Jafar had a bad feeling, and it was only getting worse as the Third Task drew closer.

He attempted to get out of meeting the closest thing his new master called her family, but the mother was insistent on meeting him, so he discreetly arrived after a letter from Hedwig.

Immediately, he saw a potential problem...it was clear they expected him to stay with them during the task. But... he was bound to the lamp and needed to be nearby in case she made a wish.

Acacia, when he quietly explained the issue, had a rather brilliant solution. One that meant they could speak to each other even during her classes.

And so Jafar set up a mental link that would allow her to speak to him telepathically.

It felt...strange. Being welcomed so readily by the family of red heads, who treated him as one of their own. He had grown up slightly better than that damn Aladdin had, but it had still been rough. He had to fight and scrape for everything he had, until he managed to earn a position as the grand vizier. And even then, it was all taken away because some brat had fallen for that spoiled princess and had used a genie to earn a place in the royal family.

Honestly, that Sultan had been a complete idiot. He knew nothing and cared nothing about politics...did he honestly think all those princes had shown up to their doorstep on a whim? Jafar had to convince their families it was worth their time trying to marry a known headache as a potential member of their family...and the idiot princess ruined everything.

Jafar knew he had to think of something else, otherwise his blood pressure would rise again. One of the few perks of being a genie was that he quit getting those headaches and was far, far away from that idiot sultan.

It didn't hurt that he had looked up the princess and her family...they had lost their position of power thanks to the mundanes and while it was still around, their status was no better than a commoner. In fact the entire line was a bunch of squibs and even if they somehow did get magic back into it, they could never reclaim their lost glory thanks to some carefully worded oaths their ancestors took centuries ago.

(He honestly saw his sister's hand in that...she could be rather vengeful and despite their distance they did care about each other.)

He could see how the mother kept eyeing him, with a slight disapproval. But he had been nothing but cordial and polite, so she had little to complain about. It took him a moment to realize why she had a slight dislike of him at first.

From the way she treated Acacia, it was clear she viewed the girl as part of her brood...and that she likely wanted her to marry into the family properly later.

If Acacia had a boyfriend who wasn't one of her sons, it potentially ruined that particular hope.

'Why oh why did Hagrid have to breed those into existence?'

Jafar had to fight to keep a straight face, as he could see a little bit from his connection to the lamp. That and his limited Seer's skills had been upgraded since he became a genie and had nothing better to do.

Hearing Acacia's running commentary made the otherwise boring task far more entertaining.

And then...it happened.

Acacia ran into Cedric, and the two had a brief discussion over who would take the goblet.

Jafar had a bad feeling, as he could feel odd magic on the goblet. So he excused himself to the bathroom and the Weasleys didn't even pay any mind. There was next to no view inside the maze after all.

The moment he was out of sight, especially from Professor Moody, he vanished and subtly returned to the lamp.

A good thing he did... the moment Acacia touched the goblet with Cedric, both were taken to another location.


Acacia was glad she had the foresight to push Cedric back onto the goblet. It meant she didn't have to see him get killed for stupid reasons.

Besides, she could sense Jafar was inside the lamp again, and with the telepathic connection she could make her wish even when gagged.

Acacia did her best to keep her cool, as Pettigrew used her to bring his master back.

She could feel Jafar seething inside the lamp. He was pissed.

The thing was, she hadn't stopped training with Jafar after the first task. Far from it. Jafar was something of a jack-of-all-trades, though he would openly admit that she was far better at battle magic than he was.

Considering it was easier to slip a knife in the back than cast a long-winded spell, Jafar had never really honed that aspect of his magic.

However what he lacked in practical experience, he made up for in knowledge of how to use a knife and how to use illusions against your opponents.

Acacia had slipped her potion dagger inside her pant leg, and without a second thought pulled it out.

Time to put some of Jafar's lessons to good use.

The first to feel the sting of her dagger was Macnair, the prick.

It was so ridiculously easy, and she wondered a bit why it wasn't harder.

One of the things Jafar had taught her was the proper placement of a knife. Stabbing an enemy was good and all, but it meant nothing if they had a chance to counter attack. After all the training sessions she had with him, she hadn't thought twice about going for the femoral artery in the man's leg.

Sure, her knife wasn't that sharp and she hadn't really had a chance to hone it properly...but the enchantment Jafar had walked her through did it's job and the robes absorbed the worst of the blood.

Macnair cried out in pain and surprise...mostly because he hadn't expected her to be that vicious. He didn't realize the danger until it was far too late.

By the time the Death Eaters realized exactly what they were facing, none of them were actually prepared to deal with the vicious little viper that their lord had pissed off.

Jafar was very thorough in his training, and Acacia had years of pent up anger, resentment and just plain spite to work through.

The adults refused to give her any real help, and when she did something the general public didn't like, they turned on her without a second thought or an apology when proven they were in the wrong. The fact that the majority of the Death Eaters present were either high ranking Ministry officials, or had enormous pull over those who had the rank and ability to do what they wanted, sickened her.

Most people learned from an early age that hurting others was 'wrong' and that killing was 'bad'.

Acacia...never got those lessons. Add in the intense training and the life lessons Jafar had taught her because she asked politely and showed she was willing to listen, and she was far more deadly than a normal fourteen year old.

She ignored any pain she was in...she was used to far worse and her tolerance was abnormally high. Thanks to the illusion magic Jafar had taught her, she was able to weave the shadows and the mists around her, further obscuring her from their view until she struck. She knew better than to strike the same person twice...she had to aim for lethal points or nothing at all, especially since it was highly unlikely aid would be coming anytime soon.

If she had to choose between casting aside some morals she didn't particularly care about, or being a 'good girl' and hiding until the adults arrived...well, she had never taken the easy way out.

Jafar felt an inordinate amount of pride and dark pleasure seeing the lessons he taught his master being put to proper use. Acacia was an avid learner, and didn't have nearly as many 'bad habits' to unlearn. She was a delightful student and he only wished he had met her far sooner.

While he couldn't target the men directly...he could and did give her warnings when one got too close and advice on where to strike next. He was enjoying himself entirely too much at the way the men were dropping around her.

The moment this...Voldemort...finally had enough, Jafar became aware of something he hadn't noticed before.

There was a parasite in his master. One connected to the fragmented soul that had a grudge against her.

This was a problem...yes, he could theoretically remove the parasite. But it would require the use of a wish.

Or, and he was fairly certain she was still around if only out of spite and being far more skilled at that sort of thing than he ever was, he could try and track down his sister and ask her for help. If anyone knew how to deal with parasites like this one, it would be her. She was a skilled necromancer before he was tricked.

He wasn't sure why he cared this much about his master, but he knew he wanted her to live past twenty. Something that idiot headmaster and the adults around her certainly weren't trying very hard to insure.

Sensing she was starting to wear down, Jafar encouraged her to teleport to the first safe place she could.

Without thinking twice, Acacia gathered her magic around her and teleported to the first place she could think of far, far away from the graveyard. Hogwarts was out because of the wards, so she went for the next best thing...Diagon Alley.

The reaction the wizards had to a girl suddenly appearing with blood on her in Gringotts of all places caused a major uproar.

She was so exhausted it took everything she had to stay awake long enough for the random healer visiting the bank to stabilize her.

Jafar, being of quicker wit and far more experienced, coached her in exactly what to say for maximum impact.

Namely, not to mention Voldemort's name (he had observed how people reacted to it and it didn't take a genius to guess no one would believe her due to her age), only that she had picked up something that turned out to be a portkey, and had barely managed to fight her way out before she apparated to the bank out of blind panic.

In short order, she found herself in the presence of the head of the aurors the second people realized who she was.

Amelia Bones was absolutely not amused by the fact that Acacia Potter was in a dangerous situation.


In a secure location...

"You're telling me the Goblet of Fire was a portkey?" said Amelia.

"Cedric Diggory was with me, and I accidentally knocked the portkey on him," she replied.

Jafar was rather explicit that she would need a witness. As Cedric had taken the only potential method back to Hogwarts, his testimony would mean they'd have to take her a bit more seriously.

"Let's go over what happened in this graveyard again."

"Someone who resembled a dead man from my parent's photos trapped me against a headstone, used my blood in some unknown ritual as a potion ingredient, and a man who claims he was Voldemort came out. I have no idea who the men in robes and masks were, just that they behaved rather subservient to the man in the cauldron and didn't hesitate to use lethal curses on a minor," said Acacia.

"You said he claimed to be Voldemort," said Amelia.

Acacia raised her eyebrow.

"You know as well as I do that if people are too terrified to use his ridiculous moniker in public, the odds of an actual photo of him are next to nonexistent. I have no idea what Voldemort looked like before he killed my parents, so I can't confirm whether or not it was him. All I know is that the abomination that appeared from that cauldron was using his name and claiming to be him, and somehow summoned several wizards to his side," she said rather calmly. "My only concern wasn't to confirm who he was, just to get out of that situation."

Amelia approved of her thinking. She wasn't overtly claiming the dark lord was back at all, just that someone was using his name and tried to kill her.

It took a bit of fast talking, but they were eventually able to get in contact with the Diggorys and more importantly their son.

Cedric not only confirmed the portkey, but also the destination. The part that angered Amelia the most was that they also found a supposedly dead man running around acting as Alastor and no one noticed for months.

It was an entire bloody mess, and it was only going to get worse because of the inevitable interference from Dumbledore.