Last Time on Black and White:

The four stood still in the circle they had formed and regarded one another silently until a loud boom sounded from... somewhere.

Cedric sighed heavily and froze once more when they heard the roar of the Short-Snout coming from the stadium.

"Hey Ced, don't forget, you have to come back so can kick your arse at Quidditch over the summer." Andrew said shooting the boy a small smile.

Cedric's shoulders relaxed slightly as he shot the boy a smile of his own. "You mean so that I can kick your arse." And with that last comment Cedric headed through the flaps of the tent which led to the stadium.


Book 4 – Chapter 20: Through the Fire and Flame

Andrew sat in the tent along side Fleur. Cedric and Krum had both passed their tasks, and now the two friends were simply waiting to see would be called next. They sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts as they went over their game plans.

Just then what looked like an Auror peaked their head through the flaps and spoke up.

"Miss Delacour, please prepare yourself." before they slipped back.

The two shared a look and Andrew gave her a smile.

"You're gonna kill this." he told her supportively.

"Oui, I shall, but maybe do not use ze word 'kill'? It iz in razzer bad taste... considering." she replied with a smile.

"Right, fair point. Alright then, you're going to make this task your bitch!" Andrew said with another grin.

Fleur smiled at his antics and shook her head. "At least it iz better zan vhat you told Krum."

"Hey, come on now, I was being completely supportive when I told him that I hoped he had gone to the bathroom before, since it would be rather embarrassing for him if he shat himself out there."

"Ah, supportive... of course."

They heard the cannon go off and Andrew watched as Fleur approached the tent flaps and gave him a bright smile before headed out.

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Su sat in the stands, ignoring most of the cheering students around her except for a few, Ron, Harry and Hermione were the only ones aside from Luna, of course, that she spoke to. She watched the champions tactics and was unsurprised to see that they had excelled in magicks Andrew would have no chance of mastering in such a short amount of time.

Diggory had used Transfiguration to distract the Dragon like Andrew had planned to, but had made a Labrador dog for the beast to chase. It was slightly successful, he managed to grab the egg before the Short-Snout noticed the Hufflepuff boy beside her nest. He managed to make a run for it, only to get blasted with a small amount of flames before he made it out.

Krum decided to use brute strength, and chose to attempt to blind the Fireball, it worked, but in its pain the poor Dragon mother crushed her remaining eggs as Krum quickly received his own. He had marks deducted on his final score for causing the other eggs damage.

"It's insane, I never even thought about going for the eyes." Su said more to herself than the others, but Hermione must have heard as she responded.

"I did, but, with the time limitations we had, I don't think Andrew would have been able to practice and perfect a sharp shot like that on a moving target."

"Yeah, the plan he has now is perfect. Well, I mean anything can go wrong..." Ron said with a small shrug.

"Way to have confidence in my brother there, Ron." Harry added with a small frown.

"You didn't let me finish; anything can go wrong, but for the amount of time we had once we learned about this, we came up with a rather good plan."

"Ron's right, Harry." Hermione said while placing a hand on the boy's arm. "Andrew's plan is pretty damn good for something we cooked up in a matter of a few days and practised for about a week."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I just wish... I wish we had done something about Crouch before all of this. That way Andrew would be here with us now, making stupid comments about the tournament and the people here cheering."

"We get it, mate. We don't like that he's in this either, but it's too late to change anything now, the best we can do at the moment is give him our full support."

"Ooh, the beauxbatons champion is up next!" Luna said having been quiet during the conversation.

Su turned back to the arena and watched as the blonde girl cautiously stepped out of the tent and cast a nervous look around the arena. She proceeded in further when she saw the Walsh Green standing behind her nest watching the people around her cautiously.

Fluer stepped in further and stopped when the Dragon's eyes snapped in her direction. Su remembered that the Welsh Green had impeccable eye sight, so she was sure the French girl had been made. Su's suspicions were confirmed when the Dragon roared in anger and rolled into a ball, releasing it's spikes and charged towards the girl. Acting quickly, Fleur dove out of the way and watched when the dragon crashed into the barrier of the arena before uncoiling to find her position once more.

The crowd, like the savages they were cheered when the Dragon charged Fluer while she ducked out of the way, not unlike the crowd during a bull fight. Finally Fleur stopped and turned to the beast before waiting, the dragon began to coil once more and she shot off a spell. Many in the stadium thought she had cast the spell in a panic and were shocked to see her smirk and not move from her spot.

The Dragon began to roll in her direction, before it's acceleration slowed and it unrolled before her, breathing softly. Her sleeping spell had successfully hit the soft meat of the Walsh Green beneath it's scales. Not wanting to test her luck though, she took a breath and made a move towards the nest when the Dragon let out a small puff of fire, which made her dress catch on fire.

She quickly tried to put out the flames, to the annoying sounds of all the males in the audience whooping and cat calling. Finally she doused the flame with an Aguamenti spell, much to the disappointment of the perverts in the crowd.

"Well, that was rather spectacular." Su commented with a small nod.

"Why do you think she took so long to cast?" Ron asked looking to the others.

"She was probably looking for an opening, or she was watching the scales the entire time seeing how folded so that she could get a shot off confidently." Hermione responded with a small shrug.

"She did it though, her scores are in. Of course Kakaroff gave her a three, even though she did so much better than Krum." Luna said as she watched the judges score.

Kakaroff's score was met by the booing of the entire stadium, he ignored them with regal practice and stared straight-forward. Fleur ended up getting a forty-one, which put her ahead of Cedric who had scored a thirty-nine – 10 from Fudge, 8 from Maxime, 9 from Dumbledore, a 9 from Bagman and a 3 from Kakaroff – and behind Krum who scored a forty – 7 from Fudge, 7 from Maxime, 8 from Dumbledore, an 8 from Bagman and a 10 from Kakaroff.

Maxime shot her 10 into the air when Fleur had completed, followed by Fudge's 9, Dumbledore's 9 Bagman's 10 and Kakaroff's 3.

Ludo Bagman's voice then cried over the stadium.

"Ladies and Gentlemen it is a pandemic in here today, the Headmaster of Durmstrang Academy has just awarded the Beauxbatons champion a controversial three, when everyone feels as though she deserved an 8 at least. That gives Miss Delacour a current score of 41! Placing her a point above Mr Diggory and a single point below Viktor Krum!"

"Oi, that's bollocks!" Su heard from behind her.

There stood Ron's older twin brothers Fred and George, shouting loudly and angrily at Kakaroff's score. They were obviously joined by most of the male and the female population at the castle. Everyone seemed to believe the French girl deserved a much higher score than the one given.

"So that was the Walsh Green..." Harry said cutting through Su's thoughts.

"Yeah, Cedric had the Short-Snout, Krum had the Fireball and we just saw the Walsh Green so..." Ron said before the blood began to rush from his face.

"The Horntail..." Hermione whispered her eyes widening.

Su turned to look at Luna who sat staring at the arena, not once looking away, she was about to reach out for her friend when they heard a roar that rattled their bones. Turning back to the arena everyone froze in shock.

"Holy..." Su muttered in fright.

"Shit..." Harry said completing her thought.

"He has to fight that?" Luna asked her voice tightening up at the sight of the beast.

"That's bloody terrifying." Ron added.

"This tournament is bloody stupid!" Hermione growled in anger.

The others were in too much shock to comment on her cursing and stared at the massive, red scaled demon which paced in front of it's nest protectively.

"Well, the Dragon handlers have given the thumbs up, it would seem as though all is in order for the final champion to take the stage! Now, for the moment you've all been hoping for, introducing Andrew Potter!"

They watched helplessly as the cannon sounded and saw the flaps of the tent housing the champions open and watched as Andrew stepped out cautiously.

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Andrew drew a calming breath after the cannon signalling his turn for the task rang out. He pushed the flaps aside and stepped out, taking a look around to make sure they hadn't placed the Dragon directly in front of him, he honestly wouldn't have put it past the organisers.

He stepped in further and was met by booing from the crowd, his outburst in the Great Hall really hadn't helped his popularity in the school. Bloody Skeeter, bloody tournament, bloody adults.

"'ook out!"

He was about to look for the voice of whoever yelled at him when he felt the ground beside him explode in shards of earth, he rolled out of the way as quick as he could and saw the – in his humble opinion – giant, fuck off, Dragon which was currently glaring at him angrily.

Right... Dragon now, bitch and complain later.

He shot a quick look off to his right and saw a rather large boulder resting a small distance away from the the nest. He turned back to the Dragon and watched it closely, waiting for the perfect opportunity to move. He barely registered the quietened crowd as they watched on in fascination.

There were a few tense moments as the Andrew and the Horntail continued to stare before Andrew slowly got back up to his feet, every movement made with intense calculation as he continued to wait for the moment to move, which finally came when the Dragon shuffled it's front claw slightly. Andrew sprinted for the boulder and heard the Dragon let out a surprised roar, as he got closer he aimed his wand towards the boulder and cast an over powered cutting curse at it, slicing it in half before hiding behind the now flat side, as the rounded section was to the Dragon.

He heard shouts of surprise from the audience as he felt the devastatingly hot flames shoot past him around the rock. He had to act quick! Casting a light reducto at the second half which lay in front of him, Andrew managed to break the piece of boulder into small pieces which he proceeded to Transfigure into air horns. The jet stream of flames were still roaring around the boulder he was hiding behind as he continued to work.

Thanks to all the work they had done to prepare for this, Andrew was able to make the change happen rather efficiently. He was just about done when the flames retreated. He didn't have much time as he felt the Dragon's foot steps approaching where he was currently hiding.

"Fucking... come on!" he muttered in frustration as he cast the silencio spell and activating the air horns. He cast the Levitation Charm on them and watched as they rose into the air. It was time.

Everyone in the stadium watched in confusion as the small canisters were raised in the air. Well almost everyone, Andrew managed to catch one or two muggleborns look at the canisters with something akin to recognition and raised their hands to block their ears.

"Do or die time." Andrew said before releasing the silencing spell and the stadium was suddenly filled with sounds of about 30 air horns going off at the same time.

He heard the Horntail roar in surprise and pain as it was suddenly assaulted by the noise. Andrew quickly cast the Disillusionment Charm and watched as the Dragon let out a roar of anger before spitting flames at the canisters. Andrew immediately responded by casting a large stream of water at the flames.

The steam from the combination of fire and water quickly began to fill the arena and that's when Andrew had a terrifying realisation, the barrier he suspected the judges or the handlers would want around the stadium to protect the bystanders, was not in the shape of a dome, but rather a cylinder, which meant the water condensation would have no place to collect... Fuck.

As if that wasn't enough, Andrew had overlooked another detail, the canisters exploded into a brilliant flash of light and sound. He collapsed to the ground and rubbed his ears in pain as all he could hear was ringing.

As he shook himself out of his stupor he noticed the Dragon looking disoriented as well, it blinked it's eyes and shook it's own head as if to clear it from what had just happened.

The stadium had a light dusting of mist hanging around it now. But not nearly enough to hide his presence. He had to do something... He backed up against the wall and checked to see if his Disillusionment held up. As he began to think of another plan he noticed the Horntail begin to sniff the air. He had to act now before his scent reached the Dragon.

He looked around and noticed another large boulder near the tent.

"Well shit..." he said as he came up with another plan, then he heard Harry in his mind.

"What are you planning?" Harry asked in a nervous tone.

Leave it up to Harry to know that he was about to do something really stupid and reckless.

"Go big or go home, right?" he responded before sending the short answer to his brother and cutting off the connection before he could try to stop him.

Andrew raised his wand and transfigured the large boulder into another air horn, damn near 20 times the size of the previous ones and activated it.

The sound was excruciating, but he figured that if it were painful for him, it must have been complete hell for the Horntail which roared angrier than last time, before once again firing a stream of flames towards the offending object. Even standing around 50 meters away, Andrew could feel the heat of the flames and knew in that moment that if he were hit with it, he would be roasted alive.

"Andrew!" he heard Harry yell from somewhere but decided to ignore him.

"Aguamenti!" Andrew yelled as his water charm once more met the searing flames, creating a large mist that filled the stadium.

He didn't need the arena to be filled to capacity he simply needed it to be more than it currently was. He then heard it, the dangerous hissing sound coming from the large canister and covered his eyes and ears as best he could.

The resounding explosion was much larger, louder and powerful than the previous smaller ones, obviously. The explosion itself actually managed to knock Andrew off his feet. Even with his ears blocked, the ringing commenced. He redoubled his Disillusionment spell and began moving towards the nest, seeing the Dragon roar in pain, confusion and anger, he knew he didn't have much time before it would be out for blood!

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Harry screamed his brother's name as he heard Andrew yell the curse for the water charm before the arena once more began to fill with steam, then not long after he heard Hermione yell out.

"Cover your eyes and ears!"

There was a brilliant flash of light before the canister exploded. People everywhere screamed in shock and fright, not expecting the explosion to be as big as it was. The stadium became deathly silent as everyone recovered from the blast and slowly turned back to the Dragon which was shaking it's head trying to clear the blindness and roared angrily. They couldn't see Andrew everywhere and Harry felt a cold feeling seep into his stomach.

"Oi! Why the long faces!" they heard yelled out.

Everyone turned to the flaps of the tent and saw Andrew standing there, a large golden egg under one of his arms and his other arm raised up to the sky in victory.

There was a beat of silence before Harry heard, "Yes!"

That broke the barrier as most of the stadium began cheering and clapping for Andrew as he stood there swaying slightly but ultimately victorious.

"We should go check on him!" Hermione yelled to the others who all agreed immediately and made to leave the stands.

The five friends made down to the tent and found Andrew being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey.

"Honestly! Causing an explosion of that magnitude! What were you thinking you daft child!" she berated as she wrapped his torso in some bandages.

"Andrew! Are you okay?!" Harry asked as they stepped up to him.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, of course!" Andrew responded with a grin.

"Tell that to the massive laceration in your back thanks to that bloody tin can you blew up out there!" Madam Pomfrey shot back angrily.

"I had to do something! It was the only plan I had." Andrew responded with a shrug.

"A stupid one!" Pomfrey said cutting his argument off once again.

"Oh, I don't know Poppy, it isn't any more stupid than what James and I did back when we went here."

Looking up Andrew and Harry's eyes widened in shock at Sirius' appearance.

"Don't you dare try to minimise this! A few inches deeper and his lung would have been punctured!"

Sirius raised his hands in defeat and looked back to Andrew with a smile as he stepped up to put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Well done out there."

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked with a small frown.

"Did you think I'd miss one of my Godsons being a typical Gryffindor?"

"That was crazy out there, mate! You did bloody brilliantly!" Ron cut in, unable to contain his excitement.

"Thanks, I thought I was going to die." Andrew admitted with a small smile.

"Mr Potter, they're about to provide you with your scores." Pomfrey said with a small look of disappointment.

"Honestly, Madam Pomfrey, if you want to be upset at anyone, blame the Ministry for bringing this stupid tournament back and Crouch Jr for putting my name in."

Andrew along with his friends and Sirius went to the mouth of the tent to see his scores.

Fudge, shot off a 10, followed by Maxime who provided Andrew's performance a 9, Dumbledore gave a 10, Bagman also gave the dark skinned boy a 10, followed by Kakaroff's biased 5.

Which meant Andrew had a starting score of forty-four, placing him in the lead of the other champions.

"With that, we would like to thank you all for attending the tournament this day! To recap the following scores are: Cedric Diggory in forth place with 39, followed by Viktor Krum with 40, Fleur Delacour with 41 and the youngest champion Andrew Potter in the lead with 44 points!" Ludo Bagman announced to the cheering of the stadium.

"The next task will take place on the 24th of Feburary! The champions will find the next clue to the second task within the egg! Thank you all again!"

Andrew was shocked at the scores, he was currently in first. He was not expecting that at all. He then felt a pair of arms wrap around him and distinctly smelt peaches, parchment and ink.

"Congratulations, Andrew!" Hermione said as she squeezed him.

"Ah, Hermione, gently, my back."

"Oh right! Sorry!" she apologised while letting him go and smiling brightly at him.

"Well done, Andrew! I'm so proud of you!" Sirius said grabbing the boys shoulder tightly and smiling brilliantly at him.

Andrew looked up at the man and felt himself smile at Sirius' words.

"I- Thanks..." he responded before turning to look at the rest of his friends.

"You did it! You crazy bastard! I can't believe that actually worked!" Harry said shaking his brother while laughing loudly.

"We did it! Without you guys I would've been toast out there! Even you helped, Ron!"

"Yeah!" The red head cheered before stopping and frowning. "Oi, what do you mean, 'even I helped'? Don't phrase it like I was just a bystander!"

Andrew laughed and gave the red head a small shove to show that he was just joking around, to which Ron responded with a shove of his own, it didn't take long before the two were play wrestling and managed to pull Harry into the fray along with them.

"Andrew Potter! Don't you dare aggravate that wound, or I'll have you in the Hospital Wing until Christmas!"

The boys immediately stopped while Andrew turned to look at the Medi-Witch sheepishly.

"Sorry, Madam P!" He yelled in response.

As the group exited the medical tent Harry, Ron and Luna were all talking among themselves about the tournament and the various tactics the champions used, Hermione and Sirius were discussing something or another and Andrew walked back with Su.

"You did really well out there today."

"Thanks, for a second, I thought I was not going to make it." he responded with a small laugh.

"Well, I'm glad you did, now you can relax a little before the next task. Maybe catch up on some studying, since you're exempt from classes."

Andrew blinked at that and groaned.

"Christ... I have so much to catch up on, think you could help me out?" he asked with a small smile.

She regarded him for a moment before smiling. "Alright, for a fee."

"A fee? What are you, a Slytherin?"

"No, just the daughter of a lawyer." Su responded with a smirk.

Andrew sighed. "Fine, name your terms."

"To be determined."

"Really?! You're going to just keep a favour from me in your back pocket like that?"

"Aren't you doing the same thing with Malfoy and his Life Debt?"

"That's different..." he's argument died on his lips when he saw the smug look she shot him. "Fine... but I will get you back for this." he responded with narrowed eyes.

Sirius turned to look at the two behind him and smiled softly, Andrew was starting to open up more since the first time he'd met the boy. He turned back to look at Harry and smiled once more. He needed to speak to Dumbledore about what was about to happen next regarding the boys, the tournament and more importantly, Barty Crouch Jnr.

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Dumbledore sat in his office after having a meeting with the other judges and unwrapped one of his favourite sweets. He savoured the taste for a moment before leaning back in his seat.

"Andrew did rather well in the task today."

"Luck, I highly doubt that boy could repeat his performance."

Dumbledore sighed at his companions words.

"Really, Severus, you know the situation as I do, you cannot hold a grudge forever."

"He tried to attack me! I don't know why you are so adamant to protect him! He should be held up in a cell in Azkaban for what he tried to do."

Dumbledore hummed before responding.

"Many, Harry and Andrew included could say the same about you, for what you did."

Severus Snape froze in his seat, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

"I regret what I did and I shall regret it until the day I die!"

"You only regret it for it led to the death of Lily Potter! Not that it led to her sons being orphaned nor that they had also lost their father!"

"Harry Potter is her son, Andrew is not a Potter-"

"He is a Potter in every way that matters! He bares the name, given to him by two extraordinary individuals who wished to see him grow up loved and untainted by the mistakes committed by his father!"

"A father who ran in the same circles as I!"

"Until he let go of the resentment in his heart and moved on to something more beautiful and mysterious as magic itself; love! I only pray that you can let go of your own resentment, Severus, for it will lead you nowhere except for an early grave."

At those words Snape snapped his mouth closed and turned away from the Headmaster angrily. He took a few calming breaths, while Dumbledore sat and waited patiently.

"Now, let us move on from this, what have you heard?"

"Not much, there have been whispers, obviously. I've seen Kakaroff watching me every now and again, I have not approached him yet, but I suspect he feels the burn of the mark, as do I."

"Do you have any idea of who may be assisting him?"

"No, well not definitely. I suspect either McNair, or possibly Yaxely."

"Hmm, yes, Lord Yaxely has been absent from most Wizengamont meetings as of late. It would make some sense. He like Malfoy did claim the Imperious, it would not be too hard to imagine that he received word of Voldemort's possible return and has been assisting."

Snape nodded his head in agreement waiting for Dumbledore to continue.

"I will do a bit of subtle investigation myself, perhaps I can uncover some information from the higher ups in the Wizengamont."

Snape nodded again and stood to leave, as he approached the door Dumbledore called out to him once more.

"Severus, I apologise for my outburst earlier, I know this cannot be easy for you, nor that it has ever been easy for you, but I implore you, find forgiveness, before it is too late."

The dungeon Professor, stood still for a moment, regarding Dumbledore with a calculating gaze before turning to face the door once more.

"Good evening, Professor." he said finally before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat, watching the man leave before sighing tiredly.