AN: Lots of direct quotes from Goblet of Fire in this one.

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Halloween at Hogwarts had always been something to look forward to, but this year, it was doubly so, since the names of the Triwizard Champions would be revealed at the feast. Every Hogwarts House hoped they would have the honour of housing theirs. Harry was only aware of Angelina and Maurice, out of all Gryffindor, successfully putting her name in. Fred and George had tried, but they were stopped by the protection Dumbledore had put around the Goblet to prevent anyone under seventeen from participating.

Out of the people Harry knew in the other houses, Roger Davies had put his name in – Horatio was furious that, once again, he would miss his chance by a mere few months, given that his birthday was in January – and Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker and Captain, had also tried his luck. In Slytherin, it fell to Marcus Flint. Draco was furious.

"A year earlier," he said, "and Clement Avery could have tried. Two years later and at least Theo would have had a shot. But no, of course the Tournament had to take place in the year where the upper Slytherin years are useless! I bet Dumbledore did that on purpose."

"I think pretty much everyone's upper years are useless," Harry replied, though Slytherin probably did have it worst, with no Muggle-Born students to swell their ranks. "No offence to the people who did put their name in, but I mean, it's the years when the war was the worst...there are barely any people in the years above us. I don't get what they're playing at, to be honest. Why do it now of all times?"

"Good point," Draco conceded. "I'll ask father. It was a stupid idea."

Harry had to agree.

But stupid or not, now he was sitting in the Great Hall, nervous and anticipatory, awaiting the verdict just as impatiently as when he waited for exam results every summer.

And finally, it was time. Dumbledore rose and gave a short speech, and then the Goblet flared a bright blue and a scrap of paper flew out. The Headmaster deftly caught it, and announced to all and sundry that the Durmstrang champion was Victor Krum.

It wasn't really surprising, Harry supposed as he clapped for him and the boy – well, young man, more like, really – walked though the hall to the head table and then through a door on its other side. Still, Harry had held out some hope that perhaps the guy was awesome at Quidditch and terrible at everything else. Apparently not.

From Beauxbatons, the Cup chose the girl Ron had a crush on, Fleur Delacour. Harry mused that the world really wasn't a fair place. One was a star Quidditch player and all around capable, the other was a captivating beauty and champion material? How did that work?

Given this, at any rate, he shouldn't have been surprised that Cedric Diggory became the Hogwarts champion.

He had had no faith in Maurice and Marcus, but he had rather hoped in Angelina, or even Roger. Oh well. It was a pity, but he supposed worse things could happen.

Like, just to give a completely random example, Dumbledore pausing in his closing speech as the Goblet gave him another name.

Harry's name.

Because, of course.

Silence descended over the entire hall, and at Dumbledore's invitation, Harry rose, feeling mostly resignation and bitter amusement, and walked through the silent rows of students towards the Head Table, and then to the door to the small room where the Champions were gathered.

"What is it?" Fleur asked him when he came in. "Do they want us back in the Hall?"

Harry simply shook his head and, without speaking to any of them, took out his mirror.

Alduin was smiling at first, probably thinking Harry was calling him to let him know who became the Champion, but his smile disappeared the moment he saw Harry's expressions. "What happened?" He asked immediately.

"The Goblet pronounced me the fourth champion," Harry replied tonelessly.

There was a short silence, and then Alduin said: "I'll be there within fifteen minutes. Don't do or say anything at all until I come, Harry, and I mean anything. This is potentially a legally difficult situation, and anything could complicate it further. Just repeat that you're waiting for me to come, and that's it. Do you understand? Oh, and also any time someone tries to pronounce you a champion, protest. Say you're not, but nothing more. Understood?"

"Yes," Harry said, confused but realizing now was no time for explanations. Alduin disappeared, and just in that moment Ludo Bagman entered the room.

He took Harry by the arm, to his irritation, and pulled him forward. "Extraordinary!" he said. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen… lady," he added, marching Harry even further inside the room. "May I introduce – incredible though it may seem – the fourth Triwizard champion?"

Krum frowned, but before he could say anything, Harry declared firmly: "I'm not."

Bagman blinked ta him. "What do you mean, you're not? Your name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not," he repeated, and then added, feeling a little stupid but trying to trust Alduin knew what he was doing. "I'm waiting for my cousin and guardian to come."

Bagman faltered a little. "Oh! A guardian...yes, that could possibly...I'm not sure..."

"Not sure?" Fleur was looking at him incredulously. "Evidently there has been a mistake. He is too young, so he cannot compete."

"Well… it is amazing," Bagman allowed, rubbing his chin. "But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as his name's come out of the Goblet… I mean, I don't think there can be any ducking out at this stage… It's down in the rules, you're obliged… Harry will just have to do the best he-"

The door opened, and Dumbledore came in with Mr. Bartemius Crouch, the Durmstrang headmaster Karkaroff, Madame Maxime and Professor McGonnagal.

"Madame Maxime!" Fleur said the moment she saw her headmistress, sounding irritated. "This man here is saying that this boy is to compete also!"

"What is the meaning of this, Dumbledore?" The lady in question asked imperiously.

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," Karkaroff added, looking even more unfriendly towards Dumbledore than ever before "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions – or have I not read the rules carefully enough?" The final question fairly dripped sarcasm, but to make it even more obvious, he laughed a nasty laugh.

"C'est impossible," declared Madame Maxime. "Hogwarts cannot have two champions. It is most unjust."

"I'm not a champion," Harry repeated, just to be sure.

The eyes of everyone in the room turned to him.

"What do you mean?" Madame Maxime asked him, unknowingly echoing Bagman.

Harry shrugged again. "Just that I'm not. My guardian is coming here now, I'm sure he'll sort it out."

"You contacted your cousin, Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.

Harry nodded. "I did. He should be here in a few minutes."

Dumbledore smiled his grandfatherly smile, the one Harry hadn't trusted since his first year, when he learned what risk Dumbledore had been willing to expose him to. "Then I suggest we wait."

"In the meantime," Karkaroff said coldly, "we could perhaps discuss how this happened? We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore. Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

Instead of answering, Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" He asked calmly.

Harry was getting ready to say no, but then he closed his mouth, took a deep breath and instead, said: "I'm sorry, sir, but my cousin told me not to say anything until he comes."

Karkaroff scoffed. "Effectively an admission of guilt."

"It most certainly is not," Mr. Bartemius Crouch said firmly, speaking for the first time. "On the contrary, it was very wise advice on part of Mr. Travers. I believe we should all respect it, and, and as Dumbledore said, wait."

The others assented with bad grace. It did not take long. A minute or two later, the door opened again and Snape entered alongside Alduin.

At Dumbledore's questioning look, Snape said: "I've had a suspicion Mr. Travers might require the gates opened for him, so I headed there directly."

Dumbledore nodded, and turned to Alduin. "Mr. Travers," he said formally. "Your ward tells us you told him not to speak. Will you speak for him, then?"

"I will," Alduin confirmed.

"Do you agree to this, Harry?"

Harry, a little confused by the proceedings, nevertheless said "I do". Without a doubt Alduin knew better what he was doing than he did.

"Very well. What do you say for Mr. Potter, Mr. Travers?" Dumbledore asked.

"He will not compete in the tournament," Alduin replied evenly.

Bagman frowned. "The rules- the spells on the Goblet-"

Alduin scoffed, losing much of his formality. "What do you think it is, an Imperius Curse? Even had Harry been over seventeen, the most it could have meant for him would have been to get him to attend every task and officially declare he was ceding it to his opponents. Underage and with his guardian explicitly against it? There is no force that can make him. And that is still leaving aside the fact that the name was entered into the Goblet without his knowledge-"

"How do you know that?" Madame Maxime interrupted him.

Alduin raised his eyebrows. "Harry," he said, turning to him, "did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire, or did you arrange for it to be put there, or did you bear knowledge of someone putting it there?"

"No," Harry replied firmly.

"Would you be willing to answer this question, and this question only, under the Veritaserum?"

"Yes," Harry didn't even hesitate. He trusted Alduin enough to know that if it came down to it, he'd make absolutely sure no one abused the potion to ask him any more.

"There you have it," Alduin said easily. "Should you require it, Madame, you can fill the appropriate forms for using Veritaserum on a minor and we might proceed. For now, I believe this should be enough. Of course, this might have been circumvented by someone resourceful enough – Harry might have signed something in good faith and the intent of that signature might have been twisted a little for the purpose of putting it in the Goblet, such things are known to happen – but even if it was circumvented and the spell would therefore be binding, it cannot be so while I am refusing consent, which I certainly am."

He finished and everyone in the room looked at each other. "Well," McGonnagal then said. "That seems to be it, then. Shall you announce it to the school, Albus?"

The Headmaster inclined his head. Harry wondered if it was just his impression or if he looked a bit disappointed.

"If you'd allow, Dumbledore, I'd speak to Harry for a while," Alduin said, and the man nodded. Alduin exchanged a look with Snape, and as most of those present returned to the Great Hall, the three of them left by another door and Snape headed towards the dungeons. To Harry's surprise Alduin followed him. They all stayed silent until they reached Snape's office.

"This was not a well-meant attempt, Harry, nor, I believe, was it a joke," Alduin said the moment Snape cast a few privacy spells. "Especially combined with the news of Riddle's possible return, it deeply worries me."

"It seems too elaborate a plan if the goal was simply to kill Potter," Snape pointed out. "With too high a risk of failure, as we've just seen."

"It does, rather," Alduin agreed. "But he might have other goals. He might have simply wished to see what Harry is capable of, and the risk of death would have just been a possible side benefit. Or it might be something else we know nothing of. I don't believe it is an accident these two things happened at the same time."

"To be fair, something ominous has happened every year so far," Harry pointed out.

"Yes," Alduin agreed, "and in your first year, I treated the different ominous things as unrelated, only to discover they were all connected. I'm not willing to make the same mistake again. Pettigrew is with Riddle, and they're likely back in Britain. An agent of his – likely someone else than Pettigrew – was at the World Cup. Now everything points to an agent of his being at Hogwarts, again perhaps the same one as in the previous instances, perhaps a different one. Certainly watch out for rats, Harry, but apart from that...do you have any tips for who could be working for him?" Alduin asked Snape.

Snape replied with a rather ironic look, which made Alduin roll his eyes. "Yes, yes, very droll. I'm sure you've decided you just can't take the private Defence lessons any more and would rather end it all." He paused. "I did think of Karkaroff briefly, but I don't think he was exactly devoted, given his testimony..."

"The Dark Lord returning means death for him," Snape replied simply. "He would be at no pains to bring him back."

Alduin sighed. "That's what I thought...but then I'm out of ideas. I suppose the Lestranges could be connected to it, given it was them who arranged for Pettigrew's escape, in all probability...I'll tell Kingsley to watch them closely, but..."

Snape nodded. "Might be someone completely different. The Lestranges could not have cast the Mark at the Tournament at any rate – they were all within the masked ranks. I'll keep my eyes open, and I recommend you do the same, Mr. Potter."

Harry simply nodded. Keep his eyes open for someone or something dangerous. What else was new?

"There is also the matter of Moody," Alduin continued.

Snape's habitual scowl deepened. "What about him?"

"I have been worried about some of his teaching methods from the start. He hasn't done something as outrageous as testing the Imperius on students again, thankfully, but..."

Snape said a fleeting look in Harry's direction, and Alduin rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know about this, and though I do wish Harry had consulted me before he asked you," thankfully he sounded more long-suffering than truly angry now, and even when Harry had first told him, his irritation had been mixed with approval in the mirror, "I do agree that it is a good idea. But surely you can see the difference between doing this in private, on Harry's explicit wishes, and effectively using it to publicly humiliate students after you press them into it?"

Snape inclined his head. "I do not, however, see the connection to the Dark Lord."

"As I've just said, disquieting things around Harry tend to end up being all connected. In light of that..."

"Are you suggesting Moody works for the Dark Lord?" Snape asked with polite incredulity.

Alduin rolled his eyes. "No – I am suggesting he might be under some kind of control. I am aware he could never be Imperiused long-term, not even by Riddle, but there might be other ways. I've consulted Theodore Burke on the topic, and he promised he would look into it for me, but the more eyes the better, so if you know of something from your expertise..."

"Not off the top of my head, but it might be worth looking into. I do not believe you are right, but if you were, it would be devastating."

Alduin nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

Harry thought grimly that, if it was up to him, he would also much rather the man who'd repeatedly Imperiused him not turn out to be in forced service to Riddle. It had been quite creepy enough as it was.

But then, when had he ever been that lucky?