The sky was getting darker the more he ran. He just encountered two of them, but luckily he succeeded in taking them out. His senses were heightened by the adrenaline, to the point that even the sound of the branches cracking made his head turn instantly.

He was panting heavily, but his pride would not allow him to stop, he had gotten this far, and he knew he could do it; he had a lot of people that were counting on him, he refused to let them down. So, despite his burning lungs and weak legs, he kept running, his objective still clear in his mind.

The past months were difficult. Everyone turned their back on him, and even his best friend did at one point. However, it did not matter to him, not anymore at least. He knew it would be difficult to win the tournament, and at first he did not even want to. He was forced into it but decided to make it an experience for himself.

He had managed to get past most of the traps in his way, leaving only a scratch in his left leg which was now bleeding sparsely. He did not care though, he had something to achieve, so he kept going.

"Ugh." He heard someone moaning behind him and he recognized the voice.

He turned towards it and saw someone he knew getting caught in one of the traps and would most likely be badly hurt. He hesitated for a second before sighing.

"Stupefy!" The curse flew to the injured man, and then he managed to get him out of the trap.

He left him there and kept running until he could finally see his goal right in front of him. His eyes got a little wet from the emotions as he stopped running, he had done it. He will now be able to prove to everyone that he was not a failure. He walked slowly towards it, imagining everything himself holding it and being cheered by his friends and family.

Suddenly when he was only a few steps from it, he heard a screeching sound, as if something was being ripped violently. The air got colder, and he felt a suction force above his head. Thinking it was another trap, he got in position and looked in the air, only to see something that made him tremble in his very bones. A hole in the air, it was dark, cold and the sound definitely came from it, or at least from whatever force was tearing up the air.

What the—

His thoughts were interrupted by something that shot out of the hole, and dropped on him, and then everything went dark.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

"FUCK YOU, CHAOS!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs.

He was hurting a lot. It felt like every part of his body was being stretched beyond its capacity, and then shrunk painfully. It kept happening for a long time, Harry thought he would prefer being exposed to Crucio again than keep it going. Harry then remembered Voldemort's Crucio and shivered internally. He did not want to relive that particular Crucio.

He could not see a thing, his body kept moving and hurting, and he did not know what to do. His only way of coping with the permanent pain was to try and think of something else. However, when he tried to do it, a sharp pain erupted from his scar, it felt like someone was to cut open his skull with a butter knife. It was so painful that Harry finally fainted.

Harry woke up falling. He still did not see anything, but he could feel his body dropping and being pulled down by gravity. His body also stopped aching; now it was just feeling numb. He looked in the direction where his body was falling and noticed a bright sort of opening in the pitch darkness. However, the outlines of that hole did not look welcoming at all, moving in a way that seemed as if they were trying to go back to their original states. Harry was not sure, but he felt deep inside that if he touched the outlines, it would mean the end for him. With a gulp, he tried to adjust his body so he would not end up dead. Fortunately for him, the hole was a lot larger than his body, so it was not a hard thing to do. He moved his numb body so he would take up as little space as possible and waited. While doing so, he laughed at the irony of his actions, it was exactly what his uncle told him a few years ago before Dobby dropped a cake on his guests, minus the quiet part.

He looked at the sort of exit again as he came closer to it and realized that it was even bigger than he thought, even if he was spreading his arms and legs he could still pass through without problems. Harry did not want to test his luck, though, and just waited patiently in his foetal position.

When he finally passed through it, his ears felt like they were going to explode. He looked around him while falling, and it seemed like he was in some sort of garden, or forest, he could not quite tell. He looked beneath him and saw someone, and the second later he fell on that someone, knocking him out. The fall surprisingly did not hurt that much, maybe because of the unconscious man he just fell on.

"I'm sorry." Harry said in a hoarse voice. It appeared like his screaming hurt his throat. "I didn't see you there. Are you okay?"

Hearing no response, Harry panicked. He took the pulse of the man he just fell on, and sighed in relief when he felt something, but when he looked up to see his face, Harry froze. He knew that face, he lived with him.

"Neville?"

Did Chaos mess up? Why is Neville here? Well at the very least, I'm not in that graveyard anymore…

Harry shivered, remembering where he was, what seemed to him, a few minutes ago. He looked around him and noticed that he was, in fact, not in a garden nor a forest. He was in a maze.

What would Neville do in a maze?

Thinking about that made Harry look at his friend's face again, and something did not look right. He was sure it was his friend's face, but something bothered him, however he could not really place what.

He looked up to look at his surroundings again and noticed something weird. A cup was sitting right in front of him on some sort of altar. It looked familiar to Harry, but he also felt something else coming from it, something he had not felt since he was leaving for the World Cup, the difference being that he could now point out what the feeling of the magic was.

He tried to remember how the magic felt in every instance he felt magic coming from an object, and the first thing that came in his mind was the magical eye that his fake D.A.D.A. teacher was wearing. It definitely was not the same feeling he got from it, so he kept browsing his memories. When he arrived at the Portkey memory, he gasped as it was the same thing.

Why is there a Portkey in a maze? And why Neville—

Harry caught his breath, his eyes wide open. His mind put the piece together and looked at his friend's face once again. More precisely on his forehead, where he found a familiar scar, the same he had on his own forehead, a lightning bolt scar.

Harry's mind exploded; he could not understand what was happening. He tried to calm himself down by breathing in and out. He summarized his situation in his head and tried to come up with the most logical conclusion. He thought about it for a moment and the only thing he could think of was that for some reason, Neville was disguised as Harry Potter, and was participating in his place for the Triwizard tournament.

He had recognized the Triwizard cup, and deduced the maze was the third task, and the fact that the cup was a Portkey strengthened his theory since Chaos told him that the impostor planned to portkey Harry in the graveyard in the third task. The loopholes in his theory were the implication of his friend, and the fact that the Portkey was still here, and that Dumbledore did nothing about it.

Let's get rid of that wretched cup first.

He thought for a second about what to do and a wide smile spread across his face. He knew what to do. Maybe it was petty and immature, but that was the only thing he could think of at the moment to piss Voldemort off and take his revenge.

Harry went to his pocket to take his wand out. When his hand reached his back pocket where he usually put his wand, it was empty. He started to tap all the pockets he had, while panic started rising into his body. Suddenly, he remembered what happened in the graveyard. His wand acted by itself and bought enough time for him to escape, it basically saved his life and ended up snapped. Harry felt emptiness filling his body as he thought about how his first comrade left him, and how it would never come back again.

He stayed like that for a moment before he shook himself up and took Neville's wand, he could probably use it for what he needed. It was only one spell. When he had it in his hand, something strange happened, his body filled with warmth and for a moment he felt like the numbness disappeared from his body. However, it was only for a very short moment, the warmth left his body after a few seconds, but the wand still felt great, just like when he tried his holly wand at Ollivander when he was eleven.

He looked at Neville's wand to examine it and once again his brain froze. It was his wand, the wand which just saved him and snapped in the graveyard. Something was wrong, Harry could feel it in his bones. Before making another mind-blowing discovery, and while still unnerved by the wand, he waved it.

"Ssserpensssortia." He hissed in Parseltongue, and a large boa appeared.

"Go and touch the Cup," Harry said. "When you sssee a bald man with red eyesss, try to bite him." Harry knew it would not kill the man, but he just wanted to make him angry, and he had no other idea at the moment.

He was not sure the boa understood everything he said even while talking in Parseltongue, the order seemed too long for it. Nevertheless, when Harry pointed the cup with the wand, the boa went and disappeared with it. Harry sighed in relief, that was one thing less to worry about.

Still doesn't explain why Neville has my wand… I'm sure I heard it snap earlier. Maybe it's a fake? Harry thought while examining the wand again. It was the same, a little bit cleaner maybe but essentially the same. Even the feeling of warmth he got from it was the same, it just fit his hand. Harry was utterly lost; not understanding what was happening.

All of a sudden, Harry heard some noise. As if the hedges around him were moving by themselves. He frantically looked around him, trying to spot the source of the noise. While doing so, he heard another sound, louder this time, it sounded like cheers. It somewhat confirmed his theory about the third task, but still did not make any sense. Even with the training he had done, his mind was a mess at that moment. He was looking in front of him, wondering how the hedges were opening themselves alone, forgetting for a moment he was a wizard and that it was not a weird occurrence at all.

"Wake up you daft kid!" Chaos' voice startled him in his daze. It was weird, Chaos was not supposed to be able to talk to him when he was awake. It only happened once before. "I screwed up, you're not exactly where I wanted to send you. With you almost dying I had to minimize the drawing so you could do it fast."

"Where am I?" Harry interrupted him.

"Don't interrupt me. It's already hard enough to maintain a connection while you're awake. Technically, you're still at Hogwarts. The problem would be that it's not exactly your Hogwarts…"

Harry's mind started swirling at that information he had just gotten, trying to draw a coherent conclusion from it.

"You won't guess by yourself, and if you did I would call you crazy." Chaos said as if he was reading his mind. "So, as I was saying, you're not at your Hogwarts, and more precisely, you're not in your universe."

Harry stared in the air dumbly, not sure about the implication of what he just heard.

"You still are in the good universe, I'm not that bad. It's just that the stone isn't exactly here. Oh, time's up! Well see you in a week or two, I'll need some time, not as much as the last time though. After that we'll go for the stone. Try not dying in the meantime, alright?"

Harry wanted to kill Chaos; he was useless. He could not even understand what he had to do now, stuck in a different universe.

What the hell does that even mean?!

"Oh, and before I forget, Harry Potter doesn't exist anymore in this universe. That's why your friend has the scar and the wand. By the way, be a good boy and return it to him." Chaos' voice faded by the end of his sentence, and Harry was even more determined to strangle him.

However, he had no more time, the hedge in front of him almost completely disappeared and the noise coming from the crowd grew stronger. He had to hide, Chaos said he was not supposed to exist in that universe anymore, it would surely cause problems if he was seen.

Think Harry, you have to think bloody hell!

Then he had an illumination, and even a second one. Looking at how things happened, it seemed that there was also a traitor among the professor, it might even be the same one, so Harry could use that fact to avoid the attention.

So, he brandished Neville's wand and started writing something on the floor with bright letters. It was now visible enough for anyone to see. MOODY IS A FAKE! was written just next to Neville so it would look like he wrote it himself. Now he just had to hide and wait for the commotion, fortunately for him he still had his cloak in his pocket. Weirdly enough, his captors did not feel the need to take it from him, and he was not going to complain.

He dropped the wand next to Neville's hand and ran like crazy to find a good spot to hide and think about his second illumination. He remembered something he saw earlier that year with Chaos, a memory, Merlin's memory. If he also existed in this universe, surely his hideout would be at the same spot, right? Harry tried to remember as much as he could the location of the cave but got nothing more than an approximative area.

It's better than nothing I guess… Now let's just not get caught and find a place to stay.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Albus Dumbledore had lived long enough to experience a lot of things. He had seen people being hurt in the Triwizard tournament, disappear, and even die. But never had he ever witnessed something like what was in front of him at the moment. Neville Longbottom was on the ground, unconscious, only a few steps between him and where the cup was supposed to be. Seeing that, one could think he got bested by one of his fellow champions, but Dumbledore, after a quick wordless Hominum Revelio, knew that it was not the case and also noticed that there was one person that was not supposed to be in the maze at that time. Before he could investigate, something bright caught his eye.

MOODY IS A FAKE!

Dumbledore quickly made the message disappear to not cause panic. He turned to his supposed old friend, and smiled at him, however his eyes were not twinkling as usual, they were just cold. If what was written next to Neville was true, this was not his friend, and he deduced he was the one who put Neville's name in the Goblet. It was even likely that he had something to do with Crouch's death.

Alastor's magical eye started spinning like crazy and Dumbledore saw a flick of something he rarely saw in his old friend's expression, nervousness. Albus could not risk him escaping, so with a swift and unnoticed wand movement, he made the impostor faint. People around him started screaming.

"Do not worry, your teacher informed me that he felt a little under the weather today. If Professor Flitwick does not mind, I think it would be a great idea to accompany him to his quarters, so he can treat him." He looked Filius in the eye and used a little Legilimency on him to pass him a single word, Impostor. "I shall check on him later, as soon as I'm done with this Tournament predicament."

The charm master's face did not even flinch as he nodded and with a flick of his wand made the body levitate to follow him.

"Now that we are reassured, shall we try to understand what has happened in this third task?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. And with a quick Rennervate, the revered headmaster made Neville awake. The latter stood up in surprise and looked around him frantically.

"Wha… What happened?" He asked, seeming disoriented.

"Well, my boy, that is what we were going to ask you." Professor Dumbledore kindly asked in return. "You were found unconscious just a few steps away from the cup, and all of your competitors were already unconscious."

"I don't know, I was going to get the cup…" He seemed like he just remembered something. "Something fell on me. I don't know what, but that thing knocked me out."

"Who won? I mean, if I did not get the cup, and it's not there anymore, it means that someone else got it, right?"

Albus studied the boy's face for a few seconds. He knew he did not lie to him; he did not even need to use Legilimency, the boy respected him too much, he would not dare being dishonest with him.

"That my boy is an excellent question, I—"

Suddenly a little Pop! sound was heard, and people started whispering loudly. Dumbledore turned towards the source of the commotion and saw the cup lying on the grass, and on the top of it stood a snake. Its head was turned towards a point behind Neville's head. He started hissing, and then as abruptly as he appeared, he disappeared.

That silenced the crowd for a few minutes before someone broke it.

"Our little Snake King has won!" Fred Weasley shouted.

"Even the cup is not worthy of him, so he asked his subject to retrieve it for him!." Continued his twin.

And the crowd went crazy.

Dumbledore for his part did not pay attention to it, he was looking pensively at where the snake hissed at. It could be Neville, but from the latter's expression, that was not it. He casted Hominum Revelio again, but nothing came from it. Something was fishy, but for now he had an impostor to interrogate, and a Parselmouth boy to question, this was going to be a long night.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Damn snake! I almost got caught because of it. Why on earth would he come back to tell me that he did not find a baldie with red eyes? Just disappear like every summoned snake dammit!

Harry was in a really bad mood for several reasons. He was stuck in a different universe, without anyone to help him, and even Chaos was not available. He almost got caught by Albus Dumbledore, because of a snake, and last but not least, he noticed some people in the crowd. Someone who had an uncanny resemblance to him, carrying a little redhead on his lap and surrounded by another redhead, older this time, and two men. Chaos did not warn him that his parents existed in this universe, and he almost got a heart attack when he saw them. As soon as he got his act together, he started sprinting towards the Forbidden Forest, where he could catch a breath.

The only good point in this whole situation, was that apparently Voldemort was not back yet in this world. It seemed that Harry saved Neville from some Unforgivable curses, and he was glad he did, Neville was a good bloke.

Now that the adrenaline finally left his body, it started to hurt like crazy. His sore body had a hard time withstanding it, but he had to bear with it. He could not faint in the Forest. Who knows what would have happened to him if he did. The only thought of Aragog made him tremble in disgust and fear.

He walked until it was pitch dark and was now literally in the middle of the area from his memory. The only problem was that it was a huge place, and no cave in sight. He was a few dozen miles from the castle but could not find it despite browsing through his memory for a very long time. He then decided to do exactly what Merlin did in his time to find it, scan the area with his magic and try to find a spot reeking with it.

Until then he never tried something that Merlin did, except for the meditation. He just had this blockage in his mind, he could not hope of surpassing Merlin, the man whose name is still used today to swear. However, Harry could not care anymore about it, he was terribly famished, his body ached, and he was utterly exhausted. He did not even have the strength to think about being able to do it or not, he just did it.

Fortunately for him, it worked, he felt something not too far from his position and walked towards it. When he got there, he did not find a cave nor a door, just plain grass. He focused himself again on the magic and felt it exactly where he stood. He tried to channel his magic through his hand and make contact with the grass beneath him, but nothing happened. After looking for a solution for almost one hour, he gave up, too exhausted to keep going, and laid down on the grass, Invisibility cloak covering him and fell asleep.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

"Phew… That was a close call." Chaos sighed. "I should study wands one day, that trick was useful."

He was, as usual, talking to himself after the disastrous turn that his plan took. He almost got the kid killed.

"To be fair, if this idiot didn't get himself caught in the first place, this wouldn't have happened." He said. "Whatever…"

He looked at his protegee on earth, escaping the crowd and the headmaster to run towards the forest. He followed him until he got to a place he did not imagine he would find, Merlin's old hideout. The boy was lucky that this universe was almost the same as his own, he had left him alone in a place no one could help him, and he managed to get through it, at least for now.

"That brat is screwed, it won't open unless he uses pure and powerful magic directly. No intermediary, no wand or anything like that." Chaos thought out loud. "Though luck for him."

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

"He's done it." An ancient voice said.

Two figures were sitting around a fire. It seemed like they had been there forever, and if not for the fire and their lips moving they could have been confused for statues.

"That was bound to happen, Second." Another voice rose. "Now that First left us, the matter is no longer in our hands."

"But Third, we have to—"

She was interrupted by her sister who was seized by a coughing fit.

"We do not have to do anything, Second." Third said in a weak voice, her throat hurt from the coughing. "Please, drop the matter. Our work is almost done, we should not meddle with what is coming."

"Yours is. I have no work whatsoever. I'm just the third wheel." Second grumbled darkly.

Third looked at her for a long moment, not saying a word. Her face showed the pity and guilt that she felt towards her sister but did not say anything as she was seized another coughing fit.

"I think… I think we should just sleep for now…" She finally said in a murmur.

Then the sun rose slowly, and the fire died quietly.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Albus Dumbledore had not felt like that since a really long time. Not only did he felt guilty, but he also felt incompetent. When people insulted him for not fighting in the first war, he had the excuse of being a teacher in the first place. However, now he could not even use that as an excuse since his capacity as an educator just fell to the floor. His responsibility was to take care of all his students, he learned last night that one of them mysteriously disappeared and another died. At the hands of one of his own teachers.

When he first saw that the shiny little ball started becoming dull and emitting no more light, he thought that it must have been broken. From what he knew about it, it was supposed to be shiny if Harry was alive, and break into pieces if he died. However, he did not know the reason for its light dying down. It was a gift from his old friend Nicolas Flamel, and as he passed away, Albus could not ask him about it.

He heard about the poor Ronald Weasley, while trying to figure that little ball out. Severus had come back with a solemn face and some alarming news. The first one was about Harry, Albus felt a weight lift from his shoulders when he heard that the boy escaped. Even though he did not know why his artifact was acting this way, the fact that he managed to escape was still a good thing. The rest of the night was… tiring.

Flashback

"We should then try and find him as soon as—"

Snape interrupted him, looking sick but determined at the same time.

"There was an unexpected… situation."

Albus squinted his eyes and redressed himself on his chair, devoting his whole attention to the potion master.

"Someone followed me. As I was Apparating, someone jumped on me, and we ended up in the graveyard together."

Albus did not like where this was going.

"I quickly neutralized him so he would not be noticed and was preparing to go and meet the Dark Lord. However, he caught us first."

Dumbledore dropped his eyes, defeated. "Who?" He asked quietly.

"The Dark Lord was going to kill us both, but he gave me the chance to prove my loyalty—" Snape acted as he did not hear his headmaster.

"Who?"

"I was forced to do it, for the mission—"

"Who. Was. It?" Dumbledore talked colder than he ever did.

"Ronald Weasley."

The answer took its time to reach Albus Dumbledore's brain.

"Leave."

Without another word, Severus Snape left the office.

End of Flashback

Albus was tired and defeated, but he could not let it show. He was a pillar of the Wizarding World, if he fell on the day of Voldemort's return, it could make things worse. So, no matter how he felt, he walked towards the Great Hall where students were actually having breakfast, to notify them about the news, but also to warn them. Warn them about the dark times that were coming.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Albus Dumbledore prided himself on being highly competent at the things he undertook. Sure, he made some mistakes, but he was still a human and humans were not perfect. That is how he labelled the whole incident with Crouch Junior, a mistake. He had misrecognized someone he thought of as his friend, it almost turned for the worst. He questioned the impostor extensively and learned about everything that had happened, in the end nothing happened, but one thing remained true, Voldemort had a way of coming back. After the interrogation, he left the man with someone from the Ministry he trusted, Amelia Bones. She did not like him very much, but she was a strong-willed woman who always stood up for what was right.

All in all, Dumbledore was relieved about how the day ended up, the worse was avoided, and Neville was safe. Talking about the young Gryffindor, Albus had a talk with him, and even for an experienced man like himself, it was… disturbing.

Flashback

Neville entered the office, looking tired and disappointed.

"Hello my boy. How are you feeling?"

"… Good." He hesitated before answering, his tone also sounding disappointed.

"It is not the first time that you take the credit for something you did not do."

Neville's head shot up, his eyes full of anger.

"However, this time I must tell you that I am relieved you did not touch the cup."

"You see, we caught the man who put your name in the Goblet." Before Neville could interject, Albus continued. "I will not recount to you all the details as the Ministry will take care of it, but the cup was a Portkey that would have brought you to where Voldemort was."

Neville's eyes shivered at the idea.

"My boy, if you had touched the cup, Voldemort would have resurrected, and you would probably be…"

"…Dead?" Neville asked quietly.

Dumbledore nodded and kept going. "Humans do have a knack of choosing things that are worst for them, and I am glad you did not have the choice in that particular matter."

Neville nodded dumbfounded at the revelation of his nearly death.

"Now my boy, the reason I wanted to talk to you was about the snake. He came back with the cup and told you something, am I right?"

Dumbledore was almost a hundred percent sure the snake talked to someone else, but he asked, nonetheless.

"Actually… I don't think he was talking to me." He started. "It said 'There was no bald man with red eyes to bite boss.' Ahem." He looked a little embarrassed at his imitation.

Dumbledore smiled to ease the boy's embarrassment. But inside his mind was twirling like crazy. Someone knew about Voldemort, this someone saved Neville and tried to harm Voldemort at the same time. He deduced that it was the fifth person in the maze that he felt while using 'Hominum Revelio' earlier. It was a potential ally, with better intelligence than himself.

"Thank you Neville. You can go back to your dormitory. A victory, of any kind, must be celebrated with your friends."

End of Flashback

Dumbledore let out a sigh of relief, sucking on a sherbet lemon. He was going to have an excellent night of sleep.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

Just on time!

I hope you liked it, don't hesitate to tell me what you are your thoughts in the : R-E-V-I-E-W-S!

See you soon ;)