.

Balance Factor Chapter 25

Year Four

Third Task

A/N: Thanks for reviewing!

Harry readied himself. He was wearing his school robes, though with the MU logo instead of the Hogwarts logo. He had removed his scarf and wore a sash around his waist instead, bearing the twin dragons. Cedric stepped up next to him, right in front of the maze.

"Ready?" Cedric asked. He seemed pleased, his hands sweating in excitement.

"Not really, but it's not like either of us have much of a choice," Harry said. Cedric laughed and Bagman sounded the start of the Third Task. Cedric ran into the maze, but Harry walked leisurely. He wasn't really keen on winning so, he decided on taking his time.

He hummed as he walked, the summer breeze pleasant in the maze. The balance was still stable. Which was odd, but Harry had learned to ignore his suspicions. He would have plenty of time to figure it all out during the summer. For now, though, he needed to get through the maze without getting killed.

Which was difficult, according to the loud bang he heard from not too far away. He suspected that Bagman had released all the Champions now, as he had been walking for some time now. Harry paused, wondering if he had just been lucky so far by not bumping into anything lethal or if someone was messing with him.

Suddenly, Shirogane blocked his path. Harry froze, spotting the blood trailing down Shirogane's chest and Shirogane's raspy coughs. His Factor didn't stir.

"A boggart…" Harry said slowly, understanding. He pulled out his wand and said, "Riddikulus."

The boggart shrunk until it was the size of a tiny kitten. The hair changed from white to black and his eyes changed from blue to red. The tiny person tripped over his own robe and fell to the floor with a soft "oof!" Harry stared.

"Ryuuko?" Harry asked, bending down and picking the little Ryuuko up. Ryuuko coughed, rubbing his nose free of grass and looked up at him with wide red eyes.

"Hi Kazuki!" Ryuuko-boggart said, waving. Harry stared at the tiny Ryuuko and then burst out laughing, clutching his sides in amusement. The boggart vanished in a puff of smoke, but Harry was far too busy laughing to notice.

"That's rich! Oh, Ryuuko! I need to get myself a tiny Ryuuko for Shirogane. He'd love it to death!" Harry said, his eyes dancing with amusement. "Oh… dear…" He righted himself, taking deep breaths and then moving on, in a much cheerful mood than before.

He paused as he heard Fleur scream and then tapped his chin. She must have bumped into something nasty, then. Harry continued on, glancing down at the defeated Blast-Ended Skrewt, wondering who defeated it. Then he heard Krum's voice.

"Crucio!"

Harry instantly ducked, but the jet of light was aimed a few spaces in front of himself. Cedric screamed. Harry whipped out his wand.

"Expelliarmus!"

Krum's wand flew to Harry's hand, breaking the curse. Harry looked at Krum.

"Have you lost it? Do you want to go to Azkaban?!" Harry asked, crossing his arms. Krum bellowed in anger, launching himself at Harry. Harry jerked back, unsure about Krum's reaction before bringing his knee up and hitting Krum square in the chin. Krum crumpled.

Harry fingered Krum's wand before shooting red sparks in the air. Then he dropped the wand on an unconscious Krum and ran to Cedric.

"You alright?" Harry asked. Cedric shivered a little, but nodded.

"Yeah… he took me off guard… I didn't expect him to come and curse me like that," Cedric said slowly. "Thanks."

"I heard Fleur scream earlier. I wonder if that was also Krum," Harry said, thoughtful. He shrugged. "Take a breather, will you? I'll continue on."

He hummed as he moved on, leaving Cedric behind. He was in no rush though, so Cedric caught up with him quickly. Harry waved at him as Cedric passed him. Cedric shot him a smile.

However, Harry bumped into Cedric quite soon. Cedric was stuck on a riddle told by a sphinx. Harry waited and listened to the riddle several times and spoke.

"The middle to middle and the end to end is the letter 'D', Cedric," he said. Cedric looked at him in surprise and then started working on the last bit. Harry sighed a little and added, "If you put the first two parts together, you get 'spyd-'. So the last part must be '-er'. The correct answer is 'spider'."

Cedric shot him a grateful smile. The sphinx smiled and moved for them to pass.

"That's twice you've helped me out now," Cedric said, grinning. Harry raised an eyebrow at him before tackling him to the floor. A large, hairy Acromantula clicked its pincers threateningly at them.

"Three times," Harry corrected. Cedric snorted.

"Okay, three," Cedric agreed. "Dang… that thing is huge."

"We better work on it then," Harry said, flipping to his feet. "Go right. I'll get left." He paused, looking at the venom dripping off the pincers and added, "Oh, and don't get stabbed."

"You didn't have to tell me that one," Cedric said, jumping to avoid a hairy leg. Harry shot several experimental spells at it before the spider actually jerked back from one of them.

"Incendio!" Harry repeated. Cedric saw what he was doing and pointed his wand at the spider as well, shooting fire from his wand. The spider clicked its pincers and retreated, scurrying back.

Harry smiled at Cedric and then stepped into a clearing. The cup was sitting on a marble statue, proud and glowing. Cedric looked at him.

"Go on, take it," Cedric said. "You've saved my life three times after all."

"I never wanted the cup," Harry said, hesitantly. "Why don't we take it together? That way, it'll be fair and square. I mean, you helped me a lot through the year too."

Cedric paused and then nodded, beaming. Harry hummed, pocketing his wand.

"On three?" Cedric asked. "One… Two… Three!"

They both grabbed the cup.

The jerk at Harry's navel was completely unexpected. Harry almost dropped the cup in surprise, but managed to land on his feet before dropping the cup. Cedric fell flat on his face.

"Where are we?" Cedric asked, getting up, brushing himself off. "Anyone tell you the cup was a portkey? Is this part of the Task?" He looked at the old cemetery, taking deep breaths. "Better keep our wands out."

"I don't think this is part of the task," Harry said, looking around. His hand slid into his pocket and he pulled out a black and white hair tie, binding his hair up into a high ponytail. "Someone's coming."

"Kill the spare!"

"…Avada Kedavra!"

Harry jerked and kicked Cedric out of the way of the killing curse. It hit a tombstone behind him, shattering it. Cedric coughed from the blow and Harry grinned at him.

"Fourth," he said casually. Another jet of green light shot towards Cedric and Harry grabbed Cedric's hand, dropping it on the cup. Cedric's panicked face vanished with the cup, the killing curse missing him by milimeters.

"Fifth," Harry murmured, magical ropes wrapping around him and tying him to a tombstone. Harry gave an exasperated sigh, but the ropes tightened. He couldn't move.

"You're so useless, Wormtail."

"Forgive me, Master," Pettigrew simpered. Harry's eyebrow twitched.

"Hi, Pettigrew. Remember my promise? It still holds true, I hope you know that, don't you?" Harry said pleasantly, though there was a hint of venom in his words.

Pettigrew ignored him, preforming some sort of ritual with a deformed baby. Harry completely turned him out until Voldemort stepped out of the cauldron, looking not much different than his baby form. And he had no nose.

Harry eyed the bleeding cut, figuring it wasn't serious for him to warrant using his powers just yet. Pettigrew was on the floor, whimpering with pain. Harry felt a twinge of satisfaction in his pain.

Voldemort was robed by Pettigrew and used the Dark Mark on Pettigrew's arm to summon his Death Eaters. "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it? How many will be foolish enough to stay away?"

Harry thought it was a stupid, rhetorical question, but he didn't say so. Instead, he busied himself by staring at the moon. It was quite a lovely night. It would be even lovelier if he wasn't tied to a tombstone, but he supposed he couldn't get everything he wanted. In fact, he had completely zoned out Voldemort's explanation and only caught the end of it.

"And I sought revenge on my muggle father, Tom Riddle. I killed him," Voldemort said. Harry turned to him.

"Great. I would shake your hand except my hands are kind of tied to a tombstone. Er… Tom Riddle Sr's tombstone. Your father's tombstone. Lovely. My arms are starting to cramp."

Voldemort turned away from Harry as his Death Eaters arrived. Harry sighed deeply. He had several options now. He could free himself and reveal to Voldemort his advantage. Or he could wait in hopes that Diggory contacted Dumbledore. As he was pondering this, he listened for names Voldemort spoke.

Harry stiffened as the warmth returned, wrapping arms around him carefully. Harry wondered who it could be, although he wasn't sure if he was actively hallucinating it. He looked down, expecting to see someone's arms. Nothing was there.

"Now, Wormtail, free him and give him back his wand."

The arms vanished. Harry let out a small sigh of relief, but then watched as Pettigrew fumbled with the ropes and handed Harry back his wand. Harry gave Pettigrew a pleasant smile as he got up and flipped him over his shoulder.

Pettigrew landed on the tombstone hard, knocking the wind out of him in a rush. His new silver hand gleamed in the moonlight. Harry couldn't bring himself to care.

"I'll deal with you at a later date," he said pleasantly to Pettigrew. The man gave a soft whimper and a shiver. Harry turned away from him.

Voldemort was looking at him with something akin to a smirk. "I trust you've learned how to duel, Harry Potter."

"Sure," Harry said. "But he wasn't very good at teaching dueling considering everything else he did was a fraud, so I probably don't know the rules as well as I should."

Voldemort grinned. "First, we bow." His snake-like eyes followed Harry despite the bow. Harry repeated the motion, a pleasantly cheerful smile on his face, as if he had invited Voldemort to tea.

"Very good," Voldemort said, listening to the Death Eater's laughter. "And now, we duel."

Harry dodged the Crucio fired off by Voldemort. It hit Pettigrew instead, causing the man to squeal and the Death Eaters to laugh. Harry landed on a tombstone, tilting his head.

"Spells are useless if they do not hit their mark, Voldemort," Harry said pleasantly. Voldemort's face twisted in fury. Harry raised his wand.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"Expelliarmus!"

There was an explosion in the middle of their battlefield. An electric charge surged up Harry's arm and Harry gripped his wand harder, looking at the spell path. The spells had collided and created a gold string between them.

Harry blinked as a ghost erupted from Voldemort's wand. Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and then…

His vessel's parents.

His Factor pulsed suddenly. Harry took a deep breath to try to calm himself, but the Light overwhelmed him. It gathered on his hand and suddenly, there was a huge flash of light, engulfing the entire cemetery. Harry gripped his wand harder, fighting to keep hold of it, barely managing to.

A gloved hand wrapped around his hand holding his wand and Harry looked up. Ryuuko's kind ruby eyes looked down at him, a smile on the eternally young face.

"Let go, Harry," Ryuuko said gently. He sounded exactly as Harry remembered. Deep, kind, and warm… Harry stared at him, surprised Ryuuko knew his vessel's name.

"But… you're…" Harry said slowly, not understanding. The hand touching his felt very, very real. Ryuuko smiled.

"I will explain later. For now, I want you to go back to the castle," Ryuuko said touching Harry's face with his black gloves, stroking Harry's cheek. "Go back to the castle and I will come after. I will create a portal for you to take."

Harry bit his lip but then nodded. Ryuuko let Harry's hand go.

The connection broke when Harry let his wand go. The ghosts remained, circling Harry, protecting him and Ryuuko quickly summoned his scythe, tearing open a hole. Harry jumped into it, ignoring Voldemort's scream of rage. Ryuuko blocked a curse aimed at Harry with his scythe.

"I will be your opponent," Ryuuko declared. That was the last thing Harry heard before the portal was sealed behind him.

Harry landed on shaky feet, having to crouch to keep his balance of remaining upright. The crowd went silent and then erupted with cheers. Harry, still quite shaken from what had happened, looked around. Cedric Diggory fought through the crowd and ran to Harry, embracing him deeply.

"What happened over there?!" Cedric demanded.

"I'm… still trying to figure it out…" Harry said, his whole body shaking. Was it relief? Anticipation? Warmth? Or fear? "But one thing is clear… Pettigrew has resurrected Voldemort."

There was a silence. A very long one. Then Moody brushed to Harry's side, grabbing him and pulling him away from the screams and panic. Harry let himself be dragged away and was deposited into a chair in Moody's office. Moody poured something for Harry and pushed it in his hands. But Harry didn't drink.

"Drink up, boy, it'll help with the nerves," Moody said. But Harry didn't move. "The Dark Lord has returned then? You're sure?"

"Yes," Harry said faintly, his brain still trying to work around Ryuuko appearing in the graveyard.

"Then he summoned his followers… What did he take from you?" Moody asked.

"Mm… Blood… Weird ritual," Harry murmured. Ryuuko's presence was so… real. So real in fact… that his Factor sang to him. Harry reached for his core, but Moody's voice broke his concentration.

"And he has a body?"

Something shattered inside Harry. Harry stared at Moody before giving a weak laugh. "So it was you all along, huh? You've been pulling the strings behind this whole thing."

Moody let out a bark of laughter. Harry threw his cup at him, splashing the liquid all over him, his emerald eyes a little wild. Moody advanced on him, but the door was burst open once more. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape swooped in. There was a blast and Dumbledore stunned Moody.

Harry gave a hollow laugh, covering his face. "How diabolical. How treacherous." He closed his eyes, feeling for his core as the Professors interrogated the fallen professor, who wasn't a professor at all.

His Factor was there. The Light in his Factor was bright, so bright it almost drowned out the Darkness. Harry reached for it, feeling Ryuuko's warm presence inside the Light. He was alive. He was fighting, but alive. Harry didn't even question it at this point. He was happy that Ryuuko was alive.

Harry pulled out of his core, his emerald eyes wide and his lips forming a giddy smile. Snape saw the look on his face and said, "Hospital Wing."

Letting himself get dragged by Snape to the Hospital Wing didn't register fully in Harry's mind. At least, not until he felt Ryuuko's presence approach him. He stopped dead right in front of the main doors. Dumbledore stopped with him, but Snape tugged on Harry's unmoving shoulder.

"Come on, Potter," Snape said, frowning. "What's the matter with you?!"

The doors of the front entrance swung open slowly. A lone figure stepped in, black hair sweeping past the doors and his white cape brushing the marble floors. Harry pulled himself free from Snape's grip and launched himself at the figure.

"Ryuuko!"

Ryuuko caught Harry in mid leap, smiling down at him.

"I'm back, Kazuki."

-0-

Harry adamantly refused to enter the Hospital Wing unless Ryuuko was with him. That served Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey just fine, as Ryuuko was half carrying Harry through the castle.

Snape was gazing at Ryuuko suspiciously, but Ryuuko didn't speak to him until Harry was in bed and tucked in. Harry held Ryuuko's hand happily as he was patched up by Madam Pomfrey. It was then Dumbledore spoke.

"So you are… Ryuuko, correct? Harry's Father. The King of Light?" Dumbledore asked. Ryuuko smiled at him.

"That's right," he said pleasantly, conversationally, "I was killed years ago in the Shadow Palace."

"How are you here?" Harry asked, looking at Ryuuko with much love. "You died… I felt you go… And… your inshi…"

Ryuuko bent down and ruffled Harry's hair lightly. "Yes. But I placed a fail-safe inside you, Kazuki. When I made you, I poured a lot of myself into you. It is partially why you can use Light so easily." He leaned back in the chair. "The saturation of magic in this castle makes me visible to everyone here, as the amount of magic in the graveyard."

"If you are the true King of Light, why didn't you come out sooner? It's not the first time Potter's been in trouble, you know," Snape said, his eyes narrowed in accusation. Ryuuko didn't seem bothered by it.

"I tried, but I couldn't. Harry had not collected enough Light for me to fully materialize," Ryuuko said. "The first time I tried separating from you was in the Chamber of Secrets. You used Shirogane's sword and I wanted to pull you out of it." He looked down at Harry, his face serious. "But that ended up in a disaster. Since then, I tried to help you other ways."

"The balance…" Harry whispered. Ryuuko smiled.

"Was maintained by me to protect you. I knew Homurabi would find you at the rate the corruption was progressing. Homurabi also sealed Shadows in himself to attempt to contain them," Ryuuko said quietly. "If you continued to use your powers to balance that, then you would have been felt by Homurabi. I left that task to Shirogane and my successor. They have dealt with Homurabi accordingly."

"Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Ryuuko. Ryuuko turned to him, his ruby eyes warm, but the smile gone from his face.

"He ran," Ryuuko said calmly. "He realized he could not defeat me so he ran. I did not end up killing him, though I was tempted to. It would save Harry the effort." Ryuuko paused and sighed deeply. "I am actually still incomplete."

The door banged open as Harry squeezed Ryuuko's hand lightly, trying to reassure himself that Ryuuko was alive and there with him.

Fudge walked in. "Come now, Dumbledore. He can't be back. He just can't be." Fudge stopped dead as he spotted Ryuuko and Ryuuko turned his ruby eyes to him. Fudge stumbled back in shock.

"What is You-Know-Who doing here?!" Fudge asked, pointing to Ryuuko. Ryuuko raised an eyebrow at Dumbledore.

"Well… I certainly don't know who…" Ryuuko said slowly, looking befuddled.

"Those who are afraid to say Voldemort's real name refer to him as such," Dumbledore said. Ryuuko blinked and then looked at Fudge, who was taking a sigh of relief.

"See, he can't be back!" Fudge said. "The boy… Potter is obviously delusional. And Dumbledore, surely you don't believe his story?"

Dumbledore's eyes flashed. Ryuuko closed his eyes, remaining composed.

"I suggest you leave us," Ryuuko spoke, looking at Dumbledore. He nodded to Harry, who was fighting sleep at this point, comforted by Ryuuko's presence.

Dumbledore stood up and exited. A black dog padded in, sitting next to Harry's bed. Ryuuko looked down at the canine. Then he ran a gloved hand down Harry's face. Harry started to doze.

"He missed you, you know."

Ryuuko looked at Snape. Then he looked back at Harry.

"I know," he said softly. "I know very well how Kazuki feels for me." Ryuuko took a deep breath, sighing into the sterile hospital air. "I don't think he knew it possible for us to disappear like that. It must have been a great shock to him." He smiled a little. "Though I'm glad he's found allies here…"

Sirius stirred and looked up at Dumbledore when Dumbledore re-entered.

"I think you can transform back, Sirius," Dumbledore said kindly. The dog looked up at Ryuuko and then transformed back into his human self. Ryuuko didn't look surprised.

"We should prepare for war," Dumbledore said. "Ryuuko… what will you do?"

Ryuuko looked at Dumbledore and then Sirius' face. Then he looked back at Harry.

"It depends on what Kazuki will do," Ryuuko said. "But as I said, I am incomplete. The form I have taken is merely a form. My powers are very limited and will remain limited until Kazuki can harvest more Light. Hogwarts is assisting my presence right now. I will leave Kazuki's side in a couple days so Kazuki can preserve my essence and will return when I am needed again."

Snape seemed to accept this as an answer. He glanced at Dumbledore and Sirius before leaving, Dumbledore following him. Sirius hesitated, before leaving Harry and Ryuuko alone.

Harry shifted and melted into soft bubbles of light. Kazuki opened his eyes.

"Kazuki… I have a task for you." Ryuuko looked at Kazuki seriously. Kazuki turned to him, his sapphire eyes on Ryuuko's face.