Alex had decided to spend his afternoon with Ginny in the Room of Requirement, working out the egg clue. Cedric had offered to give Alex access to the prefects' bathroom, but Alex had turned him down, saying that he had a private place of his own to listen to the egg. The Room had obligingly provided a large tub of water. Alex and Ginny then retired behind privacy screens to change into their swimwear, then got into the tub so they could listen to the egg underwater. Alex placed the golden egg underneath the water and opened it. This time, it didn't wail, and they could hear a gurgling song coming out of it, though neither could make out any of the words through the water.

"Ready?" asked Alex, looking at Ginny. She nodded and two took deep breaths and ducked underneath the water. They heard a chorus of eerie voices singing to them from the open egg.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour- the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

It took three more times before they were sure that they had memorized the song. "All right, it sounds like we have to go into the lake, because I recall reading in Hogwarts, a History that merpeople live there," said Alex.

"And they'll be taking something you value," added Ginny. "So you'll have to get it back. Since 'an hour long you'll have to look', that means you've got one hour to recover it."

"Great, how am I going to breathe underwater for an hour?" Alex demanded. "The most I've ever held my breath for was two minutes, and that was without moving around. At least I can swim, since my parents made sure me and Beth got lessons."

"There's got to be a spell that can enable you to breathe," Ginny pointed out. "Or a potion or plant that can do the same. You can ask your friends about it, and then get together with the other champions to work something out."

"Let's go dry off and change back to our clothes," said Alex. "Then we can talk about us."

"All right," said Ginny agreeably. The two got out of the tub and it disappeared. After drying off and changing, the two sat down on the couch the Room provided.

"I think I really like you, more than as a friend, Ginny," Alex said hesitantly. "But we're still quite young."

"True," said Ginny. "And I like you a great deal also. Since we are so young, why don't we take things slow? See if we really do care for each other more than as friends or if the excitement of the Yule Ball was just affecting us. If we don't get interested in other people and only want to be with each other, then we can start dating."

"That's a sensible plan," said Alex. "I don't want to rush into a relationship, then have us find out that we really aren't compatible as boyfriend and girlfriend, break up, and make our friendship all awkward. Or not, since Dad told me once that it's best to be friends first with a girl you date, because the friendship will last if the love doesn't. In any case, I don't want to make one of my best friends angry at me if I inadvertently hurt his sister."

"I can deal with Ron," Ginny said. "A threat to hit him with my Bat-Bogey Hex would quickly get him to mind his own business."

Alex had to laugh at that. "It certainly would. Anyway, let's just hang out a bit more and continue being friends. If we fall in love, then we'll start dating."

The two spent another half hour speculating over what had happened to Rita Skeeter. There had been nothing mentioned in the Daily Prophet, but considering when the incident had taken place and the fact that Professor Dumbledore might not have turned her in until this morning, it made sense. However, there would probably be an article about it in tomorrow's Daily Prophet, or the newspaper might even come out with an edition of the Evening Prophet, which only happened if there was some event that warranted notifying the British wizarding population as soon as possible.

After that, Ginny returned to the Ravenclaw common room, while Alex sought out his friends. "I listened to the egg in a tub of water and figured out what the second task is," he said. He proceeded to recite the song and explain what he and Ginny had worked out.

"Oh here," said Ron, passing Alex a letter. "This arrived from Percy while you were listening to the egg. He asked me to pass it on to you."

Alex unfolded the piece of parchment and started reading.

"Dear Alex, I am including this inside the letter that I'm sending Ron, since it looks perfectly normal to be writing to my brother, but not so much if I wrote to you directly. Anyway, have you figured out what the second task is? I forgot to ask you at the Ball, since I was sidetracked with my plans with Vera. She said yes, by the way, and we'll be informing your family and mine in a couple of days.

Now, back to the reason I was writing you. If you haven't, well, you are familiar with the fact that there are merpeople living in the Black Lake, right? So you might want to listen to the egg in a tub of water. Oh, and I think you may find a certain plant to be useful for the task. Ask your friend Neville about that, since he's good at Herbology. If that's not what you prefer, there is a certain charm that comes in handy, too. I used it once when Fred and George set off some Dungbombs. If you don't know what the charm is, ask Hermione or one of your older cousins, or look it up in the library. Oh, and I presume that your sister Beth is the person closest to you? You might want to keep that in mind when listening to the egg. I hope I gave you some useful information. Good luck in the second task, and if Mr. Crouch is still feeling unwell then, I may end up filling in for him as a judge and be able to see you.

Yours truly, Percy."

"Well, Percy said I was to ask you about a plant that I'd find useful for the second task, Neville?" Alex said when he was done reading.

"You're going to need some gillyweed," replied Neville. "It allows you to breathe underwater once you eat it. It was one of the plants mentioned in the book that Professor Moody lent me. The witch who discovered it found herself suffocating and only recovered once she put her head in a bucket of water."

"I thought Beaumont Marjoribanks was the one who discovered the properties of gillyweed," said Beth.

"He was credited with the discovery, but Elladora Ketteridge was the one that actually found out about it, about a century before him," Neville explained.

"Then I guess I'll have to write to Granny Ilsa and have her send me some gillyweed," said Alex. "I'm sure she has some in her supply cupboard, or order some more if she's run out. Isn't it lucky that the book Professor Moody lent you mentioned gillyweed, Neville?"

"I think you mean that it was lucky that the book was on magical water plants in the Mediterranean, which gillyweed is a part of," Neville corrected. "But if he hadn't lent me the book, I would have been able to tell you about gillyweed, anyway. I came across a similar book, except it was about magical water plants worldwide, in the library a few weeks ago, and it discussed gillyweed. And you know Herbology's my best subject."

"And Hermione, do you happen to know of a charm that would also come in handy?" Alex asked. "Percy wrote that it would if I didn't prefer using the plant."

"I'm sure there is, but I don't happen to know of any that would allow you to breathe underwater," answered Hermione. "Gillyweed would probably be better."

"Well, Percy said he used the charm once when Fred and George set off some Dungbombs," said Alex. "I wish he could just flat out tell me what the charm is, but I know that just giving me some hints could be seen as cheating and he doesn't want to get in trouble."

"If he used the charm when the twins set off some Dungbombs, then it would have to be something that gives you a bubble of air to breathe," Ron pointed out. "It wouldn't be a spell that specifically lets you breathe underwater."

"I think I've read about a spell like that," said Beth thoughtfully. "Hermione and I will go look it up, while you can write to Granny Ilsa and ask her to send you some gillyweed, Alex. You can hold the charm in reserve if the gillyweed doesn't work out or Granny Ilsa can't get you some in time for the task."

The two girls left the common room and returned half an hour later with a book. "We've found the spell that Percy hinted at!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's the Bubble-Head Charm! It creates this protective bubble of air around your head and allows people to breathe when diving underwater or to avoid bad smells."

"I'll practice the incantation then," said Alex, looking at the relevant page in the book. "I sent Hedwig with the note to Granny Ilsa ten minutes ago. And Beth, I have a nasty feeling that you're the 'what I'll sorely miss' and that I'll have to rescue you. I reread Percy's letter and he wrote 'I presume that your sister Beth is the person closest to you?' and that I should keep that in mind when listening to the egg."

"That would make sense," Beth said. "Having to rescue a person close to you would be harder than rescuing some treasured item."

The next afternoon, he met up with the other three champions, who had all listened to the egg and worked out what they had to do. Cedric and Fleur had decided that they were going to use the Bubble-Head Charm, Alex was going to use gillyweed, and Viktor planned to do a partial transfiguration, giving himself the head of a shark. Once the discussion was over, Cedric brought up that morning's Daily Prophet.

"Did you guys see the article about Rita Skeeter being an unregistered Animagus and got caught on Hogwarts grounds when she attempted to spy in her beetle form?" he said.

"It serves her right," snapped Fleur. "After ze articles zat she wrote about us? Implying that we 'ad an ulterior motive for working togezer, and saying zat you, Alex, could have learned 'strange Gypsy magics' from your parents. Or saying zat zere was more to ze friendly match between Cedric, Viktor, and Alex."

"Vat did the article say exactly?" asked Viktor. "I heard about it, but I did not read it."

"Just that Madame Maxime and Hagrid found a Stunned Rita Skeeter next to a reindeer statue in the rose garden during the Yule Ball," Cedric said. "Madame Maxime fetched Professor Dumbledore and the Heads of Houses, who determined that it was due to the ward set up to keep Peter Pettigrew out of the castle in his Animagus form. They questioned Rita Skeeter, and the next morning they turned her into the Ministry of Magic. She has to pay a fine of two hundred Galleons for being an unregistered Animagus, might end up spending a month in Azkaban, and has to get registered."

"I zought Madame Maxime said you and your date was zere too, Alex," said Fleur, looking puzzled.

"Yes, Ginny and I happened to be walking in the garden at the time, but we didn't want to be mentioned in the article," explained Alex. "So Professor Dumbledore didn't mention us being there when he turned Rita Skeeter in."

The other champions nodded and then left the library. Alex went up to his dorm room to find Dobby leaving a package on his bed. "Mistress Ilsa asked Dobby to give the gillyweed to you in person, Master Alex. She didn't want to risk the post going astray."

"Thank you, Dobby, for delivering the gillyweed," said Alex, smiling down at the house-elf. "Could you please tell my grandmother that I thank her as well?"

"Dobby will do so," Dobby said, bowing. "Oh, Mistress Ilsa said there is a Stasis Charm on the package to keep the gillyweed fresh until you need to use it. Good-bye, Master Alex." Dobby bowed again and left with a pop.

When classes resumed after the holidays, it appeared that most of the skwerts had killed each other and there were only two left. Since there was no point in having them all work with the two skwerts (and perhaps Dumbledore had had a word with Hagrid), the next Care of Magical Creatures class focused on unicorns. The class was quite enjoyable, as Hagrid introduced two adult unicorns, who were pure white, and a unicorn foal, which was gold in color. Since the foals were more trusting, the boys were able to interact with him, while the girls interacted with the adult unicorns, who preferred a woman's touch.

Alex practiced the Bubble-Head Charm, though he had no intention of actually using the spell unless the gillyweed didn't work. However, it was quite handy as he practiced swimming in the pool that the Room of Requirement provided. Obviously the pool wasn't as big as the lake, and was no deeper than ten feet in the middle, but at least he was getting better at swimming. His friends would often join him, and Beth would do the Bubble-Head Charm on herself, tie herself to a pole underwater, and let Alex practice freeing her, with him using the knife (that had attachments to open any lock and undo any knot) that Sirius had given him for Christmas.

Alex also looked up what else resided in the Black Lake besides the merpeople and the giant squid. When he read that there were grindylows, some of which were kept as pets by the merpeople, he immediately reviewed everything that Remus had taught about them. The last he wanted was to be attacked by them and end up unable to rescue his sister. Even if the other champions came to his aid, it would still be embarrassing.

"Guys, it's getting late," Hermione said during a swimming session one evening. "It's past eight. We'd better dry off and head back to the common room before we end up walking around past curfew."

"Do we really have to get out of the pool?" Alex asked. "I wanted to get some more practice in. Besides, we can always spend the night here. The Room can provide beds for us."

"Yes, but do you really want our roommates asking us where we were all night?" Hermione asked. "They're bound to notice if our beds weren't slept in."

"I have my Invisibility Cloak," Alex pointed out. "And we all know the Disillusionment Charm, so we can make ourselves unseen if we have to walk about after curfew. And don't forget the Marauder's Map, which will enable us to avoid any teachers and prefects that are patrolling."

"Alex, you've already 'rescued' me four times tonight," Beth said. "I am not going to tie myself up again just so you can have another go at it. I'm siding with Hermione on this."

"Fine," sighed Alex, climbing out of the pool. His friends did the same and they retired behind their respective privacy screens to dry off and change out of their bathing suits. Once they were dressed and had gathered their things, Alex took out the Marauder's Map and activated it so that he could make sure that there was nobody nearby to see them coming out of the Room. Since most of the people at Hogwarts, other than the house-elves, were unaware of the existence of the Room of Requirement, they would find it odd if they saw people coming out of a room that wasn't there before and would ask questions.

"Hang on, there's something weird here," Alex said as his gaze fell on the part of the Map that showed Professor Moody's office. "There's a dot labeled Alastor Moody, but next to it is a dot labeled Bartemius Crouch."

"What!" exclaimed Neville, as he and the others clustered around Alex to look at the Marauder's Map. "Why would Mr. Crouch be visiting Professor Moody? I thought you said that Percy told you that Mr. Crouch was sick, which was why Percy was filling in for him at the Yule Ball."

"Maybe he got better," said Beth. "But that still doesn't explain why he'd be visiting Moody."

"Well, we know Crouch and Moody both dislike Dark wizards and stuff like that," Ron said. "Maybe that has something to do with it."

"Well, at least we know that it's not like first year, when we saw a dot labeled Quirinius Quirrell and another dot labeled Tom Riddle right on top of it," Hermione said. "Anyway, is it really our business if Mr. Crouch is visiting Professor Moody?"

"You're right, Hermione," Ron said reluctantly. "If Crouch wants to visit Moody, he can do so, and it's none of our business. It's not like we can ask Professor Moody why Crouch is visiting him, because he'd want to know how we knew that, and we can't tell him about the Marauder's Map."

"See," said Beth. "Well, there's nobody outside in the corridor, so we can leave the Room now and hurry back to the common room."

Even though it wasn't any of their business, Alex still couldn't help wondering why Mr. Crouch was visiting Professor Moody. In the middle of the night, he woke up and decided to check the Marauder's Map again. A dot labelled Alastor Moody was still in his office, but a short ways away, in what Alex assumed was Moody's bedroom, was a dot labelled Bartemius Crouch.

"Okay, something weird is going on," he whispered to himself. He put on his dressing gown over his pajamas, then woke up Ron and Neville and dragged them down to the common room to avoid the chance of Dean and Seamus waking up and overhearing them.

"What's going on?" Ron asked, suppressing yawns, while Neville rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I woke up and decided to check the Marauder's Map again," Alex responded. "Look at it."

"So Professor Moody is still in his office," said Ron. "So what? Wait, Mr. Crouch's name is still there."

"Yes, but it's now in a nearby room," said Neville. "Probably Professor Moody's bedroom. What is he doing in there?"

"Maybe Crouch started feeling unwell again and Moody had him stay the night," Ron suggested.

"But if Crouch was feeling sick again, he'd go to Madam Pomfrey," Alex pointed out. "Why would he stay in Moody's room?"

"Good point," said Ron. "Maybe you should call Sirius and tell him what's going on. It's not like your family knows about you having the Marauder's Map, or you could tell them."

"Good idea," said Alex. He ran back to the dorm room and found the two-way mirror connected to Sirius. Taking it down to the common room, he called up Sirius. A couple of minutes later, Sirius's face appeared.

"Alex, you woke me up half an hour after I fell asleep," Sirius said, looking a little annoyed. "What's going on that you felt the need to call me at midnight?"

Alex quickly explained what he had seen in the Marauder's Map, both at half past eight and just now. "Don't you think that's weird?" he finished.

"That is definitely odd," said Sirius, the annoyed look gone. "You were right to call me about it. Is Crouch still on the Map."

Alex checked. "Yes, he is. And his dot hasn't moved at all."

"All right then," said Sirius. "I'm coming to Hogwarts right now. You go to Professor Dumbledore's office. His current password is Cockroach Clusters. His bedroom is next to the office, so don't worry about him not being there. I'll join you and we'll explain everything to Dumbledore so that he can look into it."

The connection was cut off. "One of you get your mirror and tell the girls about it, okay?" Alex requested. "Yes, they'll be annoyed at being woken up, but they'd be even more annoyed if we didn't tell them right away. I'm going to Professor Dumbledore now."

He set off for Dumbledore's office, running into Professor McGonagall on the way. Once Alex explained why he was out after curfew, however, she insisted on accompanying him. The two set off, and just before they reached the stone gargoyle, they came across Professor Snape.

"What is going on here?" he asked, staring first at Alex, then at Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Romanov had important news to tell Albus," replied McGonagall. "Sirius is going to be here in a few minutes, too, since Mr. Romanov contacted him first with the news and he was the one to suggest telling the Headmaster."

"Professor Snape, do you want to come with us?" Alex tentatively asked. "I think it would be helpful to have you present as well."

"Since I am now curious as to what your news is, I think I will," said Professor Snape. They walked the few steps to the gargoyle and Snape gave the password.

Professor Dumbledore came out of his bedroom wearing a purple dressing gown with gold stars over his pajamas. "This is a surprise," he said, looking at the three. "Is something the matter?"

"I have something important to tell you, Professor Dumbledore," said Alex. "Sirius is going to be here in a couple of minutes. I spoke to him via our two-way mirrors first, and he was the one to have me go to you about it. Professor McGonagall found me as I was on my way to you and said she was coming with me. We ran into Professor Snape outside your office and asked that he come with us."

"I see," said Dumbledore. "Why don't we wait until Sirius is here before you tell me what your news is, Alexander?"

Alex nodded, and five minutes later, Sirius burst into the office. He came to a stop when he saw Professor Snape. "What are you doing here, Snape?"

"Your godson asked me to accompany him when he and Minerva ran into me outside this office," Snape replied coldly.

"Fine," said Sirius, though he didn't look happy about it. "Let's explain why we're here, Alex."

Alex explained what he had seen on the Marauder's Map, and showed it to the three professors. Before any of them could ask about the Map, Sirius said that he and his friends had created it when they were in school and that he had given it to Alex last year after the Death Eaters had escaped, so that Alex could see if any of them tried to sneak into Hogwarts. Alex shot his godfather a grateful look for covering for him.

"This is definitely odd," said Professor Dumbledore. "To my knowledge, Barty Crouch hasn't been at Hogwarts since the first task, and he didn't interact with Alastor then. I see no reason why he would visit the school now without notifying me and go see Alastor."

"Clearly there's something going on that we don't know about," said Professor McGonagall. "We ought to go down to Professor Moody's quarters and investigate."

Dumbledore nodded. "Severus, come with me to Alastor's office. Sirius and Minerva, you can check the bedroom. Alexander, you are coming with me, since you ought to know what's going on as you did come to me with the information."

Outside Moody's office, Dumbledore disabled any spells that were on the door, then opened it. However, there was nothing there other than a desk and two chairs, a table containing Moody's Dark Detectors, a bookcase, and a trunk with seven locks on it. There was no sign of Moody, though a quick check of the Marauder's Map said that he was still in the room.

With a frown on his face, Dumbledore looked around and spotted a key ring on the desk. "Hmm..." he muttered, picking up the key ring and walking over to the trunk. "Severus, please keep a lookout as I check the trunk."

He unlocked each of the locks, revealing a compartment each time. The last one, however, didn't contain any items. Instead, there was a short set of stairs and a man sleeping at the bottom. Alex looked at the Map again. "I think that's Professor Moody. But why is he sleeping in his trunk?"

"Severus, did you not say that some supplies were missing from your stores?" Dumbledore asked. "Specifically the ones that are normally used in brewing Polyjuice Potion? I think someone has been masquerading as Alastor Moody."

Severus looked startled and walked over to the trunk. "Are you sure, Dumbledore? Ah, I see that Moody's hair is quite uneven. It does look like someone was cutting it off to use in Polyjuice. But who would be masquerading as him. It can't be Barty Crouch."

"We shall soon find out," said Dumbledore. "Severus, please cover Alastor with your cloak and later we will have Madam Pomfrey check up on him. Let's go join Minerva and Sirius."

The three walked out the office, bumping into Sirius. "We removed any spells that were on the door and burst into the bedroom without any warning. Whoever was in the bed sat up, but we Stunned him before he could do anything. Did you find out what's going on in the office?"

"We found Alastor locked up in his own trunk," Dumbledore said grimly. "From the look of things, someone was pretending to be him with Polyjuice Potion. Alastor's hair had been cut, and Severus had reported some of his ingredients, namely the ones used in Polyjuice, missing."

Sirius looked alarmed at this and the group entered the bedroom. McGonagall had her wand pointed at the Stunned body in the bed, a shocked look on her face. "It looks like Barty Crouch, Jr, but he's supposed to be dead."

"Wait, you mean the son of Mr. Crouch, who was one of the four people that tortured Neville's parents?" asked Alex.

McGonagall nodded, while Sirius said, "You're right, Professor, he is supposed to be dead. I remember seeing his body being carried out past my cell."

"Well, obviously the Crouch that died wasn't the real one, if he's here," said Snape. "Should I fetch a bottle of Veritserum so we can question him?"

"Please do that," said Dumbledore. "Oh, and Sirius, I believe you said that Winky is working for you? Could you please summon her here?"

Sirius looked surprised at the request, but did so. As soon as Winky appeared, she let out a shriek upon seeing Crouch Jr. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?"

She flung herself forward onto the young man's chest. "You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"

"He is simply Stunned, Winky," said Dumbledore. "Step aside, please. We're going to question him."

When Snape returned with the Veritserum, a few drops was poured into Crouch Jr's mouth. Ropes were conjured and tied around him, and then he was revived. Questioning revealed that Mrs. Crouch had convinced her husband to arrange for their son's escape. They had taken Polyjuice Potion in order to take each other's place, and as Mrs. Crouch hadn't been in the best of health at the time, she had died shortly after that. Since she had been careful to take Polyjuice Potion until the end, she had been buried under her son's appearance.

Mr. Crouch had taken his son home and kept him hidden under an Invisibility Cloak, with an Imperius Curse to keep him in check. One day, Bertha Jorkins had visited and discovered Crouch Jr, but when she confronted Mr. Crouch, he had Obliviated her, to the point that it damaged her memory permanently. Later on, while she was traveling in Albania, the Dark Lord and some of the escaped Death Eaters had come across her. They had managed to break through the Memory Charm and discovered that Crouch Jr was still alive and held captive in his father's home. In any case, Winky, who was sorry for Crouch Jr, had convinced his father to let him attend the Quidditch World Cup, hidden underneath the Invisbility Cloak.

By that point, he was able to resist the Imperius Curse for short periods of time, and when he spotted a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket, he had stolen it. After the match and back in the tent, he had Stunned Winky, then sent a message to the Dark Lord. Peter Pettigrew had arrived in his rat form, and they had Stunned Mr. Crouch when he appeared at the tent. After that, Crouch Jr. had sent up the Dark Mark and the two had Apparated away. He, with the help of a couple of the escaped Death Eaters, had been the ones to attack Moody, and Crouch Jr then took his place. He had been the one to enter Alex's name in the Goblet of Fire, done when Dumbledore had gone on a bathroom break. Meanwhile, Mr. Crouch had been put under the Imperius Curse himself, and was now being forced to claim he was sick and sending in orders to Percy Weasley to be carried out.

The last thing that Crouch Jr said was that for the final task, he had planned to alter the Portkey on the Triwizard Cup so that it would take Alex to the Dark Lord's side instead of to the front of the maze. The Dark Lord would then use Alex in a ritual to regain his body and full power, and then kill Alex. After that, his body would be sent back with the Cup, to make it look like he had died in the tournament.

Once the whole story was done, Dumbledore Stunned Crouch Jr again. "Severus, could you please take Alastor to Madam Pomfrey to be looked after? Minerva, please stand guard while I contact the Ministry and get some Aurors sent over. Alexander, you can go back to the Gryffindor common room and tell your friends what happened. Sirius, you can either stay and help me deal with the Aurors, or you can go home."

"I'll stay," said Sirius. He then looked at Alex. "Thanks to you, we found this out, Alex. I'm proud of you. Good-night."

"Good-night, Sirius," Alex said. He nodded at Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall and headed back to the common room.

His friends were all waiting for him, and he quickly told them everything that happened. "You mean the fourth person that tortured my parents is actually alive?" Neville demanded, looking aghast, then angry. "And he escaped Azkaban, with his parents' help, and entered you in the Tournament just so you could be used to bring Riddle back into power and then killed?"

Alex nodded. "But now that this has been found out, Riddle's going to have to find another way to get me, or have to use someone else in whatever ritual he plans to use to return to power."

"Well, Mr. Crouch is going to lose job once this gets out," said Ron. "And he'll get sent to Azkaban for helping his son escape and being indirectly responsible for everything that's happened to you, Alex."

"It's really lucky that you woke up and decided to check the Marauder's Map again," said Hermione. "Otherwise this wouldn't have been found out and you would have grabbed the Triwizard Cup and been taken to Riddle during the Third Task."

Alex shuddered. "I'm so glad to have avoided that."

"Once this gets out, though, Riddle is going to be really angry that this plan got thwarted," Beth pointed out. "As you said, he's going to have to come up with some other way to get you. So we'll still have to be on guard."

"I know," said Alex, suppressing a yawn. "I'm tired again, and it's late, so let's get back to bed. We can talk about this some more later today."

The others nodded in agreement and they all went up to bed.

Author's Note: Since this is an AU, events aren't going to completely follow the books. Therefore, while Voldemort is going to eventually regain his body and return to power, it won't happen exactly the way it did in the book, or at the same time. Also, I have started a new fic entitled "Childhood Scenes from A Different Future". It is a series of one-shots of scenes from Alex's childhood, since this fic did not focus very much on it. Some incidents from Alex's childhood that were alluded to in this fic will be expanded on in the other fic, such as his first encounter with a boggart.