Not again
"HARRY POTTER!" a voice shouted. Harry groaned as he picked himself up from his plate. Wait a second. His plate? He looked up, confused, then it hit him. Automatically he walked to the door Dumbledore was pointing at, not realizing what had happened. As he crossed the doorstep, he recognized both Fleur and Victor, however, both of them seemed younger.
"Alors, you are the 'ogwarts Champion?" Fleur asked. Her accent was stronger than Harry remembered. ~We're back at the Triwizard Tournament!~ Ginny's thought shot through his mind. This shook Harry out of his stupor. ~If it is, where is Cedric?~
"ERIK WINSTON!" Dumblesdores voice shouted. ~YOU are the Hogwarts Champion. Erik seems to have come with us. Maybe he has an idea.~ Ginny explained from what she observed.
The door opened and Erik entered, closely followed by the professors. "How did you enter yourself, Harry?" Dumbledore asked him immediately. "I don't know, Sir." Potter answered truthfully. He might have known in his world but if his conclusions were correct here he didn't know it correctly.
"Nonsense! Of course he entered himself." Karkaroff sneered.
"Out for more fame, Potter?" Snape spatted.
Catherine appeared in the door frame. "Professor, about your age line: Which age does it refer to? Chronological, biological or mental?"
"What iz the difference?" Madame Maxime asked. Erik sighed. "Take me for example. I was born 1995, so chronologically, I am 61. However, I spent 20 years of my live in a cyrostasis, so mentally, I am 41. From the same lab I got a genetic-manipulated immune system which makes the times my cells can duplicate unlimited and increases the duplication rate. Biologically, I am 26."
Dumbledore thought a little bit about it. "I used the chronological age and the strength of their magic" Erik nodded. "My medics checked the biological age, so we can rule Mr Potter's personal involvement out." "Nothing personal, but you, Mr Potter, need to increase of food you eat. You are very thin and could be easily mistake for a younger student." Catherine added.
"He might have given his name to another student." Snape suggested. Harry thought a second. What Erik said was still in his mind. Yes, his body was the one of his fourteen-year-old self. However, he had still his mind from before, so his mental age was seventeen. ~We have to meet them in the Room of Requirement.~ he sent to Ginny.
Erik walked down the corridor, his head trying to figure out what had happened. Catherine walked beside him. Her normal stride matched his faster pace. Getting to the tapestry, they paced three times until the door appeared. Entering the room, they made themselves comfortable in the second loveseat, the first being occupied by the Potters. Erik laid his rifle down onto the table. They simply stared off, thinking about it. Erik leaned back and got the room to give him a large board to write on.
"So, what DO we know?" he asked into the group. "We know that Harry is the only Hogwarts Champion." Ginny chirped.
"We know that the Goblet has been confunded to accept Harry as a Champion for a fourth school." Catherine added.
"The age restriction applies to the mental age, but the age line only to the chronological one." Harry said. Erik drew everything down onto the board. He stepped back and looked at it. There was something odd, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "We need more information. Much more."
They kept observing the school. It seemed strange that neither Harry nor Ginny put much effort into their school work, but still, they had the best results. Harry noticed Hermione's suspicious looks at him when he transfigured a table into a sword without even looking at it. He had at least to pay attention to say the incantation although he didn't care about the correct pronunciation. As far has he could tell, everything was exactly the same as in his own world. The map pointed Moody out as Crouch junior and Catherine had sent her two friends to keep an eye for Crouch senior. Overall, the CAT8 was their best source of information, as her terms of teleportation were more secretive than Ginny's. Also, she could disappear with no one wondering about her whereabouts.
Harry and Erik agreed to play the tournament safely. They needed to talk to the other champions and get them to work together.
Catherine kept an eye on Moody. They had two options: Exposing him and thus, making their knowledge useless, or letting him do and kill Voldemort. She shook her head as she laughed mentally. This whole thing was like what could have been. She passed Fleur on her way. The veela stared at her like she was afraid. Like a mouse confronted by a snake. The vampiress stared into the French's eyes for a second before continuing her way. The soldiers of the 13th saluted politely as she crossed them on their patrols. Walking up the stairs, she entered the inner courtyard. Malfoy was having a field day with Skeeter's report and provoked the Weasleys. Erik was leaning against the wall nearby. She caught one of his thoughts and put up her most strict face and moved behind Malfoy completely silent until there was nearly no room between them. Malfoy didn't notice her as he pulled his wand on Ginny's back. Harry, however, saw the motion, and through the bond, so did Ginny. The girl fired a disarming spell over her shoulder, throwing him against Catherine who didn't budge and simply stared at the boy. "Is there a Problem, Mr Malfoy?" She asked in a sweet but threatening voice. Malfoy skidded on his behind. "Sh... She attacked me!" Catherine took a deliberate step and slowly crushed the Slytherin's wand under her heel. "And it was completely justified."
At this moment Malfoy spotted his crushed wand. "MY WAND! YOU WILL REGRET THIS! MY FATHER..." He couldn't continue. Through their bond Catherine could see Erik delaying McGonagall, so she had to finish this quick. She held the boy up. Letting her fangs drop, she whispered near his ear: "Try me, and you will experience first-hand why I am literally called the Angel of Death. Your father doesn't scare me. He is a bug that tries to annoy me before I crush it. I can kill you when I want, where I want and no one would be any wiser. Money? You are looking at the richest person in the world. Serving a dark lord? I had them for lunch in the last five decades."
She tightened her grip until the boy yelped. "Painful already? I am only holding you with two fingers. Now run. Be wise in which side you choose." She released him and Malfoy was gone in a second. McGonagall dispersed the group of students that had formed. As they scattered, rumors began to circle around them. Catherine could feel Erik's grin under his helmet as she approached him. He laid an arm around her waist and they began to walk up to their room. "Did I ever mentioned how lucky I feel not to be subjected to your bad side?" She pulled his helmet off and placed a kiss on his lips. "No, but that's sweet. Also prevents you from dumping me." She grinned and walked ahead of him into her room, swaying her hips while she crossed the threshold. Erik tore his eyes off her behind and hurried to get next to her.
"Are you implying something specific?" he asked aloud. The vampiress gave him a fanged smile. ~Maybe.~ Erik pulled the door closed behind them and locked it. He yelped as she threw him over her head onto the bed before jumping onto him. "Now shut up and make love to me." she licked his neck.
It was strange to sleep in separate beds again. However, each evening after they've made sure that everyone was asleep Ginny would teleport into Harry's bed and then take him to the corridor in front of the Room of Requirement. Wishing for a room to be completely undisturbed, even not by Mad-eye's eye, they settled into a queen sized bed. With their original sizes they had preferred a king-sized bed, however with their teenager bodies the smaller bed was sufficient. Both were happy to get out, as they both had been pestered by Hermione and Ron about how Harry entered the tournament. As far as they knew this was the same universe as the replay of their first year was. Ginny was rather annoyed to find out that she lived with the fourth years and that her vampire nature was not as secret as she thought. However, the bright side was that the students thought of her as a "regular" vampire, who could only stay in the sun due to several spells and wards around the school. She looked at her husband. They had gotten visibly closer, but hadn't shared any kisses yet, not publicly. Their bodies had just entered puberty and the had rather simple urges to satisfy.
The next morning Erik had a lie in. He wasn't required until the weighting of the wands, which was unnecessary in his case. But a statement had to be placed. The time ticked past and finally it was time for it. Erik packed his regular combat equipment: Armor, with leg holsters for his handguns, and three magazine for his carbine on the chest plate. Last he loaded his main weapon and hung it onto him. Catherine checked his helmet and placed it on his head. "Good to go, my little one." She hugged him before letting him go.
Ollivander was already waiting for them. He checked Victor's wand first, transfigured several glasses. The experienced wandmaker was surprised at Fleur's veela hair core, but conjured a bouquet of roses nevertheless. He used Harry's holly-phoenix wand to pour water into the glasses before taking a sip. Erik simply stood in the far corner. "Mr Winston? Any demonstration?" Miss Skeeter asked. Without even looking the soldier pulled his hand gun and fired a shot at the glasses. It punched right through, leaving exact holes where the water poured onto the table. Flipping the safety back on, he spun the gun around his index finger like a movie cowboy before holstering the weapon. "You will see what I and my unit can do during the finals." That effectively shut the tabloid reporter up.
The same evening, the small group of four met in the Room of Requirement again. Erik looked at the sheet of paper where he had written down the latest Intel when Catherine pulled him into her embrace. "Any idea yet?" The question was more to get the Potters' attention, as she knew exactly what Erik was thinking about. "I think I solved it." He turned towards Harry and Ginny. "As you know, Crouch placed two charms on the goblet: The first was to make sure Harry's name came out, but to do so with three champions for each school, he had to add a fourth group. However, the age restriction on the goblet measures the mental age. So, the goblet..." "Chose me as the rightful Champion for Hogwarts." Harry finished the line of thought. Ginny caught on. "So the Goblet had a problem as it didn't have names from a fourth school."
"And the Cobras were the only other group large enough in numbers, so they were mistaken for one." Catherine continued. "And Erik is the most capable of them." The Category 8 looked at her husband. "Stay safe."
"Haven't I always?" he retorted.
"I mean no injuries."
Erik snorted. "That's like telling you stop being a vampire. I'm a soldier. One of the elites. It's in my nature to get into danger, and then eliminate it."
Catherine left the two to their preparations while she observed Dumbledore. They knew that he was pure evil again. He actually dared to discourage Harry from his relationship to Ginny, believing that their wouldn't get past a first date. The whole school didn't support Harry, as the Slytherins really wore the different badges to dishonor him again. Skeeter tried to come up with a dirty story, but this time he was prepared and gave the Lovegoods an interview.
The first task approached and he didn't take Hagrid's advice to meet him at the forest. Instead, he spent quality time with Ginny in their own private dorm. Their interactions didn't get past snogging and cuddling together.
Finally, it was the day of the first task. The Champions waited in the tent. Each was preparing in their own way: Victor was doing push-ups. Fleur was checking her clothes and Erik loaded his weapons. Harry sat down, meditating. He heard the crowd shouting and rooting for the Champions. He watched through Ginny's eyes as Victor transfigured a dog and stunned the dragon, which again crushed half of its eggs while stomping in pain. Fleur actually used a combination of her veela charm and a translation spell to enchant the dragon. He giggled when the reptile snored and breathed fire onto the girl. Then it was his turn. Standing in front of the dragon, he thought about his options. The Swedish Short Snout was less vicious than the Hungarian Horntail. It snarled. Harry could actually understand it. #STAY AWAY!# it shouted. Harry held up his hands. #I don't want to hurt you.# The dragon looked at him, loosening up its threatening posture. #Then what do you want?# Harry pointed at the golden egg #The egg. It's fake and it's my task to get it.# The Swedish dragon looked down, noticing the anomaly in its nest. #Not again.# it growled. A small flame washed over the eggs. #I was already here fifty years ago. The same thing. A speaker just like you. But he hurt me. He tried to steal the egg without explaining. It was like he thought himself better than me.#
Harry's eyes widened. #Was he called Tom Riddle?# The dragon blinked. #How his name was I don't know. He claimed to be the heir of Slytherin and thus I should have served him. I still recognize his foul aura. The wound of your head actually emits this aura. That's why I was so angry at the first place. I thought he came back to hurt me again.#
~Harry, the people get restless. They think that you are going dark again.~ Ginny projected into his mind. Harry nodded.
#Thank you. Would you mind if I get the fake egg?# The dragon lifted its wings and allowed Harry to get it. As he turned, the large head nudged him and he gave it a pat onto its snout. Leaving a gasping crowd, behind he left the arena.
Erik waited behind the curtains. "Totally diplomatic. I hope mine is as talkative as well." His hopes weren't fulfilled. As soon as the soldier entered the arena, he had to dive for cover as flames engulfed the position he was in seconds ago. "Damn it! I don't remember them that aggressive." he shouted to no one in particular. Catherine, however, heard him, even over the roar the Horntail gave. She had talked to Lauren, who in turn dated Charlie Weasley, who again was a dragon handler. Horntails were very protective however they were also the most arrogant species. It wouldn't consider Erik a threat unless he got too close. However, it didn't start with the usual threats, but attacked directly. ~Something's off.~ ~Thank you, Captain Obvious!~ the sarcastic answer came back. ~Don't get cocky. Pay attention to it.~
The Lieutenant looked over his rock, but hid behind it again. His armor held off most of the heat but it couldn't withstand the fire directly for a long time. He reached down to grab two grenades. Time to do this old school. He pulled the pin on the first and dropped it to his feet.
Ginny gasped as she saw the soldier simply drop the first grenade. But instead of the anticipated explosion, smoke began to stream out of the canister. Soon the entire half Erik was in was filled out with the thick mist. Another small canister flew out of it and suddenly a bright flash filled the area.
The dragon roared and breathed fire. It hit the shields and the students watched the flames washing over the blue shimmering shield above their heads. When the dragon stopped burning the arena, it was empty. Erik was gone...
And so was the golden egg. Loud discussion began to rise. Even the judges were unsure how to proceed. With her sharp eyes Ginny was the first to spot what had happened. "Look!" she pointed up at the judges. The golden egg was hovering just in front of them. A blue shimmer appeared right next to it. The area got out of focus, as the shimmer got more intense before refocusing, to reveal the armored soldier. "Task finished." He said.