He just wanted to shout, let out a bout of explosive magical energy; destroy something as he was so angry. How could he not know that one of the inner circle members of Voldemort's followers was posing as Moody and had been in the castle for close to a year? But the biggest question of all was who subdued him.

He'd received information that Barty Crouch Junior had trouble remembering who had attacked him but he did say that it was more than one person. The aurors had even used the truth potion on him thinking he was making it all up but even after that he still said the same thing. A healer was brought in who checked his mental condition and confirmed that junior was a victim of the memory erasing spells, a couple of them actually.

There was no clue or evidence as to who had took him down but whoever that person or people were they'd done a huge service to the society but then Fudge had to happen.

Amelia was angry, so angry that no one had disturbed her that day. Fudge had come rambling into her office that morning ordering her to not make anything related to Junior public because that death eater had said things that would cause people to panic unnecessarily.

Amelia had rolled her eyes, wanting to punch Fudge right in his potato-like face but she controlled herself. She knew something like this would happen which is why she had proposed a deal with the minister of magic. The man was worried about his image more than anything so she 'advised' him to take the credit for this whole fiasco and leave what was to be done with Junior to her. She had her own plans to milk out every single piece of information that that high ranking death eater was holding and she promised herself that she would enjoy it.

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Things had been a little different at Hogwarts ever since a swarm of aurors had arrived without telling anyone what was happening. Not even the faculties and the headmaster had said anything to any of the students and Moody had surprisingly left Hogwarts stating personal reasons. With no defense faculty to teach them Dumbledore gave the position temporarily to Snape until a new defense teacher could be found starting next year.

Harry decided then and there to skip all of the remaining defense classes much to the annoyance of Hermione. He just couldn't bear Snape teaching him two times a day and deduct unnecessary points from him which Harry knew Snape enjoyed very much.

Being a champion of the tournament he was excused from those classes as he enjoyed the look of fury on Snape's face. He also decided to include Potions in the list of classes that he wanted to skip because he knew Snape would definitely come after him for skipping the defense classes.

Amidst all of this the date of the third and final challenge of the Tri Wizard Tournament was announced with another surprising piece of news – the minister of magic along with the education board had decided to end the remainder of Hogwarts' current term a little early. Fifth and seventh year students were given assurances that their OWLs and NEWTs will still take place at proper dates much to their relief so this news was taken mostly in a positive sense especially amongst the students who weren't in fifth or seventh years.

With the date of the final task moved back from when it was supposed to happen Harry was a bit nervous wondering what this challenge was going to be. All they knew was that a maze had been grown in the Quidditch ground for it but after experiencing two of the three challenges, Harry was certain that there was more to the third challenge than just a maze.

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Dumbledore didn't know how he would stop all of this from happening as he looked at the opened letter he'd just finished reading as it lay on his table. It was an official letter from the education board. He didn't know what strings Fudge had pulled but he had somehow managed to convince the education board to allow the ministry of magic to intervene into Hogwarts' affairs seeing how the school's safety had been compromised three times now.

Two years ago students were attacked and petrified and no one was caught. Last year a lycanthrope was teaching as a defense teacher and had even attacked two students and a teaching staff in his transformed state and this year a very dangerous death eater had infiltrated Hogwarts and had impersonated another person in order to see his nefarious plans succeed.

With all of these events happening Fudge had convinced the education board that Dumbledore was no longer up for the job of Hogwarts' headmaster. He'd let the students in danger three times and had not yet accepted any responsibility for it. When the board discussed the matter amongst its members they came to a conclusion that while Dumbledore should've taken responsibility for everything and had ensured the students' safety, seeing who he was the board had decided to let him be the headmaster of Hogwarts. However, the board had also decided that due to recent information coming out indicating of Dumbledore's failures as the school's headmaster it was seen as his incapability to do everything on his own.

So in the end Dumbledore got to keep his job but the ministry of magic had also been allowed to intervene and interfere into the school's matters, especially if those decisions were taken by Dumbledore in order to make sure – to the best of its capabilities – that the students no longer fall in danger and that the school can live up to its reputation.

This was not supposed to happen.

Dumbledore sat in the chair tiredly. This had not been his year. He often wondered if Harry was his good luck charm. Starting this year Harry had stopped talking to him and had appeared distant and all the bad things not even related to Harry had started to happen.

Running his hand on his long beard Dumbledore thought about the future for which he was doing all of this. As long as Harry and Voldemort faced in the end it would be alright.

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"So would you like to visit the place?" Harry asked as he and Hermione were spending one of their free periods out in the school grounds enjoying the beautiful day.

"I'd love to but after coming back home from our France trip," Hermione said. "It's like a tradition in my family – to visit France each year."

Harry nodded and there was a minute of quiet between them before he looked at her. "So…how are you?" he asked.

"How am I?" she asked looking at him when she realized what he meant. "Oh," she whispered in realization.

"If it brings up bad memories then you don't have to tell," Harry said.

"I have to," she said. "I haven't even told mum and dad and I don't think I'll ever be able to. I don't know what they'll do. Taking me out of this place wouldn't be the only thing though." The two sat down under a tree looking towards the mountains in the distance as Hermione sniffed. "It's so beautiful – this place," she said as a tear rolled down her eye. "Who would want to leave this place?"

"Just because it's beautiful on the outside doesn't mean that it's the same on the inside," Harry said as he held her hand. Hermione looked at him before letting her head rest on his shoulder. "You know I'll always be here for you, right? No matter what happens. As it is now…with me sitting to your right. I'll always be there."

"I remember letting him touch me," Hermione said slowly. "I remember closing my eyes…somewhat enjoying it. He…kissing him whenever he'd tell me to and once he even…he even touched me there."

Harry sat there quietly as his hand moved over to Hermione, comforting her as she broke down on his shoulder. He looked right ahead, his eyes lifeless and his face expressionless as he promised to make Ron pay for what he did with Hermione. "I'll take care of it," he sort of whispered but didn't know whether Hermione heard him.

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He took in a long breath before sighing as he looked at himself in the full length mirror. He could hear the crowd outside as this time it wasn't just the students and a few reporters. This was the final challenge of the Tri Wizard Tournament and a lot more people than just students, faculties and reporters were out there in the audience area anxiously waiting for it all to start.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder he looked to his left and saw Cedric standing beside him. "You ready?" asked the Hufflepuff.

"Let's get through this," Harry replied as the announcement was made for the champions to enter the arena.

Walking together side-by-side Harry, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor all exited the tent at the same time as the crowd went nuts shouting and cheering for them. Having forgotten their shame the Gryffindor students were now openly cheering for Harry who wouldn't even look at them. He noticed Daphne sitting with the Slytherins, Tracey and Astoria and one of her friends. He also saw Hermione, Neville and Susan when Viktor whispered to him and he realized that they all had to take their place around the open area.

There were four entrances to go into the maze numbered from one to four and as per their scored points each one of them was called to pick a piece of folded paper with Harry being the first since he had scored the most in the last two challenges.

Walking up to the small table he put his hand in the pouch and took out a piece of paper, unfolding and looking at it. It said 3. The announcer announced that Harry was asked to go to the entrance which was marked with the number 3 as Cedric was called next.

Once it was all decided and as per their rankings Harry was to enter the maze first through the third entrance followed by Cedric ten minutes later through entrance number one. Viktor was next and he got the number 2 entrance with Fleur getting the fourth.

With the champions in place Harry looked at his competitors. They had all been very helpful to him, like older siblings to their younger one and he could never forget that. As the announcer announced the countdown the cannon was fired at the end of it. The hedge blocking Harry's entrance parted away as he turned around and saw a darkened path going inside the maze.

The cup or the trophy of the tournament was placed at the centre of this maze and their goal was to reach it. Whoever reached it first would be the winner of the Tri Wizard Tournament along with the one hundred thousand galleons that came with the title and as Dumbledore said eternal glory.

Readying himself Harry walked ahead, his wand out and tightly gripped in his hand as he felt cold air wash over him.

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Thanks for reading…