Part 1

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The Hogwarts Express was speeding across the countryside so fast the Scottish hills and valleys all blurred together. Cedric Diggory sat in a well lit train car with Maxine O'Flannery, Cho Chang, and Luna Lovegood.

Cedric swished his wand in an L shape then aimed it at Luna's wand. "avadamagicae."

"Lumos." A white glow appeared on Luna's wand tip. "Nope. Still works."

"Hmmm…" Cedric turned to Cho. "Any ideas?"

"Maybe." Cho looked through a set of notes. "You wrote here about damaging your wand this summer, even needing to replace it after a while. You've been trying to cancel someone's magic, but what if you tried overloading their wand instead?"

An uncomfortable look crossed Cedric's face. "I don't want to damage someone's wand in the process." A thought popped into his head. "Wait. I remember Ron's Weasley broke his wand a few years back. It's not a perfect fix, but I can try it on that wand! There are probably several students who've broken their wands, maybe I can ask them to try on their wands. Assuming they still have them."

"Could work." Luna said. "But fraggles always get into broken wands once they break. No telling what damage they'd do."

"What?" Cedric and Cho both looked at her in confusion.

Luna raised her hand, placing her thumb and index finger millimeters apart. "Tiny creatures too small to see. Never want them in your wood."

Max laughed to herself. "Never change Luna. You're perfect."

"Right…" Cedric shook his head. "Uh…anyway…Luna? Do you have any alternatives?"

Luna thought for a moment. "Well, you've been trying to stop a wand from working. Maybe you're being too broad with your spell."

"Too broad? Possibly…" Cedric tried again. "Avadalumos."

Luna raised her wand again. "Lumos." Her wand glowed again.

"Darn it. I thought I had this thing down, but I have no idea what I'm doing. Even with all my research, nothing seems to work."

Max shrugged. "You could always try hitting Luna's wand with the opposite spell."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's how it works…but ok. Uh…Cho? Did I write down-"

"Nega, Ansu, Avati, Oppo, Not." Cho rolled her eyes. "Really, NOT?"

Cedric shrugged, pointing his wand. "Not Lumos." Luna's wand lit up again. "Lumos Nega. Lumos Ansu. Lumos Avati." Cedric kept trying, but Luna's wand always worked.

Max jokingly held her wand by its tip, aiming the handle at Luna's wand. "Not Lumos."

Luna's wand didn't glow this time. "Lumos." Nothing happened. "Lumos." Again, nothing. "Lumos!" There was no effect.

Everyone stared at Luna's wand. Luna gawked at her wand.

Cedric beamed. "It worked!"

"Yeah…it did…" Luna stared at her wand, finally processing what had happened. "Uh…how do we fix it?"

Panic covered everyone's faces. Cedric spat out. "Uh-trying casting another spell. Can you still do that?"

Luna moved her wand back and forth, trying to get some semblance of thought. "Uh-Expecto Patronum!" Nothing happened. "Expelliarmus!" Max's wand went flying. Luna breathed a sigh of relief.

Cedric started laughing, swiping his forward. "Oh, man. For a second I thought. You know" He calmed down, and everyone started laughing.

Luna looked at her wand. "Lumos." Its tip glowed in a ball of white light. She looked at it more closely.

So did Cedric. "Huh. So you can still use that spell. I wonder why that is."

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Part 2

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Ron stepped off the train, facepalming. "Ugh…why did I say that?"

Harry patted him on the back. "Hey, there are other fish in the sea."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Come on, we should get moving." She stopped when a hand touched her shoulder.

She turned to see Cedric. "It worked." Harry and Ron both looked at him in confusion.

So did Hermione until a thought popped into her head. Her eyes went wide. "You found a counter."

"Not for the killing curse yet, but it worked for Lumos. At least, temporarily." Harry and Ron tried to follow what was going on as Cedric pulled out his wand, holding it by the tip. "Max held her wand backwards like this, and Luna couldn't cast Lumos at all."

A concerned look crossed Hermione's face. "Wait, is her wand working now?"

Cedric nodded. "Yeah." He turned to Harry and Ron. "Hey, I probably won't be over to the burrow for a few days."

Harry shrugged. "Ok, we can plan out new spells for Dumbledore's army later then. Congrats on the Order of Merlin by the way. You definitely earned it."

"Professor Mcgonnagall's the one who saved everyone. I just kept Crouch at bay." He sighed. "Just wish I'd been quicker…"

Ron patted Cedric's back. "Look man. No one could've predicted what happened to Madam Pomfrey. You saved Harry and who knows who else. No other student would've lasted long enough."

"That's true." Cho Chang walked up to Cedric and kissed him on the cheek. "Now come on. We'll be late." She dragged Cedric away as he said goodbye.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron headed over to Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks who were sitting on a bench nearby. Lupin wore a tattered gray suit and shadows lined the bottom of his eyes. "You guys ready to head out?" Everyone nodded. "All right, prepare yourselves. Apparting can be kind of intense on your first time, and it's never entirely pleasant."

The trio gulped as they felt their bodies squeezing in between space and bending as their surroundings changed to a hospital. A receptionist at a square desk looked at them with wide eyes, before regaining her composure. Harry ran up to her. "Which way is room 27?"

The receptionist pointed to her left. "Down the hallway, 13 doors down on your right."

"Thanks." Harry nodded before running down the hallway. The rest of the group followed much more slowly. Harry looked at the room numbers: 19, 21, 23, 25, 27. He dashed into the room to see Sirius reading a book.

Sirius dropped the book when he saw Harry. Harry crashed into his godfather, and the two hugged. Sirius looked on the verge of tears. "Good to see you Harry."

The two let go as Harry said. "Good to see you too."

Hermione, Ron, Lupin, and Tonks got the room as Harry and Sirius started talking about quidditch. No one wanted to interrupt, so Hermione started a conversation with the others about Cedric's new spell.

Sirius pulled out a book Lupin had dropped off on a visit. Harry and Sirius started discussing different flying techniques.

In particular they talked about a technique used by Viktor Krum to swat the snitch away from an opposing seeker using the back of his broom. It had been what sent Bulgaria to the Quidditch World Cup final.

Sirius also mentioned one of James Potter's favorite maneuvers. A slingshot like move in which two players surrounded another player, who then kicked off to get an extra burst of speed.

Another move Harry's father had used involved locking an arm with a teammate, and spinning to gain momentum. It allowed a massive build up of speed to shoot a player off at high speed. They could take that to aim at a sight of the snitch, the quaffle being thrown to a good scoring position, or an opponent getting to score. Apparently James had a lot of moves based on building up as much speed as possible.

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Part 3

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Cedric and Cho flew around on a broomstick under an aurora borealis. Cedric was glad Cho had convinced him to bring a specialized coat for their little arctic circle flight. It must've been at least 30 degrees below 0.

Even the mask on his face couldn't keep his nose from panicking each time he breathed in. Still, for all the discomfort, the view was definitely worth it. Apparating had its perks.

A flock of snow dragons flew by as Cedric ducked and spun to avoid getting hit. Cho lost her grip a few times, Cedric having to swoop down to catch her mid fall.

They immediately went back to England, with Cho insisting they never try that again. She almost slapped Cedric when he said. "At least no one caught on fire this time."

When Cedric and Cho got to Ottery St. Catchpole, Cedric was practically tackled by his parents. He'd better gotten through the door when they pulled him into a fierce hug.

Amos Diggory clapped his son on the back before dragging him over to the kitchen. The stained wooden walls had the covering of portraits and silverware nailed to the wall. Cedric couldn't help noticing a framed newspaper clipping that hadn't been there before. In the center of the kitchen table was a glowing bottle of brandy. Cedric took a closer look. "Is that what I think it is?"

His father nodded. "Essence of thunder. I know it's a bit pricey. But the Order of Merlin. If we don't celebrate now, when will we?" Amos laughed.

He poured everyone a glass of brandy Erich gained what looked like an electric current when it was poured. He gave a toast. "To the youngest Order of Merlin holder in history." Everyone raised their glasses.

Cedric laughed sheepishly. "Thanks."

Cedric's mom brought out a roast duck. She turned to her husband. "Are the spinach rolls done?"

Amos's face went blank, before turning to panic. "Agh!" He rushed to the stove top. Lifting the lid off a large pan. Smoke wafted off a set of green and black rolls of bread as he brought them to the table.

They were slightly burned, and a bit brittle. Otherwise, Cedric had to admit, they weren't bad. He took a swig of Thunder essence, pop and fizzle along his tongue. It burned for a moment before a sweet taste cooled it off.

He settled into his seat as Cho and his mom started debating how useful different distillation methods of pumpkin juice were.