Unveiling Destiny: Harry Potter and the Triwizard Revelation

Parseltongue is a magical language. It is not possible for a human body to perfectly replicate the necessary speech patterns. Magic allows for it where it should not exist. What's more, there has been debate as to what happens when a speaker of the serpent tongue commands a snake. How is an animal able to take complex instructions and follow them when many of the breeds have no intelligence beyond base instinct? Does magic imbue them with intelligence? Do they borrow it, for lack of a better word?

It's a mystery as to the exact mechanics of how it functions and, ultimately, unimportant. Parseltongue's true value is not found in its ability to talk to serpents. It is the written format that Parseltongue finds its most important function.

One cannot simply write parseltongue. There is no instrument and no ink involved in writing it. Parseltongue is magical language that must be written by one's own magic. When you are reading my words you are not simply just reading them, as you would with any other book. You are interacting with my magic, my intent, my creativity, my willpower and my power. You are not taking in just the words I am writing, but rather the essence of what I am conveying.

I could write this in a made up language that only I understand. I could have written this a millennia before and there will never be any difficulty in translation. You are understanding this in your own language, as if you knew what I know and are writing it in perfect clarity to yourself. There is no loss of knowledge, no misunderstandings. Do you understand the value of the language?

You are being given my knowledge. What you are reading you will not just be able to perfectly recall. You are gaining my understanding of magic. You are not gaining mere knowledge. You are gaining instinctive knowledge. What you learn from me you are learning as something far greater than facts and memorized theories out of a text. It is hard to describe exactly.

An example will explain it best. Learning magic by reading a textbook works. It can tell you how to command the broom, how to steer it and so on and so forth. If one learned to fly a broom from reading Parseltongue they would get all of that and the instinctive knowledge. The first time they rode a broom their body would already instinctively understand what is required for it to turn left. Whereas one who just read a normal book would have the knowledge of what to do and need to learn how to turn what their head knows into instinct.

When passing on knowledge of magic you are gaining my instincts. You are gaining my knowledge. The understanding you are being imparted with is mine . Parseltongue is the greatest teaching tool in the magical world.

It had been one of the things that Harry had really been wondering about. How could Salazar Slytherin leave memoirs that were written in modern english? This explained it. Finally! Harry had a huge smile on his face, he couldn't help it. Things were coming together.

But wow! This would explain why he was learning so quickly. Harry was far more studious than he had ever really been at any other point in his life. Still, the results he was experiencing were hard to believe. He'd blitzed through material to be able to write some OWLs as if he were a german armored division crashing through the Ardennes during the Fall of France.

Now he was absorbing material that was all past where he would have been at the end of this year. He was getting close to writing his NEWTs in wanded subjects and he was already past OWL level for Runes and Arithmancy. At this pace he'd be finished with the entire NEWT curriculum before the Third Task.

This explained how he was able to make such prolific progress.

He didn't need to train his magic and body on how to do the magic. He didn't need to go over the material for clarifications or to remember something he hadn't quite managed to remember.

Honestly, if Purebloods all had hereditary gifts that were as effective as Parseltongue he could understand where the prejudiced attitudes could have come from. If Harry was able to replicate something like this for his future children they could be out of Hogwarts before they'd normally write their OWLs. If he could become one of the world's greatest wizards, then he could guide his own children to reach similar greatness by the age of seventeen, or at most, shortly thereafter.

If Harry could do it, why hadn't Slytherin? Why was the world not overrun with parseltongue prodigies? He was a legend. A man who'd carved out a legacy that would never die out as long as Hogwarts stood. So why had this legendary man not had tons of super serpent spawn sloughing around?

Was this the purpose of the Chamber of Secrets? A chamber built to protect these secrets?

What was it that the Sorting Hat had said? Riddle's access was revoked. He was deemed unworthy . Harry had been worthy of what the Hat called Salazar's greatest work.

It was these types of thoughts that worked through Harry's head while he showered after this morning's ritual on strengthening his physical body. So far he had completed four full sets. Seven for the mind, seven for magical rejuvenation, seven for physical rejuvenation, seven for magical strength and he was now four of seven for physical strength. With the one special ritual he'd completed, the Dragon Power Ritual, he was at thirty-three. At two per week he should be at his full seven sets of seven in April, two months before the Third Task.

Today had been productive. Harry had the idea to incorporate Cuddles into his target practice this morning. He'd long since graduated from twenty-five targets from forty paces. He was up to fifty moving targets from twenty paces. He was going to step back further when he had the idea to let Cuddles try and defend targets.

The degree of difficulty changes rapidly when there is a two-hundred pound dragon flying around trying to make your spells ricochet off herself. It had become a great game. Harry still fired piercing hexes but he varied them greatly. He'd manged to vary their speed and alter their size, making them larger or smaller at his whim. In some ways, he felt like a baseball pitcher.

He'd shoot a slow change up off at one moving target and then fire a fastball of a hex towards the opposite end, timing it so that they both tried to connect with their targets near the same time. It had taken a lot of practice to set that up the first few times, but he was getting quite good at it now. Nevertheless, he was done with his ritual, his training and had spent hours studying. It was now time to think of a late lunch.

Should he go up and eat with the Hogwarts populace or should he call Dobby and ask for some lunch? He could go to Arcturus' old place and have Kreacher provide food too, but that place felt off. He spent far too long there with Horace and Cyrus. They'd discussed how to free Sirius, what to do about the Tournament, and precautions to take in case Voldemort returned and a war followed. It was rather late when Cyrus had left and Harry had brought up the final topic with Slughorn: marriage prospects.

It was almost a surreal conversation. He was talking about himself and possibilities of marriage. Pros and cons for each girl, for their families, financially, politically and ever children and succession were discussed at length. The first item in that list was to deal with the offered betrothal contract. Slughorn had excellent advice and had relayed it to Harry. He'd offered to draft a letter and sort it out but Harry didn't want to go that route. Most communication with the Pavlov family had been through Natalia and he would prefer to keep it that way.

Speak of the devil…. Harry saw he had a note from Natalia that he hadn't read, she must have just sent it.

Guess where I am today?

Odd question Harry thought.

Lacroix's studio?

Nope. Try again.

Your house?

Nope. Try again, but think of a place you've spent a lot of time at since you were 11.

Hogwarts? What the bloody hell would she be doing at Hogwarts.

Where and why?!

If you come see me I'll tell you. I'm not there yet but I should be in the entrance hall in 15.

That worked with his plans. He could meet Natalia, find out why she was at Hogwarts and get lunch.

See you then. Harry wrote back before closing the book.

It was always great amusement for Harry when someone wanted him to come to Hogwarts. He was there. All the time.

It didn't take him long to get showered, dressed and find his way to the entrance hall. He'd crept out of the Chamber using his cloak and took it off when he was out of sight just before entering the meeting point. He'd tucked his cloak away and was a little more careful with it now that he understood how unique it was. Fleur had promised to help research more and he'd hold her to that. He'd have to visit the Delacours soon anyways to get a cloak from them, perhaps after the Second Task.

Harry didn't have to wait long for Natalia to show up and when she caught sight of him her eyes lit up. She picked up her pace and gave him a big hug.

"I missed you." She told him, a large smile had blossomed on her face.

Harry stepped out of the hug, "It's nice to see you, it feels like it's been quite a while." Harry said. "What are you doing here?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" She asked, teasingly.

Harry held out his arm to escort her and replied "No, not yet."

"Well isn't this fun." She smirked at him.

Harry didn't bother responding to that, he was quite hungry. "Join me for lunch? I haven't eaten any yet."

"Sure, I came earlier than necessary, I was hoping you could give me a tour of the castle."

"I can do that." He let her know and they started moving towards their intended destination.

After they'd taken a couple steps together without her saying more Harry got annoyed "You're not going to tell me?"

"Where's the fun in that? I thought you might like to guess."

"It has to do with the tournament?" Harry assumed it would as she had no other reason as to why she would be here. She was a Durmstrang student and not even from England. She'd only ever come to Hogwarts for the tournament, so Harry thought it was a good assumption.

"Yep. How could you ask that and not know?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

So he was right… The answer just wasn't jumping out at him. "You came early to watch the Second Task?"

She giggled at him. "No, I've been asked to take part in the Second Task, though I was told I'm not supposed to tell you." She smirked again.

The realization dawned on Harry. "You're what I'm rescuing tomorrow?!"

"You didn't know it was a person?"

"No." He said through gritted teeth.

As if it wasn't enough that there was a plot against him, now they were going to be endangering other people!

"You agreed to be my hostage?! How could you put yourself in danger?!" Harry was livid at the tournament organizers and he couldn't filter out the frustration from his response.

"Of course. I couldn't let anyone else play the role of your fair maiden." She batted her eyelashes at him.

Harry stopped their progress, tightly gripping her arms with his hands. "This isn't a game, Natalia. Dragons. Dragons were the First Task! You could die ." He told her fiercely.

Her look softened. "Thanks Harry, for caring." She kissed him on the cheek. "I know that, though, and so does my father. It's why I'm here today. The organizers will sign a binding contract that I will not come to harm. If they don't… I guess your first guess will be right, I'll just be here a day early to watch." She said brightly and reached up and patted him on the other cheek affectionately.

"Which table are we sitting at?" Natalia asked, seeing the Great Hall in its normal setup for the first time. "Where do you normally sit?"

They'd stopped just inside the Great Hall and Harry was deciding where to sit. "I was a Gryffindor when I attended here and always sat at the table with the red and gold clad students. I've sat with Hufflepuff quite a bit and even a few times at Ravenclaw." He indicated which table was which as he explained where he'd sat since the start of the new year.

Harry glanced over at each table, he didn't see his quidditch teammates there and he didn't see Fleur, not that he was sure he'd want to sit Natalia and Fleur together again. At the Hufflepuff table he did see Cedric sitting with Cho and Susan, but Hannah and Daphne weren't with them.

"How about we sit at Hufflepuff with Cedric and Cho. Do you remember meeting them?"

"Of course." She said as if he shouldn't have bothered asking the question.

Harry led her to the trio.

"Hello Harry, Natalia." Cedric said in greeting.

"Hey Cedric. Don't mind if we join you?"

"Not at all, Harry." Cho said before Cedric could finish the bite of food he'd been working to swallow.

Harry sat down across from Cedric. Natalia was across from Cho and Susan was on the other side of Cho.

"So why are you here?" Susan asked with an inquisitive look to her. "Hogwarts doesn't normally accept guests. Is it for the Second Task?"

Natalia looked up from putting food on her place "I'm not supposed to say." A small smile on her face. She turned her attention onto Cho. "Have they asked you yet?"

Cho stopped the motion of her fork halfway to her mouth. "Asked me what?" She tilted her head curiously.

Natalia looked at Cedric, "You know about tomorrow right? Any idea why I might be here?"

Cedric looked at her seriously, his nostrils flared and facial muscles tightened. It was clear to everyone he was doing his best to figure out what Natalia was inferring to. The lightbulb turning on moment hit and his face paled when it did. His knuckles were white as he tightened the grip on his fork and knife.

"A person, not a thing?" He asked in dread.

He looked at Harry for confirmation. Harry gave him a pained smile. "Apparently so." He said grimly, the mood darkening within the group.

"What are you talking about?" Susan said it but Harry thought it was Cho who looked most interested. "How is she involved with the task?"

Harry had no qualms about stating what he knew, he was not prevented from saying anything and Cedric had obviously figured it out. "Natalia is here today to make sure her family is okay with the contract they are going to sign to ensure she does not come to any harm in the task tomorrow. She'll be a hostage I need to rescue."

Cho's sharp intellect didn't miss putting two and two together. "And as Cedric's date to the Yule Ball, you think I'll be asked to as well?" She didn't seem pleased at the prospect.

"That's what they told me, they are asking for the dates of the Champions and, I think, for Fleur and Viktor they wanted a family member." She shrugged after her casual dissemination of information, now that she'd told four others it was sure to spread quickly. "They had to ask me to come as I don't attend here and am not a part of the Durmstrang contingent. Karkaroff owled my family and demanded that I must take part." She paused and smirked before continuing, "Father wasn't pleased with the wording. He lit into the Highmaster and had some demands of his own that must be satisfied if they are to consider using me in their task, especially given the security concerns for the tournament."

"Your father had to demand a contract to guarantee your safety?!" Cho asked heatedly. "If they want me to take part they are going to have to have one for me as well."

"I think I should owl Auntie. They can't just make people participate who didn't sign up for it!" She seemed as upset at the prospect as Cho and Cedric were, the latter having gone eerily quiet.

Harry coughed twice and then started laughing lightly.

"Oh right…" Susan mumbled out, her face reddening in embarrassment at forgetting how Harry had ended up in this mess.

"It's alright Susan. You should owl your Aunt though. It would be good to have her involved." He turned to Cho. "You might want to tag along with Natalia when she goes and demand the same if they plan to have you involved.

"Owl your parents too, they need to know. As a minor, they should have to approve it like they do for Hogsmeade trips. It isn't a part of the Hogwarts curriculum that they enrolled you for, it's an optional extra, like Hogsmeade trips." Cedric added on to Harry's line of thought.

Harry nodded along at that, it was good reasoning. A sudden thought popped to the forefront of his mind. "Should we tell Viktor and Fleur? I'd be sick if something happened to anyone, hostage or competitor, and if their family members are involved… I'd want to know."

"We should tell them. I think we all know what the clue is." Cedric said firmly.

Harry agreed with the Hufflepuff but was internally amused at the sense of fair play they exhibited.

Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and found Viktor was eating his lunch in the usual spot. "I'll go get Viktor then." He hadn't seen Fleur at the Ravenclaw table but could always find her after lunch.

He stood up and purposefully strode over to Viktor, making eye contact with him as he got closer.

"Harry." He greeted him stoically.

"Viktor." He returned. "You know what the task is?"

"Yes."

"Do you know you will be recovering a person not a thing?" Harry asked lowly, he was standing just off the end of the table and ignoring anyone else at the table. He hadn't come to do anything but inform Viktor.

Viktor's mood changed the instant Harry finished his question. "A person?" He demanded, ensuring he understood correctly.

Harry gave him a curt nod. "Natalia told us. You might want to join Cedric and I. We thought you should know."

Viktor dropped his cutlery and stood immediately. "Who?" He asked, his eyes intense, the look he'd have when playing quidditch Harry assumed.

"Natalia for me, Cho for Cedric and as you and Fleur can't be each other's hostages, a family member? That's the information Natalia gave us."

Viktor had an intensity to him that was frightening. "I'll join you." He said through gritted teeth.

Harry marched back to the table with Viktor right along with him. He sat down beside Harry.

"Viktor." Natalia acknowledged him.

"Natatlia." He grudgingly returned, though Natalia looked like she was quite happy with the exchange.

Just as Harry was going to bring everyone up to speed Daphne and Hannah showed up.

"It looks like we're missing something serious here." Hannah said as she sat down beside Susan, she gave a hug to her best friend.

Daphne walked around the table and asked Viktor if she could slide in beside Harry. He didn't respond but slid over as he was asked to.

"So what new trouble has found you, Harry?" Daphne asked with all attention turning to him.

Harry sighed. "The next task involves us recovering something. Except we found out it's not something but someone ."

Daphne stopped piling food on her plate. She craned her neck to look at him directly, after seeing Cedric's inclination that it was the truth. "They are going to put others into danger just so you can rescue them?"

Hannah was appalled. "But they used dragons in the first task! Mothering dragons for Merlin's sake! What are they going to do? Ask you to rescue a hostage from another five-x beast?"

"No." Cedric answer. He gave a significant look to Viktor, "you solved the egg?" Krum grunted in acknowledgement. "We all know… we have to rescue them from the depths of the Black Lake. It said we have an hour to do so, or else we'd be too late." Cedric finished darkly, looking very opposed to the idea of this task.

Hannah gasped at that. "Who are they using?" She looked between Cedric, Cho, Harry and Natalia.

"That is what I want to know." Krum interrupted a response with a growl.

The newcomers looked to Harry. He sighed, "Fine. I'll fill everyone in on what I know." He quickly reiterated what Natalia had told him and let them know everything he did.

"Natalia has the right of it." Daphne stated authoritatively. "Cho, you need to get your parents involved and ensure they inform Hogwarts they do not grant permission. The school has limited power to make decisions in place of your parents. They may try and use that authority to claim they were permitted to use you in the task. I can already guarantee they will say they didn't ask for your guardians permission because it was a school sanctioned event and secrecy was paramount to the integrity of the task."

She didn't slow her words as she turned to Viktor next. "Whose coming from your family?"

"My mother." Krum said through his glowering visage.

Daphne nodded and she ran her hand through her long hair. "She's not a citizen in this country. They can hold or incapacitate her for up to twelve hours without notifying the ICW. If they used her for the task, kidnapping her from being a spectator, you'll have very limited recourse. Bulgaria can launch a protest but if nothing happens to her under the lake you'll not have an issue."

"I tell her not to come." He said after taking a few seconds to decide on how to respond to what Daphne told him.

"And then how will you protect the next person they kidnap for you to rescue? You might not even know who it is." Daphne repulsed his plan right away.

"Then we won't compete unless they remove the hostages." Cedric said.

Daphne shook her head immediately. "No, that won't work. You're magically bound to compete, there's no leverage there. Leverage… that's what you need! You'll have to force them to not be pillocks. The DMLE and the press are your best bets."

"I'm on it. I"ll go message Auntie right now." Sue got up made to leave immediately.

"I'll go with her." Hannah said as she had stood right with her friend and the two left briskly.

"Thanks." Cedric called after his two housemates.

"Yeah, thanks." Harry said looking at Daphne. "Your insight is really helpful."

Daphne pinked under the sudden gratitude from the two champions.

Natalia scowled at Harry praising another girl his age and ensured she was helpful as well. "Harry, don't you have the one press agent at your beck and call? I'm sure she'd love to cover this."

Harry grinned. "Yes, Sam would love to break this story."

"I'll talk to her too Harry, if you trust her I will too. I signed up for this but Cho didn't. I don't want her being risked. I never imagined we would face a dragon! They said it would be safer and the only reason it was safe was because three dragons died! Imagine if we each had to face our own, a Horntail even!"

"I talk too." Viktor added. "Find me at the ship. I tell them to get me if you or Cedric come." He stood up to leave, having not wanted to eat anything more after discarding his food at the Slytherin table. Before he turned away from the table he looked at them. "Thanks," he said and then he locked in on Natalia, "all of you." He turned on the spot when he finished and stalked out of the hall.

"What next?" Cho asked, bringing everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. "I need to message my parents, Harry needs to get a hold of his friend in the press, but what else do we need to do?"

Harry thought it was funny the only Ravenclaw here was making a task list and getting ready to dole out jobs like this was a group project for class.

"Fleur needs to be informed too. Harry should cover that, as he's friendly with her and her family." Daphne spoke up once more. "I'll talk to Natalia about what was requested on the contract and Father too. He should know as the Steward of House Black." She said pointedly.

Harry nodded and then stood up as well. "I'll tell Fleur and get a hold of Samantha. I'll suggest a group interview for all the Champions on the eve of the Second Task. We'll wait for Madame Bones to get involved and demand, if everyone agrees to be involved, that a similar one is setup. Madame Bones should be involved as the DMLE is supposed to be helping with security."

Daphne agreed but Natalia did not look pleased. Harry was certain it was from his familiarity with Daphne and now the errand to find Fleur.

"Maybe I should go with Harry, he was going to give me a tour of the castle." She interjected her own hope for the day into the plans.

"You can do that after, we have things to discuss." A meaningful look was exchanged between them.

Harry had no idea what it was about, but Natalia looked menacing.

"We do." She said and Harry was worried about the tone in which she said it.

This wasn't the time to be dealing with that, so he went to go deal with his two tasks. He gave an awkward hug to Natalia and left the Great Hall.

Harry quickly made his way out of the castle and was headed to the Beauxbaton delegation's carriage. He made it to the entrance and after a broken half-understood conversation he was taken to Fleur's room.

He knocked on the door and someone Harry hadn't expected opened it. Harry heard an eardrum shattering squeal and felt the impact of an overly excited young veela plowing into him at what felt like terminal velocity. "Oomph." He exclaimed as he caught Gabrielle in a big hug.

"Qu'est-ce que tu as si excité, gosse?" He heard Fleur call out, the voice getting closer as her footsteps did.

"Ah," She said and her face lit up at the sight of him, "'Arry, did you come to visit me?" Her lips formed a wicked grin, "Or did you just wish to come see my derrière ?" The glint of humor in her eyes didn't reduce his embarrassment at her words, especially in front of her young sister! Fleur turned "It does look good in these shorts, non?"

Harry did his best to not react; it failed. He hadn't expected that she wouldn't be able to fluster him so easily; he thought he was getting used to her teasing! It was the unexpected nerve she had to make such a comment in front of her little sister that had him completely unguarded from it.

Harry didn't both trying to peel Gabrielle off of him. He allowed her to stick to his leg. Now that he was thinking straight he caught Fleur's eyes. "We need to talk about tomorrow, it's serious." He willed her to understand the time for teasing wasn't now.

"Gabrielle let 'arry in." She said sternly.

Gabrielled stopped hugging him and gave him an impish look. She grabbed his hand and pulled him in, shutting the door behind her.

Harry moved into the spartan room and let himself be sat on the bed. Fleur sat in the chair beside a small desk and waited for him to explain.

"Natalia is here today, she was asked to participate in tomorrow's task." Fleur's eyebrows shot up at this and Harry didn't fail to notice her pout at him mentioning Natalia.

"Karkaroff demanded she is used as a hostage tomorrow. Viktor, Cedric and I all thought the riddle meant we'd rescue a something, not a someone."

"And you are to rescue Natalia?" Fleur asked, not pleased with the words leaving her mouth.

"Apparently they are using mine and Cedric's dates from the Yule Ball." He told her, irked at having to explain this for a third time and the involvement of others.

"Viktor and I went together… who would they use?" Fleur asked, smartly understanding the issue.

Harry's lips thinned and he didn't need to say anything. He'd already guessed. His eyes found Gabrielle and conveyed the message he didn't need to speak.

"Non!" She gasped, both her hands shooting to her mouth. "Gabbi?! At the bottom of the lake, in winter?!" Harry felt the magic rolling off her. It was hot, passionate and righteously angry.

"Calm Fleur, calm." He leaned forward and his hand made contact with her forearm.

"Calm? 'Ow could I be calm?" She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

"We are already working to put a stop to it, or ensure their safety."

She didn't respond, her eyes burned with fury and she awaited the explanation with the morsel of patience she had left. She crossed her arms, her foot was tapping rapidly and her eyes held a danger within them, just beneath the surface. Harry could still feel her magic, she hadn't reigned it in fully yet.

"Daphne believes the school may have a legal grey-area to kidnap and force participation. Only because Natalia is out of the country and they could not ensure she was here did we find out about it. Her father forced them to sign a magically binding contract to ensure her safety."

"And how does that help protect Gabrielle?"

The little veela, who Harry thought barely understood English, if she did at all, looked between them before shrugging and resumed huggine Harry's side.

"Susan is contacting her Aunt, Amelia Bones, the Director of the DMLE, and all the champions are aware. I'm going to get a hold of my contact with the press as soon as I'm done here and we'll see if the DMLE or press can ensure they are not used, or are at least safe." Harry's voice was firm and filled with his determination to ensure nobody else could get roped into this ridiculous tournament.

"I'll floo Papa and get him here. He won't allow Gabrielle to be put in any sort of danger. Maman cannot attend today or tomorrow. She was just coming to watch her big sister and you, her favorite teddy bear." Fleur tried to add a little humor but her heart wasn't in it.

Harry gave a half smile for the attempt.

"Okay, I'm going to go get in touch with Samantha Roberts, then find out what is going on with everyone else. Cho was contacting her parents and Viktor's mom was coming, he went back to the ship but told us to grab him when we need him."

"I'm sending Gabrielle home and will ask Papa to come deal with this." She nodded decisively and then stood up. "I'll come find you, and the others, when I am done."

Harry stood and was grateful when Fleur whispered something in french to Gabrielle so she detached herself from him. He stepped away to leave, but Fleur's hand caught a hold of him.

"Wait, 'arry." She said softly. "Merci, thank you. She means the world to me. I could never risk her." She said, her voice steeped with emotion. She advanced on him and wrapped him up in a tight hug. "You are such a good, honest man." She whispered to him and didn't lessen her grip on him.

Harry returned the hug until she let him go.

She began to disentangle from the hug and stopped with mere inches between their faces. Harry could feel her breath on his face.

"This doesn't make me like you less." She gave him a small smile and Harry could see the sincerity in her blue eyes. She kissed him on the cheek. "We won't forget this 'arry."

She stepped away and opened the door so he could exit the room. "I'll see you soon." She told him and then began to speak at the upset Gabrielle. Harry heard her call to him and stopped in the doorway and turned around.

He knelt down and opened his arms, knowing Gabrille wanted a hug goodbye, even though he didn't follow her rapid fire french. He gave her a hug and then left. Today wasn't turning out to be fun.

After Harry had informed Fleur what was going on things went pear-shaped quickly. Parents arriving demanding to know what was going on. The DMLE got involved. The Ministry, the contestants and even the press showed up to ask questions. It quickly devolved into quite a mess and it took Dumbledore imposing silence on them all to convene a meeting in the evening to discuss the Second Task for the next day.

Harry had meant to show Natalia around the school, but she had disappeared with Daphne and not returned. Now there was a mess of people as Cho's parents had refused to leave until this was sorted out. Patrice Delacour had come and Gabrielle had been returned home, for now, as a precaution. Viktor had retreated into his ship after getting an update.

Harry was wondering what he was going to do now.

"Harry, would you join me and Fleur while we wait for the meeting?" Patrice asked, the kind of asking that let him know it was perfectly alright to turn down his offer.

"Sure… I was looking for Natalia, as I told her I'd give her a tour of the school, plus she's supposed to be my hostage, but I haven't seen her since she ducked out with Daphne." Harry frowned and looked around the entrance again.

"That's fine if you'd like to look for her. I was just hoping for a quick word."

Harry decided to hedge his bets. Natalia hadn't come right back to him, so whatever she was doing with Daphne had taken precedence over the planned tour. He'd join the Delacours and go from there.

They stepped into the antechamber, off the entry hall, and Patrice put up some privacy spells. Harry got the same feeling as he did when Fleur put up her own.

Patrice withdrew a cloak from within his pocket. "I'd wanted to present this with the whole family present, but you may have use of it first." He put out his hand and handed the item to Harry.

It was the invisibility cloak Fleur had pushed for. He looked at her gratefully.

"I don't know why Fleur was insistent on that but, no one will know you did not already possess it."

"Thank you." Harry said. He really meant it.

Patrice waived it off, "Think nothing of it. We should have done more to contact you. Then, when you tell us of this? I'd happily pay a cloak for the safety of my daughter." He shook his head. "Dragons for the first task, and they wish to put my child at the bottom of the lake without my permission?!" He fumed. "Non, we will put an end to that tonight. You've done us another great deed Harry."

Harry decided to reply cheekily. "Think nothing of it. What are friends of the family good for, if not this?"

"And I will do what I can to make sure the Potter and Delacour families stay close friends." He said gaily after chuckling at Harry's familiar response.

"Was there anything else?" Harry asked.

It all seemed a little odd, as Patrice could have just slipped the cloak to Fleur to give to him.

"Oui." He looked a little uncertain of how to say whatever was on his mind. "I understand there has been workings going on behind the scenes. There are rumblings House Black is active once more."

Harry nodded perceptively but didn't comment yet. Fleur stood still, seemingly content to listen.

"A Steward is active and a law firm has been retained again. Their business interests are becoming active and something major is coming in the political world. This is what I am hearing."

Harry nodded again, slowly this time. There still wasn't a question and he wasn't going to comment without one.

"You withdrew the restraints on Cyrus Greengrass? Do you know how that relationship works?" Harry thought he actually looked concerned.

"I believe so. I have a political advisor now too."

"A Steward and political advisor?" Fleur asked, frowning.

"Yes. I trust them both." He said simply.

"Not because the Steward is bound to the House of Black though, correct?" Patrice asked in such a way he didn't believe that he had made a mistake, he was more checking it wasn't the case.

"No, I was advised against that." He let them know.

"Bon. They can act against you if they believe it is for the best interest of the family. It has happened before."

"Do you mind if I ask why you are so sure of their trust?" Fleur had looked a little apprehensive since he'd said he trusted them.

Harry grinned, "A carefully worded unbreakable vow."

"Non! Who would do such a thing?" Her beautiful face was marred with a look of disbelief by the notion.

It was a little bit of a calculated move by Harry here. Nobody outside of those two would be aware of the breakable vow. Even if either Delacour said something there was no proof, nor did they know the specific wording or vow. He'd given Fleur a little tope of trust and she'd made good use of it with the cloak. He was giving them a little more and would see they are further trustworthy or they'd hang their relationship with him with it.

"Cyrus Greengrass, my Steward, and my political advisor." Harry was unsure if he should give up his association with Slughorn. It would come out that they were friendly when he made his next public appearance with the man, but nobody was aware of it yet.

Harry doubted it really mattered one way or another.

"Are you willing to tell us who the unnamed advisor is?" Patrice asked.

Aain, he didn't feel like an answer was being demanded. It really felt like they were respecting him as an adult, as his own person. They'd inquire but wouldn't demand; Harry really enjoyed it. It was just another instance of the Delacour family making him feel comfortable.

"Horace Slughorn, the man who advised my mother." There was a sternness to his tone that let them know it wasn't something they could debate the choice.

"Your mother was muggleborn." Fleur stated confused. "Why would she have an advisor for politics?"

Patrice answered his daughter."Because Horace always maintained a group for superb students and Lily Evans was truly a standout student. It was said she was better than Severus Snape at Potions, a protégée of Flitwick's in Charms and even the top scoring student in Ancient Runes for her year at Hogwarts. She was an impressive witch with the world ahead of her as the Lady Potter."

"Oh." Fleur said, humbled by the words of her father. "Was it known Horace Slughorn advised her? Did he do that for all promising students?"

"Not that I know of." Harry said before looking to see if Patrice knew differently.

"Non, I don't believe so either. I don't think it was known that he even did it for your mother. As a friend of the Potters, admittedly not a close one, our family wasn't aware."

There was no accusation in the tone.

Fleur had a calculating look to her, "Did your mother get contracted to your father?" She paused at his blank look and then laid out her reasoning for the question. "She wouldn't be wealthy that young, at least in the wizarding world, and the two most important aspects of her life after graduation would be career and marriage prospects, with job prospects being substantially improved in England if she married well."

Harry sighed, he hadn't planned to disclose that to anyone beyond Sirius and Remus, but she'd figured it out from one comment he could have chosen not to make.

"Yes, she was. However, every indication said it was a loving marriage. For obvious reasons, I'd appreciate this is kept quiet." He looked at them both solemnly and got positive indications that they would keep their silence.

"It was a smart match. The Potters wouldn't have taken any political hit for their heir marrying a muggleborn with Lily's pedigree. They were beloved for their historical role of taking a stance against evil by the Light sided families. The neutral, or Grey, families were already behind them for their acting against Grindelwald. What's more, being married to the sister of the Head of House Black meant the darker families wouldn't have dared to slander them for it." Patrice laid out the political landscape that Harry and Fleur may be more ignorant of.

"With the backing of the Potter family, Lily would have been able to get a good position in the Ministry, apprenticeships, start a business, teach, and even be backed for private research. She'd have had the whole world opened up for her where the prejudice against her heritage may have blocked many of those avenues, especially given the prominence of You-Know-Who at that time."

Slughorn had told him of the basics of this. It was good to hear confirmation that he'd done right by his mother, not that he doubted it in the least these days.

"Harry?" A new voice floated through their midst, drawing the attention of all three of them. Natalia had entered the antechamber.

"Please excuse me, I do need to speak with her and had promised the tour." He bowed out of the current conversation, a little relieved when the topic of marriage and marital contracts had been brought up.

He didn't need the conversation to turn to the merits of him marrying a Delacour, he'd talked with Slughorn about that already.

"Au revoir Harry, we'll see you shortly." Patrice said amicably and he released the privacy spells.

"And thanks again, for what you did for our family."

Natalia froze as she took in the three occupants after the privacy charms fell. Her eyes widened in surprise before she gained a guarded countenance. "There you are Harry, are we able to do the tour now?"

Harry had moved right towards her and had let the newcomer not intermingle with the Delacours. They'd moved to talk to each other away from the entrance, and Harry had been moving right towards her.

"Where did you want to start the tour?" Harry questioned after they exited the room.

"Outside? With warming charms it could be delightful." She said directing their path outside.

Harry raised his eyebrows and gave her a skeptical look. "Really?" He asked dryly.

Natalia shot him an annoyed look, not that Harry cared.

"Yes! To get away from everyone. I wanted to spend time together, not deal with a circus." She shook her head and then brightened up. "I hoped we could just spend time together, we don't get to see eachother everyday like we did when we were dancing together." She added a little shyly as they made it to the outdoors.

"A walk around the lake then?" It would give them time together and shouldn't be full of people on a school day.

She smiled softly at him, "Like our time together in the park? That sounds lovely."

Harry cast the warming charms on them both. Before he could slide his hands back into a pocket she grasped one, ensuring they held hands while they walked.

"You look nervous Harry. Is there something wrong?" Natalia queried.

"Other than the task tomorrow you mean?" He replied sardonically.

"Are you really worried about that though? I'll have a contract and I can't imagine the other hostages won't have the same, not after what you've done."

"I don't know, the task does bother me…" He ran his free hand up and down the back of his head and neck.

"I don't think that is it. There is something else I think. I doubt the danger of the task does much more than get your adrenaline going." She challenged his reply. "Your uneasiness is more alike to our time when there is something between us than anything external."

Harry frowned. "Am I that easy to read?"

He didn't like the idea of that at all.

Natalia laughed, "No, not at all. We've just had a rocky relationship after our easy start." Her nose wrinkled at the admission, her upper lip curling upward toward her nose.

"I guess so." He muttered.

"Are you going to tell me?" She asked impatiently.

"Fine." He said, not all that happy she'd pressed him on it. "I was hoping to tell you this at a better time, but why not now?"

She looked at him and he could see the worry in her eyes.

"I won't be accepting the courtship contract." He told her bluntly.

She stopped. "You know what my family will demand then?!" She almost shrieked at him, she was a little hysterical as her emotions flooded and overwhelmed her.

"I doubt they will demand you leave me alone. My advisor didn't think they would force you to stop spending time with me."

"Why ever not?" She rounded on him. "You heard what they said, you know what I told you! None of my siblings were allowed to date. They all courted! If you reject that then you are breaking up with me!" Tears were gathering in the corner of her eyes.

"No." He said forcefully gaining her full attention. "Your parents were trying to take advantage of my naivety. They hoped my infatuation with you would cloud my judgement and that they could push me into it. If they want the match, they are offering very little to gain a whole lot." Seeing the hurt he realized how she could have taken that and quickly qualified his statement so it wouldn't be seen as slighting her personally, that she was worth so little to him.

"The Potter family joining yours gives the credibility from one of their most outspoken critics for their role in the war against Grindelwald. They get a foothold into England, politically and economically, and their daughter could birth the Potter and Black Heirs. While the contract has very little political or economic benefits to either of my two families. You're not the heiress of the family and they offered very little in the contract. From just the business and political outlook they gain a lot and give virtually nothing. That's what I meant, not that you are not worth anything."

She was resigned to the course of action, her spirit was crushed. "I get it." She told him dejectedly.

Harry pulled a letter addressed to her family out of his pocket. "This is for your family. It's a letter of intention from me, regarding dating you." He held it out for her to take.

She grabbed it reverently, treating it like it was a lifeline for her. "You think they will accept? Your advisor too?" She asked with curiosity and hope.

Harry shrugged, "I was led to believe it should be agreeable to your family." He told her softly and pulled her in for a hug now that she'd secured the letter into her pocket.

When he felt her breathing return to normal he broke the hug.

"Why would they accept the arrangement?"

Harry smiled. "Because of your actions."

She gave him a questioning look, her eyebrows were trying to connect and her lips were pursed.

"Look, this is just what I was advised. You've been determinedly disinterested in all potential suitors and most of the matches your family could hope for would not be with heirs to a single prominent family, let alone two. I'm by far the best match they could hope for, in my advisor's opinion anyway, and people know we've spent quite a lot of time together. That you've been my date at an internationally covered tournament and the Delacour's Ball means they've gotten oodles of positive public perception from your association with me and that is worth the chance of us not working out."

Natalia had her brain engaged now that her emotions weren't so volatile. "With the potential payoff for my family they won't risk it, nor the negative feedback if you sought to tarnish our reputation by exposing the courting contract as an all or nothing pressure tactic to an orphaned hero that's only been back in the wizarding world for a few years."

She looked positively radiant now that she was understanding how Harry was painting them into a corner, assuming the letter laid out, or threatened, to use the leverage he now had.

"You're asking my father to let me date you?"

"Not exactly…" She'd gone from deliriously happy to a reaction that made Harry feel like he'd just kicked a puppy.

"I wanted him to grant approval for us to decide if we wanted to date or not." He told her quickly, successfully wiping that hurt look from her.

That was all the encouragement she needed to start kissing him. Her hands shot out to the sides of his chest, grabbed his clothes and pulled him in. She ran her hands up his body until they were running through his hair. She moaned and moved to deepen the kiss when Harry broke it off.

She looked at him questioningly. 'Did you not enjoy it' was the question left unsaid, but Harry knew she was wondering it.

"There's still more we need to go through." He did look regretful that he ended their kiss.

"What else?" She asked demurely.

Harry put his hand out again, inviting her to take it, and when she locked hands with him they returned to their walking.

"I'm not going to be dating anyone exclusively through the tournament. I hope to be able to spend time with you and as we wouldn't be exclusively dating I won't push, and will respect, for kissing or anything physical beyond hugging."

"Why? Is this because of Fleur and Daphne? Are you considering them, planning to spend time with them? "

Harry sighed and looked away, trying to find a good way to answer that.

"Daphne talked to you about me then?" Harry asked, wanting to know more before he fully committed to his plan.

Natalia nodded slowly and carefully added "She did."

"What did she say?"

Harry thought Natalia really didn't want to discuss it, but he could see when she relented from that stance. "She told me she's requested the outstanding marriage contract is amended to be to a Regent instead of the Head of the Black Family…"

"That is not all. Daphne doesn't give away that information without having some sort of followup." He said.

Harry hadn't spent a ton of time with Daphne since he'd settled things with Cyrus Greengrass. Nevertheless, he'd been getting to know her as an easy bridge between Cyrus and himself. She was in training to take over the role from her father, as she would eventually take over the position. She'd been helping to educate him on law and how it interacts with politics.

"No," She admitted, "it's not…" Her face showed the indecision she was feeling and she was squeezing his hand more than was normal, or comfortable for Harry. "She asked me about our future… how it would look." She said slowly, not pleased by the words leaving her mouth.

"That you are career driven and being a professional ballet dancer will be your life unless you take a break to have a family from now until you decide to retire?" Harry asked knowingly, a tiny bit of a teasing tone as well.

"Yes. Exactly that." She whispered.

"And knowing Daphne, she presented a solution to your issue?"

"She did…"

"And?"

Natalia slowed their pace, almost as if she was having trouble walking and talking at the same time, like she was diverting processing power away from walking so she'd slowed down. "I'm not sure what I think of it and I don't want to put the idea in your head… I'm not sure if I'd ever consider it."

"I probably already know." Harry assumed Daphne had tried to angle for Natalia to be supportive of her own idea. Namely, that Natalia could marry Harry and focus on her career, Daphne could complete the contract and find a way to end the curse on her family. Harry would get the heirs he needed, Natalia would have her career and Daphne could free her family. A win-win-win is what she would see it, and explain it.

"That we should both be with you?" She asked tentatively, not making eye contact.

"Yes," Harry sighed, "Daphne sees it as a way for all of us to get what we want."

"You want to be with two women and have a large family?"

Harry laughed.

"No. I told her I don't want to even think about the idea of having more than one woman to keep happy, sounds like a bloody nightmare to me. Have you even tried thinking of how it would even sodding work?" He asked incredulously.

"No?" Natalia had almost nothing else on her mind since the idea was presented.

"Assuming neither of you are bisexual, and wouldn't magically become so over night, you'd probably not want to live in the same home. Imagine we were and I was going to spend the night in bed with the other girl. How would that make you feel? Would you want to stay there, silencing charms or not?"

Natalia shook her head vehemently.

"Yeah, so then two homes. When we have kids I'd have two families living in two homes, probably not close to each other, and I'd constantly be in the middle of that! That sounds like a great idea, eh? Sleep with two different women expect they are both, somehow, okay with it and, then, have two families simultaneously. Would there be a schedule setup? How would you decide who goes with me to what event? It's ridiculous, I've never even heard of another family like that." Harry ranted as the words spilled out of his mouth.

Natalia smiled at him. "I've heard of it. It is very rare now though and always kept quiet. Normally, there is kind of a main wife and family with further women being more like mistresses and children from the deliancees raised with limited contact with their father." She shuddered when she saw the look in Harry's green eyes.

"I know what it's like to not be raised by a father." He stated coldly. "No child of mine will be subjected to it if I can help it."

Natalia shivered, she recoiled from Harry. He was angry, mad, serious, and upset. It was her first experience seeing him like this.

Harry suddenly stopped and pulled Natalia back. They both stumbled back a couple steps before they regained their balance.

"What is it?" Natalia asked.

She was looking around and not seeing anything that would cause such a reaction.

"Wards." Was all he said.

Harry closed his eyes and focused on what he could tell of them. He could feel they were strong and powerful. They felt closed off and restrictive. There were other things that skirted his ability to recognize and even consider what it might be.

Harry moved closer again and reach out with his hand. He kept it back from touching the ward line but he wanted to feel as much of it as he could without touching it. He closed his eyes and let himself become immersed in the feel of it.

"Harry!" Natalia called out. "Someone is coming." She pulled him back and brought him back to focus on their surroundings.

Harry looked to where Natalia had subtly pointed and he noticed she was now gripping her wand.

The person approaching them had their wand out and it only took a second for Harry to recognize him.

"Bill?" He named the person and called out in greeting.

"Harry? What are you doing out here?" The eldest Weasley asked as he trotted up to them.

"Natalia and I were going for a walk. Oh, and Natalia, Bill, otherwise known as William Weasley and, Bill, let me Natalia Pavlova." He introduced them to each other.

"Charmed to meet you, Miss Pavlova." Bill said formally.

"Likewise, it's a pleasure to meet such a distinguished cursebreaker." Natalia said, surprising Bill.

"Have we been acquainted before?" Bill asked through his frown.

"No, my family stays abreast of anything or anyone considered worthy of knowing about. As I am here in Scotland, and knowing Harry was good friends with the Weasley family, I studied up on people and places."

"I see." Bill said, giving her a skeptical look. "And to my earlier question, what are you doing out here?"

"Going for a walk, to clear our heads and chat." Harry responded. "Why are there powerful wards here? For the task tomorrow?"

"Right in one. Gringotts got contracted by the DMLE to setup wards to ensure nobody could get through and mess with the task. It was supposed to be low key, but with everything going on at the castle I doubt it will be much of a surprise what tomorrow's task is, yea?"

Harry scowled. "If it wasn't for Natalia here, none of us would have known we were rescuing someone. I'm sure between Director Bones and the parents of the suspected hostages there will be some sort of safety measure added for them. Natalia's family insisted on it."

Harry was still having a hard time not getting worked up over that.

"Right. Well, don't get too close to the wards. You'll get a nasty surprise if you do."

"Thanks Bill. We won't. They just run along the water, not the path around?" Harry queried as they began preparing to continue their walk.

"Yep. I'll see you around Harry." Bill said. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do on your walk !" Bill called out after they had waved and had already turned away.

He chuckled as he walked away.

Natalia check over her shoulder, ensuring no one else was around before she spoke, ending the silence. "Do you know him well?"

"Erm, not really. I've met him in person a couple times now but that's a recent thing. Though, I have exchanged a couple letters with him. He sent me some stuff on wards and detecting magic, pre-cursebreaker type stuff."

"Are you thinking of being a Cursebreaker?" She didn't need to ask what level of study he was at for it. She knew all wards were a NEWT level topic, if not beyond it.

"No, I just find it fascinating and think It's a good thing for me to know about." That was the truth, just not all of it. He'd been really keen on learning more about wards when he found out that his cloak ignored them.

The two descended into silence as they walked, holding hands once again. Harry was thinking about his plans for tonight. He'd always intended to totally bollocks up the second task. He'd researched heavily for anything that could disrupt the task.

Whomever put him in this tournament had been able to get close to the Goblet of Fire without anyone knowing. His enemy was around and, more than likely, had access to the tournament tasks. He disrupted the first one, removing the element of danger and causing such a scene the scrutiny would be too heavy to do anything overt to him.

With this second task he was worried that politics would rear its ugly head. The tournament committee still featured the same organizers that thought nesting mother dragons were suitable for students that hadn't completed their NEWTs. Even with a legitimate warding expert on hand it would protect against outside interference but not any insiders, where Harry suspected there was already an issue.

This led him to the decision that he couldn't let any of these tasks go forward as planned. He had the perfect potion for it. It was a potion of eternal darkness. When dispersed into a body of water the potion prevented all light from entering it and any from being used within it.

Harry had no idea what the actual purpose of it was. All he knew was that he'd read through book after book in the library trying to find something that might work. The potion was perfect. The only issue was inserting enough of it to make the lake as black as his name. With a life cycle of seventy-two hours it was perfect. There was no way they would be able to delay the task. Once it was mixed into the body of water there was no known way of removing it, he hoped that was reliable.

The ingredients were all simple and commonly used. Much of what was required could be found within the forest. Dobby had told Harry the elves harvest a number of them from the Forbidden Forest to reduce costs for the school.

He wasn't deterred by the wards. With his cloak it would be a done deal. He'd introduce it tonight, well into the night, and act unaware in the morning. There would be nothing pointing towards him. Harry felt bad for Bill. He'd get some flak when they had no explanation for why their wards failed to prevent the intrusion.

"So what are we now then Harry? You're asking for permission to be able to date me and you have at least two others pursuing you. Where do you stand? What do you want us to be? Is there even an us?"

Harry let the nervous and exasperated girl settle. He'd wanted to know what her and Daphne had talked about and now he knew.

Harry stopped their forward progression and turned her to look at him. He wasn't going to shy away with his answer. "I talked with my political advisor multiple times. It's not possible for me to say everything you'd need to know to understand why it has to be this way."

Natalia was trying to put on a brave face but her bottom lip was trembling.

"There are things going on behind the scene that take precedence. In the immediate future I won't be deciding on a final decision for my marriage prospects. With that being said, I do like you. I have really enjoyed our time together and you're the only girl I feel normal with. We can just be Harry and Natalia, the dolt and the brat. We can dance together, go for walks together and just spend time with each other. I like that. I miss that when we're apart for long periods of time… "

A smile was slowly forming on her face, her scrunched up eyebrows were relaxing and hope was blossoming on her face, he could see her relaxing.

He swallowed and then continued. "I've been advised to not be exclusive. To not discourage current and potential suitors. We are planning for the future but it's too soon. I imagine I'll introduce my advisor, and any more that I pickup, to your family and they can discuss it more."

He paused and let that soak in. His heart felt like it was clenching and shrinking a whole size. "I'd like to hangout with you still. It could be as friends or whatever else you want, but I won't push and I can't force you to want to be around me. I'd understand if you wanted to distance yourself now…"

Natalia's head had dropped, her chin resting on her chest. "So you will keep spending time with just Daphne and Fleur." She stated it, no questioning it at all.\

Fleur's name came out especially frosty, far worse than how almost normal she'd said Daphne's name.

"The Delacour's are a friend of the Potter family. Even if we were exclusive I'd spend time with her. She's the heiress. Daphne, well, with her Father being a Steward and the possibility of our future children marrying, if I don't accept their offer, make it likely I'll be in regular contact with her for the foreseeable future. There's not much I can do about that." He shrugged after saying the last part a bit apologetically.

"What if I wanted to date you? What if I wanted to keep kissing you and acting as if we are exclusive? That I pushed to win your heart, the other prospects be damned." She stepped into him. "What then, Harry?"

"I wouldn't stop you, that's for sure." He gave her his lopsided smile, the one she adored.

"Good. Because I like you and won't give you up that easily." She whispered as she closed the small gap between them and kissed him. He'd been upfront and honest with her. If she wanted to pursue him anyway, then he wasn't going to turn down a gorgeous older girl when she wanted to kiss him.

Harry was ready. He had his enchanted mask - one that allowed him to breathe underwater, aided his vision and let him speak normally - so now he wouldn't have to cast silently if he didn't wish to. He had gillyweed in his pocket and knew the bubble head charm. He had researched spells to assist him in moving through the water and so on. He was as ready as he was ever going to be.

At Slughorn's, and Cyrus', insistence he now wore dragonhide armor. It was an extremely lightweight version, as a heavy one would be terrible for swimming. He had another proper set in his bag, the one that also had emergency potions.

He made his way to the meeting place for the Second Task. He was wearing the cloak the Delacours had procured for him. He'd left his actual cloak in the Chamber, not wanting anyone to connect it with the potion he'd dumped into the Black Lake.

While he knew the book he had learned the potion from, actually learned thanks to parseltongue, that there may have been an advancement in magic that rendered it useless. When he'd checked the Hogwarts library for it he'd not found mention of it. Really, it wasn't a terribly useful potion.

Nevertheless, he was prepared. If he had to go down to the bottom of the Black Lake he'd have no problems finding Natalia given the Point Me spell. He knew whom everyone had for a hostage thanks to the ridiculous meeting yesterday.

By the time Harry got back from his walk with Natalia things had dissolved into chaos. The orderly meeting had been made moot by the actions of the Changs, Madame Bones and Patrice Delacour. Gabrielle would still be used, because she really wanted to be involved. Natalia for him, Krum's absent mother for Viktor and Cho for Cedric.

The real change had been the tournament organizers had guaranteed their safety. Dumbledore' eye twinkling and reputation hadn't convinced any of them when they refused to name all the dangers for the task.

It was decided, unilaterally by Amelia Bones, that the tournament organizers had to back their guarantee with a magical contract - like the one Natalia was offered - or they'd be charged with kidnapping if they took any unwilling participants.

Harry wasn't a party to any of them and the actual terms had not been disclosed. He was informed that all participants were satisfied with the arrangements and the task would go forward. Harry had come back for the meeting only to discover it had already been settled. He'd tried to catch Patrice, or Fleur, to ask how it ended but he'd been told that they'd left the castle.

When Natalia had left to deliver the signed scroll back to her parents, and his letter, he'd retired to the chamber. He had potions to complete.

That all led up to this. As he arrived at the designated area he was still smirking because the lake was black. You couldn't see anything and a number of people were working on it. Harry saw Snape casting spells on a sample of the water. He couldn't keep himself from being smug, he knew of a potion the vaunted potion master didn't.

Harry took off his cloak just as he entered into the tent, he put on his best naive, unaware student look.

He saw the other champions were already there, though there were no signs of the hostages. As they were supposed to go into the water this morning, this worried Harry. It should have been then, if not sooner, that they'd discovered the issue with the lake.

"What's going on?" Harry asked the three champions.

"'Arry," Fleur greeted warmly, "The task, they aren't letting it go on. The lake is unswimmable."

"I saw that!" He said, wide-eyed. "What happened? I thought they upped security and had the whole Lake warded."

Fleur's eyes flashed at that but she quickly covered that up. Harry knew she might be asking him about this once they were in private somewhere.

"I think they are trying to change the task." Cedric said, the normally chipper young man was anything but that right now.

"Karkaroff said they had a back-up task ready. After the first one, they were worried of sabotage." Viktor informed him.

The way the other two didn't react Harry assumed that they must already be aware.

"How could we have prepared though? I've been planning for a swim in the lake!"

This wasn't good! He'd not considered that they might have expected another bout of sabotage, let alone prepared for it.

It was then that the leaders of the three schools, Bagman and Crouch came their way. They beckoned the champions to them.

"It has been decided that the task will go forward. Instead of collecting your hostage within an hour from the Black Lake you will have to retrieve them from the Forbidden Forest."

Harry's stomach sank. That was a terrible change. Grindylows were really the worst creatures in the lake. The Forest though, there were legitimate worries there. Hagrid had insinuated there were other things, beside a Voldemort possessing Quirrell, that killed unicorns. That it hadn't been the first time.

Second year he'd met Aragog, and if they remember him and their unlikely escape…

This year he wasn't made aware of anything new in there, but he'd heard of more. He'd heard the centaurs were so aggressive because their settlements were constantly harassed. This wasn't good. Not at all!

"You will venture into the forest and have one hour to return hostage and then make your way back out of the forest." Dumbledore told them.

"When you get to your hostage you are to give them a portkey and they will return to this tent. As there is a lesser degree of difficulty, moving through a forest versus a lake, you will have to return as well. With the original task once you retrieved the designated person it was just a swim back."

They passed out four portkeys and were told if they used them for themselves, it would be an automatic failure.

The previous times he'd gone deep into the forest he'd met Voldemort and Aragog. Harry had a really bad feeling about this.