Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

As the third task approached the tension at the school continued to mount, everyone more interested in the Tri Wizard than in their classes. For some the time dragged on, but for Harry and his little group of friends it was as if there weren't enough hours in the day.

Harry worked every day, skipping through some of his classes, trying to push his spellcasting to the limit as he trained with Xander, Hermione, and Ron. He'd moved on to speed and silent casting with Xander and Ron, trying to improve in any way he could, while Hermione brought new spells in to increase his flexibility.

He knew that the third task was likely to need more than just spell casting, but for now that was only area he could focus on that would provide results in time for the Task.

He'd have to play by ear for the rest.

Harry couldn't help but smirk, it sounded familiar.

Wednesday glared at her books, as if daring them to continue defying her will, which they stubbornly continued to do despite her best attempt.

No matter what angle she came at the problem from, the warding around the Goblet was far too complex and strong for her to breach given her current assets. Before she could drop them, the entire school would be awake and the professors on her position.

An entirely unacceptable result.

She could handle being caught, but not if the Goblet survived.

It was beginning to look to her like the infernal artifact may just survive yet another encounter with the Clan.

Her hand curled into a claw, though she didn't notice it, and tightened against the table until her nails actually gouged lines in the wooden surface.

"Damn, Wens." Xander said from behind her, causing her heart to spike for an instant, though she didn't show it. "You ok?"

"I am fine." She said stonily.

"Right," He reached over her shoulder, wrapping his hand around hers, and gently lifting it clear of the table. "You look it."

She closed her eyes, relaxing as she felt his hand on hers. "I'm fine."

Xander nodded, letting her hand go as he circled around the table and dropped into a chair. "Care to let me in on the secret yet?"

"There is no secret. Just a task that I appear to be unable to complete." She sighed bitterly.

"You? Damn, must be a doozy." He said with an easy smile. "You going to share?"

She looked around them surreptitiously, noting that there was no one within range of earshot, and then sighed again. "I have been attempting to find a way through the wards around the Goblet."

Xander's eyes widened, but he didn't seem too surprised. "Want a shot at it, huh?"

She fixed a gaze on him, trying to determine what he knew and how.

"It's not that hard to work out," He shrugged, "You made it pretty clear that the Addamses didn't take much to the thing."

"It is a vile artifact." She muttered, but nodded finally. "Yes, I want a shot at it."

"So what's the issue?"

"The wards. They're too good, I can't get through them." She confessed, angry at her own failure.

Xander didn't say anything, just nodding in understanding. "Makes sense. It's probably pretty valuable."

"More so than anyone realizes." Wednesday admitted softly. "The Ministry today has no clue what they could use that Goblet to do to the people under their governance."

"I'm guessing that's a good thing…" Xander stated, not really making into a question.

"A very good thing." She answered anyway.

He nodded, "Alright. Can't go through the wards… they cover a full bubble? Can we come in from above, or below?"

"No, they're fully encompassing."

"No easy answers I guess." Xander half smiled, knowing that she would have found a way if it were that easy. "Alright. What about when the Tri-Wiz is over?"

"What?" Wednesday looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

"They have to move that sucker, right?" Xander suggested, "Are the wards mobile?"

She considered that for a long moment, "No… No they are not. It will be guarded, however."

Xander nodded, "Yeah, Aurors probably. Distraction?"

Wednesday nodded slowly, "Perhaps."

"What are you thinking to take it out?" Xander asked.

"I know a spell, it will break the enchantments and crack the Goblet." Wednesday confessed.

"Ok. So we fake them out, give you a shot at the goblet." Xander said, "But since you're going to make a very noticeable mark on that thing, we better not get caught."

"We?"

He smiled, "You think I'd pick the law over you?"

Wednesday couldn't help it, she blushed and couldn't meet his eyes.

The week ran through quickly, with the final task planned for Sunday the excitement in the school was palpable as the weekend hit. For a certain small group, though, Saturday was exciting for a different reason and they took advantage of the distraction offered by Xander's mirror on the world.

There were new additions this time, however, invited by Wednesday of all people. Xander was surprised, but he wasn't going to question her. It's not like she made requests or suggestions often, so when she did he paid attention.

So when, on Saturday morning, Fleur Delacour and Luna Lovegood arrived in Wednesday's wake Xander didn't ask any questions, he just smiled and invited them into the door he'd built.

Luna looked around, eyes wide and dreamy as she took in the room he'd outfitted as a personal theatre. "Oh my, this looks just like the muggle rooms Daddy and I use for research."

Xander blinked, looking around, until he caught eyes with Hermione.

"Research?" Hermione asked, pinching her nose as if she didn't really want to know.

Luna nodded, "Muggles know about some of the most incredible creatures."

Hermione slumped, "That explains so much."

"You think it does." Wednesday answered dryly, rolling her eyes.

The rest in the room looked mostly confused, unable to follow the conversation in its entirety, though Harry and Padma both had varying levels of comprehension.

"Anyway…" Xander said, shaking his head. "Welcome to Harris Theatres… You online, Wills?"

"I'm here." Willow's voice came from the large mirror mounted at the far end of the room. "How was your week, everyone?"

"We're all good here, Wills. I think everyone is looking forward to the end of term, though." Xander answered and everyone murmured an agreement.

"Impressive. Protean charm on the mirror?" Fleur asked from where she had taken a seat in the second row.

"Yup." Willow nodded, appearing on the mirror as the image turned to show her. "Xander's idea."

"Very advanced work," She said, "Was this entirely your work, Alexander?"

Xander shrugged, "Naw. I charmed the mirror on this side, Willow handled the other one."

"It was mostly Sirius." Willow confessed before brightening in a perky manner, "But I helped."

"Very nice." Fleur said with a tip of her head.

"Thanks." Xander said, "Anyway, on to the movies. Wills, what's your pick?"

"LadyHawke," She smirked at him.

Xander groaned.

"I can pick anything I want, buster, so be happy I didn't get a real 'chick flick' just to torment you." She challenged.

Xander sighed, but held up his hands. "Alright, alright. I get the point. LadyHawke sounds fine."

Honestly, Xander didn't mind the movie much. It has as much action and stuff in it as romance, but protesting kept Willow from trying for something much, much, worse.

"I was thinking Predator first," Willow grimaced, "Then LadyHawke and Princess Bride. That way we can wash the mental taste of Xander's pick out of our minds."

"Seconded." Wednesday said, tossing an amused look at Xander.

"Thirded." Hermione smirked.

"Oh great, gang up on me now why don't you?" Xander mock complained.

"You should be so lucky." Wednesday answered as she took her seat in the front.

The twins exchanged amused glances, "That doesn't…"

"Sound so bad."

"To us." They finished in unison.

"You two stay out of this," Xander rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright… let's settle in shall we?"

Willow sighed, but nodded. "Everything's ready here."

"Popcorn's up, Butterbeer?" Xander asked, looking around.

"Check. New case, just for today." One of the twins answered.

"Cool. Let it roll, Wills." Xander grinned, dropping into a seat between Padma and Wednesday.

They could hear Willow sighing again as the image turned to, going black. "Ok, here we go with Predator…"

The screen flickered, then lit up as the film studio logo appeared and the movie began.

"I love this movie." Xander grinned, settling in for the show.

Predator went over with a bang, in Xander's opinion anyway. Aside from the requisite sounds of disgust at the skinned people, he got to enjoy the squeals of shock during the slaughter scenes, even had Padma jump on him once when the Pred appeared out of nowhere.

Ron wanted to know where Muggles learned about disillusionment charms, and the twins started making notes on magical armor, which both scared and excited Xander if he were honest about it. He hadn't thought about making sci-fi stuff with magic, he was still kinda focused on catching up to the twentieth century.

Still, it'd be fun to see what the Twins came up with.

LadyHawke was, predictably, a hit with the ladies and went over pretty well with the guys too. Xander, for all his pretence, had yet to see a film with Rutger Hauer in it that didn't have at least some degree of manliness to it so he considered LadyHawke something of a guilty pleasure not to ever be admitted to Willow.

If the tragic love of LadyHawke was a hit, though, the 'Twu Wuv' of Princess Bride had Xander squirming in his seat in short order. It took him twenty minutes to figure out that it was because Fleur was leaking her aura.

He shored up his Occlumency in short order, but a glance around him told him that he was the only one with that defense. The unfocused allure was low key enough that no one else seemed to notice where it was coming from, but the other guys in the room were all gazing at the movie like it was the only important thing in the universe.

He had to twist around and squeeze Fleurs knee to get her attention before she realized what she was doing and stopped, obviously embarrassed.

After that the movie had gone smoothly, and been a pretty decent hit with both sides of the room. Even Wednesday approved of the vengeance of Inigo, though she had little interest in Wesley or Buttercup. Xander loved that about her, she was so different from anyone else he'd ever known. Willow was always all about the love story, Jessie was all about the fight scenes.

Wednesday, however, was always more interested in the strangest stuff and it was fun as hell to try and figure out what was going to ping on her radar, so to speak.

Fun, but not really hard. She also got a kick out of Wesley being tortured, so while he loved her uniqueness, she was predictable. Predictable did not mean she wasn't just a tad scary, mind you. Xander was pretty sure she'd been muttering thoughts on how to build a 'life sucking' machine to try on her brother.

He loved Wednesday, he really did, but there were days that he was very, very glad she lived across the country from him.

Days with names that ended in the letter 'Y' to be specific.

With the second 'movie afternoon' finished, the moment of relaxation was done for the group and soon they were thrown back into the cranking tension of Hogwarts with the third task coming the next day.

The champions had been led out to overlook the former Quidditch pitch, Cedric and Harry both horrified by the havoc that had been wreaked on the pitch, and met with a proud Ludo Bagman.

"Would anyone care to make any guesses as to the nature of tomorrow's task?"

Viktor Krum just grunted, "Maze."

"Precisely!"

They'd had the rules explained to them then, and were given the basic information they needed to prepare. Harry wished he'd had more time, but he was feeling good all the same. Relaxed from the break earlier, but still feeling the rush he got from his morning workouts, for the first time he could remember, Harry felt like things were falling his way.

Had he said that aloud within earshot of Xander, he'd have received a smack across the back of his head in about a quarter of a second. Without said head slap, unfortunately, Harry went on thinking his optimistic thoughts.

After the briefing broke up, Harry saw Andromeda Tonks waiting for him so he made his way over to her.

"Harry." She said, nodding slightly in his direction. "You're doing well."

He nodded, "Yeah, I think I am."

"Don't get a swelled head." She said with a smirk, "This little game of the Headmaster's is nothing compared to the real world, and while competing on even footing with older students is impressive… they are only students."

Harry swallowed, but nodded.

"That said, I've watched your tasks," She said after watching him for a moment, "You've done very well, and my contacts within the school indicate that you're almost acceptable outside of the tournament as well."

Harry blinked.

Almost?

"Almost?" He managed to ask.

"Yes, almost." She countered sternly. "The Yule ball was nearly disastrous. If not for your friend, you'd have looked like a spoiled child…"

"I can't believe Xander told you that!" Harry hissed, angry.

"I don't know any Xander, though I presume you mean Mr. Harris." She shrugged, "He told me nothing. Don't for a moment think that you aren't being watched, Harry. There are dozens of eyes on you every time you go out in public, a small portion of them report to people I know."

Harry swallowed. "And the rest?"

"You don't want to think about who they report to." She replied with a shrug, then calmly waved her hand. "That said, while a near miss, you cleaned it up adequately so there was no real bleed into the social circles. Even Skeeter didn't have any reason to carve into you, which is good… since she doesn't need a reason."

"I can't believe I'm being watched, I just want to be a normal kid!" He hissed, "This boy who lived stuff is total crap!"

Andromeda snorted, "That's the least of your public face at the moment, Harry."

"What?"

"Harry, you're the heir of the Potter line, acting Regent for the Blacks. You're one of the competitors in the Tri Wizard tournament, and you're the boy who lived. Three of those things are yours by right, the fourth…" She shrugged, "We'll see. But two of them are yours by blood. Disgrace those, and you disgrace your family. You were never going to be a 'normal' kid, Harry. It's not in your blood."

Harry seethed for a moment, but finally just grunted slightly and crossed his arms over his chest.

She slapped his arms down and lightly batted the back of his head.

"Don't slouch, don't pout, and stop acting like a child." Andromeda admonished him curtly, shocking Harry out of his anger. "This is the problem. You need to learn that there are some emotions that are for private viewing only. We're in public, here you stand straight, keep your head up, and never ever pout. You may glare, you may cry if the occasion calls for it, but you. Do. Not. Pout."

Harry fell back a step as she punctuated each word with a jab to his chest.

Andromeda sighed, "We'll work on comportment this summer. You also need to improve your social attitude, or you'll cripple your position and hurt your friends' positions."

Something on Harry's face must have caused her to rethink, so she sighed, "I'm getting ahead of myself, Harry. I really only wanted to tell you that you'd done well so far, but there is still much to learn. Most young men in your place know the social arena far better than you, but are lacking in the educational side of things. You're the opposite, which isn't bad… but it does present with some key problems we'll need to tackle this summer, alright?"

Harry nodded jerkily. "Alright…"

"Good." She smiled, "Now, tell me about your study group while we walk."

Harry looked puzzled, but nodded agreeably and followed along as she made her way across the grounds, heading for the lake.

Andromeda had left him with a great deal to think about, and it all kind of sent Harry's thoughts whirling.

Just when it felt like he might have a handle on one aspect of his life, it always seemed that another would be found lacking. Harry couldn't be angry with Andromeda for pointing it out, he'd been told much the same by Xander, even, almost a year earlier.

No matter what he wished, he had social responsibilities too.

Harry gritted his teeth.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fulfill them, it really wasn't. He didn't know HOW, blast it all.

That said, Andromeda was clear on that, she wasn't disappointed in him… which, for some reason, made him relieved. She was just taking notes on what they'd have to cover come summer.

That would be weird, Harry thought. Someone who was actually going to visit him during the summer.

Even if Andromeda was a bit of a taskmaster, Harry fell asleep thinking that maybe the summer wouldn't be so bad after all.

In the morning, the final task began, and with Harry in the point lead he was sent into the maze first. He'd had the previous evening to figure out his plan…

Well, let Hermione figure out my plan, Harry corrected himself with a wry grin.

After Hermione had rattled on about different methods for solving a maze, Harry had elected to use the simplest of them and follow the Right hand rule. It wasn't necessarily the fastest, but combined with some magic and a little fleet of foot movement, it would do he hoped.

He did keep in mind Hermione's warnings that the method only worked if all the walls in the maze were connected, and so was using a spell to track his motions on a piece of paper. If it looked like the inner walls of the maze were disconnected from the outer, he'd have to think of something else.

It didn't take long for Harry to be certain that they weren't, after just a minute or two of following the right hand wall, he was deep in the maze and more than likely within any logical point where they might have disconnected the inner wall.

So, keeping in mind that logic and wizards weren't often companions, Harry upped his pace with a small degree of optimism.

He encountered minor magical beasts regularly, including crups and Hagrid's blast ended screwts, but Defence and Care were his two best classes for a reason, so Harry had no problem blowing through all obstacles right up until he ran face first, almost literally, into a calmly seated Sphinx.

"Whoa." Harry backpedaled, wand coming up.

The creature eyed him regally, raising one eyebrow. "If you wish to pass, you must first answer a riddle. Answer correctly and I will step aside, answer incorrectly and I will attack. You may turn away now, if you wish, and seek another way in."

Harry swallowed, but shook his head. "No. I'll answer."

"Very well…" The Sphinx said with a calm smile before taking a breath and speaking again.

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,

Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies,

Next tell me what's always the last thing to mend,

The middle of middle and end of the end?

And finally give me the sound often heard,

During the search for a hard-to-find word.

Now string them together, and answer me this,

Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Harry blinked, thinking wildly for a moment that a Dementor was sort of the end all answer to that list line.

That thought pushed firmly away, however, left him puzzling the rest out.

"I've heard this before…" He murmured, not remembering the answer, but recognizing the play on words. The first line was easy, of course… a Spy. The next… Harry frowned deeply, then suddenly relaxed.

"That's an old one, the answer is a Spider."

The Sphinx eyed him for a long moment, just long enough to make Harry slightly nervous, then nodded. "Correct. You may pass."

Harry bowed slightly, thanked the Sphinx for her time, and hurried on.

As he moved in, he saw red sparks fly from one side of the course, which meant someone was giving up. That buoyed him up a little, so Harry increased his speed.

He and Cedric both burst into the center at nearly the same moment, wands out and both looking a little worse for wear. Harry noted with some amusement that the burns on Cedric's clothing would seem to indicate that he'd had a marginally harder time with Hagrid's screwts than Harry had.

Harry's eyes widened as he saw an Acromantula chasing Cedric and responded without a thought with a cutting curse that slashed past Cedric and into the beast.

Cedric let out a yelp and responded with a stunner in Harry's direction that Harry had to dodge in a hurry.

"No! Behind you!" Harry yelled as he rolled across the ground.

Cedric almost didn't look, but a strange sound caused him to jerk around and let out a yelp of his own as he threw himself to one side, twisting his knee as he fell, his wand slipping away. The Acromantula charged at him, only to be hit by a string of spells from Harry that redirected it's fury in his direction. Cedric tried to get to his feet, but cried out as his knee gave way in his rush and he hit the ground again.

Harry hit the beast with every spell in his repertoire, aside from the explosive ones given the range, but it's size kept it bearing down over him even when it was dead on its feet. He let out a cry as it rumbled over him, and bulldozed him to the ground.

A long moment passed, and Harry realized he was still alive as footsteps approached.

"Harry? You ok?"

"I've been better." Harry laughed painfully from under the beast.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The body of the spider lifted clear and Harry was able to breathe easier as he rolled clear and stumbled to his knees.

"I guess it's yours, Cedric." Harry nodded to the cup. Shaking his head. He was pretty badly bruised, and a foot race wasn't in the cards.

Cedric glanced at it, then shook his head. "Doesn't seem right."

"Go on, take it." Harry snapped, "You win, square shot. I'm not racing you now."

Cedric rubbed his leg, "I'm not winning any footrace myself."

Harry sighed, "It should be yours anyway, you're the Hogwarts Champion."

"You're name came out of the cup too."

"I didn't put it there."

"We'll take it together." Cedric said suddenly. "It'll be a Hogwarts win."

Harry considered it, then nodded, "Fair enough, help me up."

Cedric chuckled, but helped him to his feet and they both limped to the cup. As they both grasped it, Harry felt the sensation of a hook yanking him away from inside his belly, and the world went black.