Head of The Department of Magical Games, who had bet a small fortune that Sorentis would win. Sorentis had never wanted such help, of course, but he'd received it, anyways, like when MacFarlane had Sorentis show up alone ten minutes before the meeting prior to the Second Task to tell him that he needed to make friends with the other contestants.

This had all worked out quite well for us Death Eaters, as we needed Raylynx Kingsley to be the last Champion to leave the House of Illusions. We needed ample time to Imperio Jared Karius and to capture Julian Sorentis before she arrived.

Everything had worked like clockwork that day – until, of course, the fledging Order of the Phoenix arrived by Aberforth's orders.

But I was determined this time that no one would be able to interrupt once Harry Potter was in the graveyard to revive the Dark Lord…

The stage was all set. My father was under a heavy Imperius Curse – cast by none other than the Dark Lord himself. Though the Dark Lord was still in his weakened state, his magic was still strong and kept my father in an Imperiused state. What was more, I had recently discovered that Ludo Bagman had gambled heavily on the last Quidditch World Cup. He'd lost an insane amount of money and was now scrambling to pay back his debts. I'd suggested to him, in passing, that he and I could work together to ensure that Harry Potter would win the TriWizard Tournament. As the underdog, Potter was surely the riskiest bet, and would pay handsome returns if Bagman were to bet on him, and Potter actually won… For this to work, however, I told Bagman that he had to tell me everything he knew about the Tournament. It worked like a charm. It was a relief to have Bagman as a source of information. I'd been relying on Raylynx Kingsley so far, but I realized now that she was sharper than I gave her credit for, and I did not want to spend too much time around her, for fear that she would realize my disguise.

Potter's indignant voice brought me back to the present moment. Potter said sharply, "I didn't cheat. It was – a sort of accident that I found out."

I grinned at him. "I wasn't accusing you, laddie. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human."

I laughed harshly. Oh, yes, after this Tournament, when the Dark Lord rises again, everyone will know that Albus Dumbledore is but a human… and a fool, at that.

"So," I said, still chuckling, "have you got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragon yet?"

"Yeah, erm – the Conjunctivis Curse," Potter offered.

"Not bad," I remarked. "But can you perform a Conjunctivis Curse?"

"Not yet, no," Potter replied, blinking a bit numbly.

"That's a N.E.W.T. level charm, boy," I told him gruffly. "Well, all right, I don't show favoritism, me. So, I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is – play to your strengths."

I knew, of course, exactly where I was going with this. Raylynx Kingsley had once let slip to me that Harry, like James, was an excellent Quidditch player. "Oh, he would've made James so proud," she'd said. I'd snorted to myself, thinking, what good is it making a dead man proud? But after thinking about the First Task for a long time, I suddenly realized that that piece of information was exactly what I needed to help Potter get past the First Task.

So when Potter ignorantly began to say, "I haven't got any - ", I immediately cut him off.

"Excuse me," I growled, "you've got strengths if I say you've got them. Think now. What are you best at?"

Potter tried to concentrate. After a moment, predictably, he said, "Quidditch."

I grinned. Ah, Raylynx Kingsley, you are a good ally, aren't you?

Potter was frowning as he continued, "And a fat lot of help- "

"That's right," I said shortly. "You're a damn good flier from what I've heard."

"Yeah, but…" Potter stared at me dumbly. "I'm not allowed a broom. I've only got my wand…"

Foolish kid, I grumbled to myself. I hid my sigh as I continued, "My second piece of general advice is to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need."

Potter looked at me, his face as blank as ever.

Merlin, I thought. This kid is hopeless.

"Come on," I whispered to him. "Put it together. It's not that difficult…"

Then, Potter's eyes lit up behind his glasses. He gave a little jolt as his mind clicked, and my eyes immediately went up and found his scar, which was suddenly revealed behind his fringe. The Dark Lord's mark, I thought to myself savagely. And to the Dark Lord you shall return, Potter...

"That's right," Potter muttered, in awe. "To pass the dragon, I've got to be in the air. For that, I need my broomstick. And for that, I need to master the Summoning Charm."

"You've got it," I said, relieved. "The Summoning Charm's a simple one. A fourth-year could do it. In fact, they teach it your year, if I'm not mistaken. Much easier than learning the Conjunctivis Curse, eh?"

"Professor Moody…" Potter said, still in awe. "Er- How do I thank you?"

"You can thank me by surviving that dragon," I told him curtly. "Now, get out of my office, and practice that Summoning Charm."

Raylynx's POV

Harry and Hermione had come racing up to my classroom after morning classes.

"Professor! Professor Kingsley!" Harry shouted excitedly, bursting into my classroom.

"What is it?" I asked, standing up at once from my desk.

"I've a new idea to get past the dragon!" Harry told me. "Well, it wasn't my idea, it was -"

I hastily waved my wand, shutting my door and putting up sound barriers at once so that Harry wouldn't be overheard.

" – Moody's!"

"What did he suggest?" I asked.

"A Summoning Charm!" Hermione explained brightly, right behind Harry. "Moody suggested that Harry use a Summoning Charm for his Firebolt, so that Harry can fly away from the dragon."

Good ol' Moody, I'll have to send him flowers, I thought to myself, amused.

I nodded approvingly at Harry and Hermione. "That's much better than going head-to-head with the dragon," I agreed.

"Of course, I have to learn the Summoning Charm first," Harry said, suddenly deflating a bit.

"I told you to pay attention a bit more in Charms," Hermione told him, sighing a little.

When Harry shot her a glare, Hermione quickly apologized, "Sorry. I'm sorry, it's just that I'm nervous!"

"You're nervous?" Harry said incredulously.

I laughed lightly. "All right, that's enough. Come on. Let's get started, then."

As Harry pulled out his wand, Hermione shot me a wary look, "But Professor, you're not supposed to help."

"Ah, well," I said sagely, "what's life without a little risk?"

After a few hours, when Harry had begun to get the hang of the Summoning Spell, I stood up and motioned for Harry and Hermione to step back a little.

"All right," I said. "I'm going to set up an Illusion Circle to give you the illusion of distance. Remember, as long as you remain focused, the distance shouldn't be a problem. But, as space tends to present itself as a natural limitation of magical reach in our minds, we should practice…"

Harry and Hermione watched me as I wrote on the floor with light, inscribing Runes into the air. Then, closing my eyes, I pushed the Runes down into the floor.

"Step inside," I told Harry, motioning towards the now-invisible Circle.

Harry, who had never taken Ancient Runes himself, looked over at Hermione. She nodded encouragingly at him.

Harry stepped inside the circle. His eyes widened as he took in the feeling of standing on a mountaintop, far, far away from the castle.

In fact, that mountaintop was inaccessible except by magic… It was the mountaintop where Pendragon resided. But Harry doesn't need to know that, I thought.

"Are you on the mountaintop?" I asked Harry.

Harry nodded, awed. "Yeah, I see snowy mountain caps all around me... I don't feel like I'm at Hogwarts anymore."

"Good," I remarked.

"Do you want to give the Summoning Spell a try?" Hermione asked Harry. "Here, I'll hold out the textbook for you, Harry." She held out the textbook that Harry had been Summoning, but of course, Harry couldn't see it anymore.

He paused. "Er - The same spell, right?"

"Yes. Visualize it in your mind. Magically speaking, it's no different than when it was right in front of you," I reminded Harry.

Harry nodded. Closing his eyes, he raised his wand and attempted the Summoning Charm.

As I expected, it took him more than a few tries to regain his confidence, but by the time my four o'clock class of third-years came around, Harry had succeeded at least a few times.

"I'll keep practicing," Harry said tiredly, slumping down for a moment against my desk.

"You've nearly got it," Hermione told him encouragingly. She, too, looked exhausted.

But then, her bright eyes caught the clock on the wall. "Oh, no!" she cried out, jumping to her feet. "I've got Arithmancy! Come on, come on, we've got to go!"

She grabbed Harry's arm and yanked him clean out of the room. I couldn't help but smile as I watched them leave.

Just before my first students came in, I waved my wand again and the Runic Circle disappeared. I hesitated, as I watched the last remnants of the Runes float away before my eyes in gold flecks curling up in the air.

When I perform this kind of magic, I always think of the King's Wand, of Pendragon, and of Sehtzer…

Why, though? I lost the King's Wand some time ago… So, why do I still feel Pendragon's magic tingling fainting in my veins?

Nobody's POV

At two o'clock on the morning of the First Task, Harry stood in the Gryffindor common room, surrounded by heaps of objects, including books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor, who was croaking in disdain at having just been forced to zoom across the common room to Harry's waiting hand.

"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, looking down at the ribbeting frog, "threaten me with a dragon. Right…"

"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione delightedly. "Now, we'd better get some sleep. You're going to need it…"

After they went to their separate dormitories, though, Harry ended up lying awake for most of the night in anticipation of the First Task.

Harry wasn't the only one lying awake. In fact, there were two lights still on in the grand castle of Hogwarts – Dumbledore's office and Raylynx's office.

Raylynx's POV

I was still poring feverishly over the Contract magic books in a last-ditch attempt to save Harry from the Tournament altogether. I knew that Moody and Sirius' advice was enough to get Harry past the dragon. Besides, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and I would all be at the Task tomorrow, ready to intervene if needed.

For me, having lived and competed in the Tournament myself, I knew that the vulnerability of a Champion was not limited to the Tasks. I was nervous about the very fact that Harry was somehow in the Tournament at all, and I knew that no one could protect Harry fully so long as he remained in the Tournament itself. Thus, I was, for all intents and purposes, trying to "break him out." Dumbledore was content to gamble Harry's safety by allowing him to participate in the Tournament, and perhaps he felt secure because of his immense abilities, but I did not feel the same security. No, this was a gamble I could not accept and yet – the book fell from my hands in despair as I realized that I was running out of time…

Contract magic is formed by the relationship, the pact, linking the two ends of the contract, or - it can be imposed through one party by two parties. The first type of relationship is voluntary. The second type of relationship is imposed. Depending on the type of relationship, the breaking of a magical contract depends on two things: 1) the strength of the the original contract and 2) the strength of the one who seeks to break the contract. If the one who seeks to break the contract is not an original party, the power required to defeat a contract is nearly impossible to achieve, for they are an outsider to the relationship for all intents and purposes...

Drawing my cloak around myself, in the dead of night, I made my way down to the Trophy Room, where the Goblet of Fire was stored away. Kneeling down besides the wooden crate, I drew it out and set the Goblet atop the trunk.

I carefully put my hand against the roughly hewn Goblet. Then, pulling out my wand, I pressed the tip of my wand against the Goblet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then, I murmured, "Evanesco."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, a burst of flame shot out of the Goblet, and the explosion set me flying back. I landed unceremoniously, all sprawled out, on the cold concrete floor.

A voice roared inside of my head, "Leave it be, child! Leave it be!"

My mind wavered. I forced myself to get up.

But the Goblet remained very much in this world, and I could sense that its strands to the Four Champions held strong.

The morning sun began to filter in through the windows. The First Task was only hours away, as was my first class of the day.

I stood there miserably. What does it matter if I stand against everything that is happening, if I am powerless to stop it?

To this day, I do not know how I managed to teach my morning classes. I did, however, have one free period just before the First Task. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I even went back up to my chambers and brought Quincy back down to my office with me, to keep me company until I had to go down for the pitch for the First Task, but as soon as I sat down at my desk, an intense wave of sleepiness crashed into me.

Quincy seemed relieved to see me. He'd been nervous when I hadn't come back at all last night. Together, the two of us fell asleep at my office desk, with him curled up and snoozing tiredly inside my hand.

"Quince," I mumbled, just before I fell asleep, "I'm a useless godmother."

Quince thumped his tail against my wrist gently, patting me soothingly to say, there, there.

I let out a soft sigh as my eyes slipped shut and my head fell onto my other arm, which was resting atop my desk...

A rough kick against the stack of books that I'd fallen asleep on jolted me awake. Quincy, who I'd brought down with me after dinner, gave a loud squeak of surprise, also jolting awake.

A gruff voice queried insinuatingly, "Do you ever teach? What does Dumbledore keep you around for, hm?"

I looked up blearily to see Moody standing before me.

"Wh- What?" I mumbled, wiping my face with my sleeve.

Moody sighed. "You're pathetic, you are. It's time for the First Task. If you care at all about your godson, you should be heading down to the grounds about now."

"Oh, Merlin!" I leapt up from my desk at once.

Moody snorted, clearly unimpressed with me.

"Come on, come on!" I said anxiously, scooping up Quincy and tugging at Moody's jacket. "Let's go!"

Moody and I made our way up to the spectator stands, taking our place where all of the other Professors were sitting. With one hand, I held Quincy. With the other, I took out my wand and gripped it tightly in my hand, already keyed-up and utterly nervous.

Professor Sinistra shot me a strange look. "Why've you got your wand out?" she asked me. "You're not the one competing."

"No," I agreed, and left it at that.

The first Champion to appear was Cedric. Cedric wasted no time in Transfiguring a rock on the ground into a dog. The dog was a wonderfully animated illusion, barking loudly at the dragon and distracting the dragon. But, as Cedric ran towards to collect the dragon's egg to end the task, the dragon suddenly changed its mind and decided it wanted Cedric instead.

We all gasped when we saw the dragon turn.

"Run, Cedric!" I shouted out. I was not alone in yelling. In fact, nearly everybody in the stands was screaming at Cedric to go.

Spurred on by our yells and the adrenaline pounding through his veins, Cedric managed to leap forward and grabbing the golden egg by his fingertips, he rolled away. At that moment, the dragon, seeing Cedric, let out an enraged roar and an all-consuming spurt of fire that was so bright that I had to look away for a moment. Quincy's eyes went quite wide as he saw the impressive amount of fire a dragon could spout. For a moment, getting quite excited, he, too, burned brightly in my hand.

"Ow, Quince," I murmured.

Quincy looked up at me guiltily before calming himself down. But he wiggled his body happily, excited for all the fire to come.

When I finally looked back into the arena, I realized that Cedric's robes had caught on fire.

Ministry witches and wizards rushed in, dousing him in water to prevent burns. Meanwhile, the dragon tamers stepped in to reel back the dragon. I could spot Charlie Weasley's ginger hair amongst them.

Roars and applause sounded out as Cedric had completed the task. And I agreed - he'd done brilliantly.

Fleur was next. She came out a bit uncertainly, but once the dragon turned to her, I saw her bravery and instinct kick in. She ran deftly, weaving across the rocky terrain with great grace.

Then, ducking under a rock, she turned around and tried to cast a variation of a sleep spell onto the dragon. It was an extremely clever spell, but I could instantly tell that it would not be quite strong enough for this dragon.

Fleur, too, recognized this immediately. She ran a bit more and then turning around, she repeated the spell again, shouting the spell fiercely.

The dragon stumbled around a little, before her eyes slowly began to slip shut.

The crowd wanted to cheer, but everyone was holding their breath, not wanting to make any sound that could wake the dragon.

Finally, the dragon slumped over. Fleur quickly climbed onto the main rock, where the eggs were. She was just reaching out to collect the golden egg when the dragon snorted, letting out a jet of flame that caught her skirt. Her skirt set ablaze at once. Fleur yelped, but keeping her cool, she managed to grab the egg before sliding down the rock. Again, Ministry witches and wizards were on hand to help her. The Beauxbaton students cheered for their Champion, impressed by Fleur's level-headedness throughout the task.

Next up was Krum. Krum took a different tactic altogether, taking advantage of his athleticism. He baited the dragon, standing atop a high rock and yelling at it to get its attention. The dragon turned to him and let out an almighty roar, but Krum knew that as long as there was no fire, he would be all right, as he was outside of the dragon's clawing range – for now.

Krum raised his wand and firmly and clearly shouted aloud the Bulgarian variation of the Conjunctivitis Curse.

Amazingly, Krum succeeded. His spell hit the dragon straight in the eye. The dragon let out a loud bellow, throwing its head back and thrashing about. Unfortunately, she was still too close to the eggs and she crushed some of the real eggs.

"No!" I heard Charlie shout out loudly. "Protect the real eggs!"

Ministry wizards and dragon tamers alike began to rush in on the scene. Dragons were an endangered species, and they needed to try to save the eggs if possible.

Krum, knowing his opportunity was now or never (because once the Ministry wizards intervened, his part in this Task (and therefore his score) would be compromised), leapt forward and raced onto the main rock. Just before the Ministry wizards and dragon tamers reached the rock with him, Krum, leaping over the dragon's foot in an amazing display of dexterity, managed to grab the golden egg. The crowd was in a total frenzy, clapping madly for him and shouting, "Krum! Krum! Krum!" Some of the Durmstrang boys and girls pounded their chests in tribute for their Champion's success.

Finally, it was Harry's turn.

Just before Harry came out, his dragon was brought out.

Quincy looked at this dragon with intense interest, for the Horntail shared his colors – black and red.

"You haven't got the claws and tail, though," I told Quincy, not really aware of what I was murmuring as my nerves were eating away at me.

Quincy looked at me rather reproachfully, but I missed his look.

A couple seats behind me, Hagrid groaned, "Good lord, he's got the Hungarian Horntail…"

Sure enough, even I could tell that this dragon was built slightly differently from the others - with slightly longer talons and more spikes running down her impressive tail.

"Merlin. This is mad," I muttered wildly, "this is mad, utterly mad!"

A moment later, Bagman announced Harry's arrival.

I saw Harry's tiny, specky figure and messy hair appear, outlined against the stadium entrance.

I held the end of my wand so tightly that it was a wonder it didn't snap. While everyone else focused on the dragon, I quickly looked over the audience, trying to make sure that no one was secretly holding a wand to curse Harry by catching him unawares…

Then, the Hungarian Horntail, upon seeing Harry, lifted her spiked tail before bringing it crashing down onto the ground, carving a yard-long gouge mark into the ground.

Quincy's jaw fell open in shock. He thumped his own tail against my palm, which I didn't even notice.

Students and staff alike gasped. The Hungarian Horntail was clearly a vicious breed, even among dragons.

Harry seemed frozen for a moment.

I heard Hermione screaming somewhere in the crowd, "Your wand, Harry! Your wand!"

Harry raised his wand high into the air. I heard him shout, "Accio Firebolt!"

I waited with bated breath, hoping desperately that his spell had succeeded.

Then – "Yes!" I screamed, far too loudly to be appropriate.

Quincy jumped clean off my hand for a moment, and Professor Sinistra clapped her hands over her ears at my piercing shriek of utter joy, as I spotted the Firebolt zooming out from the castle and towards Harry.

A relieved grin split Harry's face, but then the Hungarian Horntail hissed at him, and Harry quickly focused again.

The Firebolt came gliding down into the arena. Harry clambered onto it at once, and then, kicking off, he pushed himself into the air, milking the Firebolt's acceleration capabilities for all it was worth so that he wouldn't get caught by the Horntail.

After a minute or so of hovering safely in the air, Harry suddenly dived down in what I recognized as a diversionary tactic.

He's playing the dragon like it's Quidditch, I realized. The tiniest smile split my anxious demeanor. James would have been so proud…

The Horntail let out a sudden burst of fire, but Harry swerved quickly, narrowly but sufficiently avoiding the fire.

"Great Scott, he can fly!" Bagman yelled over the crowd's gasps "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"

Harry soared higher and began to spiral up in dizzying circles, confusing the Horntail. Then, when the Horntail opened its great jaws again, Harry dived once more.

Unfortunately, though he avoided the flames, the Horntail's tail raised up in an unpredictable manner and caught Harry in the shoulder.

"No, Harry!" I cried out, and I winced visibly when I saw the Horntail's spiked tail ripping into Harry's robes and flesh. I accidentally squeezed Quincy in my hand. His eyes goggled for a moment before I released him. Dazed, he accidentally fell into my lap.

But I had to keep my eyes on my godson. I could tell Harry was too focused to acknowledge his pain, even though blood was streaming down his shoulder. Instead, he focused on making the Horntail get up from the ground, to stop protecting her eggs, so that he could dive down and get the golden egg…

"Be patient, Harry," I whispered fervently, as Quincy hung onto my lap with his six feet. "Lure her up. Don't be hasty, now… Come on, come on, come on."

Harry did, in fact, play his cards well, swerving tantalizingly above her, rising imperceptibly higher and higher… until – the Horntail finally reared, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last - and Harry dived.

Still on his Firebolt, Harry scooped up the golden egg as though it were some bizarrely oversized Snitch.

From below, I heard Hermione screaming in celebration. Ron, too, had his fists raised in the air. My heart softened when I saw him cheering. However, I kept my gaze on the crowd once more, making sure that no one would take advantage of this moment to catch Harry off guard… My eyes met Moody's eyes. He flashed me a wide grin. I couldn't help but smile back and nod at him, relieved and impressed at Harry's victory.

"Look at that!" Bagman was shrieking. "Will you look at that? Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"

The dragon tamers rushed in once more. The entire crowd erupted into loud cheers, with the excitement of the Task overflowing in the veins of each and every student.

When Harry disappeared into Madam Pomfrey's tent, I finally let out a long breath of relief and fell back in my seat.

Quincy clambered up my robes and gave me a lick on my cheek.

I looked down at him, as he was perched on my shoulder. I shook my head once before I croaked out, "Dragons. Mad, I tell you."

Quincy nodded sagely. I could see him thinking fervently, almost lovingly - Yes, dragons.

About ten minutes later, the competitors were given their scores, but I could not care less what the scores were. I was overwhelmingly relieved and proud that Harry had simply made it past the First Task. Summoning the Firebolt was brilliant. Thank Merlin for Moody, I thought.

The only person who was wildly unhappy about the whole event was Madam Pomfrey, who was saying loudly and disgustedly, "Dragons! Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next?"

Professor McGonagall gave Poppy quite an amused, if not deeply fond, look.

I waited outside the tent. When Harry came out, he was accompanied by both Hermione and Ron. Clearly, he and Ron had made up, then. A blossom of warmth spread inside of my chest.

Thank Merlin, I thought to myself.

Not wanting to intrude upon their moment, I simply stood there. But Harry noticed me and catching my eye, he shot me a brilliant grin that, in some ways, was suspiciously akin to Sirius' grin when Sirius was pleased with himself. I blinked in surprise as I watched him walk off, with his Firebolt proudly balanced on his shoulder. He must've picked up on some of Sirius' habits from this summer. Sirius would love that...

"Raylynx?" I turned to see Professor McGonagall standing besides me. "Are you all right?"

"Quite all right," I assured her. Before I knew what I was doing, I turned around and hugged her tightly.

"Raylynx!" Professor McGonagall gasped loudly as I squeezed the breath out of her. "What are you -? Do control yourself! This is completely inappropriate."

I let her go, and Professor McGonagall, blushing heavily, furiously swiped at my cloak, not actually hitting me, but making her point quite clear that I was never to do that again.

I laughed as I dodged her incessant swipes, and then I raced up towards the castle, feeling young for the first time in a very, very long time.

Though the last thing I wanted to do was sit down and write, I knew Remus and Sirius would both be waiting for my letters. I dashed off notes to them quickly:

Snuffles,

Harry did it! He made it past the dragon and completed the first task. He's fine, except for a wound on his shoulder, but nothing that won't heal given a bit of time. He was amazing. Will write in more detail later!

Love, Lynx

I repeated the same message to Remus, except at the very end, I wrote: Will you do me a favor and check up on Snuffles? Only if you've got the time and energy, of course. I would go myself, but I can't leave Hogwarts right now. Sorry for asking, Remus. I'm just worried about him… as always.

As I sent off the letters with Artemis, my owl, I heard Harry's voice in my head: You worry about him too much, Professor Kingsley.

Do I…? I wondered vaguely. Somehow, I don't think so…

Jasper Riley's POV

Just as Tarren Krawley had promised, there was a body for sale on the black market the next day, only it was none other than Tarren Krawley's dead body.

Emmeline Vance had found him dead in his jail cell that morning.

The entire Auror Department was abuzz, wondering who it could have been, but more importantly, why someone had come after Krawley.

I, of course, knew why. It was because the transaction involving Sirius Black had failed because Sirius, ironically, with my help, had managed to escape. The clients who had bought Sirius's corpse had been beyond furious, and Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and my family, including my sister, Roslyn, had all had to cover up for themselves. Other than the anonymous clients, the only other person who had information about Sirius' capture and the deal (and who could reveal the particular details of that deal to the Ministry) was Tarren Krawley.

Of course, the Ministry had no idea that any of this had happened because I could not tell them what had occurred without effectively imprisoning my entire family for life.

Now, although I no longer maintained any relations with my family, I still wanted to protect them. For one, my family had not been cruel to me while I was growing up. Even when I became a werewolf, instead of disowning me outright, they let my uncle, Godfrey, take me under his wing so that I could still learn and be kept safe by him. I knew that my sister had felt a deep sense of betrayal from me when I replaced my last name with "Riley."

That being said, I'm not sure when my family so clearly aligned themselves with Voldemort. Yes, as one of the original Twenty-Eight pureblood lines, my family had always been obsessed with prestige and bloodlines. And given our dealings in the black market, which pre-dated the Selwyn's allegiance with Voldemort, it did seem like a natural alliance in that respect. But when our inclinations began to become twisted into justifying killing and treachery, I wasn't sure. I didn't want to know.

Damn it, I thought to myself, as I watched Shacklebolt debating with Ahmed about what to do next. They're wasting their time.

They may not know that Sirius Black is in London, but I do. That much is very clear to me now.

But how do I get to him? And without any Ministry resources?

"Hi, Jasper."

"Hello," I said dismissively, still deep in thought.

Whoever had greeted me paused, as if disappointed by my lack of response.

My instincts of pleasing and charming people kicked in, and without any real thought, I immediately looked up and flashed the newcomer a smile.

I paused when I realized it was Emmeline Vance, an Azkaban guard whom I'd now worked with several times, thanks in large part of Krawley.

"Are you all right?" Emmeline asked me, taking me a little by surprise by how astute she was.

"Yes," I said at once. But I could tell she couldn't believe me.

I suddenly remembered her offer to me from before: If you need help with anything, just let me know.

I found myself gazing after her as she left towards the docks, where the boats were to take prisoners to Azkaban. Can I trust her with something as important as this…?

After a moment, I thought, No. I can't trust anyone. Not when it comes to my identity. Not even Raylynx knew.

A pang of hurt went off inside my heart when I considered that we had both always kept secrets from each other. Both of our secrets were both in our past and yet forever ebbing into our present, it seemed. For, no matter how long I went by "Riley," I was still a Selwyn. And no matter how long ago Raylynx had loved and lost Sirius Black, she had still loved him, preferred him, after all that time...

I suddenly stopped walking.

Slowly, it came to me. If Sirius Black is in London, where would he be? Who could he trust?

Of course. As with my sister, this time too, the answer had been staring me in the face this entire time: Raylynx Kingsley.

But Dawlish and Savage already went and checked out her house, I remembered.

However, just as I thought that, a memory arose in the back of my mind of Raylynx, drawing a Runic protective boundary in the dirt at the boundary of Sehtzer's village.

"You always were good at those," I complimented her. "One of these fellows saved my life."

She laughed. "You speak as though they were pets."

I shrugged and said, "To someone as ignorant as I am, it might as well be a friendly rabbit."

And then, there was that time where Raylynx had led on me a series of adventures, involving dragons and swords and whatnot. We were staying the night at an inn. Lying together on the bed, I told her, "Well, if anyone were to find out how to access old magic, it would be you."

She replied indignantly, "What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying I use magic like an old lady?"

I smiled at her and responded, "It's a compliment, darling. You use magic in a different way than I normally see. Runic Circles and all that."

That's right, I thought grimly to myself now. Raylynx uses a different kind of magic than most witches and wizards from the United Kingdom.

With a deep sigh, and already knowing the answer, I thought to myself wryly, I'll bet that when Dawlish and Savage checked Raylynx's house for Sirius Black, they never thought to check for traces of Runic magic in her house. I let out a long sigh. As much as I hated to admit it, it looked like I knew what my next step was.

a/n: A quick note on upcoming chapters - there is some mildly explicit sex going forward. Nothing graphic, but still clearly referenced/written. I've tried some versions of the story where I've written all sex out of the story, but it didn't feel the same and ultimately, it felt like it was missing an important aspect of a relationship. I hope when you read the scenes you'll understand that it's not gratuitous and actually serves a purpose in the story, especially in terms of character development. That being said, if you are uncomfortable with scenes of a sexual nature and/or are underage, please do not read these upcoming sections! I will mark them very, very clearly. I am also going to change the rating of this story to "M" (even though at least the first 181 chapters are very not "M"). Again, to me, it feels important, but I do not want to offend or make anyone feel uncomfortable in any way. I also want to note that sex is not important in all relationships, even super romantic/intimate ones. It really depends on the individuals involved, in my opinion. In this case, the characters that I have in mind feel like people where sex would be a part of their relationship, but I don't mean for that to feel normative in any way, and I hope readers of all sexuality can feel validated through this story! :) Okay, enough on that - thanks!

to Gryffindor girl/ The Obsesser (I think from your writing style that these two comments are from the same person? If not, I sincerely apologize. Let me know and I'll reply separately): Thank you for your comments and for re-reading my story! I think on the friends' point (her friends should have been more supportive of Raylynx), I totally agree but it's tough because as a reader, you're seeing everything that Raylynx is experiencing and thinking, but Raylynx wasn't confident enough to vocalize her issues and feelings to her friends (or she simply didn't want to tell them things because it was too difficult to talk about), so her friends didn't understand how deep and complicated her emotions were. Unfortunately, I think that even in real life, that tends to happen. Often, people unintentionally dismiss or take advantage of others who are more independent and quiet because it's harder to attribute emotions to them and easier to pretend like they're fine, whereas if someone is quite loud about their feelings, you sort-of have to deal with it and respect it. I hope this story makes more introverted or independent people feel seen! But wonderfully, as they grow older, the other characters start to realize Raylynx's strengths and how she dealt with her problems to the best of her abilities at all times. Raylynx, too, realizes that she has to take responsibility for her relationships and her dignity and put herself out there when she's being taken advantage of - hence, her outbursts at Sirius once they are both part of the Order. On the Sirius point (him being scared) - yes, in my mind, genuine intimacy to someone who didn't grow up with it can be terrifying. Having feelings for someone you cannot control or who will put her or his priorities above you is also probably very scary. I think having to be honest with someone often requires being honest with yourself, and I've always imagined that for someone like Sirius, that's got to be tough because he has inherited certain behavioral impulses (like recklessness, possessiveness, and cruelty) from his family. He knows that about himself, and he hates it about himself and doesn't want to confront it. Whereas Raylynx grew up in a family where everyone around her was constantly teaching her to be better (her siblings are literally the best in what they do and very righteous and outstanding people) - that obviously makes her insecure in other ways because she has to grow up under their shadows (not unlike Regulus with Sirius, Petunia with Lily, and even Peter with the rest of the Marauders), but at the end of the day, Raylynx has a loving family and has experienced the intimacy of being genuinely loved by her parents and siblings. It's natural for her to love that way, but it's not for Sirius. So, in my head, I've always seen them as: at a flirting or casual stage, Sirius is all talk and teasing and Raylynx gets super flustered, but when it actually comes to it (expressing feelings and emotionally putting yourself on the line), Raylynx is the one who steps up and Sirius is the one who's suddenly scared. You'll see more of what I mean in future chapters, too, I hope! Finally, on your last comment - this is the sweetest and kindest comment ever, but I know for a fact this story is chock full of errors, ahaha. If I can finish this story, edit it to a bearable level of readability, and leave it on this site for fanfiction readers to enjoy however they wish - that would be enough for me a million times over!

to Momochan77: "they all have to keep it together through their own personal problems and goals" - Exactly! This is my favorite part of character and plot development - figuring out each character's motivations and why that would lead them certain places and how that all coalesces into important, if not unexpected, events and relationships. In particular, even though it's not really a romantic love triangle anymore, I love writing Raylynx, Sirius, and Jasper because they're all so intimately tied together (through Raylynx, mostly, but also Sirius and Jasper through their pureblood heritage), but they all have their own secrets and purposes that define them and that they can't compromise, even for each other. It's really sad, in a way, but I also think it keeps it interesting, because you're never quite sure when they're going to be friends/allies or when they're going to be rival/enemies, regardless of their feelings for each other. For example, you know there is potential conflict about Regulus between Raylynx and Sirius always bubbling under the surface, and you know that there is another potential well of betrayal and fighting about Sirius between Raylynx and Jasper. And between Sirius and Jasper - they ended up being accidental allies n in the last chapter, but we all know that Jasper's mission is to go after Sirius, and now, Jasper's reputation at the Ministry (after being let go by Umbridge for being a werewolf and finally being allowed back in as a proper Auror) and Jasper's protecting his family (since his sister failed to catch Sirius) all depend on his capturing Sirius... So, as you say, many ways it could all go - and all the while, of course the TriWizard Tournament is going on and Voldemort is trying to revive. Lots to keep track of, but lots of possibilities - and that's what makes it so much fun to write.