Title: Defying the Goblet of Fire
Rating: PG
Summary: The books weren't clear to me if there were real consequences for not competing if your name was drawn from the GoF. What if there were and also in unexpected ways?
Warning: Unbeta'd, so typo's and thinko's probably abound.

Harry danced with Ginny at the Yule Ball, smiling at her because of how happy she made him feel. It was so wonderful he could even momentarily ignore the trouble he was in as the fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament.

In the year after he'd saved her in the Chamber of Secrets, they had eyed each other and stolen secret moments together to talk. They had each felt a draw to one another; it was a small but steady pull. It had been Ginny that had figured out that her magic had created a bond between them and started pulling them together. Once Harry had moved beyond his initial reaction of surprise and whining about "everything always happens to me", he'd come to enjoy it as much as she did. It wasn't until the beginning of his fourth year that they'd made their relationship public.

Taking a break from their dancing, they found an alcove near the Great Hall and spent some alone time. Though it wasn't their first kiss, this kiss changed something in them. Their intent towards the other had strengthened the bond to a new level. Each could now feel the other, sort of like a warm mental blanket. There was no sharing of thoughts or emotions, just a sureness of the other and a feeling of connection to "their mate". Because of how Harry had grown up, it was comforting in a way he'd never felt before.

On the eve of the second task, Harry knew what he had to do the next day, but neither he nor Ginny knew what would be taken from him and placed in the lake. This worried him, but they both felt that he would prevail, as he had against the dragon. As usual, they gave each other a light good-night kiss before going to bed.

Unbeknownst to either of them, their head of house visited the girls' dorm a few hours later, casting multiple sleeping spells, and leaving with an unconscious redhead whom she gave to the Triwizard judges. Her duty done, she retired for the evening.

At half past nine the next morning, McGonagall looked at the clock and dithered for a moment about what to do. She didn't have time to go find the wayward champion, but he needed to be in position in half an hour. Before she escorted Cedric down, she walked over to Potter's friends.

"Mr Weasley, where is Mr Potter?"

Ron stopped eating for a moment and looked up. "He was in bed last I saw, Professor."

"I see; thank you." McGonagall turned and took a few steps to the side before she called, "Tippy!"

Her assigned personal elf popped in. "The Professor calls Tippy?"

"Yes. Please go to the dorm room for the fourth year Gryffindor boys and wake Mr Potter. Tell him to go straight to the lake as the task begins in thirty minutes."

Tippy bowed and popped away. McGonagall walked over and informed Cedric Diggory that it was time to go, allowing him a short moment to say good-bye to his friends and for them to wish him luck.

As the two reached the front doors, the house-elf popped in and looked worried. "Professor, Tippy can not wake the boy. Not even shaking works."

That gave her pause. With a sigh, she looked at her other charge. "Mr Diggory, please go to the tent down by the lake. Try to find the Headmaster and tell him I'm having to bring Mr Potter down." The boy promised and left, so she hurried up to the Potter's dorm room and contemplated a suitable punishment for his lack of time management.

Inside, it was as the elf described. Nothing she did could wake him and the few diagnostic charms she knew showed nothing wrong with him. Not sure what else to do, she transfigured his pyjamas into warm clothes, charmed his trainers onto his feet, grabbed his wand, and finally levitated him in front of her as she hurried towards the lake and their resident mediwitch. Hopefully, Poppy could revive him and then he could compete.

Arriving a mere five minutes before the start of the task, she hurried into the tent for the champions with many students staring at her as she passed them with an obviously unconscious Harry Potter.

"Poppy!" she called frantically as she entered, drawing the attention of the other champions and the judges in addition to the mediwitch.

Bagman frowned and was the first to find his voice. "What have you done to him, Professor? We're about to start."

Dumbledore reached them at the same time Pomphrey did, with the rest following and looking on. McGonagall laid the boy on a bed and let the mediwitch get to work.

"I did nothing other than dress him and bring him here," she said defensively at Bagman. "He didn't wake up this morning and he still wasn't awake when I went up to retrieve him. Furthermore, nothing I did would wake him."

"Poppy?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"I don't know, Headmaster. I've never seen anything like it. There's nothing wrong with him that I can find, yet he won't wake up for me either." Pomphrey tried yet another charm, but it also did nothing useful .

"It's time to start," Percy Weasley pointed out.

"What will happen to him if he doesn't participate?" McGonagall asked with a hint of worry. "It was said this was a binding magical contract."

The judges from three schools looked at each other since Barty Crouch wasn't there. "He will be in contempt of the contract, will he not?" Karkaroff half-asked half-stated.

"Probably, but what will it do to the boy?" Maxime asked, looking at Dumbledore.

After a long moment, Dumbledore said gravely, "I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure. I'm not familiar with all of the runes on the Goblet of Fire."

Everyone looked at each other, even the other three champions, none willing to commit to an action until Percy said, "It's past time to start. We must start without him."

Bagman nodded with disappointment. "You're right, the Tournament must go on. Champions, you know the task, please proceed to the bank of the lake and prepare. We start in two minutes." He led the parade out.

Pomphrey started to work frantically on Potter while McGonagall headed out to find Flitwick, hoping the Charms professor might have an idea since many medical spells fell under his discipline. The task had officially started by the time she hurried Flitwick into the tent.

McGonagall stood at the door and started to truly worry for the first time about Harry Potter. All the other times, except for when they left him on his relatives' porch, she'd always come along after the trouble had occurred. This time she was in the middle of it and she vowed to herself that if Potter came out of this alive that she'd never disregard anything about him again.

Looking out of the tent and towards the big clock that was timing the event, she grew more worried as she saw the hour for the task running out. A look of dread on the Headmaster's face didn't help at all nor did the look of helplessness on the other two staff in tent.

As the timer ran out, she stared at her little lion, not failing to notice that Poppy and Filius had made no progress. Suddenly, Potter's body jerked and then went still. She let out an very relieved breath when she saw his chest move slightly. "Poppy?" she called out, hoping she was right.

A deft flick of the wand and the mediwitch gave her wan smile. "He's still alive. Something happened, but Potter's survived."

Hearing a cry of shock, McGonagall looked out of the tent and saw the other judges hurrying over to Dumbledore, who was laying on the ground clutching his chest. "Poppy! Filius! This way, hurry!" She rushed over to join the others, arriving as Dumbledore's struggles ceased and he lay still.

Poppy arrived a few steps behind her and continued forward. A single diagnostic spell was all that was needed. "He's dead."

"What happened?" was murmured by many as they gathered round, except for Percy Weasley who was the only one watching Cedric bring Cho out of the water - the last champion to return.

Filius leaned over the Headmaster and performed a few spells. "It would appear that he lost his magic and died, much like breaking an Unbreakable Vow."

"You make it sound as if he violated the contract of the Goblet of Fire somehow," McGonagall breathed, aghast at the idea that he would somehow be struck down by it when he wasn't a contestant.

Flitwick nodded as an idea occurred to him. "That's the most likely scenario." He looked at the judges. "Since I wasn't there, who cast the spells on those under the lake."

"Dumbledore," Maxime said quietly, or as quietly as the half-giant's booming voice could go.

Flitwick considered it for a moment as he looked around and saw half of the hostages present. "Is someone retrieving the two who were not rescued?"

"Dumbledore was the only one who spoke Mermish," McGonagall said, "but I'll try to let the Mer-Chief know the task is over."

"Poppy," Flitwick looked at her, "please bring Mr Potter out here. I now have an idea and need to be able to watch him for a bit."

The mediwitch looked confused but complied. The crowd stayed silent as they continued to watch, stunned at the Headmaster's death.

It took another half hour, but McGonagall was eventually successful and the last two hostages were brought forth. Flitwick shook his head grimly as Potter started to wake when his hostage, Ginny Weasley, was pulled out of the lake and started to come to. Flitwick was not the only one to make the connection between the events now that the evidence was so obvious after his requests; most of the others nodding sadly were older Ravenclaws also.

However, Pomphrey was still mystified and looked at Flitwick as she helped to warm up the two young ladies fresh out of the lake, as well as dealing with a very confused Harry Potter. "Filius?"

Flitwick shook his head again and all around him leaned in a little more to hear. "Albus bore the brunt of contempt against the Goblet of Fire; it judged him and found him wanting."

"But he wasn't a contestant," Pomphrey argued.

"No, but he directly prevented a contested from competing … Mr Potter."

"Huh?" the boy asked, still trying to figure out what was going on as he held his girlfriend close to help warm her up.

"The Headmaster," Flitwick explained, "was judged guilty of preventing you from competing, Mr Potter."

"How did that happen?" McGonagall asked with a slightly shaky voice.

"He cast the spell on Miss Weasley, which rendered Mr Potter unconscious. A Stunning spell wouldn't have done it, but the type of spell he cast on the hostages also affected Mr Potter and caused him to be unconscious also. It's unfortunate Albus didn't do this during the day when the problem would have been obvious."

"That makes no sense," McGonagall argued.

"It does if they are a bonded couple," Flitwick said quietly before he turned to the young couple. "Congratulations and be careful to keep the other safe."

(A/N: Here's an extended scene that I'd love to see in a story. I'm releasing it here because I don't see me being able to incorporate this into any of my stories. The next challenge after this is what happens in the war against Voldie without Albus there to guide Harry as he did in the books.

While I developed the scene with Ginny as the leading lady, it could work with anyone as long as you can come up with a logical reason for the bond existing. Using the CoS was the easiest thing to do for me.

There's something about scenes where Dumbledore's cleverness comes back to bite him that I just love. Maybe that's why I wrote The British Reformation, as that's a theme there. :-)

Lastly, everyone seems to portray bonds as good things - myself included. However, shouldn't there be some drawbacks to them?)