Been trying to motivate myself to do another chapter on one of my (many) unfinished stories, but I just canna get started. Doing the weekly grocery run to get out of my COVID mandated house arrest (which has resulted in a chronic case of cabin fever after seven months or so) a couple of days ago though, I saw a house with all the Halloween paraphernalia out, and it gave me the idea of putting up a short Halloween themed story to try and get the words flowing again.

AU as always, using the common themes of Harry being sent back by Death when he's killed in the Battle of Hogwarts and the reinsertion point being Halloween/Samhain when there's less separating the realms of the living and the dead… But more people get killed in the battle and Death's so fed up with Riddle, Dumbledore and the idiocy of so-called 'Magical Britain' that he allows Harry to take thirteen other souls who were alive on the day he is being reinserted back with him to help rectify the mess 'Magical Britain' has gotten itself into.

Mandatory disclaimers, all rights to the characters, events and environment of the Harry Potter franchise belong to JKR and the media organisations holding the various copyrights, and no insult or offence is intended towards Mr Cushing and his family.

Harry had no idea what he expected to see after he let Voldemort hit him with a Killing Curse to destroy the Horcux he was told was in the scar that had made his life a living hell, but it certainly wasn't the actor Peter Cushing, who died about four years ago, sitting on the other side of the old fashioned desk in front of him in an elegant if old fashioned suit. He blushed when Mr Cushing gave a dark chuckle.

"I am sorry if my humour offends you Lord Potter Peverell, but nearly everyone who has awoken in this office to see me using this persona has had much the same reaction as yours… We generally use a familiar location and departed persona for the first meeting to make the recently departed more comfortable with their situation, but your circumstances are more complex and urgent than most, and from what I have seen of your life, there are very few locations and faces that would serve to make you comfortable… So I decided to use my current face and office to greet you. Is this acceptable, or would you like me to change either or both?"

Harry shook his head. "No Mister…. I'm sorry, but what do I call you Sir? I don't suppose you're Mister Cushing any more and I have no idea what else to call you."

The response was outright laughter, rather than a chuckle this time. "Oh you are delightful Lord Potter Peverell, I've only been in this role for less than four years, but my predecessors are telling me that this is the first time anyone has ever asked that… You are correct, I stopped being Peter Cushing when I left the mortal coil, but while I am the current personification of Death, we do not use that as a form of identification… My predecessors and I have debated the matter, and have agreed that the most appropriate title and form of address should be based on the function of our office, to adjudicate the disposition of souls who come to us, so you may address me as the Adjudicator… And thank you for bringing the fact that we had not previously established a proper title for our role to our attention…"

Now Harry was really confused. "Umm… Well… Thank you Adjudicator… As far as the office and persona you use go, this is as good as any for me… Because as you said, I don't see anywhere or anyone being able to make me feel comfortable about this… But may I ask why you keep calling me Lord Potter Peverell? I'm no Lord, I'm just Harry."

The figure across the desk's mirth disappeared when Harry said that. "This isn't really the best time to discuss this... Harry… But you are Lord Potter Peverell, your proper form of address has actually been Earl Henry James Potter Peverell Black Medrawt since your Godfather fell through what the Wizards of Britain call the Veil of Death and passed his titles on to you, his Heir. You should have taken up the titles and responsibilities of Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses and Clans of Potter and Peverell and their Associated Houses and Clans when you turned eleven, and been formally accepted as Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Black and Medrawt and their Associated Houses and Clans when your Godfather's will was read, but Albus Percival Dumbledore has been actively keeping this information from you, as well as robbing you blind ever since your parents were killed by Tom Marvolo Riddle. While this is obviously something that needs to be addressed though, we need to resolve something far more urgent first…"

With that, the Adjudicator snapped his fingers and a jar containing a hideous parody of a baby that looked much like the twisted homunculus that was used to resurrect Voldemort in the graveyard appeared on his desk.

Harry pushed his chair back from the desk to get the hell away from the disgusting thing and shouted. "What the bloody hell is that?"

The Adjudicator glared at the thing in the jar. "That, as you so eloquently put it, is the fragment of Tom Riddle's soul that has been attached to you and leaching off your magic to sustain itself for nearly thirteen years, ever since Riddle tried to kill you on the night of Halloween, Nineteen Eighty One. It was not, as Albus Dumbledore believed, a Horcrux, because the process required to properly prepare a Horcrux container is long and involved and Riddle had no opportunity to prepare you… But what he called a soul was rent in two when the protections your mother placed over you retaliated and destroyed him, and one of the pieces attached itself to you, as the only thing present capable of sustaining it… What this means, Harry, is that unlike most of the departed, you can choose whether this, or you, will proceed into the Realm of the Dead… But before you decide, I ask you to listen and give careful consideration to the case I present to you. Are you prepared to do this?"

Harry just nodded, as he was trying to avoid throwing up or looking at the disgusting object on the desk.

The Adjudicator launched into his spiel, because he didn't see anything amusing about the steps Tom Riddle had taken to avoid meeting his maker. "This is an over simplified description, but the purpose of a Soul Anchor, or Horcrux, is to tether the soul to the land of the living until it's too old and feeble to survive any more, which for most Magicals is generally one or two Centuries. As I said previously, the process to prepare the container for the Horcrux is long and involved, and once it has been prepared the would be Horcux creator must murder an innocent, as this is the act that splits his or her soul in two to allow one half to be removed and bonded into the Horcrux container… Tom Riddle had already created five Horcruxes by the time he attacked your family, so he was utterly insane and what he had left of his soul was so unstable that the backlash when he attempted to kill you was enough to split it again. Among the proponents of Horcruxes, it is generally accepted that it is unsafe to create more than one Horcrux, because doing it more than once risks your sanity and stability. Riddle was enough of a megalomaniac to believe that he alone was strong enough to create multiple Horcruxes without putting himself at risk, and he was working on a plan to create six of them, which with the piece still in his body would make up seven... From what my predecessor observed, he actually believed that the Magical number seven would make him stronger instead of weaker. The last piece of his soul, which departed the cottage where you were staying as a wraith, was so feeble and unstable that it didn't realise that it had been split again, so it made another Horcrux from Riddle's snake familiar Nagini while they were on the way back to Britain in Nineteen Ninety Four, so he actually split his soul into eight pieces... A single Horcrux is an affront to the very concept of the natural cycle of life and death, so my predecessors and myself are determined to permanently eradicate the stain of Tom Marvolo Riddle from the Realms of Life and Death..."

"Now if you choose to send Riddle's soul fragment on to the Realm of the Dead and return to the Realm of the Living, you will go back without Riddle's soul fragment or the strain it has been putting on your persona and magic, so you will be able to do much more than you have in the past... However, that is not the only choice you need to make… If you wish, I can return you to just after you were hit by the Killing Curse, but I must warn you that if you choose this as your reinsertion point, even after you kill Riddle, hopefully without getting killed yourself in the process, most of the people you care about are dead and you would have little or no chance of turning so called Magical Britain into anything other than the cesspool of bigotry and bias that it was before you left…"

"If you did return to that version of Magical Britain, the so called traditional Pure Blood families would remain in control and would continue to subjugate, abuse and discriminate against everyone else in Magical Britain, which would lead to even more death and suffering before the Nation eventually collapses and disappears. I would like to propose an alternative to this, and my predecessors and I are prepared to assist you in taking control of Magical Britain off them so that it can be returned to a nation where all can have a chance of living in peace and harmony. To do this, you will have to be reintegrated into an earlier form of yourself, but the only time of the year that the barriers between the Realms of the living and the dead are thin enough for souls to pass back over is on All Hallows Eve or Samhain. Under the laws that govern us, the current Adjudicator is not allowed to directly effect the mortal realm while they are still part of it, so the earliest I would be able to reinsert you would be on the Thirty First of August Nineteen Ninety Four. The assistance my predecessors and I are prepared to offer is to allow thirteen other souls associated with you who are currently residing in the Realm of the Dead to return to the Realm of the Living with you on that day, providing that they were still alive on that day and are willing to pledge their immortal souls to assist you in this task."

Harry looked at him for a while, considering what he had been told, and asked whether he could see a list of who was currently in the Realm of the Dead and potentially met the requirements to return to the Realm of the Living with him on Halloween 1994. The Adjudicator handed over a pile of paper without a word and he started looking through them. When he looked up to ask for a pen and paper to note some potential names down, a notepad and fountain pen appeared on the desk in front of him. With a quick "Thank you" he started to make up lists of names of people he really wanted to go back with him, thought could be rather useful, and had potential but didn't really grab him. Seeing just how many people he was associated with in one way or another who had died over the last four years upset him, but he wasn't really paying attention to the dates they died, so the last page really hit him, because they were the ones who'd died in the Battle of Hogwarts.

It was seeing Hermione and Luna's names that effected him the most, though Neville's name had an impact too, and he had tears in his eyes as he looked up at the Adjudicator.

"Do I have to select the ones to make an offer to by myself Sir, or am I allowed to have others help me? Also, can I ask for help from others who aren't eligible to go back with me, and make others I have no intention of taking back give me information I need for my task? Oh yeah, and are there any time constraints on this?"

The Adjudicator's smile grew wider as this was the sort of mindset that they needed to make this work. "Ask for whatever you want Harry, and unless there is a good reason to deny your request you'll get it. As for time constraints, no, you can take as much time as you need in this Realm to prepare for your return."

Harry nodded. "Thank you Sir… Well for a start, I'd like Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Amelia Bones and Alastor Moody here to help me make the selections… Once that's done I want to get people to train those of us who are going back in what we need to know, and to force Albus Dumbledore and whatever parts of Tom Riddle and his Inner Circle Death Eaters you have here to tell us everything we need to defeat them."

The Adjudicator was grinning now, oh yes, Harry Potter was definitely the man for this job! "I can't see any problems with what you're asking for Harry. May I make a suggestion though? Neville Longbottom's parents have been in my realm since they were killed when Riddle's minions attacked Saint Mungos two years ago. They recovered their healthy minds and bodies when they arrived here, and I believe that they would be of great assistance in planning for your task."

Harry nodded again. "Oh yes please! I hadn't thought of their recovering in this realm!"

The Adjudicator snapped his fingers again with a smile and ten more people suddenly appeared in the office. With a happy squeal, a brown haired Harry seeking missile shot across the room and just about knocked over the armchair he was sitting in when she impacted her target.

There was a lot of spirited debate about the makeup of the returnees, but in the end the only significant deviations from what Harry had originally had in mind were Frank and Alice Longbottom being added to the list... Neville insisting, with Fay Dunbar's support, that the Greengrass sisters be sent back in place of them, because Neville's life would be much improved by having his parents back and Daphne and Astoria would add two extremely intelligent and capable witches and quite likely the Neutral Houses' support to the group… And Cornelius Fudge being added at Amelia Bones' urging to speed up the change process (even with the threat of eternal damnation if he failed to deliver what he promised or betrayed them in any way hanging over his head, he was willing to agree to anything to get out of the hell he'd spent the last year in).

So the group returning to the Realm of the Living on Halloween 1994 would be made up of;

Harry Potter;

Hermione Granger;

Luna Lovegood;

Daphne Greengrass;

Astoria Greengrass;

Fred Weasley;

Bill Weasley;

Nymphadora Tonks;

Sirius Black;

Frank Longbottom;

Alice Longbottom;

Amelia Bones;

Alastor (Mad-Eye) Moody;

And Cornelius Fudge…

Plus the House Elves Dobby, Winky and Kreacher. Dobby sneakily conned Harry into initiating a full familiar bond with him, so that he would be tethered to Harry's soul and taken back to the Realm of the Living with him, and when they realised that this would work, Winky bonded with Hermione and Kreacher did the same with Sirius.

No-one questioned Amelia, Frank and Alice, legendary Auror Mad-Eye Moody or up and coming Gringotts Curse-Breaker Bill Weasley's inclusion in the group... But Dora was more than a little put out that some of the wider group questioned her value so much until she managed to overcome her clumsiness and helped Harry properly master his Metamorphmagus talent, though she appreciated Harry reminding the naysayers that she would be able to do things that the rest of them couldn't as the only active Auror in the group.

Those who kept harping on about Sirius being an unrepentant prankster right up until he was thrown into Azkaban were also taken aback when Harry with Mad-Eye's assistance reminded them that Sirius had been one of their best Aurors by the end of the War, and Harry pointed out that as the current Lord Black-Medrawt, he could also take a lot of votes and money out of the Dark Houses' hands, just as he and Uncle Frank would be taking votes and money out of Dumbledore's hands when they took back control of their Houses.

It also took a bit to convince some of them that Fred's brilliant inventions would give them some very effective tools to use against the Death Eaters and their supporters, and even longer to convince Mad-Eye to let his broken body die off without a soul, and instead take over the body of the corrupt Pure-Blood supremacist Auror John Dawlish (whose crimes to date were more than enough to sentence his soul to the seven Hells). It was agreed that Alastor would take blood from his own body and perform a blood adoption ritual in order to claim everything that was rightfully his... As well as being an undamaged and capable host, inhabiting Dawlish's body would allow him to serve as Fudge's minder, and protect him from any Traditionals who got upset about Fudge failing to toe the line.

The sensation of time in the Realm of the Dead was obviously off, because while to some it was like they'd spent years gathering the resources, skills and information they need to defeat Magical Britain's Dark Lords, to others it had only felt like a month or so, but the day came when they all felt that they were ready to go back, and after tearful goodbyes to those who wouldn't be going back with them like Harry's parents, Luna's Mum and Neville, their spirits were switched back into their earlier bodies a few hours before dawn on the 31st October 1994.

Amelia grabbed her most trusted Aurors (which now included Dora and 'John') and headed straight for St Mungo's the moment she woke, to replace Frank and Alice with simulacrums of themselves and get them out of there before Dumbledore's minions discovered that they'd suddenly woken up and did anything to them. From there, they headed straight to Gringotts to get Frank formally reinstated as the Lord and Head of the House and Clan of Longbottom, Alice as his Lady and Consort and Neville formally accepted as the Heir, as well as revoking Frank's mother Augusta's regency, casting her out of the House and Clan of Longbottom, severing any and all ties she had with his houses and reclaiming everything she'd received or stolen from the Longbottom family on Dumbledore and her birth family's orders.

Sirius had Kreacher recover the Slytherin Locket Horcrux that his brother Reggie had told him was in the Black Townhouse in Grimauld Place, then went with Dora to collect her parents and bring them to Gringotts to await the rest of the group.

Harry cast wards around his bed and popped up to the Room of Hidden Things to collect the Ravenclaw Diadem Horcrux, with Hermione, Luna, Daphne, Dobby, Winky and Fred joining them there. Dobby and Winky retrieved Neville, Fred's twin brother George and Fay Dunbar from their beds, Cyrus and Celeste Greengrass from Greengrass Manor and Mary Dunbar from her home then they headed for Gringotts to meet the others.

While the humans were taking care of their business in Gringotts, Dobby, Winky and Kreacher started popping all over Britain to recruit Elves to make up the Elf Army they'd be using to achieve their goals. With each of the human returnees and the others who were added to the group upon their return bonding six to twelve Elves to them with the full familiar bond, they would be able to achieve far more than a similar sized group of Witches and Wizards could.

By the time any other Witches or Wizards entered Gringotts, Harry, Hermione, Luna, Fay, Daphne, Astoria, Fred, George, Bill, Sirius, Dora, Andy, Frank, Alice and Neville had had their titles and betrothals magically accepted for all their Houses and Clans. Sirius had also called for the dissolution of his cousins Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy's marriages for breaches of the terms of their contracts, recalling their dowries, titles, holdings and everything else they had received from the House of Black and Its Associated Houses and Clans, as well as everything that had been earned by Black assets, before irrevocably casting them and Narcissa's son Draco Malfoy out of the House of Black. He then reinstated his other cousin Andromeda Tonks and Dora, her daughter, as favoured daughters of the House of Black, allocating what had been reclaimed from Bellatrix and Narcissa to them.

It was touch and go for the first few minutes of their meeting with Gringott VII, the Director of the Gringotts Business Houses around the World, when they revealed the Diadem and Locket Horcruxes to him and informed him that they believed that another one, made from the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, was currently in the Lestrange vault. A signal from Gringott made his guards back down when they explained that the Cup, Diadem and locket were all Hogwarts Founder heirlooms, so they were looking to contract Gringotts to remove the soul fragments and any other curses and nefarious enchantments from them. Gringott's eyes lit up when Harry said that he also wanted to contract Gringotts to recover another heirloom of his House and Clan of Peverell from a heavily warded location and remove the soul fragment and any other curses etc from it for him…

And he was quite amused when Harry asked to have the use of the Potters' magical pirate ship, the Jammy Dodger, until the end of the upcoming Triwizard Tournament, because he was being entered into the Tournament against his will. Harry explained that he had no intention of staying in the castle where Dumbledore and Tom Riddle's minions could get to him, so as tournament rules mandated that each school could only have one champion, he intended to make use of the fact that the Jammy Dodger was officially sovereign soil of the Fae Nation to use it to host the Slytherin School of Sorcery (the fictitious school he was being entered under) on Black Lake. His plan was to quickly and quietly get the Slytherin School of Sorcery registered with the ICW as a Magical school operating in the Fae Nation, with Frank and Alice as its Headmaster and Deputy, and use some of the adult returnees and others they trusted as teachers so they could transfer the returned students and others who could get their parents and guardians to sign the transfers to it…

Another thing that tickled Gringott's fancy was the order to recover any and all holdings, belongings and money taken from Harry's Houses and Clans without his permission, and to call in any and all loans owed to all their Houses and Clans in full, effective immediately. Doing this would pretty much bankrupt most of the 'Traditional' Houses and Dumbledore's crowd, and the Goblins were delighted with the follow up order to broker deals buy up anything worthwhile that they were trying to sell off quickly to repay what they owed as cheap as possible, because they would lose even more by selling off their assets in forced sales when their cronies were in no position to bail them out.

After they completed their business in Gringotts, they slipped into the Ministry of Magic to use the Stone of Truth in Courtroom 10 to revoke and reassign the Regencies, Stewardships and Voting Proxies for all their Houses and Clans.

Harry, Hermione, Luna, Daphne, Astoria, Fay, Fred, George and Neville were all back in their beds before anyone else in their dorms woke up, and the only thing that got them though the day of constant stupidity was anticipation of the coming main event that night. While they were going through the motions as students, their Elf Army was rendering down the Basilisk carcass for Harry (he had to endure no end of shouting and whacks from the female element of the group and Sirius when they saw what he'd faced as a clueless twelve year old), and sorting, packing and removing everything of use and value from the Chamber of Secrets and Room of Hidden Things. The Elves were also quietly removing whatever they could of importance or value from their former owners' manors and vaults, because their former owners were 'Traditional' Pure Bloods and very little of their wealth had come to them honestly… Most of it had come from the pain, suffering and deaths of people who hadn't deserved their fates.

Most of the Returnees were using their second and third (and sometimes fourth) forms to sit their ICW NEWT Equivalent and Mundane 'A' Level equivalent exams around the world, and visions were sent back to Human and Fae people around the world far enough back to insert all the relevant information into the requisite systems to establish backgrounds and histories and register them for Mastery apprenticeships and degree programs (just as those chosen to join the returnees had been sent visions to prepare them for what would happen that day).

To stack the deck a little, they told Fudge to attend the drawing of the champions as the Minister for Magic of the host nation, and to bring his attack toad… err Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge… and the press with him. Showboating for the press was something that he wouldn't have normally passed up, so they couldn't work out why he'd let the opportunity pass him by the first time until he told them that Lucius Malfoy had told him not to draw any more attention to it. It hadn't been too hard to plant the suggestion for Umbridge to organise full media coverage at the Drawing in an attempt to suck up to the Minister, which would have the added benefit of earning her the ire of Malfoy and the other so-called ex-Death Eaters.

Harry was a little nervous by the time the Halloween Feast started, because even though he knew what was supposed to happen, his luck had usually resulted in things around him getting completely FUBARed. Dumbledore had obviously keyed up the Walking Mouth about how to play his part, because he was sitting a few seats away with Seamus Finnigan, just as he'd been the first time around, so Harry had Hermione and Neville sitting on either side of him and Fred and George across the table to serve as buffers. The tension increased until Dumbledore called for everyone's attention (most had been avoiding looking in his direction to prevent his eye searing robes putting them off their food) and initiated the drawing of the Champions.

The drawing went just as it had before, Krum for Durmstrang, Delacour for Beauxbatons and Diggory for Hogwarts, then after a short delay, the flames flared up again and another slip was spat out of the Goblet of Fire. The returnees, Neville, George and Astoria were watching Dumbledore this time, and the look of smug satisfaction that crossed his face when the fourth slip came out confirmed what they already knew, he'd been expecting this and as far as he was concerned, everything was going to plan. He didn't even bother looking at the slip before calling out "Harry Potter?", and when Harry didn't immediately respond, angrily repeated the call more forcefully. Harry smirked as he saw the Mouth of the South's temper flaring up when his lack of response kept him from having his moment in the spotlight, so he waited until Dumbledore had called out his name a third time before angrily shouting out. "No!"

Dumbledore put on his kindly Grandfather face and said. "Harry, if you join the other Champions in the chamber, I'm sure we can get this sorted out."

"No! I don't want any part of this! I never had any intention of putting my name in for this thing, even if I was old enough, because I was looking forward to being able to watch someone else deal with all the shite this year… What happened to making sure that only people who were of age could put their names in anyway? You assured us that no one who wasn't of age would be allowed to compete… And for that matter, how the hell did four names come out for a Triwizard Tournament? If Beauxbatons' champion being a Witch mucked something up, why didn't a Beauxbatons Wizard's name come out… Wait… I wasn't entered for Beauxbatons, was I?"

That threw Dumbledore (and the Mouth, who stopped shouting about Harry being a cheat as he tried to process that), and he looked thoroughly confused as he said. "What? No, just get in the chamber Harry and we'll work it out in there."

Harry was enjoying this, and shouted "Why won't you tell me?" as he summoned the slip out of Dumbledore's hand, reading what was on it and shouting. "What's this shite? This isn't even my bloody handwriting, and what the hell is the Slytherin School of Sorcery?"

Dumbledore tried to use the stern Headmaster act to cow him into submission. "Mister Potter, stop causing a scene and get into the chamber as you were told!"

Harry didn't need to fake his anger this time, as by now most of the people in the Great Hall had taken up the call of him being a liar and a cheat, but his angry shout of "No!" was accompanied by a pulse of magic through the hall that shut them up, so they all heard every word when he raised his wand and swore an oath.

"I swear on my life and magic that I did not enter myself or request or have any part of anyone else entering me in the Triwizard Tournament! So Mote it Be!"

The blinding flash and pulse of magic that swept through the hall made it clear to everyone capable of thought that his vow had been accepted, but just to be sure, Harry called out "Expecto Patronum!" to send his patronus charging right at Dumbledore and the people around him. Seeing that his patronus had somehow changed into a thestral was a bit of a shock, but he and Hermione were the only ones in the Great Hall who had officially seen his patronus, so to most in the hall it was just confirmation that he was still capable of casting powerful magic.

Harry glared at the visibly shaken Dumbledore and said. "I have proven that I did not enter myself or ask anyone else to enter me in the tournament, and I am obviously not old enough to compete, so will you drop this farcical idea of my competing Headmaster?"

Barty Crouch Senior piped up at that point. "Your theatrics have changed nothing boy, once your name came out of the Goblet, you were bound to compete or forfeit your magic, so do as you're told and go join the real champions in the chamber!"

Harry made a show of ignoring him and addressed Dumbledore again. "Is that right Headmaster, do you agree with Director Crouch that I must compete in this tournament for those who have already reached their age of majority?"

Dumbledore made a show of looking regretful as he said. "I am afraid so Harry, you must compete or you will lose your magic."

"I accept that that is your position as the Headmaster of Hogwarts Sir, but do you say the same as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?"

That took Dumbledore aback, and he was sure that Potter was trying to trap him into something, but he couldn't see how this could come back at him so he nodded sadly. "Changing my role makes no difference here I am afraid Harry, the answer must be the same."

Harry looked at Crouch. "Just to be clear Director Crouch, is it your official position as the Director of the Department of Magical International Cooperation that I must compete in this tournament for those who have already reached their age of majority?"

"Yes! Now stop wasting our time and do as you're told!"

Ludo Bagman was next. "And you Director Bagman, are you telling me as the Director of the Department of Magical Games and Sports that I must compete in this tournament for adult Witches and Wizards?

Bagman went from looking eager to uncomfortable in nothing flat. "Barty knows the rules back to front Harry, so if he says that you must compete, you will have to."

Fudge looked nervous when Harry caught his eye. "Can you override this as the Minister for Magic of the Triwizard Tournament, or do you agree that I must compete in this tournament, which we were all told was restricted to those who have reached their age of majority only Minister Fudge?"

"I have no control over the magic of the tournament Mister Potter, if the Triwizard Tournament Committee all say that you must compete, then you must."

Harry turned to Olympe Maxime. "Do you agree that I must compete as the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Madame Maxime?"

The part-giantess gave a Gallic shrug. "I do not like this Mister Potter, but if the ones who are running the tournament say that you are required to compete, it would appear that you must."

Harry gave her a grateful nod for being the only one who genuinely didn't seem to want him dragged into this, and turned to Igor Karkaroff.

"And what is your position as the Headmaster of Durmstrang Professor Karkaroff, do you agree that I have to compete in this tournament for adults?"

"Yes! Now stop trying to take attention away from the ones who have earned their place as Champions and join them in the chamber! I can see that everything Severus says about you being nothing but an arrogant, attention seeking liar is correct!"

Harry laughed at him. "I see you haven't wasted any time getting reunited with your fellow Death Eater in the castle, have you made a date to put your robes and masks back on and go out torturing Muggles for old times sake yet?"

Karkaroff went for his wand as expected, and so did Snape and Dumbledore. They were all shocked to have the wands ripped out of their hands by a succession of quick 'Expelliarmus' incantations from Harry, and he laughed again.

"That was exhilarating, and thank you, by the way. Because according to the books that my brilliant best friend found for me, having the heads of three premier schools of magic, two departments of the British Ministry of Magic, the British Minister for Magic, the Chief Warlock of the British Wizengamot and the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards officially state that I must compete in a tournament which had officially been restricted to those who have reached their age of majority only is more than enough to officially declare me an emancipated minor… Which means I can now do this…"

He raised his hands in the air and stated. "As I have been officially proclaimed emancipated by the British Ministry of Magic and British Wizengamot… I, Henry James Potter Peverell, hereby claim the titles, holdings, fortunes and belongings of all Houses and Clans that are mine by right of blood and conquest!"

There was quite a light show as his Head of House and Clan, Heir and Betrothal rings appeared on his fingers (he'd had Dobby swap his Head of House rings for the Heir rings that morning, so they were being swapped back as if he was claiming his titles).

He smirked at Dumbledore and the other dumbfounded officials at the front of the Great Hall. "As I said, I have a brilliant best friend who is quite adept at digging up information I need to survive in this madhouse of a school, and she uncovered quite a bit of information that our Headmaster has forgotten to tell me and the rest of the school. Part of this was the fact that I was apparently the Heir Apparent to not one but two Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses and several other lesser Houses, and would be able to claim my Lord and Head titles once I reached my age of majority. She also uncovered the fact that the rules of the Triwizard Tournament had been changed to restrict it to only those who were legally adults in order to get it reactivated over two centuries after it was cancelled and banned due to the excessive competitor, official and spectator death tolls… By the way, even with her impressive research skills, it took Hermione a while to discover who the last champion who managed to stay alive long enough to win the tournament was, which rather makes a mockery of the eternal glory dross that Headmaster Dumbledore has been feeding us for the last couple of months…"

"But I digress, with my luck, we knew as soon as the tournament was announced that I'd somehow be roped into competing in it, and that was confirmed when we were told that the champions would be selected on Halloween, because something bad's happened to me on every Halloween that I've spent in the Magical World, so we started making plans… It was rather difficult finding out what the rules of the Triwizard tournament were, because nearly every reference to it had mysteriously disappeared from the Hogwarts Library by the time we arrived, but my resourceful best friend managed to get the necessary information owled to us. That was how we determined that you must be of age to compete, and that each school is only allowed one champion, so we knew that I'd almost certainly be entered for a fourth school. We haven't worked out how the Goblet of Fire was tricked into accepting a fourth school yet, but I'm sure our esteemed Headmaster and the rest of the worthies who make up the Triwizard Committee will ensure that they leave no stone unturned in their efforts to determine exactly how their tournament was hijacked, and by whom, because they will look rather incompetent or corrupt if they don't uncover the truth…"

"Anyway, once we determined that there would be one champion per school, and what the rules for accommodation, classes and judges were for the external schools, we snuck off to Gringotts on our first Hogsmeade weekend to see what I could do about claiming my rights and getting assistance to survive my inevitable inclusion in the tournament… Gringotts was surprisingly helpful once I managed to convince them that I had never received any of their summons to come in to be formally accepted as Heir to my Houses and Clans, and apparently they are rather angry at whoever it was who was stopping me getting their communications and removing objects and gold from my family's vaults for the last thirteen years… So they have bent over backwards to help set up what I would need to survive if, as we expected, I was forced to compete in this tournament… To that end, I expect by now the magical Bermuda Sloop Jammy Dodger, which has officially been accepted as being sovereign soil of the Fae Nation for over a Century, is somewhere out on Black Lake, as it will be providing the accommodation and classrooms for the…"

He made a show of reading the school name off the slip of parchment in his hand.

"Slytherin School of Sorcery. They have been monitoring everything that happens here, so the name of the school they have registered with the ICW should be in the process of being changed to that as we speak, and I expect that all the relevant documentation for the school will be here by some time tomorrow at the latest, along with the signed forms for me and my friends to transfer to the Slytherin School."

He was cut off at that point by Snape snarling. "Give me my wand Potter!" and more than a few people stepped back from the evil grin he sent Snape's way.

"I had intended to do this in private, but if you insist.." He slipped his wand up the sleeve of his robes as he continued. "Given that you generally won't listen to anyone but yourself or those you acknowledge as you masters, Professor, I expect that you ignored the fact that I pointed out that I am now the Lord and Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses and Clans of Potter and Peverell and Their Associated Houses and Clans, and that for the last couple of months I have been formally accepted as the Heir Apparent of my Houses and Clans… I also doubt that you've ever bothered learning the Old Laws of Magical Britain and what the penalties for attacking the Heads and Heirs of Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses are… Perhaps someone who has bothered to learn the Laws of Magical Britain can tell Professor Snape what the penalty is?"

While most of the responses were half whispered, having it spoken by well over a hundred people around the Great Hall ensured that everyone heard the word "Death".

Harry nodded. "Thank you, it's good to see that so many of you have made the effort to learn our ways… So you see Professor, I would be quite within my rights to have you killed for this and all the other times you have attacked me since I started at Hogwarts, especially as we both know that the Life Debt you owed my father has been passed on to me, but to avoid traumatising many people in the room… Even though I know that many people who have been forced to endure you at Hogwarts would be delighted to see you die… I will spare your life this one time and simply do this…"

With that, he broke Snape's wand into four separate pieces and dropped them on the floor at his feet. Looking at Karkaroff he continued…

"I haven't had to endure as many attacks from you as I have from Snape, Karkaroff, but I have seen the proof that just like him and the rest of your fellow Death Eater scum, you had to rape, torture and murder innocents to earn your master's brand, so you definitely deserve to die, but I won't inflict the trauma of seeing your death on those who don't deserve it either this time… Good luck surviving encounters with your Master's other Death Eaters and minions that you sold out to save you neck and the DMLE if you try and leave here to and get another wand Karkaroff, because between the Wireless broadcast and tomorrow morning's Prophet, they are sure to be waiting for you."

He broke Karkaroff's wand into four with a grim smile and dropped the pieces on the floor with Snape's, then he took the Elder Wand into both hands and Dumbledore shouted in a panic.

"Stop Harry! You know that I am no Death Eater, I led the fight against them in the last war! You cannot break my wand!"

The look Harry gave him almost made him foul himself. "Are you deaf, old man? Or are you just so tied up in your hubris that you are convinced you are above all the Laws of Magical Britain, including the Old Laws? I just reminded your Death Eater cronies what the penalty for attacking the Heads and Heirs of Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses is, and granted them a one time reprieve to spare others in the Hall the sight of them being struck down like the dogs that they are, what makes you believe that you should be exempt from the same penalties?"

"You proved your utter disdain for our laws and the concept of justice in November Nineteen Eighty One when you went all out to prevent anyone questioning or prosecuting your pet Death Eater..." waving the Elder Wand at Snape... "For his crimes, while ensuring that Sirius Black, my innocent magically accepted Godfather who was Heir Apparent to two Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses and one of our top Aurors at the time, was thrown in Azkaban without being questioned, charged or tried, to stop him interfering with your plans to make my life hell!"

"And on top of that you lie to me yet again? You never 'led the fight' against Tom Riddle and his Death Eaters Dumbledore, what you did was send hundreds of good people to their deaths by using oaths and made up laws to stop them responding in kind to the murderous attacks of the Death Eaters, ensuring that they and thousands more innocents were massacred! You deserve to die even more than those two scum, because you are responsible for many times more innocent deaths than the two of them combined! And you know as well as I do that this is not your wand! Even if I hadn't won it from you far more honestly than you did when you stunned your lover Gellert Grindelwald in the back, I can feel it rejoicing that it has finally returned to its true master, the Lord and Head of the House and Clan of Peverell… So I won't be breaking my wand, but I certainly won't be giving it to you!"

With that, he flicked the Elder Wand at the floor to vanish the pieces of the other wands before slipping it into the forearm holster with his Holly Wand and turning to leave the Great Hall with Hermione and their friends. Hermione giggled when she heard him stage whisper. "Mischief Managed!"

As they headed down to the shore of Black Lake, the contrast of the sleek and elegant Jammy Dodger to the hulking mass of the Durmstrang ship was striking… And the atmosphere inside would be even more polarised when Karkaroff and his students returned to their ship, because a massive celebration was going on in the Jammy Dodger but Karkaroff wasn't likely to be letting anyone celebrate anything in their ship. The adults confirmed that everything said up until they left the Great Hall had been heard quite clearly in the Wizarding Wireless broadcast, and Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Snape and the Ministry officials were still being bombarded with hard hitting questions.

They kept one ear open for the Wireless broadcast while they prepared for the following morning's activities, most of which would occur in the Ministry. 'John' had seen Dumbledore's patronus leaving the castle soon after they walked out, so they knew that he was trying to get a Closed Emergency Session of the Wizengamot convened for first thing in the morning in a desperate attempt to have Harry's emancipation and elevation to Lord and Head of his Houses and Clans overturned. None of them expected to be receiving a summons to attend the session, of course, but they had monitoring and recording crystals planted throughout Hogwarts, the Ministry and the key players' manors, so they'd see and hear everything they said and did. Dumbledore and the Dark Houses didn't have a hope in hell of keeping them out of that session.