The following morning, I washed my face in the magically-provided sink and wondered aloud how to get clean clothes. There was a sudden pop, and a familiar small form appeared beside me.

"Dobby hears wizard calling. What cans Dobby do?"

He looked up, and his large eyes grew even wider. "Dobby has been hoping to see Harry Potter Sir! Dobby happy to see you!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose in a vain attempt to fend off an onrushing headache,

"Bwbachod gwaedlyd…" I muttered.

Dobby froze.

"Harry Potter speaks the tongue of the Tylwyth Teg!" he cried. "Rwy'n clywed ac yn ufuddhau!"

He stood straighter, and his eyes focused on mine. "How can we's… I help?"

I blinked. "Can you get my stuff from the Gryffindor dorms? I don't think I can face them just yet."

He bobbed his head in a surprisingly graceful nod. Moments later, my trunk appeared at the foot of the bed, with my schoolbooks stacked neatly beside it.

"Thanks, Dobbs," I replied instinctively. I felt rather than heard his pleasure and vowed to get him a nice bowl of cream, somehow. The Great Hall was slightly less noisy than the Common Room had been by dint of its sheer size, but the chatter of the assembled students was doing its best to make up the deficit.

I stopped at the door, debating taking a runner again, but it was too late. The Weasley twins leapt to their feet, grabbed my arms, and physically carried me over to the Gryffindor table, all while singing a song that appeared to combine "Hail the Conquering Hero", "He's a Jolly Good Fellow", and (of all things) "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

I took my usual spot between Ron & Hermione and gratefully accepted a plate of the toast from the latter. I used the excuse of eating to avoid answering the barrage of questions from my classmates (except for Ron, who was eating thoughtfully for once), save only for the repeated response:

"No, I didn't do it. I don't know how it happened. I didn't want to compete."

Ron set down his goblet with a thud, causing nearby plates to clatter.

"That's not true! You said yesterday you'd have done it at night, and no one would've seen you... I'm not stupid, you know!" he shouted.

"I said I would have done it at night if I were going to enter," I replied testily. "Because I wouldn't want the attention."

Ron snorted, "You always get attention. The high-and-mighty Boy-Who-Lived! Bask in his glory!"

I turned to look at him. "You think I like being the Boy-Who-Lived?"

"Sure, why not? You've got it easy! Money, fame… you don't even have to take exams this year!"

"Easy?" I replied quietly. "You think my life is easy?"

As if by some silent cue, the table grew quiet.

"Easy. All I had to do was lose my parents before I was out of nappies. Get used by my ever-so-loving relatives as free labour as soon as I can walk. And face You-Know-Who twice more while I'm barely trained..." I leaned forward, looking into his eyes. "Do you really want to be me? Do you want to know what it feels like to be me?"

Before I could feed him just a taste of my memories, his elder brothers had pulled him from his seat.

"Sorry, Harry. We remember how we found you last year," they remarked in their odd twin-speech. We may have dropped Ronnikins on his head too much as a kid. Or not enough."

"Gerroff!" Ron shouted. "Just because Harry's being a git doesn't mean I can't have breakfast!"

"Go ahead," I muttered, standing up. "I've suddenly lost my appetite."

The Twins ignored Ron's struggles and dragged him toward the door to the dorms, quipping about test subjects. Hermione looked back and forth at us, face stricken. I noticed Neville Longbottom coming over to talk to her as I turned and left the Hall.

I probably should have gone straight to class, but my mind was in a bit of a whirl, and my first thought was to visit my oldest friend. Luckily, the Owlery was relatively peaceful.

"So much has gone on," I sighed as Hedwig dug into a bowl of treats. "And with the exception of Luna, I'm not even sure anyone is on my side anymore."

She hopped over and butted me in the head.

"Sorry! You and Luna!"

Hedwig fluffed up her feathers with a satisfied prek and returned to her bowl.

"I wonder if I should contact Sirius?" I mused, stroking her feathers. "I'm not sure where he is, but if he hears about the Tournament, he'll probably go spare."

Hedwig bobbed her head in assent, sticking out her leg emphatically.

"I can't send you! Everyone knows you're my owl!"

She pecked my hand, barely breaking the skin.

"All right, all right. Will Lady Hedwig agree to submit to a glamour, just to be safe?"

Hedwig nodded, and a short while later, a brownish barred owl was wending its way to Gwyn-knows-where. I watched her fly until I could see her no more and headed back downstairs.

The next few days were unpleasant, although not nearly as bad as 2nd year with the whole "Heir of Slytherin" business. I kept to myself out of classes, spending most of my time in the room the Castle had provided outside of classes. True, most of my classmates were ignoring me, but at this point, I really didn't mind all that much.

There were a few events that broke up the monotony, though. The first happened while I was on my way to the lake to spend a lazy afternoon not studying. As I walked down the corridor, I sensed (rather than heard) two figures come up from behind. As they came closer, I stopped and whirled, sweeping my wand across the corridor.

"Whoa!" one of the Wesley Twins replied as they both stepped back, hands raised.

"Pax, Harry!" the other replied, "Fred and I just want to talk to you about something!"

"If it's about your brother Ron..."

George (probably) shook his head, "He's still being a git. But that's not it."

"We actually want to talk to you about our brother Charlie."

"The one that works with dragons?" I replied, eyes wary.

Fred nodded. "He's in England and stopped by our dorm to say hello."

"That's... nice?" I replied.

"He asked for some privacy to use the Common Room floo."

"So naturally we eavesdropped..."

"A new invention we've been working on..."

"Called Extendable Ears..."

"The sound isn't what it should be..."

I was getting dizzy. "Enough!"

I pointed at the one who was most likely Fred. "You. Tell me what's going on."

"It's Dragons," he replied soberly. "The First Task, I mean."

"Something about their nests; we couldn't quite make it out over the fire," George added quietly.

"You might not be a brother by blood, Harry, but you are still family," Fred concluded. "We thought you should know."

"Not that we were ever here," George chimed in with a smirk.

"Of course not," I replied. "And thank you."

They nodded in unison before dashing back down the corridor.

Naturally, I told Luna about it, and we discussed what little we knew about the species while enjoying the weather with a walk around the Black Lake.

We decided to check out the Library and see what we could find. I suppose it should have come as no surprise to see the other Champions also roaming the stacks devoted to Care of Magical Creatures... for whatever reason, it looked like I was the last to know.

Still, we found some useful tomes about their anatomy and behaviour, and we adjourned to a free table.

While I was deep in a chapter on draconic senses, I heard a quiet "Um?"

I looked up to see Hermione standing there, looking tired and miserable. Neville stood behind her, pushing gently.

"Go ahead," he murmured kindly.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Granger?" I replied cooly. Her eyes scrunched up, and I immediately felt like a louse.

"I... uh..." she stammered, slumping.

Nev nudged her shoulder. She straightened up, shoulders back.

"I was wrong. I didn't want to lose my best friends, but I should have supported you from the beginning," she said firmly. "I apologise."

I sat for a bit. Luna laid her hand on mine. "She means it, Harry."

"Apologies accepted, Hermione," I began, staring at the table. "But I'm not sure we can be friends the way we were before."

"Oh," she murmured.

I looked up and grinned. "So we'll just have to start over. Hello, I'm Harry Potter, part-time Boy-Who-Lived."

I stuck out my hand. She giggled and took it, "Hermione Granger, occasional Know-It-All."

Neville let out a breath I hadn't realised he was holding, and the pair sat down.

"What are you studying?" Hermione asked, "Something for the First Task?"

I nodded, leaning closer. "Dragons."

"Dra-" she squeaked before Neville clapped a hand over her mouth.

"I'm pretty sure that's a secret, yeah?" he remarked.

I nodded. "I'm not supposed to get help from teachers. The rules don't say anything about classmates, though..."

We put our heads down together and started to plan.

A few days later, another event took place. We were all gathered at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, having staked out the end furthest from the Staff Table for our strategy session. Neville was bringing up the magical properties of shamrocks when a familiar sneering voice interrupted.

"A Mudblood, a squib, and a loony. Is that the best you could do, Potter?"

"Ah, Malfoy," I replied without looking up. "How I've missed you..."

He sniffed, neatly covering my muttered, "Next time, I'll aim better," which elicited chuckles from my research team.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you!" he shrieked. I glanced up. He was leading a crowd of Slytherins, each of whom was wearing a rather garish badge that read:

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY-
THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!

"Like them, Potter?" Malfoy crowed, playing to the crowd. "And this isn't all they do - look!"

He tapped his chest, and the message changed to:

POTTER STINKS!

His cronies followed suit until the message appeared on all their chests.

Draco smirked, waiting for my response. How could I disappoint him?

"Aww..." I cooed, "Isn't that cute? Luna! Hermione! Look at the little buttons!"

Neville snorted as I stood, walked up to Draco, and patted his head (taking no small pleasure in messing up his careful coiffure).

"I'm so proud of you. Did you come up with that all by yourself? It's so incisive! I'm stunned by the depth of your wit!"

By this point, even Crabbe & Goyle had figured out I was taking the mickey, and they and the other Snakes stepped away from their supposed leader.

Draco just spluttered, knocking my hand away and smoothing back his hair.

"You'll pay for this, Potter!" he cried.

I tilted my head. "What, 3-4 knuts? That's about all charm work like that costs, right?"

I poked the badge (and his chest) a few times, switching the message back and forth. "I think it needs a little something... let's see..."

There was a brief flash, and his badge now read:

BABY SNAKE

Draco looked down and growled, "What did you do, Potter!"

"Just a little extra something…" I grinned.

Then it started singing, "Ba-by snake doo doo doo doo..."

Draco tried to rip it from his robes, but in addition to the glamour, I'd added a variant sticking charm I'd picked up in my reading. While the Hall laughed, he blushed fiercely and ran from the room, passing Snape.

He looked at me, and I gazed right back.

"Five points to Gryffindor," he muttered. "The little git deserved it."

For the most part, the school left me alone after that. Other than a rather bizarre ceremony involving Ollivander and a witch with no fashion sense failing to drag me into a broom closet, the only real event of note happened the Saturday before the First Task.

Luna, Hermione, Neville & I had made plans to go to Hogsmeade together, my first opportunity to do so officially after last year's madness. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't really into the idea, but the girls had been nagging me about socialising more, and Neville, despite his recent growth spurt, had refused to back me up.

He still came along, of course, so at least I wasn't suffering alone.

The weather was unseasonably warm, so rather than share a carriage, we all trekked down the lane to Hogsmeade, stopping (as many students often did) at the Three Broomsticks for a mug of butterbeer before heading deeper into the village.

To be perfectly honest, Hogsmeade (while admittedly quite picturesque) was not all that exciting an excursion, so after restocking our writing supplies at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop (and our snack supplies at Honeydukes), we found ourselves at loose ends.

"What about Madam Puddifoot's?" Hermione suggested. "Lavender and Parvati are always raving about the tea there, and I could use a spot of lunch."

Over her shoulder, Neville wore a stricken expression as he violently shook his head no. I raised an eyebrow, but his panicked face didn't change.

"I'm not in the mood for tea & cakes," I replied, smirking internally at Neville's grateful look. "What about that pub we passed by?"

"The Hog's Head?" Hermione replied, frowning. "It looked a bit sketchy to me."

"Oh, it is," Luna replied, "Daddy always said I was too young to go in when he delivered their copies of The Quibbler."

"Now I'm curious," I remarked. Before anyone could respond, a familiar white owl flew down and landed on a nearby lamppost.

"Hedwig?" I cried. "What are you doing here!"

She simply hooted and took off, circling overhead as if waiting for us to follow. I glanced at the others, who gave various shrugs and nods, so we trooped off after my errant pet. She flew up the High Street, past Dervish and Bangs, and toward the edge of the village.

The ground was rougher here, and the houses further apart. Her destination was a mystery until we turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of the lane where a familiar shaggy black dog waited.

"Are you insane?" I shouted. The dog merely barked and gave a doggy grin before turning and heading up the mountainside.

"Harry?" Neville asked confusedly.

"It's a long story, Nev," I replied, "But someone is going to get neutered if he doesn't have a good reason for this.

Over the next half-hour, Hermione and I told the others about last year's chaos while we climbed a steep and winding path up the mountain to a narrow crevice concealing a dark cave lit by blue flames in glass jars.

As soon as we'd all entered, the dog transformed into a black-haired wizard who immediately wrapped me in a crushing hug.

"Missed you, pup," Sirius murmured. For the first time in a while, I was at a loss for words.

Finally, I stepped back and looked up at my lunatic godfather, noting that I didn't have to crane my neck as far.

"You shouldn't have come, Sirius," I replied, my voice a bit thick. "If the Ministry should catch you…"

"I couldn't stay away, Harry," he replied. "I abandoned you once, and I've regretted it ever since."

We sat down for a surprisingly comfortable chicken lunch, with only one minor hiccup.

"What do you mean 'Dragons'?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Bwbachod gwaedlyd - Bloody brownies (as in the fairies, not the foodstuff).

Tylwyth Teg - "Fair Family", a euphemism for the fairies in Wales.

"Rwy'n clywed ac yn ufuddhau! - I hear and obey!