[a/n]Hit #1200 in reviews HandsOffMYWolfie has that honor. Nice when round numbers meet. I imagine the Remus-haters will grumble about this one.

Harry Does Different DIX

Lupic Dueling

"I hate this bloody tournament, Sirius! Remus!" the unfortunate fourth TriWizard raged, in a relative whisper, at 3am to his Godfather and Goduncle. "Dragons! Kidnappings! I HATE swimming! And this one? One thing I hate about this maze is they killed the Quidditch season. But do they have to use rosebushes?"

The Azkaban escapee had to giggle "Grab a few for a lady love, Harry."

"Stuff yourself." Snapped the teen, very testily "I mean it. Do you know three-quarters of all deaths occur during the maze test? Hermione shared that little statistic a couple nights ago. Someone so smart can be real stupid sometimes. Too bad Lockhart's dueling club didn't last. I could use a workout."

Lupin found that worth a chuckle, then "I shouldn't laugh. It's not like Muggle fighting. One of …if not… the deadliest Death Eater is Bellatrix Lestrange. She killed multiple Aurors during the last war, with a fine disregard for sex. As may be, I am certain Dumbledore would let nothing untoward happen."

"Allowing me to jump ahead, Remus" Sirius interrupted "and Harry may not have got there yet. I don't think … no cancel that … this whole affair has all the callcards of a prank. Though a VERY sinister one. Nor do I think Albus entirely innocent in it."

Ever loyal, the werewolf reached the same conclusion and shot back "Albus would NEVER plot to hurt Harry. The notion is - - -"

"Intentionally? Maybe not." Sirius pushed back "Nevertheless, he surely knows whatever is truly happening. We needn't act against him directly. But no reason not to add our own scheme. Harry, that mirror of ours has a few extra tricks. We may not be able to stop whatever you have to go through at that maze, but we WILL be there to stand between you and the bad guy." He was rewarded with a grin of gratitude.

Then Harry shook his head "NO! I don't want you at risk."

"Fortunately, we adults do not have to follow children's directives." Remus had a solid professor's expression "Right. And this is an order. You'll leave the mirror on, and on your person, permanently. That task is tomorrow. Don't worry, Sirius and I will be busy planning what to do so do whatever most of the night. We will act how we must, when we must."

After giving his friend an approving nod, Godfather addressed Godson quite cleverly "Neither of us are James or Lily, but I'm sure BOTH would think this best. More to the point, I owe it to them to be there for all those years I missed. You have my word we'll do our best, where possible, to protect ourselves."

"Fair enough, I guess." Harry grudgingly agreed "Good night guys. Thanks."

Abcij

Thus, the Marauders were able to watch Harry's kidnapping and to put their plan into effect the moment the mirror gave its location. Did they arrive in time to prevent Cedric Diggory's murder? Sadly no. Apparation wards caused a delay getting to the gravesite. Ones that did not block those with the snake-in-skull mark. What the pair did was decidedly dark magic. A spell unknown to magicals at large was cast by Sirius, after slicing open his best friend's hand with a quite brutal looking blade. Whatever of insects on the ground that the blood touched grew, changed, and howled. They became things born of nightmare, but were not allowed to attack their creators. Instead they charged into the cemetery and fell upon the Dark Lord and his assembled minions. A couple were caught in the beam of the magical battle between Voldemort and Harry, suffering instant incineration.

"Alright there, kiddo?" the ragged and blood-stained man's first concern was for his godson.

Harry nodded "In no particular order. What WERE those things? Did you see Mum and Dad? How's Remus? I assume he's here." He lowered his wand as the last remnants of the creatures melted into the ground.

"Got a few handy pieces of evidence." The werewolf was dragging a body by one leg and carrying part of another. He was a gory mess "Not to worry, little of it is my own." Remus panted, looking weary but satisfied "Sirius, it worked out better than we thought. Pettigrew's body and Malfoy's right leg, admittedly, not quite to the knee."

The Azkaban escapee charged with blood in his greedy gaze "Lemme at it!"

"Don't be a moron you idiot!" Remus slapped him away hard "THIS is all the proof we need to free you! Harry, JUST you and me, will go back. With our prizes. They will be proof that Voldemort is back, Malfoy is involved and best of all, Sirius is innocent. Padfoot, tell him goodbye for now. Much as I hate to say it, back to Grimmauld until we get you officially declared innocent."

Head clearing, Sirius nodded "You're right Mooney. Sorry about that Harry. Even seeing him dead."

"I promised Cedric I'd take his body back. He doesn't belong here. He belongs at Hogwarts." Some of the aftermath weighed on the boy "Still doesn't even with Voldemort driven out. Why doesn't this feel like a win?"

Sirius bounced a fist on his shoulder a few times "It is. Don't doubt that. But good men die in war. Your parents, Cedric, Ron's uncles, others. Help them get it right this time." He glanced again at Pettigrew's body, but this time with only cold hate. He kicked the head, but no more. "Go with Mooney, Harry. I'll just make sure this lot is all really dead."

"See you soon, old friend." He said, then watched the pair depart, Remus holding bloody booty.

Abcij

The band instantly burst into celebratory song as the portkey arrived. It was all but instantly cut off by a blood-curdling scream, emitted by Lavender Brown "YAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!~!~!~!~!~!"

"Voldemort is back!" announced Harry, his voice magically enhanced. The least gory task assigned him the job of supporting the lifeless body of Cedric Diggory "Peter Pettigrew murdered him on Voldemort's command! I saw it! Called him a spare. Like nothing."

The Minister for Magic tried to interpose himself between the arrivals and the crowd, growling "Dumbledore, we must get this out of sight!" he tried to separate Harry from his burden.

"Let me alone ya idiot!" snapped Harry, turning away "No one but his parents - -"

The confrontation was interrupted by Amos Diggory crying "MY BOY! THAT'S MY BOY! CAN'T BE - -"

"I'm so sorry sir. I really tried." Harry did his best to yield gracefully to the grieving father.

While Remus wanted to comfort the teen, there simply were other matters to be dealt with "Harry contacted us …and by that I mean myself and Sirius Black… his Godfather as he learned complements of Professor McGonagall only a year ago. Too bad she did not tell him outright, instead having Harry learn illicitly."

"Would you care to explain that, Mr. Lupin?" the Deputy Headmistress was not making a request.

"We knew something was up with this whole Tournament, so we acted without anyone else's knowledge." He ignored her, continuing "We used our own creations and spells to track Harry when it turned out the Cup was a portkey. Then, sprung a trap on the Death Eaters assembled to watch Voldemort's resurrection. I am glad to submit memories proving that I personally saw him. More to the point, Harry fought him to a draw. Not bad for a Fourth Year."

Professor Moody shouted "Nobody could do that, werewolf!"

"Stupefy!" spell leapt from wand as the supposed top Auror only began to draw.

Hermione yelped in horror "Professor Lupin!"

"That is NOT Alastair Moody." Remus announced, with all the certainty of water being wet "No matter what anyone thinks of werewolves, our canine noses can't be fooled. Not exactly sure who that is, but there's a scent of the Crouch family. A little sloppy of you Headmaster." The ending tone was both accusatory and uncomfortable.

The Minister for Magic was on the scene "Now see here Lupin, Black is a fugitive from a Dementor's Kiss! I order you to tell me where he is."

"Really wish I could sir." Said Remus, politely enough, also putting a restraining hand on the boy's shoulder "At ease Harry. The location is under that most powerful of secrecy spells."

After blustering Fudge demanded "And WHO is the secret keeper?"

"Sorry, the location was handed to me on a sheet of paper." Remus answered evasively, he pointedly did not look at Dumbledore "And no, I burned the only one I had. I'll have to count on someone else to get me back there."

Now Harry did interject "And if Black betrayed my parents, how is it I spent the whole summer in his house and still got to Hogwarts to be thrown to Voldemort tonight?"

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is NOT back!" Fudge roared angrily.

Harry first put in "I suppose you'll tell all these Hufflepuffs their Champion died in a car crash?"

"Yes! go back to that cemetery" Remus advised, loudly "But not with a Dementor for Sirius. Remember his murder victim? Pettigrew? Seems unlikely he did it twelve years ago, since our little ambush killed him five minutes ago." He seized the dead body by the neck and, with werewolf strength, held it high for all to see. "And send a force to Malfoy Castle! Give him back the better part of his leg!"

Draco roared "LYING BASTARD!" and charged.

"No way to talk to a teacher, git." Ron was talking down to the unconscious blond he had just tripped. Hermione couldn't quite berate him for his actions. The mayhem had hardly begun.