"You know, for someone as competitive as you, you are awfully comfortable staying away from the limelight." Daphne commented pointedly from his side. Harry just guffawed and answered, "Come on Greengrass. I am just happy that this time there will be a normal year in which I can-"

He never completed his statement as he witnessed a jet of crimson flames emit out another paper to Dumbledore's hand, who caught it almost automatically.

"Harry Potter."

Fuck!


Harry stared blankly at the goblet of fire before Daphne shook him physically, bringing him back to his senses. "Language!" she hissed, making him realize that he had sworn profanely in public, very loudly too. The entire hall stood dumb and silent, half of them still processing what had just happened, while the other half, staring at him with bitter expressions.

Not again...

His eyes darted towards the Gryffindor table. Almost everyone except Neville looked at him with disdain. Ron Weasley was outright glaring at him, with Granger casting disapproving glances at him now and then. Angelina was outright angry, disappointed that a junior had stolen the limelight away from her. The Hufflepuffs were silent too, with some of them shooting angry looks at him. Half of the Slytherin table was silent, almost in contemplation; even Tracy Davis sat gaping at the unexpected incident.

"HARRY?" Dumbledore called out once again. "Please join the rest in the antechamber."

Harry stood up, his face devoid of all expressions. He walked through the throngs of the students who stared at him. He reached the end of the corridor and entered the antechamber. Fleur, Cedric and Krum were standing there, perhaps engaged in small talk.

How could this have happened? I personally killed Crouch Junior. Moody is not an imposter. Then...how?

The bizarre situation made no heads or tails at all. Then again, it was Halloween. The 'let's fuck with Harry Potter's life' day. His mind went blank, as he walked silently, trying to figure out what might have happened this time.

Crouch Junior is dead. Moody was not captured. Voldemort had Peter Pettigrew and Junior with him on the third task. No one else knew about it. Right?

"Harry?" Fleur asked curiously. "Do they want us back in the great Hall?"

No reply.

"Harry?" She tried again. "Is something wrong?"

"Extraordinary!" came the rather modulated voice of Ludo Bagman from the entrance of the antechamber. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen...lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three. "May I introduce — incredible though it may seem — the fourth Triwizard champion?"

Viktor Krum straightened up. His surly face darkened as he surveyed Harry. Cedric looked nonplussed. He looked from Bagman to Harry, back to Bagman as though sure he must have misheard what Bagman had said. Fleur, however, tossed her hair, smiling, and said, "Oh, very funny joke, Mister Bagman."

"Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

Krum's thick eyebrows contracted slightly. Cedric was still looking politely bewildered. Fleur frowned. "That is not possible Mr. Bagman! He is too young!" Harry glanced at Fleur for a moment but Fleur avoided his eyes, as she continued, "Besides, this tournament is for adults!"

Then it began. The other professors entered the antechamber as the voices rose, with Dumbledore asking him repeatedly if he did enter his name in the Goblet. That had resulted in another heated conversation between Karkaroff and Moody, further fueled by the addition of Crouch's derogatory remarks and of course, Bagman's habit of putting his foot in his mouth. In moments, the group of administrators were quarreling around like a bunch of teenagers.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone turned towards the source of the disturbance. A very angry Harry Potter looked at them, his dark green aura flaring dangerously as he looked at them in a cold and calculated manner. Then, his bright eyes turned to face one single person, as he spoke in a deep and menacing voice.

"I am going to ask this once. Karkaroff, did you enter my name into the Goblet?"

Silence.

Igor Karkaroff widened his eyes, before the realization hit him. Anger subduing his senses, he bawled out furiously. "You filthy bastard, this is the way you talk to your superiors? Dumbledore, is this what you teach in your-"

"Did you or did you not?" Harry's cold voice intervened his furious diatribe, followed by his quick drawing of his wand that was now placed pin pointed at him. A small ball of purple energy could be seen floating at the tip, flaring angrily. The intent to kill flooded the chamber, making everyone suck his or her breaths.

"Harry! My boy!" Dumbledore tried, but Harry beat him to it. "Do not intervene, Dumbledore. Last chance Death eater, did you or did you not?"

Karkaroff was about to chastise him furiously, but something about the boy made him feel small, very small, almost insignificant compared to his power. "No. I did not."

Harry turned to Dumbledore. "Professor, do not take this otherwise. Did you enter my name into the Goblet?" For some reason, Dumbledore did not chastise him at all. "No Harry, I did not."

"Very well."

I assume you did not enter your name in the Goblet?" Dumbledore confirmed, in return of which, Harry shook his head in denial. "We will find out who is behind this." Dumbledore promised.

"I have no wish to participate in this tomfoolery of yours." Harry stated loudly.

Cedric and Krum stood silent. For some reason, Fleur had an annoyed expression on her face. Before Harry could wonder what it was, Crouch raged at him. "How dare you insult the Ministry like that, boy? I will have your hide for that!"

"Oh, just like you put your own boy under the Imperius?" Harry taunted with a cruel smirk on his face. Crouch paled for a moment before stuttering, as Harry continued, "You let my Godfather Sirius Black rot in Azkaban for thirteen years without a trial. Yet, you stole your death-eater son out of Azkaban, not to mention put him under Imperius for years. Shame! Crouch, real shame!"

Ignoring the stuttering of a red-faced Bartemius Crouch, Dumbledore walked up to him. "How did you know all of that, Harry?"

"I read Headmasters. Sometimes it is newspapers, sometimes letters." Dumbledore did not comment after that.

Fleur looked inscrutably at Harry. For the better part of the year, she had toiled night and day for a chance to be selected as Triwizard Champion. She had toiled for years, practicing and honing her skills for a chance like this. Now that she had, there was one more participant, one whom she regarded a good acquaintance, who was now stating that the Triwizard was some kind of tomfoolery?

A thought floated into her mind.

He is Harry Potter after all. He has been famous before he knew how to walk. What will he know about striving for glory? And here I was thinking that there is someone who could...

Understand me like an equal.

Fleur's face shifted from her frown into a mask of haughty indifference. She was Fleur Delacour, and she was here to win the Triwizard, no matter what some little boy thought about it.

There is no one like me.

Tossing her hair arrogantly, she skipped off from the antechamber; leaving a perplexed Harry Potter behind.


"Potter."

Harry looked up at the doorway. He had been casting powerful spells at the dummies for forty minutes straight, without stop. Even the Room was slowly getting heated, trying to absorb all that power he was randomly pouring all over the place. Daphne slowly strode towards him, until she had finally reached him.

"What did they say?"

"Nothing as always. Half of them have trouble believing that I am innocent, anyway. The students keep staring at me as if I am some kind of serial killer."

I won't even be able to deny it if they did.

Daphne just stared at him, her expression soft and slightly concerned. Harry looked up oddly at her. "You are not going to ask if I did it?"

Daphne shrugged. "If you did, you wouldn't have denied it. You are too much of a Gryffindor for that!" she smirked. Harry looked at her with amusement. How much had changed! A month ago, he had no troubles scaring the crap out of her, and now here she was, bartering insults and taunts like an equal. Harry liked it, enjoyed it even. Despite Fleur's odd reaction, he was happy to have Greengrass in his life this time.

"Is it? Want to play with this Gryffindor for some time?" He grinned, raising his wand. Daphne grinned back, "I thought you would never ask, Lord Slytherin."


After an hour of ferocious dueling with Greengrass, Harry had descended down to the Chamber of Secrets for some contemplating on the recent events. Ever since he had come to school for the fourth-year, he had usually lived and slept in the Chamber of Secrets most of the time. Not that he had any problems sleeping in the Gryffindor dorms, but somehow the Chamber felt more private to his mind. The fact that he had lived nearly four years of his life in the Chamber, studying and honing his technique mattered. He was vividly familiar with the Chamber, its secret passages, its library and of course, the hidden Vault. Old Salazar Slytherin had hidden a majority of his assets right here in the Chamber, along with a copy of his entire family library. The Chamber also consisted of a large dungeon, which Harry used for dueling practice, and of course, the main hall was quite spacious to live. A conjured bed with a few necessities, and one could safely live there for years. He would know that, after all he had lived there for years.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he called for his dedicated House-elf, who arrived with a rather audible pop. Being Lord Slytherin, the wards were tuned to him, and thus, granted his elf safe passage without any issues.

"What does Master Harry Potter wants?"

"Bring me a bottle of our finest firewhiskey, Dobby." The excited elf quickly popped away and returned with a rather large bottle of Odgen's Finest. Swallowing a couple of gulps, he banged the bottle on the table, the unbreakable charm on the bottle preventing it from smashing, as he palmed his face, contemplating the events.

What went wrong? Why did Fleur become so haughty suddenly? She was all-good till the feast. What changed after that?

It was true that he had not tried to force any interaction with her. He did not want to be taken as a stalker. Besides, even in his original timeline, she was quite haughty until the end of the first task. Could it be that the same events would work again?

What did I do wrong?

A whisper floated into his ears, sounding eerily like Hermione Granger...

Bad things happen to wizards who mess with time, Harry...

Time... he had messed with Time; despite how much Theo had tried to convince him out of it.

FLASHBACK

"Shut it Harry, this is madness! You cannot just go ahead with it."

"Do you have a better idea? Look at where we stand, this is the precipice." Harry snarled, the cut across his right cheek glistening with the blood trickling down from his forehead. Theo looked away, unable to face his friend. A few years ago, he would have laughed at the idea of being a brother in all but blood to Harry Potter. Now though...

"Even if this... rendezvous of yours should succeed... you know what is at stake. The dark Lord-"

"Theo!" Harry snapped almost automatically.

"Yes, Voldemort! Sheesh! Voldy will return. You of all people should know how dangerous a bet it is. It took us everything to defeat the wanker."

"That bastard has taken more than that, Theo. I very well know what I am doing. However, this world... it is at an end. Our back has touched the wall. They have pushed us one too many times."

"And you are trying to convince me to deal with the devil, only in hopes of pushing back!" Theo snapped. "And I don't bloody well believe it, but I am almost letting you convince me. Bloody contagious Gryffindorish mentality." He muttered something incoherent, but Harry could not make heads or tails out of that. With a sigh, he looked up at the emerald-green eyes of his brother in all but blood, and asked.

"What's the plan?"

Harry grinned from ear to ear.


"So let me get this straight. You want to try out Gabby's ridiculous theory and kill yourself in hope that the ritual will take your spirit all the way back into the past in 1991. There you would fuse with your younger self, and then finish off Voldy for once and for all, not to mention killing all the bastards at the same time. Very nice plan, just one question."

Theo paused for a breath.

"How the FUCK do you know if the ritual will actually work? Damn it Potter, you had a horcrux in your scar back then. What if that complicates matters? What if this time travel raises newer problems? What if-"

"All right Theo, you win. Plan cancelled. Tell me, do you have any idea how we can get the wizarding world and all our friends back from the dead? Shit, most of our inner circle is dead. Only me and you, no one else. The Inferno has won. We lost. Face it." Harry sneered, the bitter expression of helplessness marring his still handsome face.

Theo stopped silent. "But Potter, what if you die and all of it goes down for vain?"

"If we do not take this road, we will not live anyway. The Inferno will find us soon and we will both die; this I can guarantee you."

"So what does this plan of yours entail? Have you figured out the details of your travel?"

"Not mine, Theo. Ours. We will travel together. You, and me brothers watching each other's back. Just like now." Harry countered as Theo watched him agape. "We return to our bodies. We prepare right from then. We get our friends back. We save Astoria, Susan and..." his eyes watered, "—and Fleur. We defeat the dark wanker and everything will be all right."

Theo looked at him strangely for a moment before asking him something that was disturbing him for a while. "But Harry, what if it turns out to be worse than what it is? What if, we manage to just screw it thrice over in hopes of saving it?"

"We won't know unless we tried. Come on, Nott. Don't be a spoilsport now." Harry almost whined, almost at the point of desperation.

"Fine." Theo commented after a moment. "Let's give the bastards hell."


Two days later...

"The runes are ready, everything looks fine. Enough magical energy to transport two souls. I will cast the spell first, and then cast the killing curse on me. If all goes right, the runes should glow green. If not, it will glow blue." Harry explained.

"Choosing your own color even in Death, how modest!" Theo mocked at his chagrin. "You sure you have accounted for everything?" Harry raised an eyebrow, and remarked in a falsely cold voice, "You do know that dark lord Potter doesn't do well with witty comments."

"Keep your dark lord act for your enemies, Potter. Spare me." Theo mocked, much to Harry's chagrin. "Now is everything ready?"

"Yes." Harry mock-sighed. "All we need is-"

A mammoth wave. Heat. Light. Blinding Light. The thundering noise nearly deafened him.

"Harry!"

"Harry! Wake up, damn it!"

"HARRY!"

Harry opened his eyes. Theo was trying to wake him up. "Wake up."

"Wha-"

"No time Potter. Inferno has attacked. We are surrounded. I cannot hold them for long. Get those runes ready." His words seemed to bring Harry back to alert.

"Right!" he stood up and ran towards the runes, uttering obscure incantations, reading the runic schema ready for the ritual.

Just a bit more- he thought, as he focused his energies down into the runic circle. The runes were glowing and nearly ready.

Just one more... one minute.

"How long?" Theo yelled, his shield beginning to buckle up as he put his entire strength behind them.

"Almost done. Just one minute." Harry yelled back. Theo seemed to calculate something. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Give them hell."

"Wha-" The words remained inside his chest as he saw Theo do the unbelievable. Theodore Nott dropped his shields as a magical projectile bomb flew towards him. He somehow held it from falling on them and apparated away, carrying the projectile bomb with him. Harry watched with absolute shock as Theodore Nott apparated right into the center of the reinforcements of Inferno Corporation, and waved his wand towards the heavens.

"COLLOPORTUS TRIMENDIUM!"

The triple-locking charm. One of the most powerful locking charms that functioned as a perfect shield against energy detonations. His charm covered the entire Inferno contingent as the spell took effect, sealing the entire contingent along with himself under it. Their eyes locked once before the projectile bomb detonated.

BOOM!

A wave of light expanded and radiated outward, trying to break out of the spell but it was a testament to Theo's spellcasting that it still held, enough to completely decimate the entire contingent inside the spell lock. Harry watched aghast as his last friend and brother sacrificed himself for him. His insides burned with hate. With anger. With vengeance.

The runes glowed and emitted a gray mist.

It is ready.

He stood in the centre of the circle, the runes activating as he did, and held his faithful wand at his temple. He had enough self-loathing to do it. The curse just shot out almost on its own. Green light inundated his world and he knew no more.

END OF FLASHBACK


Tears flushed out of his eyes as he reminisced the death of his brother in all but blood. Theo, he had been the last of many. Gabrielle, Neville, Justin, Draco, Susan... so many had sacrificed their lives, just because of that blasted Granger and Karkaroff. Not to mention Weasley, who had betrayed him at his worst.

I will kill them all. I will make them suffer their worst nightmare. I will reduce them to the vermin that they are. I will make them beg me for death. Then...then I will give them my permission to die.

It hurt. It hurt a lot, hurt because he knew deep in his heart. He knew the truth. He had betrayed them all. Theo had sacrificed his life for him, in hopes that he would set everything right. However, Harry had not been completely honest with his brother.

He had wanted to come back for his dream. His dream of saving Fleur. Getting her back. A thought, which sounded eerily like Dumbledore's voice, resounded inside his mind.

It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, Harry.

He had come so far because he was chasing a dream, only to realize that perhaps in doing so, he had made a mess out of the entire affair.

No. Things are not too bad. I can still save her. I can still protect her. I need to get my friends back. I need to get my brother back. I need to-

He took in another gulp of firewhiskey.

This time, I will not put my own dream before others. Others have sacrificed themselves for me. It is time I give them their due worth.

He looked at his palms. The age lines of his hand were missing. A flicking thought appeared in his mind. He had been given a second chance. He had been granted more powers. He now had a better chance to end it for once and for all.

I will not fail you, my brother.


Slytherin dorms...

"Did Potter tell you how he did it, Daph?"

Daphne whirled around at her friend in annoyance. "He didn't put his name in.," she snapped. Tracy raised her eyebrows at her friends' annoyance and continued, "If you say so. It is somewhat hard to believe, though. After all, this is the Triwizard we are talking about."

Daphne scoffed. "If Harry told me that he didn't do it, then he didn't do it. End of argument." She closed her eyes, not willing to take the argument any further. With a softened voice, she continued. "Nobody believes him, and the odd thing is- his reaction is astounding. It is almost as if he expected it to happen."

"Potter is a well of mysteries." Tracy scoffed. Daphne turned on her and retorted, "You are just saying that because he rejected your advancements and blatant flirting." Tracy scrunched her face in annoyance and continued, "Don't remind me. It is almost as if he was purposely trying to misdirect me."

Daphne chortled in laughter. It felt good. "What do you think of Delacour?"

"The Veela? You know her?" Tracy inquired. Daphne nodded. "She was the champion this year in the Under-19 finals."

Tracy frowned. "She is a Veela, and she seemed interested in Potter. Seemed a lot haughty. What do you know about her?"

"Deadly with a wand when I saw her then. Now though, I am sure I could give a good show against her." Daphne returned.

"Potter's training?"

Daphne nodded. Tracy grinned and sat close to her. "You like him, don't you?"

Daphne's eyes widened momentarily as she realized the statement. There was no use hiding it from Tracy. She would only get worse. Very subtly, she nodded, as Tracy let out an excited shriek and hugged her.

"Did you tell him?"

"What? No. Are you insane?" Daphne retorted, her cheeks reddened a bit. Tracy grinned infectiously at her, 'oh, you are whipped, Daph! Who knew! Who knew! The Ice Queen has fallen for Harry Potter! This is Gold."

Daphne blushed for an instant as she tried to glare at her friend. A sudden thought flitted through her mind, vanishing the smile off her face.

"What?" Tracy inquired, a shade of concern on her face. Daphne stood up and walked towards the window, the one that overlooked the Black lake. "The contract. Harry has to duel to the death for my honor. I am not sure what I am supposed to feel about it anymore."

"He will win."

"You don't know that." Daphne retorted half-heartedly. Tracy walked up to her, and replied. "He will win. You have said it yourself. Many times."

Daphne did not reply.


Riddle manor, Little Hangleton.

The dark lord sat on his throne in the large empty room. Still in his homunculus form, he had returned from Bulgaria to meet Gregorovitch in hopes of finding the wand of destiny... only that it was an exercise in futility. It was a misfortune that Weasley did not know anything about the Deathstick. As unfortunate as it was, Weasley had his uses. Too many uses, in fact.

"What news do you bring my servant?"

"My lord, Harry Potter is now in the tournament."

"And the girl?"

"Just as you said. Potter demonstrates a lot of interest in her."

The dark lord speculated for a while. Things were indeed going according to plan. His information was indeed correct. Potter had demonstrated an interest in the girl, and the girl would be a good way in bringing Potter to his knees.

"The changes in the ritual... did you get the details ready for me?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Hmm. Lord Voldemort will rise again, and this time, there will be no mistakes. Lord Voldemort will be the one who has the last laugh this time."

"Indeed, my lord."

"Pay attention on Potter. Tell me if anything unnatural happens. Keep track of the boy's skills. I will not underestimate the boy anymore." Voldemort explained, gesturing his servant to leave. The servant left as the dark lord contemplated his plans.

"The third task, the ritual, it will happen as is supposed to. Only this time, Potter will not escape his death. Potter has evaded me too many times. He has to learn that he cannot cheat Death. His mother bought him thirteen years of borrowed time, but he will have to fall before Lord Voldemort, as he must. After all, death conquers all."


### My second chapter for the day. My mind is on an overdrive as I am typing more and more. However, this is the last chapter for the day since its almost 10PM over here, and it is time to go to sleep. I will write another couple of chapters tomorrow morning but that is for later. On another note, I only have some six or seven chapters left for Wizarding Chronicles Book 2 to end. I am optimistic that I will end the Book2 in the coming two weeks, though given how Resurgence is getting majority of my attention, it may get delayed for a couple of days.

There is one more thing I wanted to say. I have seen in a lot of Time-travel stories that almost little-to-none changes occur in the behavior of the original characters. Just the timeline shifts a bit, nothing else. I do not want to tread on similar paths. I refuse to accept that just because a good person attempts time travel, everything that changes will be for the GOOD. The GOOD will come, but with it, will come the hell of a lot BAD too. I just want you to keep that in mind, in case you do not want to get a severe shock somewhere down the storyline.

I have begun providing some snaps of Harry's future-past timeline, as I promised. Hopefully you will like it, and of course, please review.