June 24, 1995

Harry was so focused on the third task, and ignoring Rita Skeeter, that he almost missed Sirius and Remus entering the Great Hall. Almost. Fortunately, Sirius was shooting off colored sparks to celebrate Harry's winning streak, so that caught his attention.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, embarrassed.

"Read that shite article this morning," Sirius explained.

"Also, champions families were invited to spend the day with their champions." Remus elbowed Sirius.

"Where's Hes and the twins?" Harry asked, looking around.

"They'll be here this afternoon. The twins are sleeping in so they are fresh for the tournament play tonight." Sirius explained, waving off Harry's concern. "Anyway, that's not the biggest news. Wanna get out of here so I can tell you and totally blow your mind?"

"Sure. Where do you two want to go?" Harry asked. "I mean, it's not like you've ever been to Hogwarts before. Is there anything you want to see?"

"Oh, I know!" Sirius said, leading Harry and Remus up to the Gryffindor common room.

"What's this news?" Harry asked.

"Moony has a girlfriend!" Sirius crowed. Harry stopped and stared at Remus.

"You've never had a girlfriend before. Shags, yeah, but no long term girlfriends." Harry stated almost questioningly.

"It's Tonks," Sirius smirked.

"Oh, that makes more sense. She's had a crush on you forever. Good job. She's great for you." Harry said as he started walking again. Remus, however, stopped and stared.

"Told you he wouldn't care," Sirius smirked in Remus' direction.

"I-I knew that," Remus said, recovering. As they came into the Gryffindor common room, he added, "What are we doing, Pads?"

"Go on, Prongslet. Get the cloak. We have to pull a prank on Minnie. Prongs will roll over in his grave if we don't do this at least once before you graduate." Sirius said, tone almost reverent. Remus rolled his eyes but didn't stop Harry. Seeing Remus' reaction, Harry darted into his dorm and came back.

"Wow, they really don't change anything in these towers, do they?" Sirius said, looking around. Remus darted his head back and forth before going over to one of the tapestries and lifting it up, revealing the Marauders initials carved into the wall.

"They really, really don't." Remus laughed.

"We should burn the traitor's initials off," Sirius said through a laugh.

"While we're defacing school property, we should add Prongslet's," Remus smirked.

"Let's do it!" Sirius' whole face lit up with glee.

Harry was a tiny bit scared when he returned from his dorm and saw two-thirds of the Marauders smirking and staring at the wall.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked, sneaking up on them. Sirius jumped at the noise.

"Prongslet! We've got to get you a bell!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry," Harry smirked as Sirius rolled his eyes and Remus gave his godson a high five. "Now, why are you two staring at a wall with letters on it? Is it a code? Does it lead to a secret passage?"

"No, it's not a secret passage. Who raised you? Those are our initials. The Marauders. We're getting ready to burn the PP off of here." Sirius said. Then, they all three broke down into giggles when they realized that he'd said 'pee-pee.' Men.

Once they calmed down, Sirius took great pleasure in 'blasting that name from behind the tapestry.' Neither Harry nor Remus commented on the fact that it was a little too ironic. After that was accomplished, Sirius taught Harry the necessary spell and allowed the teen to burn his initials in the stone. Remus confirmed that he should get his own band of Marauders to add their initials to the wall, especially the twins and especially before they left.

After several very intense bonding moments, Harry looked around the empty common room and asked, "Where is everyone?"

"Fred and George are watching the door for us. I had them clear the place out." Sirius confessed. After unshed tears were blinked away, he added, "Let's get going. We've got a prank to pull."


Close to evening, Harry led Hestia, Sirius, Remus, and the twins to the Quidditch stadium.

"What the hell have they done!?" Sirius exclaimed, lamenting the giant maze that covered the pitch.

"Destroyed it." Bill Weasley said, plopping down next to Sirius.

"No shi...joking." Sirius caught himself as Rigel laughed and Adhara rolled her eyes.

"Nice save, Padfoot," Remus said dryly.

"Not to interrupt this heartfelt moment, but I've got to report to the champions tent," Harry said, bouncing on his feet nervously.

"Not without hugs, you're not," Hestia demanded, standing up and grabbing him. Harry took the embarrassment because he could see Cedric Diggory taking the same treatment down the stands.

"Don't you dare forget me, Harry James." Molly Weasley demanded.

"Mrs. Weasley, you made it." Harry's face lit up at the sight of his second mother.

"Of course, I did. Now, be safe and remember, hexes and curses only. This is not a night for expelliarmus. Got it?" Molly said, lifting an eyebrow. Harry nodded his agreement as he hugged her even tighter.

"Molly's right, Prongslet. You can do this. You've made it this far." Sirius cheered as he, Harry, and Remus exchanged manly slaps on the back.

"Please be safe, Harry. I need you to chase all the monsters from my wardrobe this summer." Adhara pleaded and Harry heartily agreed with her.

"If you die, can I have your firebolt?" Rigel asked. Everyone laughed at his question until he said, "I'm being serious. Please?"

"Yeah, you can have it." Harry smiled as Hestia physically restrained Sirius from cracking a joke.

"Go on, fawn, you've got a tournament to win." Remus encouraged.

"And if you don't win, we're sending you to live with the Dursley's this summer," Sirius added, causing Harry to laugh as he headed to the tent. No matter what, he knew he'd survive this task, if only because he had something waiting for him.


"Welcome to the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" Ludo Bagman announced. "It's that time, folks. It's time to announce your champions! In first place by a mere three points, the gorgeous Fleur Delacour!"

"Holy shit, she's hot," Bill announced. Ginny whipped her head around to look at the oldest of her brothers.

"That's a good idea, Ginny," Luna whispered into her ear. "But maybe not just now."

Ginny turned back around and decided to wait.

"We counted him out before he even started the tournament, now he's in second place, it's Harry Potter!" Bagman continued as Hogwarts' students cheered. "Hogwarts isn't done yet! In third place, it's the delicious Cedric Diggory!"

Hogwarts' students went even wilder with the announcement of their second champion.

"And finally, in last place, the only champion who could come from behind and win this: Viktor Krum!" Many, many students started chanting Viktor's name as if it were a Bulgarian game, not a school event.

"Now, to explain the rules. Whoever gets to the center of the maze and grabs the Tri-Wizard cup first wins. This maze is filled with all sorts of magical creatures, booby-traps, and, worst of all, your fears. Should you find yourself unable to complete the task for any reason, shoot red sparks into the air and someone will be there to assist your extraction shortly. Miss Delacour will enter the maze first and receive a five-minute head start. After that, we will be releasing the boys one at a time at five-minute intervals. Good luck, champions, and, Miss Delacour, you may begin!" Bagman explained.

Fleur darted forward and began her journey while the others stood and waited. Harry noticed Karkaroff coaching Krum very intently, but before he could decide to do anything, his five minutes were up and he was in the maze as well. As he faced down the boggart that looked suspiciously like a Potter/Black family burial plot, he realized that Bagman wasn't lying, his greatest fears probably did exist in this maze.


"They're not setting up those screens for this task?" Hermione asked, looking vaguely disappointed as Krum entered the maze. Fifteen minutes and nothing had happened.

"Of course not, wouldn't want to scare the kiddies." Sirius scoffed.

"What are we supposed to do? Talk to each other?" Ginny asked.

"We could do that," Bill suggested. "Tell me about the French witch."

"She's too good for you. Plus, she went to the Yule Ball with Charlie and we all know Weasley men don't cross swords." Ginny shrugged.

"Ginevra!" Molly scolded. "You know better than to talk like that."

"Mum!" Bill shouted, scandalized. "You know what that means?"

"Of course, I do! I raised six boys. I know more than even you do, Bill." Molly sniffed as Ginny and Bill pretended to retch. The conversation continued for quite a while as the group awaited the task's end.

"What I don't understand is why you didn't come to me, Hermione," Sirius commented cryptically after some time.

"For what?" Hermione asked, looking at Ginny in confusion.

"Polyjuice ingredients, of course. Snape owled us months ago to inform us that you lot were stealing from him instead of just asking like you did second year." Sirius told her.

"Mr. Padfoot, sir, we haven't been using polyjuice the year. There's been too much going on for us to even have time to brew it, let alone use it. Besides, who would we impersonate? Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked.

Just then, Ginny's eyes went wide and she clutched Hermione's arm. "Polyjuice."

"What about it?" Hermione asked, then her eyes went wide as well. "Oh shit… why didn't we think of that?!"

"Because, there's no way. Where is he getting the hair?" Ginny asked before her eyes went wide again. "The case! He always lets Neville see what's inside except for recently."

"Oh no!" Hermione gasped. "What do we do? Who do we tell? Dumbledore is out of the question."

"I have a suggestion," Remus said. "Why don't you tell us what you think is going on?"

Just then, Snape clutched his forearm and stared across the stadium, straight into Sirius' eyes before dismissing himself and disappearing.

"Shit." Sirius intoned. "Tell us everything you've figured out. Now."

"Okay, but we should go find Professor McGonagall. And probably Dumbledore." Hermione said, taking charge. "I know you don't trust him, but more than most of the wizarding world does. We need his support, as we have basically the same goals."

"She has a point, Padfoot." Remus nodded. Sirius grumbled as he led the three witches away. "Now, Hermione, start at the beginning."

"Okay. Professor Moody turned Draco into a ferret the second week of school." Hermione replied.

"Speed it up a bit. That's all old hat." Ginny said, jumping in.

"Professor Moody has been off and on all year. Sometimes he seems like an auror and sometimes he Imperios students 'to practice throwing it off.' He teaches us excellent defensive skills, then he turns students into animals. Harry and Neville have been bickering back and forth all year over whether there's an imposter. Well, now it looks like there is one, but we don't know who or how! What do we do?" Hermione summarized quickly.

"Remus, we go find Dumbledore. It's the only option. No one else can shut this thing down." Sirius said, taking charge. "Bill, stay here and get Fred and George over here, too. Stay together, no matter what. Constant Vigilance."

"You be safe, too, Sirius Black," Hestia demanded and Sirius gave her a quick kiss of assent.

"Let's go find your woman, Moony. She's bound to be here somewhere." was the last thing anyone heard Sirius say before the two disappeared and all hell broke loose.


Harry panicked when he came across Fleur unconscious body. If something took her out in this hell maze, then the odds definitely weren't in his favor. Harry was surrounded by powerful, brilliant witches, so he knew how hard it was to take them down. This was almost scarier than his boggart. Almost. He did the only decent thing he could do and shot sparks off from Fleur's wand before continuing on.

He found Krum not long after, but he was standing over Cedric and trying to crucio him to death. Harry did the best thing he could think of: he hit Krum with an Auror level stunning spell and used his wand to send sparks off before helping Cedric up.

"We better stick together." Cedric offered as Harry helped him up. Harry agreed and the continued. The sphinx was intimidating, but the acromantula was where they lost it. There was a struggle and Harry ended up with a broken leg.

"Let's go, Potter," Cedric said, lifting Harry up as the cup came into sight.

"Go, win this. You've earned it." Harry motioned, getting his wand ready to shoot off the red sparks.

"No, mate. You've saved me, we do this together." Cedric demanded.

"For Hogwarts." Harry agreed.

"For Hogwarts." Cedric echoed. They continued on, leaning on each other for support. When they stood in front of the cup, they counted to three and grabbed at the same time. What they had not counted on was the cup to be a portkey.

Harry and Cedric were disoriented from their unexpected portkey, which was why neither had time to react when a menacing voice said, "Kill the spare!" and a bolt of green light knocked Cedric dead. Harry's gut clenched when he realized that Peter Pettigrew had sent that curse. Not for the first time, he questioned how his dad had ever trusted this man. That was enough to distract him while Pettigrew bound him to Tom Riddle's headstone.

"What the hell, Wormy?" Harry asked, pulling out the old nickname.

"Shut it, Potter." Pettigrew snapped.

"Is this… Ew. You tied me to Voldemort's headstone. You're a creep." Harry couldn't help himself. He figured he was going to die here, so he may as well have some fun before he went.

"James Potter," was all that Pettigrew muttered. Then, he went back to a bundle laying on the ground.

"How did you get a baby? Who actually had sex with you to do that?" Harry asked.

"Shut up!" Pettigrew shouted as he moved to a giant bubbling cauldron and dropped the bundle in.

"Probably a good plan, Wormy. Wouldn't want more traitors like you running around." Harry shouted as Pettigrew summoned dirt from under Harry's feet.

Harry shuddered when Pettigrew cut off his right hand and exclaimed "Flesh of the servant" before suturing the wound with a spell and walking towards Harry.

"I will enjoy this very much, you mouthy brat," Pettigrew muttered through clenched teeth. Then, he sliced Harry's forearm open and siphoned off the blood. He walked back to the cauldron and Harry was curious as to how he was still standing. Pettigrew dropped the blood into the cauldron and intoned, "Blood of the enemy."

Magic happened and suddenly Voldemort was standing in the cauldron. Tall, lean, and snaky in the face, Harry couldn't control the next thing that came out of his mouth, "Ew! Voldemort's your baby? Are you now Voldemort's dad? Am I his dad too?"

Harry had not realized previously that fear made him spout out stupid things. He'd always thought that mouthing off to baddies was his way of showing courage. Right now, he was figuring it out it was to keep from pissing himself. Harry also noted that Pettigrew had given up the pretense of painlessness completely and was sobbing on the ground. Voldemort ignored Harry in favor of pressing his wand to the Dark Mark on his arm. Harry thought that meant Snape would be here soon, but he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Voldemort began lecturing Harry at random about his convoluted childhood of all things. Muggle dad, witch mum, orphanages, Harry didn't know what he was supposed to do with all that information. What did he care if the crazy half-blood was running the pureblood show? Figures in ambiguous black cloaks started apparating in, some standing proudly, other falling at Voldemort's feet and begging forgiveness. Crucios were doled out like candy at Halloween. Then, Harry was astounded to hear Voldemort actually lay out his 12 point plan for success. He really wasn't leaving here alive.

"You lot seem to be guilty." Voldemort started. "Guilty of leaving me in my hour of need. At least those loyal followers in Azkaban have an excuse. You lot have rested on your laurels, your claims of Imperious. As if I had to force any of you to do what you did, to follow what you believe in." The sneer on his face was Snape-worthy, and Harry had to wonder if that's where Snape had learned it.

"One of my followers isn't here tonight." Voldemort looked around at the gathered crowd. "That's because he was loyal enough to find me and is staying to do his good work at Hogwarts."

Harry, seeing his wand on the ground not far away, started trying to do his first bout of wandless, non-verbal magic. He was distracted when Voldemort turned on him and started lecturing him again.

"I have tried, time and again, to kill you, boy. Even my memory tried to kill you. But you got lucky, because of that idiotic mudblood mother of yours." Voldemort spat in his face.

"Smart enough to beat you!" Harry spat back. "And obviously way better at magic!"

That was enough to set Voldemort off. The crucio that Voldemort sent his way was the most singularly painful thing in his life, and he'd fallen over fifteen stories before. He'd had basilisk venom in his body before. His leg was currently broken. This was way worse. Then he found out how wrong he was.

"Wormtail. Cut the boy down and give him his wand. It's time to prove who's the better wizard." Voldemort commanded.

"Yeah, let's see who's better: the full grown wizard full of malevolence or the teenaged wizard you just weakened with the crucio. Tough call." Harry said as he stood up as best he could and shook himself off.

"Don't forget to bow," Voldemort said, crucioing him again.

Harry fought the urge but gave in. Harry stood and stared the red-eyed snake man in the eyes. Harry wanted to run, wanted to all of his friends here to help him. If this was how he was going to die, he wasn't going without a fight. He pulled his wand up after Voldemort was laughing with his minions.

With a deep breath, he held up his wand at the same time as Voldemort and cast the only spell that came to mind. "Expelliarmus!" He yelled at the same time as Voldemort did. The red and green crashed in the gray sky. Harry put his other hand on his wand, trying to keep his wand steady and to avoid death. It was at that moment when sparks flew out of the wands. First, Harry saw Cedric, who stared around in confusion before looking at what was happening. An old man came next out of the wand, followed by a woman who Harry saw in the paper who was missing, Bertha Jorkins. Harry was about to give up when he saw a woman who was only in pictures and dreams come out next: Lily Potter.

"Mum?" Harry said exasperatedly.

"Hold on, darling, your father's coming," she said gently as another spark came, and a young man came out, tall, untidy-haired, just like his son. James came out and stood next to his wife."

"Dad," Harry said, tears coming into his eyes, seeing the last of the Marauders.

"You're so brave," Lily said, reaching out to her son.

"Can they see us?" James said looking at Wormtail. "If they can I'm going to-"

"James," Lily said with an eye roll. "focus."

"Right!" James said, his eyes back on his son. "Calm down, Harry. You're doing great. Here's what you need to do. First, hold the connection as long as you can, and second, tell Sirius that I love him and he's doing a great job and tell Moody to stop beating himself up for whatever he is being angsty about."

"Now's not the time for that!" Lily said, then to Harry, "But you're dad is right. We love you. We are so proud of you."

"Be brave," James said, "Know we will always love you. Let go of the connection and go back to the cup."

"Take my body back," Cedric pleaded. "Take my body to my father, please?"

Harry nodded as the tears came from his eyes.

"I'm proud of you," James smiled.

"Let go, sweetheart," Lily said, reaching out to him one more time. "Let go."

Harry took one more look at his parents before letting the connection break. He fell to Cedric's body and called for the cup, finding his way back to Hogwart's grounds.


Kat: I'm alive! I've wished for my death a lot, but I'm alive! Gabsie took good care of me and this whole fic.

Gabs: I'm a saint, really. A miracle worker.

Kat: Just call you Annie Sullivan… Thanks for those of you who are still here and reading! We have one chapter left of this book and then onto what Gabs and I are excited about!

Gabs: Thanks to those who took time to review while Kat was 'dying,' even though I forgot the snippet things to be sent. Also thanks to the new favs and follows.

Kat: Gabs is working on the animagus training story, go read it! Review! We own nothing and I was so dying!

XOXO

Gabs & Kat