Morning came and Eddie was still in a daze from the events of the previous night. He'd had a long dream filled with bickering, though he couJldn't remember any of the details. He had a sly feeling what it was about, though.

Sighing and groaning, he forced his legs to pull himself out of bed and start his day. He checked his watch. Shit, ten thirty already . He figured he'd squeeze in a late breakfast and hopefully see Lily to apologize.

To his surprise, when he crept downstairs he found the rest of the Fateful Eight huddled around Sean, who was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet. No one was talking, and, hoping for forced conversation with his fellow Hufflepuff, slid in the half-circle next to her. She promptly walked to the other end and stood next to Claire instead. Ignoring this, Eddie glanced at the Prophet.

SCENES OF TERROR AT QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP

Eddie's face fell. So this meant Pettigrew had not only found Voldemort, but they were working with Barty Crouch Jr as they did in the original timeline.

"We need to owl Dumbledore," Tom was saying. "Warn him about Moody."

"I'll do it," Sean offered, grabbing ink and a quill and heading upstairs.

"Goddamnit, we're gonna have to fight him, aren't we?" Natalie asked.

"No, no we're not," said Tom. Dumbledore will stop Moody and the plans for the Triwizard Tournament will fail. It's really that simple."

"I'm not sure you understand Dumbledore…" Claire offered. "Y'know Sean was telling me things and he kind of has a point. Dumbledore wants us to follow in Harry's footsteps. It's the only way he can be defeated proper. His intentions are good, but his methods are awful. I'm not too convinced Dumbledore would put a stop to Moody's antics."

"What, you think Dumbledore would knowingly hire a Death Eater to teach? Endanger students?

"He did sort of set three first years on a death quest."

"Good point, but I can't find myself believing it."

Natalie piped up, interrupting the verbal tennis match. "You're very smart, Tom, but I honestly think Claire is right on this one. I say we'll tell Dumbledore, but be prepared if Moody is hired."

Tom slumped his head in defeat. The rest of the Fateful Eight knew, that if Natalie took the side opposite him in an argument, he'd lose.

"Okay, that's settled, now.." Claire said quickly before Tom could bring up another point. Behind Lily's back, Tom gave the rest of them looks, and they all slinked silently from the room, allowing for some much needed alone time for Eddie with Lily. She made to follow them, but before she could leave, he spoke.

"Lily, I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"Just…" she looked like she wanted to rebuke him again, but relented and sat down. "You don't understand how hard it is...watching the boy you like gripe about his relationship with, well, not you."

"Yeah, I do, actually," said Eddie, snapping ever so slightly. "Well, maybe not exactly, but I know the feeling of watching someone else swoop in and take my chance," He groaned. "I'm sorry to put you in this predicament, I am. But you know I can't leave Hannah."

"I know," said Lily. "And I've seen the way she looks at you, she cares so much about you. I'm just being selfish and stupid."

Eddie shook his head in protest. "Not even close to true," he said, putting one arm around her shoulder. "Jealousy is natural." He chuckled. "Just don't murder her in her sleep, okay?"

"Fiiiine," she rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I won't…."

A couple of weeks later, the Fateful Eight embarked on their fourth trip to Hogwarts, the magic of the train ride dulled, but never really gone. And soon, they'd be through the doors again for another Welcome Feast and another Sorting.

Rain poured down on them hard when they arrived, and as they climbed down from the carriages and made their way to the Great Hall, they hastily met Hannah, Ernie, and Susan from the carriage behind them, before the non-Hufflepuffs dispersed for their own housemates. Lily stiffed, but showed no further signs of her curbed jealousy. Out of respect for her, Eddie kept the lovey stuff to a minimum as they passed through the tall oak doors and to the Hufflepuff table, Eddie keeping his eye trained on the High Table to get a good look at Moody. Dumbeldore hadn't responded to Sean, so they were a bit wary about whether or not Crouch would turn up.

While he was deep in thought, the storm-drenched first years had arrived, followed by the Sorting Hat's song, and then, one by one from Stewart Ackerley to Kevin Whitby, the trembling, shaking students tentatively joined their future Hogwarts families. Moody, real or not, had yet to arrive. Eddie remembered vaguely (it had been so long now since he'd touched a Harry Potter book) that Moody had arrived late, so it was plausible canon was unchanged regardless. Vowing to himself to push the issue out of his mind for the moment, he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice, grabbed a large steak, and began to eat.

When the dinners had disappeared, and so too did the desserts, Dumbledore stood up. Eddie braced himself, anticipating an announcement about Moody. While he blabbed on about Filch and the Triwizard Tournament, Eddie felt like he was sitting through the end credits of a Marvel movie, waiting for that famous teaser. His brain and his hearing were hard-wired to detect the word Moody. However, Moody wasn't mentioned by the headmaster. He wouldn't get a chance to.

"I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

Thunder rumbled, and the doors banged open. Moody had made his dramatic entrance. He was leaning upon a long staff, and as the lightning threw his face into sharp relief, Eddie quickly thought that Brendan Gleeson was way too attractive for the role. His face looked as though it were made of wood, or a human face in some abstract art piece. A large chunk of his nose was missing. And the eyes...the eyes were truly frightening. The normal one was small, dark, beady, but his magical eye rotated all around the Hall, even trained on him for a second. Eddie quickly thought back to his Occlumency lessons with Snape and focused on them. He proceeded to make no further eye contact with the professor.

Dumbledore greeted him, with no signs of suspicion, so evidently it was taken care of. Eddie breathed deeply, and listened to the rest of the announcements. He returned to the dormitory, full yet with a sense of lightness, bade good night to the rest of his year, and fell asleep.