Harry couldn't help but grin like a lunatic as he and Hermione spiraled through the sky. It never got old. Even times like now, just flying to Hogsmeade for the day, he loved flying. Loved flying with Hermione. Loved tumbling through the open sky while his worries slipped away, seeing his Ice Queen smile brightly as she let herself relax and enjoy it too.

Unfortunately, they were just going to Hogsmeade, so the flight ended all too soon. They touched down together outside of the Three Broomsticks, the bustling crowd around the door freezing or backing up in shock as they landed. Even though everyone supposedly knew that they could fly, it still seemed to surprise normal witches and wizards.

The pub was more crowded than usual as they found a table, enjoying the warm atmosphere after the brisk wind in the sky. Their schedule for Hogsmeade weekends normally included grabbing a butterbeer and enjoying a change of scenery before moving up into the forest to practice their apparition.

Eyes followed them and stayed on them as they ordered their drinks. Hermione glanced around and elbowed him.

"What do you want to bet there's a new article by tomorrow?"

Harry looked over and saw Rita Skeeter in one of the booths, trying to look like she wasn't sneaking glances at them every few seconds.

"Life as a public figure, I suppose. For the record, I'm sorry for dragging you into this. But to be fair, I was already pretty famous, so you knew what you were signing up for. I seem to remember you being the one to point out just how famous I was on the train in first year."

Hermione laughed. "I seem to remember you being very concerned that I would run away when I found out about your monster problem. You didn't tell me that the real reason I should have left was because I might end up in the papers."

"Ah yes, the true horror. Not death by trolls or zombies, death by scandal," Harry faked a swoon and almost fell out of his chair. At least it made Hermione laugh again.

"I don't know, do you have any skeletons in your closet aside from a few melted hands?"

"I promise that I have told you about all of the many, many skeletons in my palatial, Noble House sized closet."

"I honestly forgot that you're wizard royalty or whatever. I'm surprised the Daily Prophet hasn't started calling you Lord Potter. Maybe I should send them a reminder?"

"Fire away, Ice Queen. Also, it's only easy to forget because Albus is still stealing my mail, but I keep forgetting to ask him about it."

"You have no actual desire to receive any of that mail, do you?"

"Not in the slightest. But Albus doesn't need to know that."

…

Harry and Hermione stood in the woods a couple of miles south of Hogsmeade. They usually just picked a random, out of the way spot for their apparition practice.

Harry focused and stepped forward, feeling the now familiar squeezing pressure and…

"No pain this time?"

He looked around to see if he was missing any body parts.

"Nope! No fingernails missing, everything in the right place, I arrived at the correct spot and not in Poland. I think I officially did it!"

"You know, I don't think that the normal way to learn apparition is just 'do it over and over until I stop splinching myself'."

"Are you going to try again today?"

"I'm working myself up to it. Some of us actually think before we throw ourselves into the void."

"Some of us can apparate."

"Shut up. Let me focus."

She disappeared with a crack and reappeared right on target. Presumably with all of her limbs.

"See? And I never had to grow new legs."

…

"Are you worried about the dragon?"

Harry and Hermione sat on the edge of the roof of one of the towers, looking out over the forest. In the distance, they could see small flashes of dragonfire as the beasts settled in.

"A little bit. I don't know how strong the demonic possession will be. I'd prefer not to be forced to brutally kill a dragon in front of a horrified crowd of children. I don't think it would stop Rita from writing articles about me, and it would move me one step closer to the Dark Lord side of the public opinion slider."

"I guess that's true. I don't know if it would be worse if you got eaten in front of everyone and had to explain your miraculous recovery."

"That would definitely be worse. I'd probably have to prove that I'm not an Inferi or something equally stupid. I'm going to do my best not to die, if only because it would be inconvenient."

Hermione snorted. "Every once in a while, I have this little voice in my head say, 'how did we get here again?' and talking about being killed by a dragon in gladiatorial blood-sport being considered a minor inconvenience definitely counts. When exactly did life get this weird?"

"Well, probably about when you found out about magic. That had to be a wild one."

"Less so than this, I guess. I was just a kid, and finding out that there were tons of people who could also make weird stuff happen and I was going to go to magic school felt like the start of an adventure from a book, but it wasn't really that jarring. It didn't feel that much different than the teachers at school telling me I was gifted or reading at a year twelve level. But now…"

"We stand alone on a pinnacle, or at least with very few others. Everything and everyone else start to feel small."

"Yes. I know that it's not fair to them, but…"

"It's why Albus lets me pester him, and why Moody was so eager to fight. It's why Voldemort keeps calling me his Nemesis. It's lonely, amid the highest peaks."

Hermione dropped her head onto his shoulder. "I'm happy that we have each other then. Hopefully it's enough to stop us from becoming totally insane, although it might be too late for you."

Harry wrapped his arm around her back. "You know that you like it, Ice Queen."

"Yeah. Just don't get a big head about it, Death Walker."

…

"Are you sure you don't want to try convincing the dragon to join the good side with delicious roast chicken?

"I'm sorry Luna, the only thing I'm allowed to bring into the arena is my wand."

"Could they really prove that a roast chicken wasn't your wand?"

"Unfortunately, there was a wand weighing ceremony, and I didn't think to submit a roast chicken. It would have been hilarious in hindsight though.

…

Harry walked into the wide arena while the crowd cheered. He could feel hundreds of sparks, hundreds of eyes on him as he entered. He was the last champion to go, the other already having successfully retrieved their golden eggs. He was assigned the largest and most feral of the dragons, all the better for the Mark to use to claim his soul.

Dumbledore would be focused on countering any stray attacks that could hit the crowd and may overwhelm the standard protections in place.

Hermione and Luna knew not to interfere. He would hitch a ride in Hermione's soul until he could get a new body if his was completely destroyed.

Harry stared across the rocky enclosure towards the great beast.

Its scales were dark and hard as iron, its horns and spikes burnished bronze. Its blazing red eyes tracked him like a lion spying a rabbit. He could feel its burning soul, powerful and full of rage as it looked for the bearer of the Mark.

His beasts had always been the terror in the dark, the unpredictable and unexpected violence that could find him at any moment. Growing up, he had run from them over and over until he learned to fight, and then he had fought over and over until he came to Hogwarts.

Now, he had different battles to fight. Different, more dangerous demons that hunted him.

Despite his monsters' speed and deadly rage, they were just beasts. The demonic magic of the Mark infused their flesh and empowered it, but it could not extend outside of their flesh to counter or fend off attacks the way that a powerful witch or wizard's would. No matter how powerful the soul, they could not use that power to defend themselves properly.

Harry stood before one of the most powerful beasts he had ever faced, the strongest of creatures for the Mark to use to hunt him. It snarled and roared, preparing to try its best to end him.

He had outgrown his demons.

Harry raised his hand and brought forth his power. More and more magic flowed from him in the blink of an eye, a river turned into a flood turned into an ocean. He lifted himself from the ground upon the tide and condensed an ever increasing well of power into the space around him until the arena was warping and churning like boiling water and the air crackled with burning ozone. Still, he forced his power further, twisting his full potential into the iron grip of his will.

And with that great fist of endless magic, he chained the Horntail within his power and lifted it from the ground.

The audience fell silent as the dragon went still and rose into the air, its legs and wings pressed tightly against its sides as it floated helplessly over the arena.

It couldn't even roar.

Harry lowered his arm and floated over to its nest, his focus never wavering from the chained beast.

He picked up the golden egg.

His demons would trouble him no longer. He had bigger battles to fight.

The silence continued until he left the arena and the dragon fell to the ground with a thunderous crash.

…

Harry left the hospital tent after a required checkup, despite not coming close to the dragon at all.

"Okay, so I admit that it may have been a little dramatic."

"A little dramatic?"

"Maybe a lot dramatic."

He and Hermione stood and waited for his scores to be announced. Bagman and the three school heads were talking amongst themselves by their raised, golden seats.

Madame Maxime raised her wand and gave him a nine.

Honestly, he didn't care about the scores outside of the plan for him to win the tournament to figure out what Voldemort was up to.

Dumbledore gave him a ten. All part of the plan. Hurrah for favoritism.

Bagman also gave him a ten. Nice.

Karkaroff gave him a six. Boo to favoritism.

Hermione glared at Karkaroff but didn't even bother commenting. Having the heads of the competing schools as judges and expecting them to be impartial was insane. Harry had no idea why they did it that way.

Hermione sighed as they headed back towards the castle.

"At least you're solidly in the lead. Krum was next best and still a few points behind, even with Karkaroff giving him a ten. Honestly, I don't know if your spectacle was more or less terrifying than killing the dragon with a sword."

"Albus told me to incapacitate the dragon without killing it. I did so. With lots of magical weightlifting."

"You are somehow terrible and excellent at public relations at the same time. I have no idea what way they are going to spin this."

"Rita is right over there; do you want to ask her?"

"No. Let's just go flying or something. I'm… I'm really glad that you're okay, Harry."

"You're the one who told me no more sick days, Ice Queen."

…