"Potter has managed to enter the Triwizard Tournament,"

Blinking owlishly Luka was struck silent for a moment.

"How did he get in? And what do you mean by 'managed to enter'? He told Sirius he was going to try to get through a year with no trouble,"

Snorting in disbelief at the last statement the professor replied, "Dumbledore believes that the Goblet of fire was Confunded as Potter is the fourth Triwizard champion but it is still possible that the boy just asked another student put his name in. No doubt to further propagate his fame and garner yet more attention,"

Once she had processed that bit of information Luka narrowed her eyes. She knew that Harry's father had been an odious cretin whilst at school but that was no reason to take it out on the boy. Furthermore, he was far from the attention and danger seeking individual Snape was describing, an opinion she quickly voiced. However, her efforts were wasted, a raised eyebrow was the only response. Muttering a quick good morning Luka passed the Potions master.

XXX

Despite her desire for a long morning's rest Luka was woken up by an incessant ringing. Reluctantly lifting her head she glared at the source before picking it up.

"What?" she squawked angrily down her mobile phone.

"Morning Luka, did I wake you?"

"Sorry Remus, I'm below my sleep quota," replied Luka as she sat up against the headboard.

"It's about Harry, Sirius go the emergency owl from Dumbledore and he hasn't stopped worrying since. People have died in the Tournament and with the recent Death Eater activity he's fearing the worst,"

With that end sentence Luka perked up considerably, "Sirius thinks that someone wants to kill Harry?"

"It's possible, the Triwizard Tournament is a good way to make it look like an accident. It doesn't help that there are a couple of Death Eaters now inside Hogwarts-,"

"A couple? Severus said that Karkaroff was one, who's the other?"

"Ludo Bagman,"

"That doughy git? How the hell did he become a Death Eater?" asked Luka as she tried to imagine him in a skull mask large enough to cover those pendulous jowls.

"He wasn't a Death Eater like those ones at the World Cup, he was an informant. When he was put on trial after Voldemort's disappearance he said he was just talking to Augustus Rookwood as a friend and that he didn't know Rookwood was a Death Eater. He was never convicted but some of us still remain suspicious,"

"I see,"

"Luka, you know the tasks, just how much danger is Harry in?"

"They've made sure there are a lot of safeguards in place this year but of course they've already been shown to be fallible. Given the last few years he should be alright in the first task, the second one I'm not too sure about because it's more technically difficult so courage and luck won't get him far in that one. The third one should be alright, he'll probably take quite a bit of damage throughout the tournament but as long as the person who put his name in the Goblet doesn't get their hands on him he should get through it alive," replied Luka trying to avoid giving too much detail about the tasks, she was willing to bet that Black had his ear pressed against the back of the phone so he could hear too.

"Thanks, I'll let you get back to sleep," said Lupin.

"Good morning," smiled Luka as she hung up, it was a pity they didn't get to see each other as often but at least she always saw him on Fridays at the bar.

XXX

Later that morning Harry and Hermione were on their way to the Owlery. Still stinging from the unforeseen clash with Ron Harry penned his letter to his godfather. Sirius wouldn't be able to help much considering that the task was unknown but it would just be nice just to have a friendly letter. Watching Hedwig gracefully wing her way southwards Harry hoped that things would settle down once everyone had gotten used to the idea of him being the second Hogwarts champion.

XXX

As the week passed Luka couldn't help but notice the ill will heaped on Gryffindor. Whilst the Sluytherins continued their usual rivalry and Ravenclaws had deemed Harry a cheat the entire house of Hufflepuff were aiming their disdain on Gryffindor as a whole rather than just Harry. Even Professor Sprout seemed a bit miffed. That and as far as Luka could tell Ron was no longer talking to him as Hermione sat between the two trying to act like a human bridge. Once the weekend had rolled around Luka surveyed the Great Hall as her Duelling Club class assembled themselves. As well as the Hogwarts students there were also contingents from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, it would be interesting to see how the former fared as their school was known for its far greater depth in actually teaching the Dark Arts. Harry was also here with Hermione, Ron was on the other side of the Gryffindor huddle with his older brothers and Seamus Finnegan. However, despite the added interest of the new recruits there was one fly in the ointment. Residing in the darkest corner of the hall stood Moody both eyes roving over the students. Ignoring his less than welcome presence Luka reintroduced her training mannequins. Once the P.E style warm up was done the class was split into year groups and Luka taught them the day's spells; shields for the younger years, blasting spells such as bombarder for the middle years and non-verbal spells for the fifth year onward. Watching carefully for faults in form and spell casting Luka made amendments as necessary, it was mainly the first and fifth years who were having the most difficulty. The first years had little practice in active sparring despite Moody's hands on lessons and smaller repertoires of spells should their initial attempts at shielding fail and the mannequin keep coming at them. The fifth years had a similar problem in that this was one of their first tastes non-verbal magic. Fortunately for both groups the mannequins had been programmed to be all bark and no bite. Their job was to seem as intimidating as possible in order to try and activate magical reservoirs through instinct but should their efforts be unsuccessful they would do little actual damage. After the hour of magical combat was finished they had their main break and the class then moved onto fencing and unarmed fighting. Out of the two other schools it was Durmstrang that seemed to take to the class the best and this was most pronounced in the Thai boxing section which the Beauxbatons seemed to view with great distaste although it did have to be noted that they did seem to like the fencing. Perhaps hand to hand combat seemed a little brutal to them, hopefully their champion, who had not attended the class, wouldn't be as prissy. After all, one couldn't fight a dragon without some use of force. Speaking of which Luka made a mental note to see if she could try out Parseltongue on the dragons. Since she had successfully acquired the language she had wondered what other reptilian creatures it may work with. She had already ruled out the Blast Ended Skrewts but she wasn't really sure if they were actually reptiles.

Now the cool down and stretching was finished Luka watched the now exhausted students exit. Hopefully the arduous nature of the club would help thin out the Krum groupies that had been threatened with the choice of either joining the club or being locked out of the hall. As the Durmstrang group exited the Great Hall Luka noticed that Krum continued to glance in her direction. Did he recognise her from the World Cup? She hadn't exactly kept her head down but he had been busy as well. Time would tell, it wasn't like she could just go up to him and ask. No, in this case she would take a leaf out of the snakes' book and bide her time so back off to her quarters to wash and continue her homework.

XXX

Another week passed just as the last had only now those who opposed Harry's part in the Triwizard Tournament were now adorning themselves with 'Support Cedric Diggory'/ 'Potter stinks' badges and a constant debate raged in the 'Hogwarts Express' over whether he should be allowed to compete. Now moving towards her potions lesson Luka was sure she was overhearing a quarrel on the same subject, the agitator in this case being Draco Malfoy who was crowing about his new badges.

'I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see, don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

Upon hearing that particular slur Luka slipped through a quick shadow gate so that she would emerge at the classroom door in under a second, just in time to see Draco and Harry exchange curses and both to miss their mark.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor and Slytherin," shouted Luka before the pair could descend into further violence.

Glancing at both Goyle and Hermione who had been the unfortunate recipients of the ricochets as Snape stepped out of the classroom Luka managed to apply a stasis charm by force on the pair of them since she had yet to learn the wand using equivalent. As Malfoy began to spin his web saying that Harry had been the attacker in this incident Luka swiftly interrupted. Snape remained impassive as she told him what had happened but she could have sworn she saw a flicker when she mentioned that Malfoy had called Hermione a Mudblood. Once she had finished ratting out Malfoy Snape inspected Goyle and sent him to the hospital wing before he turned to Hermione. Fortunately Luka had managed to stop the curse before it could get very far but unfortunately the girl's incisors were still down to her chin. On the upside at least she had a slight overbite so her lower jaw hadn't been impaled or the newly grown extensions forced to jut forwards out of her mouth like the teeth of a horse. As he turned to the panic stricken young witch the Potions Master's cold glare didn't waver and he callously concluded that she appeared no different than normal. As Hermione ran from the dungeons crying Luka repressed the need to kick him in the shins. Fortunately those thoughts were quickly drowned out by the angry shouts of Harry and Ron who then swiftly chalked up more point losses for their house.

Once everyone was seated and Snape had just begun his lecture on antidotes a nervous knock was heard on the dungeon door. Obviously irked at being stopped mid verbal stride Snape stared down his nose as Colin Creevey attempted to persuade him to release Harry early for press photographs. As soon as he said that Luka realised that Rita Skeeter the piece of tabloid trash who made the phone hacking Muggle reporters seem like paragons of morality was in the school. The poor lad would be better off in a police interrogation, at least then you had your rights read to you and children could have an adult present to stop coercion. Yes, that boy was certainly going to end up as reader bait.

XXX

That evening in the Funtom bar Luka looked over to see Lupin chatting with Black, Jim and Mike. She couldn't hear them over general hubbub but they seemed to be quite animated. Once it was time for her break she immediately grabbed her lunch box and headed over.

"What's up?" she asked as she scavenged a seat from the next table.

"Just discussing what the Ministry's up to, it looks like we'd better get ready for more strays to start coming to the pack," said Jim taking a sip of his pint.

"Why? What's going on?"

"The Ministry have decided they have been 'too lenient' with dissident werewolves. From now on any magical werewolf seen to surface in the Muggle world will have their wand snapped as well as facing possible imprisonment," replied Lupin.

Luka nodded, "That will have the opposite effect, they'll be driven to the larger packs both Muggle and magical in order to be safer in large numbers,"

"We all know that but the Ministry thinks differently. That and they have to be seen to act," said Lupin.

"Yeah, the 'Daily Prophet' has been full of job adverts for the Beast Division and Werewolf Capture Unit. Apparently they want to double the number of wizards in order to make the crackdown more effective," added Black.

"What about the International Confederation of Wizards? I thought that if the Statute of Secrecy was breached the governments responsible were deposed almost automatically," enquired Luka as she endeavoured to eat her sandwich as fast as possible.

"Usually the government would face sanctions and possible replacement by a more able technocracy but in this case the damage is too widespread. Too many regime changes would be needed and resulting instability would be intolerable to the ICW," explained Lupin.

"So far we've had twenty new recruits into the pack but no hassle from the wizards so far. No doubt Mathew'll want you at the next pack meeting to discuss possible strategies should they come after us, that and the sight of an executioner should put any unpleasant thoughts out of their heads," said Jim.

"I'm surprised there haven't been any calls for new executioners but then it is a hard job to fill," replied Luka.

"No two ways about that, it's only you and Paul who survived right?"

"Survival being the operative word in Paul's case since he's just the drugged up slave of a voodoo priest," replied Luka.

"What exactly is involved in being an executioner?" asked Black.

"Considering the job?" asked Lupin with slight worry.

"Not really, it's just that they've becoming quite heavy handed in the way they're approaching you and I figured another friend in a position of power around here would be a good thing. Especially since Luka can't be here all the time,"

"No one's going to force me to join anything," replied Lupin sternly, he knew Sirius just wanted to look after him like he had in school but he was an adult now and more than capable of taking care of himself.

"What's been going on?" asked Luka suspiciously, Lupin had never mentioned this before.

"Mathew's been trying to recruit me since the weres became public. Being the intelligent alpha he is he knows that an educated magical werewolf in the pack would be quite an asset," said Lupin.

"That's the thing. There may be a good number of wolves wanting to come in the pack but none of them have had a full magical education and most have had their wands snapped already. If we are to end up fighting the Ministry we'll be needing quite a bit more than just brute force," explained Mike.

"What about you two, does Mathew know about your new hobby?" enquired Luka.

"Not yet, but if wizards do come after us it may end being pack knowledge. On Halloween we just had to fend off drunks and we can do that by hand,"

"I usually agree that secrecy's the best policy but if it looks inevitable that you will be discovered it would be best you come cleaner as early as possible. Mathew will just punish you more if he finds out you've been deceiving him," said Luka glumly, the lads were damned if they did and damned if they didn't.

"We know that Luka but if we tell him odds are we'll be pushed up a rank or two and that'll just cause more aggro. Some of the pack believe that using a wand is prissy whilst others would be constantly nagging us to teach them how to do magic and we don't know that much," rebutted Jim.

"Which brings it back to me," said Lupin, "they want an experienced wizard to oversee the whole magical education of the pack,"

"It isn't like we can just go to Diagon Alley and bulk buy a dozen wands and stacks of textbooks. The school year's already begun and with the new restrictions in place everyone's going to be looking twice at people buying wands," added Mike.

"So now we've all concluded that on the magical front we're screwed how's the normal world going? I've heard that the Food Standards Agency and the NHS are to investigate lycanthropy," Luka said changing the subject.

"Yeah it was on Sky last night. Now they know lycanthropy exists they're trying to figure out where it comes from and how it spreads. The FSA are wondering whether to implement new rules on food handling by members of the furred community," replied Jim.

"Surely that's nonsense, I've never heard of lycanthropy being transmitted by food," said Black.

"That's true but they don't know that. A similar thing is happening in the NHS as they don't know if it can be transmitted from health professionals to the patients or vice versa like if there was a needle stick incident or a scratch," continued Jim.

"That won't happen either as they need to be in their animal for at the time of the scratch but I suppose it is a sensible precaution given their ignorance," said Luka.

"Another thing they'll be looking at is blood transfusions," added Mike, "and there's been some debate around that for a while,"

"Hmm, the perceived wisdom is that whatever transmits lycanthropy decays once the blood leaves the body but since few weres are blood donors no one really knows," mused Luka.

"On the upside those of us who are in these organisations and other science firms are more able to find answers about our condition like why weres can't reproduce very well," said Mike.

"What do you mean? Magical werewolves don't seem to have any difficulty from what I've heard and there's two children down the hall from Remus and I," asked Black.

"You mean Polly's kids? They were turned a few years back. It was one of your jobs wasn't it Luka?" replied Jim.

"Yes, I think it was three years ago now. A rogue werewolf had broken into their home and killed their parents, they were also attacked. I managed to track down and kill the werewolf once Mathew had told me that one of the pack affiliates had heard about the nine nine nine call on his police radio,"

"Who are the pack's affiliates?" asked Lupin, from his point of view the pack infrastructure seemed to be an ever growing web.

"They're normal people like family members or the girlfriends or boyfriends of werewolves who've been trusted to keep their mouths shut and ears open. It's really useful when you get ones in the police or the social services as they can tell the executioners or other pack members if something's going on," Mike answered.

"So you track and kill the werewolf and someone from social services picks up the children," guessed Lupin.

"Yep, that's pretty much what happened. It also helps that Mathew's a barrister so he can cut through the legal nonsense so any orphans tend to get placed in suitable foster homes quite quickly," said Luka.

"So these children who had their parents murdered by a werewolf and have become werewolves themselves are now living with a werewolf? How did they react to that?" asked Black.

"They were traumatised to begin with and quite angry with all weres once the shock had worn off but Polly has managed to win them around. Also, I'm sure you'll agree that an ordinary children's home is not a suitable place for new and therefore feral werewolves," countered Luka.

"On a more amusing note the more politically correct among the columnists are beginning to question whether werewolf based horror films are now to be considered racist," chirped Mike.

Luka groaned, it had only been a matter of time for the political correctness to catch up but she hoped that the horror genre would remain untouched. She had always found those films amusing.

XXX

The Saturday before the first task Harry was preparing to head out to Hogsmeade. Despite Hermione's urgings he would be spending most of the day under his Invisibility cloak until it was time to meet Sirius by the Shrieking Shack for a picnic and discussion about the tournament. Setting off towards the village he felt remarkably free under the cloak. No one was flashing their badges at him or quoting that idiotic article that Rita Skeeter had published. Despite his ever present panic about the upcoming task it would just be so nice to see a couple of friendly faces of the people who believed that he hadn't entered himself into the tournament. First it was a stop at the stationary shop so Hermione could stock up on yet more ink and parchment for her overzealous homework essays and then Honeydukes Sweetshop. Harry wanted to pick up something for his godfather and ex-professor as well as for his own stash. Then it was a quick drink at The Three Broomsticks once Rita Skeeter and her photographer had exited the establishment. Trying to make himself as small as possible Harry edged himself between his fellow students to get to a table whilst Hermione bought the butterbeers. Once she had passed him his she pulled out her S.P.E.W notebook, despite everything that had been said to her she was still convinced that she knew best and that house elves should be given proper rights and wages. Half listening to her suggestion that she might enlist some of the villagers involved in her organisation Harry drifted off into his thoughts on how different things would be right now if his name hadn't come out of the Goblet of Fire. No need for the cloak, no cold shoulder from Ron it would just be the three of them in the warmth of the pub drinking butterbeer trying to predict what acts of daring do the champions would be called on to perform. Harry was parted from his daydream as Hermione called his attention to Hagrid's presence in the pub along with that of Professor Moody. As the pair turned to leave Moody seemed to spot and with a tap on Hagrid's back the pair made their way to the students.

"Nice Cloak, Potter," growled Moody as Harry was treated to a close up of his scarred face.

Despite stumbling on his words as he talked to the professor he actually wasn't surprised that the enchanted blue eye that Moody wore could see through Invisibility Cloaks after all it would give him quite an edge on would be assassins who used such things. Stooping over as if to read Hermione's notebook Hagrid told Harry to meet him at his cabin at midnight before loudly making his goodbyes and leaving. Even as he later walked to the hill where the Shrieking Shack was located Harry still wondered what Hagrid wanted him to see, he had never been asked to visit that late before.

Rounding the crest of the hill on his own, Hermione had headed back to what she hoped was a now quiet library, Harry lowered the hood of his Cloak as he approached Sirius and Remus. Beaming for the first time in what felt like ages he ran into his godfather's arms before sitting down on the picnic rug.

"How're you two doing?" he asked.

"Never mind us, how are you?" said Sirius seriously as Lupin added his own look of concern.

With that question Harry burst like a dam; the shock of his name coming out of the goblet, that article full of lies,-

"Yes, after reading it and seeing Molly I'm surprised she hasn't broken into the school to drag you out of the tournament," said Sirius with a slight smile.

-the constant sneers and jeering he had to put up with because of it and to top it off the fact that his best friend refused to believe him.

"I know it's hard Harry but you have to remember that Ron is one amongst many siblings. He's the last of the boys so he always gets hand me downs and relatively little attention," said Lupin placatingly as Harry stopped for breath.

As much as he wanted to his friend reiterating what Hermione he now found himself remembering what had happened when they had found the mirror of Erised in the first year. Whilst he had seen his parents Ron had seen himself as head boy and holder of the Quidditch Cup, the best of all his siblings. Still, it didn't make up for how Ron was treating him.

"Which now brings us to the task at hand as well as what you'll face on Tuesday there are some other things that you must know," said Black.

"Like what?" asked Harry, what else was there but facing an unknown task?

"Karkaroff's a Death Eater,"

"And so was Bagman," added Lupin.

Harry listened as the murky background of the two judges were revealed as well as the possible entrapment of Bertha Jorkins. The combination of Death Eater activity both in and out of Hogwarts was never a good thing.

"So, how have you been preparing for the first task?" asked Black.

"I go to the Duelling Club that Luka's teaching. That helps with more advanced spells and Hermione's been dragging me to the library nearly every day to learn more about the tournament and what could be ahead," replied Harry.

"That's good, if you hear anything else or you just want to talk I brought these with me. Your mum enchanted these mirrors back when we were all in school so that your dad and I could talk to one another if we were in separate detentions," said Black as he passed Harry the small polished rectangle.

Savouring this link to his parents Harry thanked his godfather before the three of them got to the business of devouring their picnic.

XXX

At around quarter past twelve a breathless Harry emerged from the Forbidden Forrest. Dragons. Nesting mothers. He had to tell Sirius. Right now.

XXX

On the day of the first task lessons were to be cut off early so everyone could get down to the dragon enclosure. From Luka's point of view they may as well have given the pupils the entire day off, except for a few stalwart nerds the entire lot were consumed with tournament fever and paid little if any attention to their lessons. Once her final Muggle studies lecture was over Luka was happy to see the back of them. And it wasn't just the students who were clearly under the influence of the tournament's atmosphere. Professor McGonagall who had always struck Luka as the consummate professional was visibly worried as she cast long glances at Harry during breakfast. Attempting to put her fears to rest Luka reminded her that after a Cerberus, killer chess set, Voldemort's host as DADA professor, a basilisk, and Dementors he was very well prepared for the dangerous and unknown although the effect was ruining by Professor Snape muttering something about dumb luck. Another thing she would have mentioned if she'd had the time was that her Parseltongue experiment had indeed been successful. Whilst dragons could understand and speak the language they were not the wise creatures of some Muggle films but a brutal predator who considered humans to be a lower form of life due to their lesser size and lower place on the food chain. Not to mention the fact that they were incandescent with rage at being chained up. On second thoughts perhaps it was a good thing that she hadn't mentioned that.

Now in the champions' tent Harry watched Bagman warily as he explained that they would just need to get the golden egg. When it was time to pick his dragon from the sack only the Hungarian horntail was left and as he pulled it out its eyes glared at him with the same malice as its real life counterpart. After Cedric had been ushered out to the enclosure Bagman pulled Harry to one side in an attempt to offer advice. Harry declined the offer for confidential pointers, it felt wrong to cheat and besides, for all he knew it could be some part of a Death Eater plot. Damn, he was listening to Moody too much.

Outside in the stands Luka looked on. Cedric Diggory was the first to emerge to face the Swedish Short-Snout. Since she had heard that he was the other Hogwarts champion she couldn't help but wonder why the hell he had volunteered himself for a potentially lethal competition so soon after his father's death. It couldn't be for the money, his mother had no doubt received her husband's pension. Perhaps it was a form of strange escapism from his grief? Regardless, now he was stuck in front of an angry nesting dragon. The crowd watched as he transfigured a rock into a labrador. A smart move but half way through the dragon decided that she preferred the larger target. Despite minor flame grilling Cedric recovered the egg before being rushed to what was presumably the first aid tent.

Next up was Fleur Delacour against the Welsh Green. This match was of particular interest to nephilim, the specimen in the pit below looked much smaller than the one she had seen all those years ago. Perhaps it was just the oddness of seeing a real life dragon for the first time that had made it seem so big. Switching back to the match Luka watched as Fleur applied the stereotypical grace of her school as she charmed the creature into a deep slumber. Unfortunately this dragon happened to snore and a small blast of flame set her skirt on fire which she quickly extinguished.

Then it was Viktor Krum who blasted the unlucky dragon in the eye with the Conjunctivitis curse. Whilst this did have the desired effect of incapacitating the Chinese Fireball in her pain induced fury she crushed several of her own eggs and points were suitably deducted. No doubt Hagrid would also be in mourning for the lost hatchlings. That just left Harry and the Hungarian Horntail.

Listening as Bagman announced that Krum had recovered his egg Harry tried to review his plan as he moved towards the tent exit. First he would try the Conjunctivitis curse that Sirius had taught him through the mirror and if that didn't work he would play to his strengths as Moody had called it and summon his Firebolt. He hoped it didn't come to that, having to perfect the two spells in such a short time meant that he was only about half proficient on both with the curse being slightly better. As the whistle was blown he stepped out into the arena, none of seemed real, like it was just a dream. Looking to the right he could see the Horntail crouched over her eggs, eyes gleaming with malice and twitching her tail cleaving yard long gouges in the dirt. Plucking up his courage he moved a bit closer scuttling from rock to rock. Wand pointed directly at the dragon's eyes he fired the curse only for it to be deflected by a quick block with her wing. The retaliatory blast of flame roared towards and he dived behind the nearest boulder. Breathing hard he tried to peak around the rock but alas the dragon's eyes were keen and each time he tried to get a look he was forced to retreat as her well-aimed flames hurtled towards him. He was pinned down. There was no way he could fire the curse without putting himself in the line of fire. It was time for plan b.

"Accio Firebolt!"

He hoped that his practice with Hermione had paid off and every fibre of his body rang with tension until he could finally hear his broom racing towards him. As soon as it arrived he hopped on and was airborne. Now in his element Harry circled the dragon at a safe height before diving lower to taunt her as he sought to pull her off the nest. He managed to dodge the first volley of flame but his luck ran out when her tail caught him. Ascending once more Harry renewed his attempts to lure the dragon. Flying this way and that always almost in range the dragon finally flew up to swat the little pest that had been the cause of her vexation. It was at that moment that Harry swooped down to grab the egg and become the fastest to finish the first task. As the dragon keepers emerged to subdue the irate dragon Harry landed at the enclosure entrance and was sent to the first aid tent by Professor McGonagall. In the tent he was very pleased to find an apologetic Ron and it was if the weeks of silence had never happened as his friend jeered Karakoff in his defence.

Half way through the book now, just need to keep the momentum up. Thanks for the review please keep them coming.