Thank you to all of the people who support my creativity with special thanks to: Jimmy Adams, Rafał Badera, Jo Daviz, Antar Das, LegendaryWasabi, Ibuki Mioda, SvenGTX, Optimum Prime, Jack Schriner.

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Chapter 18

Bagman called the four champions down to the Quidditch pitch that evening, and as soon as Harry saw the mass of small shrubs that were covering the Quidditch pitch he felt a weight lift from his shoulders. He and Hermione had done everything they could to keep the timeline running parallel to the one they remembered, but they had made some big changes and they feared that those may have had a butterfly effect on some things they needed to remain the same, including the maze. That was the last thing they needed to keep the same, and the task couldn't be changed now so it was finally time for the gloves to come off.

Harry looked at the pitch as he walked up with the other champions and decided he was going to ruin Bagman's fun after what he tried to do to Fleur. Before the man could say anything Harry called out, "I see you're building a maze! Let me guess, it's going to be filled with creatures, traps, spells, and anything you can think of to slow us down. The cup will be in the middle and the first one to get it receives full marks and wins the tournament."

He watched as Bagman deflated, his chance to bask in the spotlight even for a few moments going up in smoke. "Uh yes, that's it. You'll enter the maze in order of your points. Mr. Potter you will go in first, you have a ten point lead on Mr. Krum so you will have three minutes and twenty seconds alone in the maze. That's when Mr. Krum will enter, followed by Mr. Diggory three minutes and forty seconds later, which is precisely seven minutes after Mr Potter. Finally, Miss Delacour, you will enter the maze four minutes and forty seconds after Mr/ Diggory or eleven minutes and forty seconds after Mr. Potter." Harry was annoyed that the judges had changed the value of the points, as he had been hoping to have a lot more time alone in the maze. But the judges probably didn't think that almost forty minutes between Harry entering the maze and Fleur entering the maze would give the other champions a fair shot, and they had awarded only twenty seconds for every point.

Bagman asked if there were any questions, and then dismissed the champions and they all returned to the school in time for dinner. Harry checked the map to see if Barty had turned up like he did last time, but he hadn't. His and Hermione's best guess was that Senior was either currently under the Imperius of his son, who was a better wizard than Pettigrew and was able to keep the man under control a lot better, or he was being kept a prisoner and and his son was Polyjuicing again, but this time as his father. Unfortunately, they had no way to confirm either way, and if it was Polyjuice then capturing the man early would not only disrupt the plan for Harry's kidnapping but it would also leave a suddenly expendable Crouch in Voldemort's hands. Not that Harry could bring himself to feel much sympathy for the man who had locked Harry's innocent godfather up for over a decade for a crime he was innocent of.

-ϟϟϟ-

Harry spent the last month before the maze practising for after the maze, rather than for it as most people assumed. The morning of the task he was busy testing his pumpkin juice for potions or poisons; after the incident in the Three Broomsticks, both Harry and Hermione had gotten more than a little paranoid. He was so focused on casting his detection spells that he didn't notice the man walk up behind him until he put his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry spun around to see who it was and was confronted with the grinning face of his godfather. "Sirius, what are you doing here?"

"The champions' family are invited to spend the day with them!" An overeager and obviously happy Sirius told him. Harry had forgotten about this part. With Harry and Hermione avoiding Ron, their friendship with the rest of the Weasleys hadn't formed like last time, and because he wasn't close to the Weasleys Harry realised they wouldn't be coming. However, Harry still fell back into thinking of Sirius as the escaped man on the run who couldn't risk going places or doing anything in public. Harry put it out of his mind. Hermione wanted to spend the day with Harry as well, but it was exam time at Hogwarts, and unlike him she wasn't excused from tests. So Harry and Sirius just strode around the grounds and chatted.

"So what's the opinion of the public over me making Malfoy a squib?" Harry asked.

Sirius grimaced. "Well, some people think you let him off lightly. They remember that he used an Unforgivable spell and tried to kill you and think he should suffer in Azkaban. Almost none of these people have met Malfoy, those who have are in agreement that losing his magic is far worse for him." Harry understood that, it was part of why using the Goblet was so appealing over their alternate plan to slip the prick Veritaserum at dinner and ask him how he did it. Draco without his magic was a nobody, the boy had no clue how to do anything without his wand and was too bigoted to learn.

"A bunch of people think you got it right by allowing an old family to keep going rather than destroying it. In fact, I hear Draco is already inundated with marriage offers, but Narcissa is sitting on them at the moment as they all seem to require Draco to surrender the Head of House duty to his wife, and for his wife to assume financial control of the Malfoy estate. That the girls in the contract would eventually be puppets for their fathers means that Draco is basically looking at becoming some pureblood princess' new toy, while someone else gets his family's wealth. The old pureblood faction sounds like they are out for your blood. The idea that you stole the magic from a pureblood echoes a lot of the Hippogriff crap that You-Know-Who used to say. I wouldn't be too concerned, they lost a lot of support at the World Cup when a bunch of them were captured after they were hit with that stray exploding curse," Sirius finished up his explanation

Harry sighed before speaking. "So pretty much nothing has changed except that the people who never liked me have a response to be loud about it now." 'The more things change, the more they stay the same,' he thought to himself.

-ϟϟϟ-

Eventually Harry was called down to the task, and he and Hermione walked down together. Harry handed her a backpack that he had stuffed a few things in and she took it wordlessly. Once they were near the Quidditch pitch, Hermione was the one to break the silence.

"Harry. Do we really need to do this?" The nerves were evident in her voice.

Harry didn't really want to do this either. "What other choice do we have?" He asked.

Hermione bit her lip nervously before saying. "We could leave. Just disappear and let Magical Britain deal with its own problems. We could go anywhere - well, anywhere they speak English. America or Australia are both big enough to get really lost in. We could have a life, no more war and fighting. Just you and me and normal lives."

Harry understood, he really did, even if they had been preparing for this for almost four years it was still nerve racking and some cold feet were enviable. "I would lose my magic,'' Harry answered simply.

"Fuck your magic. You're not Malfoy, both of us could get by without it. I'll make you a deal, if you lose yours I'll never use mine again." Hermione sounded passionate.

That Hermione has sworn said more about how serious she was than the fact that she said she would give up her magic. She only swore when she was absolutely serious, and this told Harry that unless he could convince Hermione to stay quickly, they would probably be in Australia by morning. "Hermione we can't. If we run, Voldemort will never stop hunting us, and as good as we are he would find us eventually, and then I wouldn't have magic to fight with and you'd be out of practice. And what about the people we leave here? Not the public in general, people who constantly turn on me," Harry added as he saw the look on her face, "but what about Neville, or Luna, or even Professor McGonagall? What would we be condemning them to if we left?"

Harry could see that Hermione agreed with him even if she didn't want to. She pulled him into a hug. "Just promise me you are going to come back. Whatever happens, I don't care if you have to just let him escape, you promise you will come back to me."

Harry just wrapped her up in his arms. "Of course I'm coming back, I'll always come back to you."

Hermione reluctantly let Harry go and after checking that she was still holding Harry's backpack she gave Harry a quick kiss and went to sit in the stands with Sirius.

-ϟϟϟ-

Harry was standing in front of a huge crowd. The stands were packed, not just with students but with any wizard or witch who felt like coughing up the 5 Galleons the Ministry was charging to come and watch the task. Given how little they would see, Harry wondered how many of them would demand the return of their gold. Bagman was doing his thing, warming up the crowd by going over what had happened during the first two tasks. Harry noticed Fleur's jaw clench as Bagman talked about her attempts at the first task. Understandable, as the way he talked Fleur had screwed up rather than Bagman sabotaging her. Harry still didn't know if that had been intentional; unfortunately, he was greedy enough to have cheated but also stupid enough to do it accidentally.

Finally, it was time for the task to begin, and Crouch called them all together for one last talk before they entered the maze. "Now, you all know that all you need to do is reach the centre of the maze and touch the Cup. The Cup is a portkey that will bring the winner to the judges' platform. There are a number of dangers in there that could become deadly if you don't use your head so stay alert, however if at any point you are in trouble then all you need to do is send up red sparks and you will be extracted from the maze. Be aware that if you are extracted you will receive zero points for the task. I wish you all the best of luck." He nodded to each of them and left to sit at the judges table.

Nerves started to get to Harry and he missed most of what was being said around him. In a few minutes he would enter the maze, and even without the looming threat of Voldemort at the end the maze was the most nerve racking task. For the first two you could plan, and Harry had a reasonable idea of what was coming his way. The maze, however, had random beasts everywhere. There was no real planning, just a list of goals and guesswork.

"Ten, nine, eight," Bagman started the count and soon the crowd joined in, "seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!" Then there was a loud bell and Harry ran forward. As soon as he was inside the maze, he stopped, turned around, and summoned his backpack from Hermione. He put it on before turning and entering the maze, the hedgerows quickly muffling the muttering that his summoning had generated in the crowd.

Right, left, strait, T Junction - Right, right, right left left, cross road - straight on, right, left, dead end, back to the cross road - left this time. It continued like this for what felt like between five or ten minutes until there was a loud bell and Harry knew that Krum had now entered the maze. A few minutes later Harry came across his first obstacle. He was lucky that this was one he had faced last time, so he knew exactly what the mist was. There was a charm to dispel it, but Harry didn't bother; it would just take time he didn't want to waste. He just ran through the mist, and for the second time he experienced the sensation of gravity reversing. It was just an illusion to make anybody in the mist feel that way, disorientating but not crippling when you expected it. Harry ran straight through. More turns, choices of path, and dead ends followed, and soon Harry ran into something new. There was a set of wrought iron gates that were closed and wouldn't open. However, where the lock was normally, there was an inscribed question. "Why is it impossible to conjure food but possible to increase the quantity of food you already have by magic?"

Harry grinned, this was a post N.E.W.T question but one he knew from a Hermione lecture in the tent after Ron had left. Food was, chemically speaking at least, complex. Complex chains of amino acids in very specific orders and folded in just the right way and you would get just one of the proteins in the steak you were trying to conjure. Not impossible as far as magic was concerned, that you could increase the amount of food you already have was proof of that, but impossible for a human to hold detailed enough information in their heads to conjure what they want. Increasing the amount of food bypassed the need for people to need a detailed understanding of what they were creating, the original being used as a template. Harry gave his answer to the gate and it swung open for him, though it shut again as soon as he was through, with a handle on this side to open the door again if he wanted to. He continued on.

He ran into one of Hagrid's Skrewts and quietly decided that he wasn't going to be gentle, he didn't want that thing coming up behind him later. As the Skrewt charged at him, Harry did a quick Transfiguration in the ground under it, flipping the Skrewt on its back and exposing its unarmored underside. "Sectumsempra." The dark curse tore through the flesh of the Skrewt and Harry didn't stick around to listen to its cries of pain or to watch it die, he took no pleasure in what he did but at the same time didn't feel bad about it either. The things were crazy and dangerous; they should all be destroyed. The flock of cornish pixies that he came across next he was far more gentle with, just immobilising them the same way Hermione had in their second year and rushing past them. More turns and choices, and Harry came across something that reminded him of the portable swamp the Weasley twins would develop in a few years. There were stepping stones through it and Harry was just about to try and jump from one to the next to get across when he realized he was being stupid. He conjured some thick wooden boards and laid them over the stones like a bridge. He wasn't at all surprised when a few of the stones turned out to be fake and the board passed right through them. He was surprised, though, when as soon as the board touched the swampy mud, it was sucked straight under. Harry made a mental note to stay away from the mud and finished building his bridge. He stopped for two minutes for a breather after he passed, pulling a bottle of *lucozade out and drinking about half of it before returning the bottle to the bag. He considered leaving the bridge there, but if any of the other champions were caught in it then he doubted they would be seriously hurt and it would keep them from facing the graveyard, so he vanished the wood planks.

Harry did meet the sphinx again and she was just as polite as the first time, though this time she had a new riddle. "What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?"

That stumped Harry for longer than he would care to admit. He and the sphinx stood there for almost five minutes while he puzzled it out but eventually he got it. "Silence."

"Corect young one. You are close to your goal. I suggest you hurry." She told him after he had given his answer.

Harry thanked her and gave her a riddle that he had prepared as a parting gift on the off chance he met the sphinx again.

"A Lifeless cripple who likes to run

Who always Waging war against the sun

always drawn, never dry

I Feast on earth, born in sky

I'm life's best friend. What am I?

Harry pulled a folded up bit of parchment from his bag that was sealed with wax. "In case I can't see you again before you leave, that contains the answer." He knew the sphinx would only open it to confirm if her answer was right, never to find the answer. It was the nature of sphinx, they loved riddles, and if this one took her a long time to answer then she would prize it all the more.

Harry moved past the sphinx and continued along the path, cautious because he remembered what lay beyond here. As he was looking for it specifically, he saw it before it saw him. While it only took a second more for the acromantula to see him, in that second Harry's wand was already halfway up and the spell was already forming in his mind. "Incendio." The fire burst forth from Harry's wand and engulfed the spider and the hedge behind it.

This created two problems. The first caused Harry to mentally start calling himself an idiot; just because something is on fire doesn't make it dead, and Harry now had a giant, flaming, passed off spider that, while it would probably die of its wounds, seemed determined to take Harry to hell with it. The second problem was Harry's spell had opened up a section of the maze walk, and through it Harry could see Krum, and Krum could see the Cup. The Durmstrang champion wasn't able to get through the hedge yet, but he was pouring water on the flames from his wand so it wouldn't be long.

Harry's first task was going to have to be dealing with the spider. By deal with, he of course ment dodge as the spider tried to kill him, because it was leaping at him. Harry ducked back around the corner he had just come around and the acromantula took a mouthful of leaves. While it was pulling itself out of the hedge, Harry stepped back around and hit it with another spell, "Confringo!" The blasting hex sent the flaming spider reeling away from him and towards the flaming hole that was almost extinguished enough for Krum to climb through. Harry hit the spider again, pushing it so that it was half in the hole and half out, then decided that he didn't have time to go with his original plan and ran towards the Cup, only to hear a spell he was all too familiar with come from behind the spider. "Avada kedavra." There was a flash of green light and the spider stopped fighting as it fell limp. It was then blasted out of the way, and Krum climbed through the hole in the hedge, while Harry stood there shocked. He had never thought Krum knew and would use such dark magic.

Krum saw Harry staring at him, horrified by what he had just done, and scoffed at him. "What I did was far kinder than setting the bloody thing on fire. It was quick and clean."

"It was dark magic," Harry said, his horror giving way to anger.

"And that was a dark creature that would have killed us given the chance," Krum replied. "Look Potter, I understand that you have a history with that spell, but I need you to understand this quickly. I don't use that spell except under exceptional circumstances, and I have no intention of using that spell on you or anyone you care about. However-" He raised his wand and sent a nonverbal red jet of red magic at Harry.

If they had been any closer Krum might have hit, but Harry had good reflexes and dove to the side avoiding the spell. However, Krum had been taught how to fight a wizard's duel, a structured fight with rules and accepted practice. Harry had learned how to fight a war. The main difference between the two was that in one you stood your ground and put up a shield, if you moved at all you never strayed more than maybe six feet from where you started. In the other you moved, you didn't put up a shield unless you had to because it takes time and magic, dodging let you cast more offensive spells, and even the spell that broke through shields mostly did nothing if they didn't hit you. So as Harry dove to his left avoiding the silent 'maybe a stunner?', he was already sending his own spell back at Krum, a silent Expelliarmus. Krum got his shield up just in time, so Harry sent his next spell at the ground just in front of the shield. "Reducto." The spell slammed into the dirt and the dirt exploded out from under Krum's feet. It wasn't strong enough to do any damage, but it did cause the Bulgarian to stumble. Harry used Krum's distracted state to hit him with a stunning spell.

Harry got up and dusted off his robes, then went to go and examine Krum. The international Quidditch star looked no worse for wear, and Harry considered the other boy's words. He could see where Krum could make that argument, but he was wrong. The emotional component for the spell made it a double edged sword, because if you need the hate for the power the more you look for reasons to hate. Before long you find them, and you get positive feedback by more power in your spells and slowly that emotion becomes a bigger part of your personality. It wasn't magic, just the psychology of positive reinforcement, but that didn't keep it from being dangerous.

With Krum unconscious, Harry had a minute so he opened his backpack up and pulled out his invisibility cloak, though he also pulled out the last of the bottle of Lucozade and finished it off. He vanished the empty bottle and then pulled his invisibility cloak around his shoulders, then strode up to the Triwizard trophy, the portkey that would send him to a place he wanted to be and a place he wanted to avoid for as long as possible. The problem was that he had no more time to prepare. It was time.

"Once more unto the breach." A part of him wondered where that quote was from, if he made it back he would have to ask Hermione. He reached out and clasped the handle of the trophy and felt the familiar hook behind his navel as he was wicked halfway across the country.

A/N

Lucozade is a sport and energy soft drink first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1927. It was originally called Glucozade by William Owen, a pharmacist in Newcastle. It was created to serve as an energy drink for people when they were ill. - wiki. Lucozade was the only real choice for energy drinks in the UK at this point. While Red Bull was introduced in 94 and the story is currently in 95 people still knew Lucozade and Red Bull was still new. Given that Harry and Hermione spent most of their time in Hogwarts, and even when they were at home they spent half their time in Grimmauld Place, they didn't get bombarded with ads about a drink giving you wings, so when Hermione writes home to ask for some energy drink for Harry's 'maze kit' she naturally asked for Lucozade.