Remus,

I know Harry sent a similar letter to Sirius explaining what happened on Halloween but I need to ask for your help for Harry. I've looked through everything I can find in the Hogwarts library on the Triwizard Tournament and in particular on the Goblet of Fire but found nothing to get Harry out of the supposedly binding contract the Goblet makes with the participants.

Professor Dumbledore isn't even certain what the penalty will be if Harry doesn't compete, the only thing for certain is that he will lose his magic. None of us want that to happen but with the death rates of the past Tournaments…well, you can understand why I'm worried. Harry is at least three years younger than the other participants and rather than offer assistance, the professors are emphasizing that the Champions cannot ask the staff of their respective schools for assistance.

What utter rot! Why else would the HEADMASTERS be the ones accompanying the students if not to help them? I was thinking perhaps you could coach Harry for the Tournament? Give him more of a chance than just having me coaching him will? Also, do you think there are any books on the Goblet itself in the Black library? I can find very little on it here. The other thing I'm looking for is information on the Grail. Now you know what I'm thinking the Ministry is using as a bingo caller.

Please let us know what you and Padfoot think (especially about your faithful canine companion accompanying you to Hogwarts.) I know Harry explained more in his letter to Sirius.

Take care,

Hermione

Remus sat back and waited for Sirius to finish reading his letter from Harry.

'Well, Padfoot?"

Running a tired hand over his face, Sirius groaned. "I don't suppose Hermione put anything in her letter to you about Harry being both cheered and shunned as Gryffindor's Champion did she?"

"No, but she did say Harry was explaining more in his letter. what did he say?"

"It seems, at least in the Tower, that the Gryffindors don't know if he cheated and entered himself as the boy-who-lived or if he really was entered in order for someone to try and kill him. And Ron Weasley is firmly in the camp that Harry is doing it all for attention. The pick up quidditch games went from something everyone thought was such a great idea to a desperate bid for attention by Harry. Add in ALL of Hufflepuff hates him for taking away Diggory's spotlight, Ravenclaw is going along with Hufflepuff and Slytherin are just a bunch of snakes and Harry and Hermione are having a rough go of it."

"Ah, And things were going so well for them this year. Padfoot, Hermione wants me to contact Dumbledore and suggest being a coach of sorts for Harry. Emphasize that he is only 14 and three years younger than the others and see if we can get into the castle with him."

"Harry mentioned something similar. He also said that Hermione brought up the fact that the Ministry keeps touting the Tournament being for 'of age' witches and wizards. Maybe we should have Harry get in touch with the Goblins? Ironfirst has been good to me since I escaped. The old battle axe would love nothing more than to find a way to stick it to the Ministry and Dumbledore."

"She also wants me to look for information on the Goblet of Fire. Seems her Muggle upbringing has her thinking that it's more than just a toy for the Ministry to trot out when they want to create a spectacle. She's actually leaning towards it being the lost cup Pendragon searched for."

Sirius dropped his glass. "What? I don't think I've ever heard that theory floated around and you know how my family was. If the Blacks could have gotten a hold of that kind of power through the Unspeakables and the DOM…I'm not sure what you'll find in the library but I'll help you look."

Remus clapped his hands together. "Then it's settled. You write to Ironfist first and let him know we will be getting in touch with him about Harry and I will see if I can round up a few more enchanted mirrors. I don't want to send the instructions for them by owl even if they are delivered by Hedwig. We need the Goblins to check for loopholes in the Ministry law as it pertains to the tournament. It's time Harry had more than just Hermione supporting him at Hogwarts.

It was Wednesday afternoon after Halloween and Harry and Hermione were free for the rest of the day. Charms had been painful with glares and snickers from their housemates and outright hostility from the Slytherins. Twice Hermione had to stop Harry from banishing Malfoy's book right into his face. On the one hand, she was impressed at Harry mastering a spell they wouldn't get to until after Christmas break but she also didn't want him in detention for breaking the ferret's nose.

"Tell me again what Professor Moody told you?" Hermione asked, pacing in the abandoned classroom she and Harry had appropriated originally for the sole purpose of training but ended up using as a substitute common room when it became clear that more than a few of their fellow Gryffindors were more than just a little vocal about Harry having cheated his way into the tournament. They were getting very good at dodging stinging hexes in between classes.

"Dragons, Hermione. The first task is fucking dragons and I have to steal an egg from them. His brilliant suggestion was to summon my broom and fly. Why? I'll tell you why. Because I'm supposed to be a genius on a broom and the dragon is supposed to be chained up."

Harry was a mess. At the moment he was sitting on the conjured couch, Hermione's pacing taking the place of his own for the moment. His robes were thrown over the back of the couch, tie undone, shirt untucked and the first few buttons open. His hair was out of his now normal ponytail and was standing up in all directions. Green eyes rimmed in red were following Hermione's every move.

"Why flying? Against a class XXXXX predator? Who knows how wide the flame margin is for a dragon? Does it vary by breed? Species? Gender? If you have to steal an egg I can only assume the dragon is female and the tournament organizers have lost their bloody minds. And why can't we have Remus help you again?"

"To quote Dumbledore 'It would be giving you an unfair advantage, my dear boy.' With sad eyes and everything. Never mind that I'm at least three years younger than all of them. Never mind that I didn't enter the bloody Tournament in the first place. The boy-who-lived can't be seen as getting help from anyone apparently."

"Okay - It's only been a few days. We have until the 24th. I know Remus and Sirius won't take Dumbledore's rejection as an outright no. Right now we need to do two things…"

"Ummm, keep me alive and not roasted to a crisp by a fucking dragon?"

"Language, Harry. I mean besides that. That's a given. We need to find out if Professor Moody told Cedric about the dragons…"

"Wait, why?"

Hermione let out a small huff. "I'm getting to that if you'd quit interrupting me."

"Well, excuse me for being scared out of my mind at the chance of not only being eaten alive but being set on fire as some sort of flaming appetizer first!"

Plopping down beside Harry, Hermione dropped her arm across his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry. I have no idea how you feel. I'm terrified for you and the only thing I can do is plan the best I can and plan some more because our plans never go the way they're supposed to anyway. I can't fight the dragon for you or even with you…I don't think…"

"Not a chance in hell, Hermione. Don't even waste your breath."

"Anyway, if Professor Moody told Cedric about the dragons already we can assume that all the other Champions know about them as well and are preparing accordingly. If he didn't, that's one more thing to worry about. Why is Professor Moody singling you out? Is he doing it because you're in this against your will? But dragons? Why would he hold that information back from one of his own students?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to be accused of cheating?"

"Cheating and the Tournament go hand in hand. I'm sure the other Champions are doing everything they can to find out what's happening in the first task."

"Okay. What's the other thing?"

"We need to train. Practice. You are a genius at the practical skills and that's what we need to worry about. I can't believe I'm saying this but we need to skim the theory - understand the why of the spell enough for you to get it and worry about the rest later. And reflexes. We need to make sure you're fast on your feet. We can use the old dueling rooms for now since no one is using them. Maybe we can find somewhere in the castle to run once the snow starts falling. If anything the stairs will help us on our runs."

"Us?"

"You don't think I'm just planning on coaching you until we get Remus and Sirius here do you? And even once Remus takes over, I'm learning. I'm in just as much danger as you are except mine is from the two legged monsters that run around the castle. Everyone knows that I support you, Harry. That makes me a target no matter what."

"Hermione…"

"No. You aren't going to convince me otherwise. Until Remus and Sirius give us the rest of their answer, the best we can do is brainstorm ways to rescue an egg from an angry mother dragon without actually facing the angry mother dragon."

Harry sighed and leaned into Hermione. "Alright. Project BBQ is ready to start."

To say Albus Dumbledore was unhappy was like saying the ocean was a wading pool. He sat in his office, in his throne shaped chair (because why shouldn't all his chairs be shaped like thrones, after all, he was the defeater of Grindelwald after all) and pouted. His meeting with the other Heads of the participating schools and with the representatives of the Ministry did not go the way he wanted it to. Why was no one listening to him? He sucked on a lemon drop.

Madam Maxime and Karkaroff were still miffed at Harry Potter's selection in the Triwizard Tournament and no amount of discussion could convince them this was not intentional on his part. Even showing them the slip of paper with Ilvermorny on it rather than Hogwarts hadn't helped. Bagman and Crouch were almost too excited about the prospect of having the boy-who-lived involved and wanted to advertise just that to the detriment of the other schools' champions.

Between an angry giantess, a hostile Bulgarian and Ludo "I was a Quidditch star" Bagman, Dumbledore had the mother of all headaches. And rather than trill a lovely tune to soothe his head, Falkes was giving him the phoenix version of the cold shoulder and sitting with his back to him on the perch. And the dragons…Oh, why did they have to pick dragons for the first task? Hagrid was a loyal and devoted soul but had no discretion what so ever. He was beside himself with excitement and only an Unbreakable Vow was keeping the half giant from blabbing the whole thing to everyone in the school.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

Ah, perfect timing.

"Come in, Mr. Weasley."

The youngest Weasley son entered the office, glancing around nervously.

"Please, have a seat, you're not in any trouble, my boy. Help yourself to a lemon drop."

Ron sat and took a handful of the sweets popping several into his mouth at once. Dumbledore noticed the boy staring at the gold and crystal gadgets on the desk longingly.

"The reason I called you in here, Mr. Weasley, is to get an idea of how things are in Gryffindor tower since Mr. Potter's name was drawn from the Goblet."

Ron's face turned red. "Hah! That first night almost the whole tower was celebrating how he got his name in there in the first place. The twins even had Hermione helping them and they couldn't do it right! And he still won't tell us! He says he didn't do it. I don't know if people are starting to believe him or just are taking his side because he's the bloody boy-who-lived."

"Hmmm, and you are not one of those who are taking Harry's side? I was under the impression you and he were best friends?"

"Best friends tell each other how they put their names in the Triwizard Tournament. Best friends tell each other how they are going to win a 1000 galleon prize and not hord it all themselves. Nah, I don't believe it for a minute. He HAD to do something."

"Now I'm sure young Harry didn't intend for his name to be chosen. He needs the support of his friends now more than ever, Mr. Weasley."

"Well with the way Hermione's been hanging all over him this year, he hasn't been hurting for company. Ginny has been in a right mood over that lately."

Desperately trying not to pinch the bridge of his nose to relieve the pressure, Dumbledore tried a different track. "And what is their relationship? I was under the impression your sister fancied our young Harry?"

"Oh, she does. We heard they were talking about making giant posters of the Triwizard champions and she was twittering about getting one of Harry and hanging it in her dorm. Absolutely mental if you ask me."

"So there's friction between your sister and Miss Granger?" He could use this.

"What do you mean?" Or not.

"Your sister and Miss Granger aren't on friendly terms right now because of Harry?"

Ron rubbed his nose. "I guess. I mean they still talk and stuff but not about all that girly stuff they whispered about in corners of the common room. Hermione has been talking to the Chaser girls more than Ginny now."

"Ah, yes, Quidditch. And how are the informal Quidditch games going? I've heard Harry is responsible for their creation?"

"Bah, that's just another bloody thing he's doing for attention. I thought it was great at first. Try out all the flyers, try out all the positions before we actually try out next year but now I know it's just one more thing he did for attention. Must have been to get on Krum's good side."

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Weasley. I do hope that you and Harry are able to put your differences aside and get through this difficult time. Harry is going to need his friends around him more than ever now. I'd like you to think about that."

Ron nodded vaguely as he crunched on a few more lemon drops. Dumbledore waved his hand in dismissal and rubbed his forehead when his door closed. It seemed the youngest Weasley son might not be the way back into Harry's good graces after all. However, Miss Weasley might still have a chance to bring Harry around to his way of thinking, especially if she was still on somewhat good terms with Miss Granger.

Now, he just needed to give Miss Weasley the right motivation to approach Harry. He stroked his beard. He needed to be subtle. He didn't want Harry totally isolated from his peers, he wanted him to be dependent on those who had his best interests in mind. And those interests would be the ones that Dumbledore said they should be.

He was pulled out of his musings by a painting informing him that a former professor and his dog were at the gates just outside the wards and wanted a word with him. And that there were five goblins with them.

Suddenly his lemon drops weren't so sweet.