Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Chapter 20

They appeared on the stage, and he thanked Winky. The crowd was in an uproar, the Champions were now on the stage and clearly worried about him. He didn't like that part.

He could see Snape narrow his eyes at the patch on the stage and he chuckled. "He'd be scary if he wasn't such a prat."

One disillusionment charm on the rat, then he lowered his concealment. "You know, that was a pretty bad portkey."

"Harry!" Harry turned in surprise to see Granger running up. "I was worried."

"I... anyway," he turned back to the judges. "Give the prize to Cedric. He was second and I wanted nothing to do with this."

"No, mate, you won."

"By cheating. I hid the cup when I figured out something was wrong with the portkey."

"Where did you go?" Laurant asked.

"Some graveyard way out from here, near a little town." As though that was the cue, there was spellfire behind the judges and Moody hit the floor. After a moment, Snape's voice rang out in the surprised silence.

"Polyjuice in the flask, like you suggested, Mr. Potter."

"And now we know how I got in the Goblet of Fire." He shook his head. "Was the brewer any good? I believe that affects the length of time we have to wait."

"Rank amateur, I'm surprised this worked at all. I'd say twenty minutes from his last dose. Maybe fifteen." The Potion's Master frowned in thought. "This means Alastor Moody is still alive, though. You cannot use a source that is deceased."

"Another question he should be asked, then." Dumbledore approached, face grave. "Are you sure, Severus?"

"I was there for the questioning of the other one involved. I and a contact in the Ministry determined who the imposter was before I acted on this matter." He nodded to Harry. "Mr. Potter notified me during his absence."

Dumbledore nodded. "I believe we have a few Aurors in the crowd. Madame Bones was kind enough to bring a few off-duty associates when I invited her." Harry shook his head and the smooth manipulation. "Do you have any Veritaserum, Severus?"

"In my potions cabinet, I am sure." Harry did not look at the man as he wondered if they would notice that some things were going missing when he did lessons. A Hogwarts elf was summoned and soon returned with the vial. The man was strapped to a chair, and they administered a dose, then woke him.

"Wait, we should do this in the Ministry." Harry noticed Fudge for the first time and shook his head. This man was about to have a bad night.

"No, a man's life is in danger, and I will have answers." Dumbledore looked at him and then gestured to Madame Bones, who had approached. "If you would, Amelia."

Harry was only mildly interested in learning that this was indeed Crouch, Jr. He'd figured that someone had just lied to Pettigrew. As soon as the real Moody's location was learned, an Auror left with Flitwick, heading to the castle. "You know, Crouch was a good actor. He did Moody pretty well. Fooled everyone here, even those who knew him," Harry muttered.

Cedric stood next to him. "Yeah, he was a better teacher than Quirrel or Lockhart."

Harry smirked. "Quirrel was Voldemort...well, had him in the back of his head."

"What?"

Harry waved him down. "Shh. This might be interesting."

Crouch was talking about Pettigrew's involvement. Fudge was busy decrying this, that Pettigrew was dead. Crouch responded to the man's tirade, laughing despite the potion in his system. "We fooled all of you. You were busy chasing that fool Black and Pettigrew was hiding in plain sight, the pet of one of your officials."

"Well, that's going to end a career."

"I wonder who's?" Cedric said.

"Arthur Weasley. He was Percy's pet, then Ron's."

"Oh...and Ron's..."

"Yep, he's in Ministry custody for the next year for his attempted murder of me." Harry shook his head. Nothing to be done now.

"Well, where is he, then?"

Harry coughed, casting a cancellation to his charm. "Right over here. I was waiting for an Auror, but then all this happened." After a glance at the man, he cast a stunning charm at the man.

"Harry, how many times have you stunned him?"

"Five...six...not sure." He waved a negligent hand in the air. "There's been a bit going on tonight."

"Please stop, you could kill him." Dumbledore attempted to pin him with a serious gaze, but Harry didn't respond as he was expected to.

"I'm spreading them out. I started about a half hour ago." Harry grinned. "Besides, he did basically murder my parents, even if he wasn't holding the wand."

"Dementors, get them both!"

Fudge's cry was a surprise, but not enough of one to shock Harry into inaction. His wand was up, and Prongs was immediately attacking the pair of dementors that were suddenly there. How Harry hadn't noticed them, he'd have to figure out later.

He was surprised to see a pair of wolves and a bird he couldn't identify join his Patronus, penning in the dark creatures. "We study Dark magic to combat it at Durmstrang." Viktor's voice rang out.

"Nice wolf, Viktor. I recognize Moony's, but who has the bird?"

"It is mine. I still don't know myself what it is, but it is beautiful." Fleur spoke.

"I recognize that as a type of phoenix, Mademoiselle Delacour. Common to Southeast Asia, I believe. Appropriate for you." Dumbledore added to the conversation calmly.

She smiled brightly, then gestured. "I think we can crush them. Should we?"

"You are attacking Ministry property!"

"And you were trying to kill people without a trial. That would make three attempts, correct, Minister?" The questioning tone Harry applied to the title was possibly a question of how long it was going to be his. He wasn't even sure as the sarcasm had come out unbidden.

"You are nothing but an attention seeking brat."

Harry ignored him, instead applying pressure through his magic on the creatures. There was a shrill screaming as the four Patroni closed tighter around them. "That will not be necessary, Mr. Potter."

The woman's voice surprised him. Amelia Bones stepped forward and lowered his wand with a gentle hand. "I am taking custody of these two and I will ensure that they are held for trial." She looked at Fudge. "Get in my way and you'll be in prison, too. I can make those charges stick well enough to find out anything else I need to know."

Harry looked at the Auror as she met his gaze and for the first time in a long time, he felt certain he could trust someone outside his small circle. "Okay."

The other Patroni backed off a bit, still keeping the creatures corralled. Harry looked in their direction, still not sure why he couldn't feel their effects. "She is in charge, or I end you." He straightened. "The law says a Killing Curse against your kind is nothing...I'm willing to try."

This received a nod from the Champions and Amelia Bones took charge of the dementors, ordering them back to Azkaban and throwing a sticky portkey at them. The creatures vanished as it touched them.

She spoke quietly next. "If you happen to know where your godfather is, I will promise him a trial."

Harry made a face and looked up and at an angle like he was thinking. "I'll keep an eye out."

"I'll owl you a written oath." She nodded, then turned away, ordering the remaining Auror to take Pettigrew into custody. She took Crouch, then they vanished in a portkey flare.

"It's over. I'm done. I can't believe I'm free."

"What now, Harry?"

"A vacation." He smiled. "Maybe France? Maybe somewhere tropical." He thought of the beach where he had learned to swim with Luna teaching him. "Yeah, I think a beach sounds nice."

"There are lovely beaches in France." Back in a teasing mood, she fluttered her eyes at him. "I could give you a tour."

Just to needle her a bit, he simply ignored her statement and continued on like he was thinking out loud. "I dunno. I've never been out of Britain before. There's a whole world I want to learn about."

"You won't forget your friends, though, will you?"

Harry turned at Luna's voice and he paused at the tear-stained cheeks he saw. He held his arms open, and she stepped forward, holding him for a long moment. "No, I'd never forget you."

She took a breath. "I'm sorry, I'm not myself. There was too much panic here and then the dementors...I could hear Mummy's voice."

Harry nodded. "I used to hear my Mum, too." He shook his head. "It's the only memory I have of her other than some photos and stories." He shrugged. "Do you want to get out of here? Winky can..."

She cut him off. "No, it's getting better. You four are making it easier."

Cedric put a hand on her shoulder. "Like we'd let anything happen." He smirked. "Harry, on the other hand...he starts his own trouble."

"I do not."

"You took the cup."

"I had to end it." Harry stared over to where that encounter had taken place, an empty stone platform marking the portkey origination point. "This one, I just can't explain. Admittedly, I didn't expect what I found. No one would."

The awards ceremony was held the next day. Harry stood in the back of the Great Hall, Luna with him. He had given her a copy of her own of the upgraded stone and they leaned against the wall, concealment fields intermingled and allowing normal speech. "I have to figure out how to thank Moony for this. Now, between my new shrinking trunk and this stone, the remaining bullies in the school can't find me." She looked over. "You shouldn't have bought this trunk."

"I didn't. Sirius did. He said that since we should have grown up together, he owed you for a few Christmases and birthdays." He chuckled. "He said the same about my Firebolt." He reached out and pointed to her pocket. "I carved that stone, though. Once I had tested it the day of the last Trial, I finished it and bonded it to you."

"Okay." The reasoning seemed to settle her, and they watched as the judges looked around. Finally, Dumbledore stood.

"We seem to be missing someone."

"Ah, I can help with that, Headmaster."

Moony stood, walking forward. "Attention, schools of the Triwizard...or Quadwizard? Oh, wait, there were three Champions and one competitor, right?" Moony looked up and grinned.

He held a notebook in his hand. Harry had begun using them more and more, basically for the irritation of the purebloods. The rare times he was seen studying, he'd had one. "I am Harry Potter..." Moony looked at the line oddly. "No, I'm not. Ahh, for those who are confused, this must be a note from him. I understand that Slytherin may need some assistance in that. Don't contest it, I graded some of your papers last year."

Snape scowled for the first time in some months while at the head table, but this time Harry caught him looking at Crabbe and Goyle. "Yep. Nothing else needs to be said." Luna laughed quietly.

"As I was reading, 'I am Harry Potter, the unwilling social experiment of a mad group of magicals in Britain. I decline the prize, though I took the cup. I was trying only to find out who put me in this nonsense but didn't care for the outcome anyway. My money would have been on Fleur, but I refused to bet. I won't imitate that git Bagman."

Harry laughed. "I heard he had a one-hour trial and a Gringotts representative from Paris was there to take him into custody. He wet himself, then fainted."

Luna shook his head. "He was unstable."

"Since Fleur cannot win, I will have to give this to Cedric Diggory, the only Hufflepuff to show courtesy to me. Cedric, congrats on beating the prettier Champion."

Living up to her more open personality, Fleur stood and blew a kiss to Cedric. He stood and bowed to her, then walked forward to collect his winnings. "Thank you, Mr. Lupin, best Defense professor we actually got to have. I won't credit the Death Eater with that."

"Thank you, Cedric."

"Thank you, Harry, you prat. You should be up here with me, at least."

Harry waved behind his concealment field, Luna laughing as she repeated her comment from the Ball. "You, Harry Potter, are a ham."

"I feel lighter. This could have been far worse. Can you imagine if the others had been with me in that graveyard? My stone wouldn't have hidden them." He knew that for certain, he'd confirmed it with Moony when they'd gone over the new prototype scheme's performance.

"That could have led to a terrible fate for someone."

"The other Champions should join me. Viktor, Fleur, please come up here."

They did and Harry smiled to himself. "They did what this Tournament was supposed to do. That makes it all worth it."

"What about the rumor of Cedric and Fleur?"

He pointed. The pair had held hands on the stage. Viktor on the young woman's other side, did not hold her hand. "I'd say not a rumor. Can't you tell?"

"Too far away, too much noise. I like the surprise, though. She's better for him than Cho."

"Did she ever apologize?"

"No, she's the only one. She blames me for losing Cedric."

"That's a bit unhinged. She lost him by being a bully."

"She hates you."

"Yeah, well, she can get in line. I've had more threatening spiders come after me."

Luna turned fully to look at him. "They were Acromanula, of course they were more threatening."

"Don't use logic, Luna. I'm having fun."

"Oh." She turned back to the front of the room and joined the applause. Harry, for a brief moment, dropped his field so the Champions could see, then pulled it back up, nudging Luna to move to the other side of the door.

Unsurprisingly, someone in the tables had noticed them, then Hermione ran over to try to talk to him. "Are you going to deal with this?"

"Sure." Harry said. "Viktor said he was going to invite her to stay in Bulgaria, her and her family. Apparently, they like to travel, so he's offering to give them a quick tour around the country." He shrugged. "He's also going to write to me to give me some idea of her real motivations. I decided to get an unbiased party's opinion."

Luna nodded. "What about the Weasleys'?"

"Lost cause, I'm afraid. Arthur and Percy both were sacked because of the Pettigrew thing and Percy ignoring the strange behavior of Crouch. Apparently, Crouch had kept his son under an Imperious for years, having snuck him out of the prison somehow. I didn't get the whole story. Anyway, they're auditing back every decision he'd made over the past few years. Percy was involved in some pretty bad ones under Voldemort's direction, so he's gone. Between that and Ron, Molly has sworn I destroyed her family."

He shook his head. "Ginny and the twins wrote to me through a drop Remus set up in Diagon. Both apologized but said that they have to keep their distance until they graduate. Molly's looking for Hedwig and swears to curse her on sight if I try to write them back. At the same time, she's demanding I write an apology?" He shrugged. "I did, to Arthur at his new job in Diagon. I used a Post Owl to send it and had Moony write it as Steward, so I did what I could. He accepted my apology but declined further contact with House Potter in a formal way."

"I'm sorry." She wrapped her arm through his and squeezed. They watched Hermione casting detection charms that should work on an invisibility cloak, none of them catching either of them. "So, what now?"

"Vacation after I hear from Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries. They asked me to come by and do something, but no details. After that, France, oddly enough."

"France?"

"Turns out that there is an excellent cosmetic healer in France that Laurant knows who will deal with this." He tapped his forehead.

"Oh, good. That scar has always been a point of annoyance for you."

"My lovely Aunt and Uncle told me it was from the car accident my drunk parents got into and died in, so yeah, a lot of bad memories."

"What happened to them?"

"Vernon's dead." He shrugged. "Heart condition brought on by his weight and poor eating. Petunia lost the house and she and Dudley had to move. Don't know where." He shook his head. "I didn't even know until Moony was looking into me returning for the summer. Turns out the wards are gone as of February, when she moved."

"That's sad. How could he do that to himself."

"Poor life choices, I guess." He shrugged. "Let's get out of here. How does dinner down with Winky, Dobby and a mutt sound?"

"Fun." She kept his arm as he called Winky, the three popping away as a frustrated Hermione started casting in their direction.

A/N: All right, so for those who hated the treatment of the Dursley's in Forging, I present you something a bit different. Here, it was there choice to do the things that they did, not magic manipulating them and inherent fears being augmented to abusive levels.

Someone posted a pretty unhappy review about my having the House of Black apologize to Snape. Yes, he was a jerk, but think about what Sirius had done. He set him up to die. Some of you may still be in school. Look at the people you may not like, some snarky outsider that maybe you don't care for. If one of them moves away and you never see them again, you can be happy and probably guilt free, depending on why they moved. Would you feel the same way if they'd been run over by a car or bus in the parking lot? I was purely addressing the fact that, basically, Sirius tried to kill him Not intentionally, but impulsively. Possibly Lupin, too.

Also, to the reader who reviewed Forging and wrote a review about how blind the staff would have to be to not realize what was going on, that was the point. A few writer friends and I have laughed about their ignorance over the years. Three of the four in my group are either teachers or have worked in education…maybe the fourth, now that I think about it. I think he was involved in Athletics. Regardless, I knew what I was doing there. It was intentional.

A few more chapters and I'm still not done with my next project, so I should get on with that. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful week.