"It's a shame that Harry isn't here to see the other schools arrive," Hermione said to Ron as they watched the Beauxbatons' flying carriage touch down on the lawn. The massive white abraxans were a sight to behold.

"Yeah, stupid full moon coming up now," Ron said back absentmindedly while looking lustfully at the pretty French witches who passed by in their baby blue uniforms.

But for Harry he wasn't minding it too much, the moon had not yet risen and he still had some time left before his transformation took place so he was just laying on the floor talking with Tonks.

"The unforgivables, really?" the auror questioned the story that Harry had told him of Moody's teaching style. "That's pretty messed up even for him. I mean, it's part of the auror training to get hit with the imperious but, on children?"

Harry just shrugged in response. "Dumbledore hired him and mentioned that they were good friends. Fought together even. But…" Harry let out a discontented sigh.

"Buuuut?" Tonks inquired.

"The last couple of defense professors haven't been. I mean, Remus was great, he taught me how to use the patronus spell because of how much dementors affect me. He actually made sure we knew the material, compared to Lockhart and Voldemort. I just, he's…" Harry stammered while trying to think of how to explain that while Remus was great at his job and he doesn't hold being turned into a werewolf against him, there was still a history of problems arising because of defense professors.

"Wait, VOLDEMORT?!" Tonks shouted, all but certain she misheard her charge when his body spasmed and the transformation began. "Dammit, Harry, what do you mean Voldemort?"

"Back of… Quirrell's… Heeeeeaaaaaaa-,," Harry tried to finish but the change had taken over too much and all it turned into was an echoing howl.

Giving Harry some time to get his bearings after his shift Tonks looked at the panting mass of fur and muscle. "You do know that you're going to explain this to me tomorrow right?" Looking Harry in the eye who managed what Tonks understood to be a sheepish grin even if to someone unfamiliar with him it would seem like a threatening display.

Stumbling into the great hall after his morning exercise and still covered in sweat, Harry managed to seat himself between his two friends to start piling up food. "Jeez you look like shite mate," Ron mentioned seeing the bags under Harry's eyes, while the werewolf tore into some sausage and bacon.

"Well fuck you too Ron," Harry muttered back at his friend. "Nights are getting longer and start earlier."

"I'm so sorry Harry, I keep asking McGonagall if we could be allowed to visit you so you have a friend but she's just as strict as Dumbledore is on the policy," Hermione apologized for not being there for him.

"It's fine, I got Tonks with me these nights. She's brilliant and fun so it could be a lot worse," Harry shrugged. "Least the cage is bigger this time."

Deciding that he wanted to get the conversation off his furry problem Harry pointed to the students from the other two schools. "So who are all these new faces, because.." taking a sip of his drink and nodding towards a very stunning blonde witch. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered seeing any first years like that get sorted."

Ron snorted out a laugh while Hermione blushed lightly before explaining to him these were the visiting schools students. "Cool, so long as the events don't fall on the night of the full moon, that might even be fun to watch."

Deciding he was finished with his large breakfast to make up for all the running around he did overnight Harry started to head back up to the Gryffindor dorms to sleep away the day, thankfully there weren't any classes for him to attend so he didn't have to worry about catching up on what he missed. Unaware that the next morning would just be full of problems.

"So Voldemort is alive or at least sort of alive and was possessing Quirrell for an entire year and you killed him under the school and NO ONE was told about this?" Tonks huffed in frustration from the story that Harry had just told her.

Harry could only offer her a shrug in response. "Dumbledore said everyone in school knew what happened that year and I guess, being eleven years old I didn't really know what to do with that so I let it go."

"I'm not blaming you Harry, but for fucks sake no one ever talked to you about what happened with Quirrell?" Tonks looked concerned through the bars at Harry while he ate his early dinner. With the night's coming sooner Harry had to be locked up earlier and that was before dinner so the castle elves were more than happy to provide a meal rather than let a student go hungry.

"I mean Dumbledore talked to me about it," Harry offered a weak response to her inquiry.

"Yeah for like five minutes, you were a child and ignoring the whole Quirrell being possessed and evil thing, you still saw someone die. You needed to see someone to help you," Tonks told Harry, because the aurors had mind healers that they were required to go see after any deaths that happen in the line of duty to ensure they are still fit for working in the department. That a child as young as eleven had experienced it and one might even say caused it but never got asked once about it in years was alarming.

Harry really didn't have anything to say about that. It made sense in a way, he heard about things like therapy and stuff but he never thought it was something he needed. "I mean, I remember my parents' deaths and that was over ten years ago so I'm probably fine."

Tonks got really quiet hearing that and sat staring at Harry while he finished off his meal. She then heavily exhaled through her nose. "I'm going to strangle Dumbledore with his beard," she decided as how no one noticed that Harry was carrying all this around with him was one of the most egregious examples of incompetence she had ever heard.


Harry had just been given the wolfsbane potion by Professor Snape and he was walking beside him out of the dungeons, both on their way to dinner, just in separate parts of the castle when Harry had to ask a burning question that had been one he wasn't sure just how to broach with the complicated man next to him. "Sir, I would like to ask why you're doing all this for me? You've never cared about the way Draco acted in any of the previous years, so why start now?"

Giving the young werewolf a curious sidelong glance, Snape wanted to brush off the question and claim he was only acting on Dumbledore's orders, but considering how things got to where they are now, he felt that Harry deserved an honest answer. "I was a student in the same year as your father, Black and Lupin. And I had been wanting to know why they would all sneak off on certain nights. I thought that would get me Headboy if I could knock down the Marauder's for breaking the rules. I thought it would make Lily notice me," he quietly sighed the last part.

"But I guess Black had noticed me following them all around the school and he got a scheme in that head of his," Severus grit his teeth tightly as he recalled the event. "He cornered me and demanded I tell him what I was up to."

"When I told him I would find out where they were all going, he got this look in his and that should have been my first clue that nothing good was about to happen," Severus admitted his failing, he was young and reckless, a far cry from the spy master he had become. It was a rookie mistake, one he would never make again. "He told me the secret to get under the Whomping Willow."

"That's how you knew where we were at the end of last year," Harry realized it was because of that Snape was able to find them.

"Yes, and you can likely surmise what was at the end of the trail Black had sent me on," Snape firmed his features as this was still quite a sore spot for him, that night had changed so much of his life. He sometimes wondered what would have happened had he never listened or when he had too much to drink in his sorrow, if James Potter had never come for him, how would things have been for Lily.

"Moony," Harry answered the question.

"And I wouldn't be alive if not for your father," Severus said flatly. "Black must have thought it quite a hilarious prank that he sent me after Lupin on the night of a full moon, your father, frankly did not see the humor in it. He rushed out of wherever he had been and got me away from Lupin before he could kill or turn me."

"Because of that, things were complicated between your father and I," deciding to leave it vague for now since addressing those thoughts was not what he planned for tonight. "It nearly tore your father and Black's friendship apart, James Potter saw first-hand how far and horribly a prank could go and he matured because of it. In a way that incident made your mother see him in another light, that he was more willing to tone down his pranks and took things more seriously."

"Wow, I wasn't aware that night would have so many implications," Harry said in amazement that one nasty prank by his godfather could have ruined so many lives but in a way also was a factor in him even being born.

"Which is why I did not tolerate Mr. Malfoy's attempt to push that young girl into the room with you, even if you were in your cage and would not attack her. It was cruel, and no one involved deserved that," Severus stated his reasoning for coming down so hard on Lucius' son. It could easily have gone wrong and would have harsher implications.

Looking up at his professor he was almost shocked that it made so much sense as to why Professor Snape was taking this whole situation seriously. "Thanks for that Professor Snape."

Snape would not admit but he did bask in hearing James Potter's son praise him, it felt karmically good. But standing silently in the halls he wanted to leave it at that but the guilt was weighing on him. "I'm also sorry. I could not protect you from Lupin the way your father did for me. And now you have to continue that same curse."

It was at that moment that it dawned on Harry that Snape was beating himself up for his inability to stop Moony that night. Knowing some of the history between the Marauders and his professor, he could see now that others were taking him being a werewolf pretty hard as well. "I don't- I never blamed you sir, I know you did what you could and at least it was me. Ron wasn't in any shape to survive the attack after everything that night and I'd never want Hermione to have to go through all this. It sucks, like a lot. And in an odd way I'm kind of glad somewhat. I mean after all this, I got learn more about my parents, how they were as people in school and my mom before Hogwarts, that you were their neighbor growing up. It's not really the way I would have liked it, but it's not all terrible."

"I'm reconciling things with my relatives, even if Uncle Vernon wants nothing to do with me, Dudley would exercise with me, Aunt Petunia would ask me about things in the Daily Prophet that she got a subscription to," Harry offered a shrug because all of this was coming out of the bad situation he found himself in, silver linings do exist after all. "Plus I made a new friend, Tonks is great. She's so fun to be around. I really look forward to her being here."

Letting a smirk dance across his lips Snape looked down at Harry. "So when will the wedding be?"

Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. "You- I can't- You're teasing me?!"

"No one will ever believe you," Snape cackled as he walked away. Victory was sweet.


"Harry… Potter," Dumbledore announced to the Great Hall slowly after taking a moment to read the name on the fourth slip of that had just shot out of the goblet of fire, Dumbledore just hung his head and shuffled to the back room, his staff following quickly behind him.

"Ahh Dumbledore, I was wondering what was holding you up," Bagman said jovially at the headmaster's arrival.

Sweeping his gaze over the occupants of the room he let out a breath he was holding, hoping that if he didn't say it that it wouldn't be true. "It would seem that there has been a change, a fourth name has come out of the cup, signifying a fourth champion."

The look of confusion on the other champions faces as they all wondered what the headmaster could be alluding to. "Unfortunately, that champion is unable to attend this meeting. It is Mister Harry Potter."

"Why not Dumbledore? I'm sure that whatever Harry Potter is doing could be put on hold for such an interesting development." Madam Maxime questioned why Dumbledore had not simply gone and collected his wayward famous student.

"Alas it is the night of the full moon and I will not endanger anyone in this castle, least of all Mr. Potter by making him attend a meeting for a tournament that he had no part in entering."

Cedric had a look of realization cross over his face as he remembered what tonight was and how Harry wouldn't be available.

"How can you be so sure that he did not sneak his way into the tournament on his own?" Karkaroff scoffed indignantly.

"Because we would have seen Harry if he entered the Great Hall, people would have been screaming their heads off." Cedric answered for the adults, knowing that if a werewolf just wandered anywhere in the castle that it would not be a secret for very long.

"Could he have escaped?" Madam Maxime worriedly asked now that she knew the potentially grave situation they were in if Mr. Potter had been unleashed on the castle.

"Severus, Minerva please go and check to see if Mr. Potter is still residing where he is supposed to be at this time," Albus requested of two of his staff members who quickly nodded and hurried out of the room to check on Harry.

"Professors what's going on?" Tonks asked when Snape and McGonagall both entered the room suddenly. The game she had been playing with Harry was put on hold and the dice the werewolf just rolled clattered against the stone.

"Teaching him to gamble?" Minerva wondered just what the recent auror graduate was getting her student up to.

"Pfft more like teaching him to fleece me," Tonks huffed and folded her arms. "He can't use magic like this but I just know he's cheating." Shooting a glare at Harry who was chuckling as best as he could.

"Honestly, if I lose too many more of these, I'm going to have to start betting my clothes," Tonks muttered because she'd lost nearly all the money she had on her right now. "But I doubt that you two were aware that I was being a bad influence on him, right?"

"No, we are here because… Mr. Potter, your name came out of the Goblet of Fire." Minerva said to Harry who just tilted his head in response to the statement.

"Yes or no questions only," Snape reminded her since Harry's ability to respond was highly limited, even with his coherency from the potion he couldn't hold a quill to write with. "Mr. Potter at any point after being put in your cage did you leave?"

Harry shook his head to answer.

"Did you instruct anyone else to enter your name into the tournament?"

Harry again gave the same response.

"Do you even know what we are talking about?"

Instead of shaking or nodding, Harry just gave a shrug. Snape let out a sigh. "In the morning you will meet with the headmaster and he will explain the situation better, for now though," waiting to see Harry nod before turning his gaze to Tonks. "Do not allow anyone else to enter this room tonight."


The following morning was awkward for Harry, he had finished his morning run and was coming into the Great Hall to get some breakfast and all conversations stopped. "Honestly, it's annoying that people still do that when I come into a room," he grumbled as he took a seat at the table and started to pile up the eggs, bacon and sausage.

"Harry did you see the papers?" Hermione hurried over now that Harry had gotten in.

"When would I have the time, I just sat down, Hermione?" Harry groaned because he didn't want to get into anything until he'd had something in his stomach.

"Then I'll read it to you," the bushy haired brunette rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "On the night of October 31st, the champions for the Tri-Wizard Tournament were chosen by the ancient Goblet of Fire, a magical artifact hundreds of years old. The three champions chosen were Bulgaria's own Quidditch Super Star Viktor Krum, France's alluring Fleur Delacour and Britain's favorite son Cedric Diggory. All three are upstanding witches and wizards who will exemplify everything that it means to be great. Unfortunately there was evil involved as a dastardly coward of a student snuck in and shredded all decency of the tournament. A one Harry Potter, werewolf, who some may recall was part of a scheme involving accused mass murderer Sirius Black, had managed to confound the revered and irreplaceable magical artifact and having gone behind the back of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, tricked his way into the tournament."

Harry just glared at his plate while Hermione took a second to catch her breath. "One wonders just what his plan to disrupt our great ministry's plan for international cooperation and brotherhood, but some students who hope to remain nameless for fear of retaliation and being picked off to suffer a gruesome fate have state that Harry Potter was always unstable and did everything he could to gain power and control over the school, as one recalls the Chamber of Secrets incident when Parselmouth Harry Potter was rumored to be using a monster to attack innocent muggleborns, was his affliction karma for his past actions? Does the monster outside reflect the monster within? Are the students safe in the halls with a werewolf who would cheat so brazenly?"

Hermione had to rub the tears of anger from her eyes as she set down the paper. "Harry, they're-"

"I don't care Hermione," Harry interrupted his friend before she could get worked up. "I'm in this stupid tournament, Snape and McGonagall both agreed, which should tell you how screwed I am if those two can come together on anything."

Reaching over to pull the paper from her hands, Harry drew his wand and incinerated the article and set it on the table in front of him to watch the fires consume the writing, the tables were resistant to damage so he didn't have to worry about them burning. But it provided some nice ambience while he ate. "Harry," Hermione gasped in shock at his behavior. "I wasn't done with that, I still had to do the rune puzzle."

"Oh," Harry swallowed his food. "My bad."

"And Ron likes his funnies."

The redhead yawned and sat down next to his two friends having slept in very late and only just now bothering to get up. "I do like my funnies... what smells burnt?"