The next morning, during their run, Viktor came jogging up beside them, "Good morning."

"Good morning Viktor, how did you sleep?"

"Marvellously. Our deputy arrived in the early hours, and informed us that Karkaroff has been fired. As soon as our Ministry heard who he had attacked, they denied his claims of immunity, that was while they knew you both still as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, so your Ministry has full control over him," the bright white teeth shone in the autumn dawn.

Penny was so happy she bleated and blushed furiously, "Freaking goat."

The group chuckled, "It's who you are Penny; don't wish for anything other than that."

"Yeah, you try and explain to people your fascination with tin cans," the half-goat grumbled as they jogged around the water.

After a half dozen, a winded Krum pulled what little self-respect he had and slowly returned to the ship, Penny giving up a few before him. When the demigods went through their forms, moving like water and air, they didn't bother hiding their weapons as they did so, with the news out, it felt good to hide their true selves, which they realised after waking that morning, no sense of foreboding at people learning what they were.

Bidding Penny farewell, the couple ran up, hand in hand, to Minerva's office, smiling politely at the gargoyle that stepped out of the way without a password. Walking into the office, they spotted their former head of house, current boss, and friend sitting at her desk, "Take a seat."

"Ma'am…" the teens tried only to be politely cut off.

"I need to speak first then you can both respond. For over 3 years now, I have watched you both grow from confident children to the assistant professors I see before me. That Halloween night, I was torn about leaving you there Ha-Alexander; I knew those people were awful but allowed Albus to overrule my common sense. Then you arrive here and you've got a best friend in Hermione, another father in Severus, and are nothing as I feared you would be; I was overjoyed at that," Minerva sighed and looked much older than she was, "I understand why you felt you couldn't tell me about your true selves but it is still a hurting sensation to know that you didn't feel you could trust me to keep your secret safe."

"Minerva, we only told those who already knew in some way. Severus rescued us, so he knew before we even did; Luna is the daughter of a Celtic demigod and could sense it about us but even then we only informed her after she was booted from Ravenclaw. Fleur knew from her mother, who was contacted by a Slavic goddess to be on the lookout for us; Firenze told us about who we were so there was no hiding it from him. We told Bogrod after he sense our weapons, and then when we became members of the goblin family, they all knew; just as Dobby knew when he bonded with us. Amelia was told after Dumbledore attempted to blackmail us and we owed it to her for keeping it safe without even knowing, and Sirius and Remus deserved to know that I wasn't truly a Potter."

Hermione softly added in, "My parents, the Grangers, don't even know. We've been hiding it for that long ma'am that it became second nature. We always intended on telling everyone, but after our fathers had met us; see, they can't find us, no gods can until we introduce ourselves, make ourselves known. Minister Delacour was able to as she isn't a real god, but some nereids that we met in Greece were swimming only a few yards beneath us and got the fright of their lives when we called out to them."

The stern woman's face softened, "I'm sorry that you were outed, as it were, before time."

"No Minerva, it was probably always meant to occur like this, the Fates have been hiding this next year very well from the stars, I've only been able to see that we will make it through alive, but other than that…" the brunette sighed, "I feel very blind without their assistance."

"Then you're like the rest of us Hermione," McGonagall joked before growing serious once more, "Alexander, this tournament…"

The wizard held up a hand, "You are bound by rules Minerva, but we have friends who are not, and will go to them for assistance."

That calmed the woman, who had been worried about her favourite students and employees, "You'd best be off, no need to be late for breakfast."

Leaving the office, Hermione said, "You're going to Bogrod as soon as classes start?"

"Hell yeah. We're sharing the information with the others right?"

"Of course, there's no point in you knowing if the other three don't, it's an unfair advantage. And as you didn't want to be entered into the tournament anyway, it seems only right that we share all information with our friends."

The couple rushed off, grabbing a few pieces of fruit from the Slytherin table before going to shower before they head in different directions. Hermione to a potions lesson and Alex went outside of the Hogwarts' bounds, apparating to the apparition zone of Diagon Alley. The wizard was grateful that Luna had asked before sending the story off, knowing that it would mean at least one day of peace for him and his love.

As he walked into Gringotts, he nodded to the guards and all of the goblins he passed by, but couldn't see Bogrod, so walked back to his office, smirking as he heard one of the purebloods complain, "Why does he get to go back there?"

Shaking his head at the man's stupidity, Alex knocked on his friend and brother's door, opening it at the order, "You up for a visit brother?"

"From you, it will be a thankful respite," the pair embraced as the brothers they were, "What has brought you here this dreary morning?"

"Ah, well that would be my true name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, after of course Minerva had already said most of my other name. Mia and I then sat in front of the entire school and explained everything," the green eyes burned softly with humour, "I'd like to take you up on that offer you placed earlier in the year."

Smiling, Bogrod passed over an official looking document, "The 'itinerary' of the tournament."

Looking over, the wizard's stomach both leapt for joy and clenched in fear, "Do I want to know how you got this?"

"We tracked down Bagman and I knew he was one of the spearheads for bringing the tournament back, so made him an offer he couldn't refuse. For 1000 galleons off of what he owes us, he gave me that," seeing the worry, the goblin calmed his fears, "I've made more than that in the past month just looking over your accounts, it was not a problem, and it was also approved by Chief Ragnok."

"The people who put this together, they are aware that we're simply teenagers, right?"

"But where would the challenge be if you were to not risk your life completely?"

The teen shot his brother a look, before pocketing the parchment, "How has life been otherwise?"

3 hours later Alex left Gringotts and his stomach returned to tightening, this wasn't going to be good once Hermione found out, let alone Penny and Severus. With lunch starting soon, the demigods hastily apparated back and went into the large castle, straight to the Great Hall. Stopping at Slytherin, he collected Viktor, then Cedric from Hufflepuff and finally Hermione and Fleur from Gryffindor. Shooting their friends reassuring smiles, the wizard led the group to the demigods' classroom, "Take a seat."

"What did you find out Alex?"

"Oh, it's bad," quickly copying the manifesto 3 times, he handed all 4 out, "Dragons, underwater adventures, then to top it all off, a maze full of problems."

"What type of problems?" Cedric asked, not at that point yet, his eyes still stuck on the dragon part.

Fleur saw and groaned, "Bad for us, worse for those who are demigods. A sphinx? Why, why would they think putting that in there would be a safe thing for teenagers? Damned thing's a monster in waiting; only give demigods a fraction of a riddle and even less time to answer before attacking. Thankfully they don't actively track them down, so Hermione should be fine in the stands. So Alex, you need to the hell away from that, but at least the dragon shouldn't be a problem."

The two demigods looked at their friend as though she was insane, "You must be kidding, a bloody dragon?"

Rolling her eyes at the dramatics, the Veela crossed her legs and spoke in a textbook style, "As the son of Ares, you are capable of speaking to all serpents, and you've already spoken to a dragon if you have forgotten about the one you told me about. And as the son of Zeus, which the beast will recognise the moment she senses you, you'll be lucky if you even have a fight. Majorly unfair but we've all got our own advantages that we'll be using."

"Damn man; want to trade just for the task?" Cedric joked, "Dragons, beautiful. Think they'll be getting them from the bank?"

"Nope, with a Weasley in power, only one spot they'll go," Hermione stated with a grin, "We've got to make sure Hagrid joins them in bringing the dragons, get ourselves a forward glance at what your opponents will be."

The Hufflepuff joined the other two Hogwarts student in smiling, then explained to the unknowing two who Hagrid was. When they left, their camaraderie tighter, their friendship closer, and fears somewhat subdued as they now had the formation of plans in their minds.