Part 2 of the exciting middle part.

Kurt peered out the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's office door, "lumos maxima." Kurt threw the ball of light down the corridor and waited. Soon Hermione, Ron and himself came around the corner in a very peculiar fashion, "Hurry."

"We're trying not to draw to much attention to ourselves," Hermione hissed as they entered the office.

"Draw attention to yourselves?" Kurt quirked a brow, "there's nobody but us in the castle."

"Do you think they're going to stay down at the quidditch pitch forever?" Ron smirked, "sure they'll be up any moment now."

"Let's get to work," Kurt dismissed them.

Hermione uncovered Harry's unconscious body, "I hope there aren't any long term side effects to all this memory alteration we're doing."

"His memory whilst he's under is blank," other Kurt spoke, "the memories we're inserting are the exact same length of time, this means that nothing is being suppressed or damaged. It's as if we're directing his dreams but making him think they're real."

"I don't like this," Kurt shook his head as he stripped out of Harry Potter's clothes and changed into his own.

"It was your plan," Hermione squealed, she had turned away whilst he and other Kurt changed clothes.

"Not the plan," Kurt rolled his eyes, "that." He pointed to the other Kurt, "My plan is flawless, the only hurdle we have to overcome is human error."

"It's just ten minutes more," other Kurt assured him.

"Kurt," Ron put his hand on Kurt's shoulder, "how are you?"

"I will be able to think about that again in a moment," Kurt took a deep breath, "right now, I need to be Harry Potter."

"You're bleeding," Ron countered, "you sure you don't want that looked at?"

"I'll be fine in a moment," He gave a weak smile, everyone was once again dressed in the clothes that belonged to their true form, "wands at the ready."

"Ready," the four of them chorused, "memento aliter."

"Get under the cloak and we'll meet in the hospital wing in a moment," Kurt nodded slowly, more for his own benefit than theirs, "Hermione, Ron, Luna." He took a deep breath, "Thank you. Send my thanks on to Neville."

Luna stepped forward and Kurt looked into his own cold grey eyes, she pulled a vial out of his breast pocket, "to the edge of the earth." She gave a small smile and poured a drop of the liquid on the gash on his forearm, the liquid burned as the wound healed.

Kurt turned away from them and removed the bracelet of black braided branches, he reassumed his own form. He concentrated, "venir." A small dagger appeared in his hands, Kurt took a deep breath and grabbed Harry's forearm, "to the edge of the earth."

~0~

He took a deep breath; Kurt knew that if anything was going to happen, it would happen today. It was the final opportunity that the Triwizard Tournament would present Harry's pursuer to take action, somebody would have to be in Harry's place when that happened; today it would be Kurt. Kurt was the only one for the job, he couldn't put somebody else into the line of fire.

He would fare well, everyone kept saying that he was the one who should have entered the tournament; he had a full house of top grades for all his subjects, he was the youngest living Master of the Order of the White Lotus, he was the descendent of two wizards so fearsome that they were amongst the most feared followers of the Dark Lord, he was raised to never back down from a challenge, and he recently had a birthday.

At present, Kurt was watching from across the room as Mrs Weasley and Bill were doting on Harry; they had come to support Harry as the Weasleys were the only people who were not already at Hogwarts who could show face on Harry's behalf. Kurt was hanging from Cedric's arm, he might have a mission to accomplish but that didn't come between him and Cedric. Mr Diggory had created some friction earlier by confronting Harry for drawing attention away from Cedric with his Celebrity, Mrs Diggory had to intervene and Cedric had to assure the man that he was perfectly happy staying out of the spotlight. Kurt turned up to the handsome boy, "I'm proud of you for entering, you've done exceptionally well so far."

"And he's going to win the whole thing today," Mr Diggory grinned like he'd won the lottery and maybe he had because as far as sons went, the man had won some kind of lottery, "isn't that right boy?"

"Yes dad," Cedric smirked, "the only person who could beat me will be cheering in the crowd."

"Hermione Granger?" Kurt quirked a cheeky brow.

"You," Cedric leaned down to kiss the boy, "silly."

"Regardless of the outcome today," the homely Mrs Diggory smiled the same beautiful smile of her son, "I am already so proud of you." She kissed him on the cheek, "you have fun."

Cedric's parents moved to find their seats, Kurt turned to his boyfriend, "you know she has to say that because she's your mother?"

"Yes," Cedric looked down into Kurt's eyes with his Hazel ones, "what do you think?"

"Everybody loves a winner," Kurt pursed his lips, "I'm not everybody, I love you."

Their lips met, "I love you too."

"I have to go," Kurt pulled back, "I need to find the time to fit Harry in before you guys start."

"Okay," Cedric smirked, "but when I win, it's all about me and my temptation."

Kurt smiled broadly, "When you win?"

"When I win," Cedric grinned.

~0~

Kurt stood before the entrance of the maze in his Harry Potter disguise, it felt odd to have the boy's wand in his hand instead of his own. The wand was made of a darker wood and just didn't feel as well balanced as his, Kurt suspected that it was the missing quarter of an inch that made the wand feel all wrong. Kurt kept chanting to himself that he wasn't breaking the law, the rules didn't specifically make any mention of this kind of substitution and so he was in the green. He kept telling himself that if he made it to the end of this task without incidence then nobody, not even Harry, would ever have to know what they did.

The first cannon sounded and Cedric entered the maze, Kurt said a little prayer for the boy but it turned into one for all four of the champions. The wait for his turn was agonising, but soon the second cannon sounded and he was on his way. The plan was to survive, not to thrive but Kurt knew that the only way to survive is to make it the end as quickly as possible. He had one rule, he couldn't use magic he hadn't taught to Harry during their training session and that really limited his skill set but Kurt had done more with less.

Kurt reminded himself that the worst that could happen would be if they tried to kill him and he had a unique history with death, it had been pursuing him for most of his life and Kurt was not about to give up. Kurt had overcome death more than once and it was something he could do again. He took a deep breath as he moved closer to the Maze's entrance he was afraid but he had beat cancer, he defeated a fully grown mountain troll whilst he was concussed, he battled a three headed dog with just his voice, he had overcome and destroyed the memory of Tom Riddle, and he'd orchestrated the most wanted man in wizarding Britain's evasion of capture. Kurt was definitely afraid but he was also sufficiently prepared, he had nothing to fear because if anybody could come out of the other end of this mission completely unscathed, it was him.

The maze was much darker than it should have been at dusk, the high hedges that separated the trails cast a shadow on the paths. Kurt rolled his eyes at the simplicity of the task by this point, "lumos maxima." Kurt flicked the ball of light off the tip of Harry's wand into his palm, he chuckled slightly at how unchallenged he was by this task. The path was long and narrow, there wasn't much choice as to the path he was taking for a good while as the maze changed its course and presented him with corners that he could only follow. He came to his first intersection, there were three options; straight, left and right. The choice wasn't a difficult one if you knew how to choose, Kurt tossed a ball of light down each path; the path on the left appeared to be a dead end but opened a little bit further when the ball of light got near, the path going straight seemed to be clear until the floor fell away a hundred metres ahead, the path on the right appeared to be completely clear. Kurt chose the path on the left, he could easily handle some devil snare with Harry's skill set.

"Incendio," a plume of fire shot out of Harry's wand ahead of Kurt and the vines cleared a path for him. He ran through until he came to a clearing with strange crustaceans the size of cars; they had black shells and no identifiable heads, simply a double ended scorpion with jets that expelled fire all around their bodies, they possessed more legs than Kurt cared to count. Kurt regretted not being more familiar with the blast-ended skrewts, he had hoped that he wouldn't have to engage them unless absolutely necessary.

Kurt took calculated steps and tried to go unseen, unheard, or unsmelt- depending on which sense the creatures used to find their prey. Kurt's attempt at stealth was futile, as if by some unknown sense the skrewts became aware of his presence and began to blast fire in his direction as they approached at speed. Kurt was angry, fire was supposed to be his thing, how dare anyone try to use it against him, "Aguamenti." Kurt spun on the spot, soaking each of the skrewts who screeched as the water sizzled on their shells. Kurt took their temporary incapacitation as an opportunity to escape.

Kurt reoriented himself, he was taking these task slowly as he could but it seemed the maze had other ideas. Following his evasion of the blast-ended skrewts, Kurt had been pursued by the maze itself as the walls closed behind him and forced him to pick up the pace. He was in the second clearing and cowering in the corner was Cedric, he was being stalked by a large, four-legged creature that Kurt recognised to be a werewolf. It didn't make sense, there wasn't a full moon over head. He shook his head and the situation made itself evident, Cedric was afraid and the werewolf was getting bigger and scarier. Kurt snapped his fingers sharply and the werewolf turned to face him, transforming before his very eyes into the twisted face of Professor Moody.

"I know something you don't," the aged man grinned malevolently and his tongue darted out the side of his mouth, "guess that makes me smarter than you." He clapped his hands as he moved closer to Kurt, "What are you if you aren't smart?"

"Powerful," Kurt grinned, pointing the tip of Harry's wand at the man, hoping it wouldn't fail him now, "riddikulus." Professor Moody was transformed into a ballerina, his ash blond hair pulled into a tight bun and his aged body stuffed into a leotard. Kurt giggled at first, then broke out into an outright guffaw as the boggart moved from a demi plie in the fourth position to a jump and exited stage right.

Kurt instinctually helped Cedric up, "thanks, please don't tell Kurt." He remembered he was not himself, Kurt nodded and moved on before the boy could say anything more. Kurt realised that the longer it took him to finish the task, the longer the other three champions were in danger; Harry's pursuer remained at large for as long as Kurt stalled and he realised for the first time that Harry's pursuer might use the other champions to appeal to Harry's better nature. The sooner Kurt got to where ever they wanted him to be, the quicker this would be over.

Kurt was forced to stop running when he encountered a sphinx; the creature was strange to behold because of the strange marriage of its beautiful human face, which resembled many cultural depictions of Cleopatra, and the sleek muscled body of a lion. Kurt was only familiar with muggle folklore on sphinxes and going on that, he spoke before she could speak, "I have a riddle for you."

The beautiful face seemed unimpressed, she growled, "I give the riddles around here."

"I know," Kurt shrugged, "but I'm sure you'd love to have an opportunity to test that brilliant mind of yours a chance to show off just how smart you are." Kurt smirked and he knew on the inside that it must have looked strange on Harry's face, "The stakes are the same, just in reverse."

"Oh," the condescent evident in her voice, "how do you mean?"

"If you're correct then you can eat me or whatever you do," Kurt tried to convey an air of insecurity under the veil of arrogance he had on, "if you're wrong then I can pass unscathed. If you don't want to answer, then you can offer me a riddle in return."

"Fool," the sphinx grinned, "We sphinxes are wiser than all creatures."

"And I'm a little unassuming Gryffindor," Kurt smiled broadly, "I guess that makes me easy picking."

"Exactly," she held up her head with pride, "I accept your challenge, give me you riddle."

"Paul is six feet tall, he works as a butcher's assistant. He wears size nine shoes, what does he weigh?" Kurt kept his face stony and hoped that the sphinx would follow the line of thought he hoped she would.

"Your challenge is a maths question?" she cackled jovially, "I've been doing derivative calculus and matrix algebra since I was a cub." She paused and looked up, mumbling to herself about variables and body mass index windows. She stopped calculating and smiled, "assuming he fell into the healthy window of weight for his height, he would weigh between sixty kilograms and eighty-three kilograms. The shoe size was there to confuse me."

"That's incorrect," Kurt smirked, "that might be how much he weighs but what he weighs is meat."

"No," the sphinx fell to the ground and curled into a ball, "I can't be wrong, my mind is greater than any other."

"Possibly," Kurt shrugged as he stepped around her, "but your listening skills could use some work."

Kurt's moment of gloating was cut short by a scream he assumed belonged to Fleur due to its high pitch, Kurt looked around with great haste as the scream had sounded unsettlingly near. Kurt realised that his earlier fear had been realised; as they neared the centre of the maze where the trophy was waiting to be claimed by the victor, Harry's pursuer was making their way toward him. He had to get to the end before anyone else, not to win but to confront whoever was waiting there before anyone else suffered as Fleur might have.

Kurt moved quickly and with little regard for the obstacles that had been placed in his way, he used the knock back jinx to clear the acromantula from his path, resisting the urge to set it on fire as he had Aragog's nest back in second year. Kurt came to the final stretch and before him at the end of a narrow path was the trophy, if he took it now then he would be the champion. Nobody would know though; they would never know that it was really him who won the tournament. He was spared from his thoughts when Cedric and Viktor fell into his path, Viktor was on top and his pupils were dilated like he was on ecstasy- the classic symptom of somebody who was sloppily bewitched.

"Stupify," Kurt knocked the large boy off his boyfriend, Viktor lay unconscious on the ground beside Cedric.

"Thanks Potter," Cedric smiled as Kurt helped him up.

"That's twice now," Kurt grinned, forgetting himself for a moment. He pulled himself towards himself quickly and redirected the moment, "so, Viktor took this a little too seriously."

"Yeah," Cedric shook his head.

"I think he might have been bewitched," Kurt shook his head in time, "there was no need for him to attack you the way he did, the trophy is right there." Kurt shrugged, realising that the threat was over, "you should take it, I'm not even supposed to be in this competition."

"You helped me," Cedric smiled, "twice, you deserve it."

"You did better than me on both of the first two tasks," Kurt smiled, "you deserve the win more, it's only fair."

Cedric shrugged, "if you insist."

"I do," Kurt leaned down beside Viktor, "I'll take care of him, he's innocent in all this." Cedric took off in a light jog toward the trophy and Kurt shot up red sparks so that Viktor might be returned to the starting line, the boy played his part in the malevolent plan against Harry. It was over now. A thought suddenly occurred to Kurt; he was unscathed in all this and that meant that this might not be over, "Cedric wait."

Kurt took off after the taller boy in brisk sprint, Harry's legs weren't as long as Kurt's but he made good speed none the less- Kurt made a mental note to complement the other boy on his athletic prowess and recommend he dedicate himself to track. Kurt caught up with the boy just as he was about to grab the trophy, in an effort to prevent him from toughing it- out of a fear of an unknown number curses that might have been placed on the trophy- Kurt accidentally pushed the boy into the trophy.

~0~

Kurt jumped to his feet and looked around, his surroundings were completely foreign to him; he was standing in a graveyard with Cedric a few feet away from him, with the Triwizard Cup between them. Dusk had turned to night and the visibility was low. Kurt had only one indicator that they were somewhere in the commonwealth, the names on the grave markers were English; James Burrow, Christopher Harrison, Regina Scott, and the likes.

"The cup was a portkey," Cedric muttered to himself, "Surprising twist."

"This isn't part of the task," Kurt's tone was flat. He scanned the grave markers until he found something that confirmed his suspicions, "We need to get back to the cup now and hope it was a round trip."

Cedric, who had wondered away some, spoke over his shoulder, "There's somebody coming."

"Cedric," Kurt gritted his teeth, "I'm not kidding, we need to get back to the cup." Kurt grabbed the much taller boy's shoulder, a reminder that he wasn't himself at present. Kurt spotted a short man coming toward them carrying a bundle like one might a baby but the object was too large to be a baby, Kurt felt like the man should have some effect on him.

"Kill the spare," a hoarse voice that was barely above a whisper echoed through the graveyard. Kurt recognised the man to be Peter Pettigrew and by his logic, the voice was the Voldemort thing from Harry's dream. Before Kurt could react, the man had produced a wand that looked to be an old sun-bleached bone. The wand was unlike the wands of actual bone Kurt had seen before, Kurt moved to replace Harry's wand with his own but the man spoke words that would haunt Kurt, "Avada Kedavra."

There was a flash of green light, Kurt moved in front of Cedric and at the same time he moved, Cedric moved in front of him. They both collapsed; Kurt found himself falling, for the second time that day, onto Cedric Diggory. Kurt felt himself emptying and becoming weak as his head rested on the silent chest of the boy he loved, he didn't have enough left in him to sob and the tears simply fell without a sound. The wind rustled around Kurt and the whispering voice spoke but the deafening silence of Cedric's lifeless body filled Kurt's ears without competition.

Kurt shook his head, he had always disliked Voldemort and those who served him on principal of good and evil as he was raised to understand it. Today, the Dark Lord had made the solemn mistake of making a personal enemy of Kurt; it was true that people readily earned Kurt's ire but Kurt was forgiving by nature, and that would come to pass on its own or by apology. In this moment, in lord knows where, Kurt understood why they were called the unforgivable curses and he knew that when the time came, Voldemort would regret this day.

Kurt was pulled back to reality when his body was levitated off the ground, he made quick work of re-orientating himself. There was a caldron over a fire and Peter Pettigrew was hoisting him up toward an imposing statue of the Grim Reaper that stood over the grave that had alerted Kurt to the impending danger, the grave of Tom Riddle. Kurt noticed that the man held Harry's wand in the hand that cradled the Dark Lord; Kurt's own wand was in a pocket that was zipped closed and with his hands pinned to either side of his head by the statues scythe, he'd be unable to reach it without a wand to perform the Venir summoning charm.

At present, his only available option seemed to be his dead boyfriend's wand but he wasn't sure whether it would work for him; unicorn tail hair was a far cry from Kurt's own wand, even Harry's phoenix tail feather wand seemed to fight him and never delivered the same kind of power as his own wand. Kurt thought quickly, Voldemort had wanted to match his power against him in the Chamber of Secrets. His inner Slytherin would goad him, make him want to prove his powers to be greater than those of the boy who lived, Kurt would have to help that need along and hope that adult Voldemort is an opponent equal to his teenage self.

Pettigrew made a show of dropping the foetal shell that was Voldemort into the boiling cauldron; Kurt's eyes went wide and he said a prayer that they weren't intending on feeding him Voldemort stew or worse, making him part of the stew. The short, hollowed man turned to Kurt with the wand raised. The platform that Kurt's toes were grazing in his position of suspension, began to shake violently till it split down the middle and dirt covered radial bone emerged from the crack.

"Bone of the father, unwillingly given," Pettigrew spoke to nobody in particular. He dropped the bone into the cauldron and Kurt wanted even less to maybe have to eat that. Pettigrew dropped Harry's wand and picked up a sharp dagger, this was Kurt's chance; when he turned back to add the next ingredient Kurt would strike. The man moved toward him and Kurt hoped he'd get a chance to make his move, Pettigrew ripped the sleeve of Harry's quidditch jersey and Kurt was thankful he wasn't wearing any of his own clothes. The blade made a cut along the underside of Kurt's arm, the pain cause Kurt to cry out. Pettigrew turned to the caldron and flicked a few drops of Kurt's blood into the pot, "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken."

"I was unwilling anyway," Kurt snapped, "you could have pricked my finger for the same effect." Pettigrew took a moment to chuckle, and Kurt the same to strike. Kurt whispered, "Accio wand."

Harry's wand moved quickly from the ground into Kurt's waiting hand, as Pettigrew moved the blade to his own wrist. Kurt was shocked when the man severed his hand with a cry, "flesh of the servant, willingly given." The man sobbed and the potion boiled more violently than ever, "And now Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord shall rise again."

Kurt watched in awe as the caldron, burst into flames and rose off the ground. The black metal of the caldron evaporated into a black smoke that swirled around the former contents, the contents shaped themselves into a humanoid shape and the black smoke formed robes and covered the shape as it took on more distinguishing features. Kurt expected an older version of the handsome teenager from the Diary but instead the figure was serpentine; with pale skin that possessed the slight tinge of green like the underside of a serpent, no nose to speak of, and lips so thin that they might as well have been none.

Kurt swallowed hard, when the man laid eyes on his reflection he would know immediately that something was wrong; that he'd gotten the wrong brand of teenager. Kurt did not move, fear and self-preservation kept him firmly in place, trying not to draw any attention to himself because when the man realised that he no longer resembled Colin Firth in Another Country he would be very angry. Voldemort opened his eyes, they were blood red, and Kurt held his breath; the man gave a smile of sharp serpentine teeth.

"Master," Pettigrew bowed and extended his remaining hand with the wand in hand.

Voldemort grabbed the wand and flourished it slightly, reacquainting himself with the extension of himself. He nodded to himself and turned back to Pettigrew, "Your arm Wormtail."

Still bowing Pettigrew extended the still fresh stump, "thank you master."

"The other arm fool," the man snapped in a voice that was hoarse, as if he needed to clear his throat really badly. Kurt was tempted to offer him a throat lozenge but he didn't bring any because he didn't think he'd be meeting the Dark Lord nor that the man would be in the process of fighting a cold. Voldemort pressed the tip of his wand to the Dark Mark on Pettigrew's forearm and the clouds churned into a Dark Mark that was quite quickly broken by streaks of black smoke ripping through it to land on the ground around the Dark Lord in a perfect Circle, give or take a few spaces.

Kurt was concerned by how at ease he was as part of the circle, had they unintentionally created a formation in such a way as to leave him the spaces that would be filled by his parents? Would they be here if they weren't in Azkaban? Or would the Dark Lord have tasked them with retrieving Harry Potter and they'd be on the other end awaiting instruction?

"My friends," Voldemort flourished his robes as he turned to speak to each of the masked men in pointy black robes that reminded Kurt of the Ku Klux Klan, "thirteen years since we last met. Thirteen long years yet it feels as if it were only yesterday." Kurt wanted to shout out that it was closer to fourteen years by now but he chose to hold his tongue, "I must say, I am very disappointed that it took thirteen years for this meeting to happen and it's all because none of you tried to find me."

There was an almost tangible silence in the darkened graveyard, Voldemort moved around the circle menacingly, grabbing each of the Death Eaters' masks and calling their name, "Crabbe. Avery. Macnair. Goyle. Walden." He stopped suddenly and turned to the man who was directly opposite to where Kurt was standing, "not even you Lucius."

"My lord," Draco's father fell to his knees before his master, "if I had caught even an echo of a whisper that you were still alive, Id' have returned in a heartbeat."

"There were whispers," Voldemort snapped angrily. Kurt's mind began to work, 'His return is almost upon us, heed the whispers' Kurt's blood ran cold, the line that followed that one in the prophecy given to him by the man from Hogsmead had been frightening, 'You who shall most shame your mother, must most fear his return'. The words had meant nothing to Kurt when he had a dead mother and he'd disregarded the lot, but now he knew that he had a living mother in Azkaban and that the 'He' referred to in the prophesy had returned; was Kurt going to die here as well? This brought back the question, who were the Dark and the twice named?

Kurt's mind cleared when the monster approached Cedric's lifeless body, "if you touch him I will chop you up and make a stew that I will serve to your followers." Kurt didn't care if that didn't sound like Harry Potter, it was how he felt. He returned his attention to the moment as all eyes fell upon him, while he'd been in his own head about the moment; Mr Malfoy had removed his hood to reveal platinum blond extensions and Pettigrew had received a silver hand, "Mr Potter, We'd almost forgotten you had decided to join us."

"It's fine," Kurt shook his head, "go right ahead, just point me toward the nearest A-road and I'll be out of your-" Kurt stopped mid-sentence when his gaze landed on the man's bald head, "on my way."

Voldemort grinned, and Mr Malfoy spoke, "He's astoundingly arrogant."

"Silence Lucius," the man grinned, Kurt was glad he was hitting the right tone because Mr Malfoy could easily expose him for a fraud. If Kurt had to resist pursing his lips then he was glad to be acknowledged for his efforts. "Nonsense," Voldemort's words were directed at him this time, "You're our guest of honour. We even have you standing on the bones of my father, a place befitting somebody of your supposed celebrity status."

"The boy who lived. A legend based on lies, weak ones at that!" Voldemort moved closer to Kurt, when he was a few inches away he turned to his comrades, "would you like to hear how it is that I lost my powers that Halloween night in Grodric's Hollow all those years ago? How a baby supposedly defeated a wizard of my stature?"

"Tell us Master," Crabbe grovelled, more eloquently than his son.

"You see," The man paced as he spoke, "when dear, sweet Lilly Potter refused to step aside and died in your place, she created a protection around you with her love." The man smile, "the very protection that prevented me from touching you."

Kurt took a deep breath; he didn't have that kind of protection, the Unspeakables in the hall of mysteries were still trying to understand how love worked as magic. He was going to die because he assumed that by being a better student than Harry Potter, he was better suited to fill the boy's shoe than the boy himself. If Kurt died now, his corpse would look like Harry Potter forever and his father wouldn't be able to say goodbye properly; that was reason enough to survive this, he'd managed once without a protective enchantment and he'd do it again.

"But by using your blood in this spell, I have broken the enchantment," Voldemort was now so close that Kurt could see Harry Potter in the man's eyes, "I can touch you now."

"So," Kurt summoned his best Harry Potter impersonation for this moment with the man's finger pressed on the impression of the scar on his forehead, "you could have done this spell a year ago but you waited so you could touch a little boy? What do you gain from this?"

"Now," Voldemort smiled through his obvious confusion at the lack of outward fear, "I can kill you and dispel all rumours that you were ever my equal."

Kurt wanted to grin, he knew he wasn't an equal to Voldemort but his false confidence seemed to be translating into real confidence. The man waved his wand and the statue dropped Kurt, he tucked and rolled to a standing position with the cup and Cedric's corpse behind him.

Kurt stood with Harry's wand outstretched toward Voldemort, "You've been taught how to duel, I assume?" the man pointed his wand at Kurt who nodded and bowed, Voldemort seemed surprised but returned the action, "and then, we begin."

"Stupify," Kurt cast the first spell but Voldemort effortlessly deflected it without much effort.

The Dark Lord smiled, "Crucio." Kurt's muscles stiffened and it felt as if he were being pushed down onto a bed of nails, it was different from the last time he'd been subjected to the curse; Kurt screamed, the pain was all physical this time. Voldemort was near giddy, "Crucio. Would your filthy muggle mother be proud Harry?"

The pain stopped and Kurt thought for a moment, how had he defeated Tom Riddle two years ago? Kurt wracked his mind, sifting through tons of information as the man completed his monologue about destroying the idea of Harry Potter. It frustrated Kurt how calm he was when Kurt was panicking and about to lose his life, then the memory tome Kurt had been searching for jumped out at him. Kurt had defeated Tom by making him too angry to think straight, "yes."

"What was that boy?"

"Yes," Kurt grinned, "my mother is very proud of me, I became everything she died to protect." The man's eyes went wide with disbelief, "tell me, how does your muggle father feel about the monster you've become? Stupify."

The Death Eaters moved to the ready to attack as Voldemort was flung a few feet back, one stepped forward but Voldemort intervened, "leave him, he's mine to defeat."

"It would only remind people that you're just like me if they helped," Kurt grinned, his Harry Potter impression now based solely on mannerisms, "your followers will lose respect for you when they realise that you're not the man you've let them believe that you are, the muggle blood in your veins is testament to that."

Kurt backed away slowly, the man gritted his teeth and Kurt moved to the right as the tombstone behind where he'd been standing exploded. Kurt knew that he had created the right conditions to ensure his survival, now he needed an exit strategy. He moved behind tombstones with speed, each exploding as he move on to the next one. Kurt spotted the lifeless body of Cedric, now across from where he was standing, and a few feet away was the Triwizard Cup; it might be Kurt's only hope, if it was enchanted as a return trip.

Kurt took a deep breath, his knees were shaking but now was the time to do something crazy and determine his future; it was a do or die moment and he wished he'd been a Gryffindor because then he'd just do it instead of trying to assess the empirical data and work out the probability of success. Kurt took a deep breath, wishing he could do this as himself, and came out from behind the remains of the tombstone he had been hiding behind, "Expilliarmus."

"Avada Kedavra," the man exclaimed as soon as part of Kurt was visible; the green light of his curse and the red of Kurt's compressed into streams of concentrated magic and connected. The light created by the point of connection was so bright that for the first time Kurt could see far off into the distance to where a small village peaked out between two hills. Standing between Kurt and his ticket home was the most feared wizard in modern history, all he had to do was cover the space between them and break the stream without dying- not necessarily in that order.

Kurt took a step forward and increased the effort he was using, there were bolts of lightning as the ball of light moved toward Voldemort. The man pushed forward and it seemed to create a moment of suspended animation; the handsome face of Cedric Diggory emerged from the tip of his wand, followed by an elderly man in coveralls, a middle-aged woman in camping gear, a young woman and a man with a stark resemblance to the face Kurt was currently wearing.

"Hold on Harry," the woman's voice was maternal and made Kurt feel like he was imposing upon an intimate moment.

"Yes," Mr Potter gave a small smile, "When we tell you to, let go."

"We've got you," the woman in camping gear agreed, Kurt suspected it was the witch who went missing and ruined his summer travel plans, "You know, I've always wanted to meet Harry Potter."

The man in the coveralls was too fascinated by his surroundings to speak but Cedric's spectre moved closer, and seemed to whisper to Kurt without knowing he was doing so, "Take my body back with you. Tell Kurt that I was not afraid of death and that life was good to me because I got love him as hard as I did, but there comes a point in love when you have to let go."

"Let go," Mrs Potter gave a small sob, "Let Go Harry."

Kurt let the spell lapse and took off in a run as fast as Harry's legs could carry him; Voldemort was swamped by the spectres of his murder victims. He threw himself over Cedric Diggory's body and extended his wand hand toward the Triwizard Cup, "Accio cup." The cup flew across the grass an into Kurt's hands, allowing Kurt to relax as the possibility of dying receded.

~0~

The enormity of what he'd just been through caught up with Kurt once more for a sliver of time, he stayed in place with his ear pressed to the silent chest of the boy he loved, sobbing softly. There were cheers outside his bubble, camera bulbs burned brightly, there was happiness but his bubble was pure sadness, Cedric had been unafraid to die but that didn't mean he should have died. Kurt was returned to the moment when Professor McGonagall grabbed him by the shoulders, he looked into her sad eyes and the cheering stopped as everyone's gaze upon Cedric's lifeless body.

"Potter," Professor McGonagall's voice was soft and soothing, "what happened?"

"He's back," Kurt could hear how broken Harry's voice sounded, "Voldemort's back." Professor McGonagall withdrew her hand like his words had burnt her, "Voldemort is back and he killed Cedric."

Professor McGonagall whispered something in Professor Dumbledore's ear but through the hushed voices came one above the rest, louder than the silence in Cedric's chest was a broken hearted wail, "that's my boy, my son, my baby." Amos Diggory pushed his way through the crowd from his reserved spot, he fell to his knees beside the lifeless body, "not my son, not my Cedric. No, no, no. It can't be."

Kurt closed the hazel eyes that once stared so intently at him and looked up at the man and his wife behind them as they grieved their only child, "I'm so sorry."

Kurt felt himself being dragged to his feet and dragged away. By the time he pulled himself toward himself, he realised that it was Professor Moody who was pulling him away from the crowd.

~0~

"Animare iterum," Kurt kneeled before Harry as the boy rose to a sitting position. Before Harry could form his words Kurt broke into sobs, this was the first time that he gave himself the opportunity to truly grieve the boy he loved and it was an overwhelming feeling. Kurt's voice was shaking as much as his body when he spoke, "He's dead."

"Kurt," Harry shook as they touched foreheads, Kurt's tears wetting Harry's face. Kurt looked into the boy's emerald green eyes, the memory that they put into his mind was translating into emotions and the experience was becoming real for him, "Kurt."

"I love him so much," Kurt shook uncontrollably. He realised what he'd done, he'd referred to Cedric in the present tense but the hazel eyed boy was now exclusively in Kurt's past, "I loved him so much and he died." Kurt wiped his face, "why is the world so mean to me? Why does life keep taking the people I love away from me?"

"I don't know what to say," Harry whispered, the darker haired boy was holding back sobs and trying to show face for Kurt, "I wish there was something I could say, something I could do."

"There's nothing to say," Kurt shook his head, he touched foreheads with Harry once more. Kurt wiped his face and steeled his features, "nothing to do but carry on with the plan."

"The plan?" Harry held Kurt by the shoulders and moved him from touching foreheads to arms-length, "Kurt, what have you done?"

"I did it for you," Kurt sobbed but took another breath, he shook the emotion out of his voice, "I didn't know this would happen but I just wanted to give you a chance. I didn't know he needed to be protected till it was too late, I only thought of you. I just wanted to give you a chance."

"A chance? A chance at what?" Harry furrowed his brow, "what did you do?"

"I took your place," Kurt took a deep breath, he was back in control now, "you've been burdened enough by Voldemort, since you were a baby you've been famous for something you had no conscious hand in. Bound to the darkest wizard in recorded history and unable to make your own choices, if he had used your blood in that spell then I knew that you would have been bound to him until one of you died. You're free."

"Oh Kurt," the horror on Harry's face was impossible to hide. Kurt waited as the boy tried to make sense of what he was being told, "Oh Kurt, oh Kurt."

"When you told me that he said that you were 'everything' in your dream," Kurt took a deep steadying breath, "and you were inexplicably picked as the fourth champion in Triwizard Tournament, I knew the two were related and all I knew was that I needed to find a way to keep you away from him. We all agreed; Ron, Hermione, Luna, me and later Neville."

"I don't understand," Harry was shaking.

Kurt grabbed him and they touched foreheads once more, "Luna took your place in the second task and I took your place in the third task. Voldemort has my blood, not yours."

Harry shook his head, "What have you done?"

"I've given you a choice, just like everyone else gets to choose," Kurt gave a weak smile and gently pinched Harry's cheek, "you can be a hero, tell everyone that Voldemort's returned and you fought him. Tell everyone the story and make them believe it."

"Or."

"You can bow out," Kurt smiled, "I'll tell everyone the truth and we can go forward from there."

"Is it even a choice?" Harry mumbled.

Kurt rolled his eyes, "don't pull that stupid Gryffindor crap on me, make a choice."

"That stupid Gryffindor crap is part of who I am," Harry smiled but the sadness didn't dissipate, "I'm glad you cared enough to do all this for me but I will always choose to be a hero."

"I know," Kurt gave a weak smile, "but for a change you weren't chosen, you got the opportunity to make your own choices."

Hope you enjoyed it.