The morning of Halloween Harry got up at the same time as he did every morning for fourth year for his two-a-days, 4:45, his trainer said they would stop being as effective by the end of Yule at their current pace. He was in the Chamber of Secrets training room with Neville by 5:00. For starters both of them did light magical workouts while running across the chamber and hurdling some preset obstacles. This included a few that randomly moved, as if ready to attack him. A few minutes later Hermione came in, ready for her morning workout. He looked up and gave her a light kiss and a good morning but was surprised to see a small frown.

"What troubles you, My Lady?" he asked gallantly, a small smile slipping out.

"Later," was her simple reply, he nodded and got to work.

As usual, they ran through hundreds of spells, spending an hour on speed and accuracy drills while dodging and shielding. Toward the end they began 'heavy lifting' spells to improve their strength. After he was tired Harry ran more speed and accuracy drills remembering his trainer's comments, 'it is an entirely different thing to fight when tired, hungry and unhappy.' He continued to push himself even beyond his exhausted companions until he felt the slight chill that said he would be tapping dangerously into his reserves should he continue.

Harry's thoughts of, 'I have to get better,' had been forcibly impressed on him this summer. The basic fact was that he wanted to be the absolute best he could possibly be at his combat spells because he was now certain that he would have to fight again. His recent memory of the Quidditch World Cup came to mind.

Flashback

Remus was sitting quietly next to Harry and carving something out of a wooden block he had been given for the purpose. The head of a horse was slowly coming out of the block and Harry was fascinated by it. Hermione and her mother had retired scarcely a half hour ago and her father was off getting something.

A sudden shout in the distance caught Remus' attention and he slowly stood, scanning the distant camp for signs of what was happening.

"Wand out!" Remus barked then shouted into the Granger's tent to get them up. Harry relaxed when they came out looking mussed a bit, but suddenly had a thought as he looked back over to the sound of a disturbance. There were masked men using levitation and other spells to bounce the muggle camp keepers in the air. He reviewed the cushion charm in his head that he had learned just last week from Remus after his dueling lessons. In a flash he was running toward the commotion, having seen something that caught his attention.

"Padfoot watch the tent," he called over his shoulder before disappearing into the distance a cursing Remus trying to keep up. Harry heard the obscurao that Remus yelled just before he came out into the open.

"So, muggles is all you people can handle?" Harry laced his voice with as much scorn as he could, in the back of his mind he thanked Remus for the spell as it roughed his voice some along with his face being blurry. A simple finite would reveal his features, but he had no plan to let himself get hit. He was also glad for his recent growth spurt, at least he wouldn't be considered too short to be thought of as an adult.

"Stay out of this, stranger. Besides, one against five doesn't look that much better than muggles." One of the drunken men called, surprised that this man would stand against Death Eaters for simple muggles.

Harry meanwhile cast his first spell, not at the Death Eaters, but he hit two of the floundering muggles with his own levitation charm, pulling them from the grasp of their astonished tormentors. Soon a young woman and a man were down on the ground and running back toward sanctuary.

The Death Eater with a definite womanly figure turned to and immediately started casting heavy curses at him. Harry shielded for a moment, recognizing that the spells wouldn't penetrate. The piercing hexes clanged ominously against his shield, letting everyone know that this was no weakling wizard. Another two started casting at the young man with similar results as his shield held firm. Finally a green spell came hurtling across the space between the combatants and Harry had to move out of the way. Unobserved, Remus levitated the rest of the muggles away and had just set them down when the killing curse sped past Harry's dodging form.

This made a terrible change in Harry. He turned his attention to attack and lightning fast bludgeoning hexes came back to the Death Eaters and they were forced to take cover as spells also came from someone behind a tree they couldn't see. A few hid behind an overturned and Harry, remembering his training, glanced at the small risen are behind them and chuckled. He shielded for a bit slowly building up the magic in his system, then let loose with a dozen full powered piercing hexes, most of which went right through the heavy wooden cart. He heard a yelp from one and agonized cursing from another before they portkeyed away. The other two fire a few more exchanges and when Harry was sure the last of the victims were completely away he turned and fled. Only moments later last of the attackers left to the shout of 'Aurors.'

Harry and Remus made their way back to camp without comment between them. He saw Remus casting a levitation followed by a water spell and chuckled for a moment. He followed suite and cast a large number of low powered 'household' spells before they returned. He had barely gotten to the camp when he was greeted by a slobbering black dog and two frantic crying Granger girls.

"Mister Granger, are you all right?" was Harry's first statement. He had been the first man Harry had caught with the levitation charm.

"Harry!" Hermione practically screamed; having already proved her father was fine she turned her attention to him.

As Hermione's father was trying to thank him for getting him out of being bounced up and down and quite likely dropped from twenty meters, Remus pushed the now clinging girl to the side and began checking the boy for injuries.

A cold burning feeling settled deep down in his stomach. If he had failed today, Hermione may have been without a father.

Afterward there followed a heated discussion between Harry and the adults about responsibility that left him pensive for days. Hermione was surprisingly quiet on the matter after her initial outburst.

End Flashback

He quickly turned back to his workouts, putting more effort into them. He had nearly lost the man he hoped to become his father in-law. One day soon, he fully expected to have to continue defending those he cared. No one was going to die because he was trying to be a normal teen and 'taking it easy.'

He finished his exhausting workout by sparring with Hermione and Neville simultaneously, as had become their custom. Both of his fellow students had made great strides over the last month, Neville's spells were now very powerful after his wand and confidence had been refreshed..

Meanwhile, in a rundown building on the outskirts of London, three training soldiers were discussing their new 'recruits' with their boss, Mr. Granger sat with a quiet look.

"I had a quiet sparring match with my daughter just before she went back to school." His countenance gave little away. "I was not taking it easy on her, since she had a medical checkup with that healer Mr. Black recommended later that day. She handled me easily. I must say whatever you guys are teaching is working wonders." He kept quiet his own observations about how it had improved his girl's figure as well. That was something he didn't want to really think about, being her father.

"How is the magical training going?"

"Mr. Granger, one of the reasons we are training is because there is such a lack in the magical world. Auror training is lax at best, confined to laws, and little surveillance, and some dueling. After having worked with your daughter for two months, she is easily as good as most aurors and has better instincts than most. She trains like she has already seen action." The last was said in a reflective voice not intended to be part of his verbal report.

"The Longbottom lad had a rough go for a bit but Mr. Potter came by and had a long talk with him. The change was remarkable, of course the new wand helped, but that certainly wasn't all of it. He has shown an incredible amount of power and now a willingness to use it if necessary. Seeing the both of them sparring Mr. Potter has been an eye opening experience."

"How would you rate Mr. Potter's skills at this point?"

"The young man is a dangerous adversary. He seems able to pick apart a defense in a remarkably short time and the few times we have used high end practice dummy's, well we just buy them now instead of trying to borrow them. They don't last long and are impossible to repair as too many pieces are simply gone."

"Maxwell," Mr. Granger looked at the second trainer.

"The allied families and their children are progressing quite quickly through the training material. Your daughter should hire herself out to create similar programs. I see true promise in the younger girl Greengrass, Astoria, but her elder sister is determined not to be left behind and is progressing at a pace.

"The Bones girl is not as impressive as her aunt, Head of the DMLE, but Abbott will be a terror in a few more months. Both MacDougal girls are good and we are still waiting on negotiations with the Weasley, Williamson and Petty families. The Boot, both Johnson families, and Katie Bell are with us as well. We also had a surprise in the Vaisley family being not only willing to work with us but to swear fealty. Our initial assessment is that they are quite talented with creatures and have extensive agricultural holdings. Urquhart's are definitely in as well."

"How is it that school children are the equivalent of the Aurors?" Mark Granger wasn't sure if he was just being lied to since he was paying the bills, as far as they knew.

"Well, only those three are really at that level, but the main thing you have to understand is that the magical world is incredibly lazy. Very few work at their magic in the way these youngsters have and it appears that magic matures mostly before puberty ends. The rest is practice and knowledge and discipline. These kids are motivated and work very hard, something again that seems to come back to Potter, their inspiration."

"What about the psychological side of this. We are essentially preparing children for war because that seems to be all we have, as well as their families." Mark looked at the last person who had not spoken yet. Mr. Granger didn't like Dr. Kline, but he came highly recommended.

"I have looked over their profiles and interviewed those I could. Ms. Granger seems especially difficult to pin down, but I would say that many are quite capable of handling the ruthlessness of fighting for their lives. Again, Ms. Granger is surprisingly aware of all of the implications of her actions up to and including kill or be killed."

"What about Harry?" Mark Granger prompted.

"I am pretty sure he tried to psyche the test. Otherwise we are looking at a veteran of multiple major conflicts already. Either that or he had the SAS mentality in the first place." Mark frowned and his brow creased.

"Can you elaborate on that?"

"There is a subset of soldiers that go into combat that have a very low incidence of PTSD. These are usually the highest trained, like the SAS. If he is like those guys, he is definitely the right person to put on the ground. His marks and skills are coming along and he is already in the thick of things."

"Doesn't that mean he is a danger to others and that he is likely act out at a later time?" Mark's protective father gene was showing.

"Actually, it is quite the opposite. I would hazard a guess that the entire group of people we are talking about have a better grasp of the 'Vulgarity of War.'

"Of course in Potter's case, it may be a combination of both. That is something he and his friends have in common. There is a more mature thought process than I would expect from a mid-teen or most young adults. " Dr. Kline's voice had grown pensive in a manner that Mr. Granger thought of an internal monologuing

"Vulgarity of War? Interesting comment, Doctor," he tried to bring the psychologist back to elaborate.

Dr. Kline nodded but said nothing.

Classes went well that day and soon it was the Halloween feast and all the schools were anticipating their champions being chosen. Harry and all his friends and allies were applauding Cedric as he left the hall when the Goblet turned blue again. A slip of paper flew out of the fire, which Dumbledore grabbed on reflex.

Harry and Hermione watched his carefully as he read the piece of paper, took a deep breath before announcing, "Harry Potter."

The entire room froze for a moment as Harry slowly stood, shaking his head. His face showed fierce anger.

"What is this, headmaster? The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory." Harry's ice like voice cut across the room with laser like precision.

"Your name is on this piece of parchment please join the other champions, Harry."

"That cannot possibly be, headmaster, unless you had no protections around someone entering another's name without permission. Besides, that still does not tell me which school I would be representing. I believe there is already and excellent champion for each school in your little death tournament."

"Mister Potter!" Minerva McGonagall was most distressed. "How could you?"

"How many survivors have there been in the last three tournaments, Professor? Less than half, not to mention the number of innocents killed that were not a part of the debacle. I would say that any activity where half the champions and many of the other participants dies would qualify as a 'death tournament' and only those who care more for glory than safety would say otherwise. I am not such, thank you."

"We will be requesting a formal investigation into who could have tried to force my participation in this dangerous tournament, starting with those with Death Eater ties. It wouldn't be the first time that Voldemort's henchmen tried to off me in school, would it Professor?"

Just then the door opened where the champions were and the ministry delegation came back to the great hall.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Mister Potter's name came out of the goblet and he seems to be refusing to participate."

As the ministry personnel were arguing about this, Harry was listening to Hermione's advice and a slow smile spread across his face.

"Mister Potter," one of the officials said. "Your name coming out of the goblet constitutes a binding magical contract, you must compete."

"So I am an adult?"

"No, no, no, you just have to compete."

"This tournament is only for of age witches and wizards, sir. Since I am not one, which of you are taking the responsibility for forcing me into this tournament? I need to tell who to send my legal team after should I come to harm directly as a result of your actions. Oh, and the recently exonerated Mr. Black will be most upset that someone is targeting his godson, again. The ministry let him down once, I don't know how forgiving he will be at them doing it again."

There was complete silence as all the headmasters, teachers and officials suddenly realized the trouble they would be in if they were found guilty of injuring or killing the boy-who-lived.

"There is clearly something wrong with your goblet. Either it is trying to choose two champions for the same school or it is allowing someone to make up a school and add them to the tri-wizard tournament. I mean it can't even count to three."

"Potter obviously entered his own name. He had been causing trouble since he first came to Hogwarts. He is just conceited enough to believe he can enter, but he is nothing but a braggart and a liar." The sneering voice of Harry's least favorite teacher cut through the debate.

"The last time I was in the room with Professor Snape in a ministry event I had spells cast on me illegally, by you Professor. Since you have already proved your distaste for me and everything Potter, it would be most logical for you to recuse yourself from these proceedings, or should we both go three drops of truth potion to decide whether I am an attention seeking liar as you claim, hmmm?"

"My boy, you shouldn't attack Professor Snape like that. Everything was worked out at the ministry and no one has been found to have cast any spells on you. Forgive and move on, Harry," Dumbledore's 'patient' voice was grating on Harry so much he took a deep breath or two before answering.

"Ah, you have chosen your side, Headmaster. You mockingly call me a boy while at the same time saying I must join an adult only tournament. You pick and choose your words like suggesting that the professor did not cast these spells when the fact is that he simply was not prosecuted. You have a choice where I am concerned, pick one because I will not be both the student who has to follow orders and also the 'of age' man who is responsible for his own affairs. Legally, which is it headmaster?"

"Well my b…" Harry's glare and interruption surprised everyone, even him.

"Stop calling me that! I am not yours I am certainly not your boy in anything legally, emotionally, or in any familial sense, nor in any other fashion. You claim to expect respect for Professor Snape and yourself, but your condescension is duly noted and NOT appreciated. You both seem to set a different example than the one you require, never giving respect but demanding it from others. You don't take that tone with any other student all I ask is that you please treat me the same way."

"Well, Mister Potter, you have chosen a dangerous path by isolating yourself. Your hostility toward those who have only your best interest in mind is childish. Why do you persist in fighting those who care for you? Your insistence on leaving your loving family to hang around your Godfather, whom you barely know is just one example of how much you still need to grow up."

Hermione stood and addressed the group still noting the hostilities. "Honestly! None of this answers Harry's main question. How can the Goblet of Fire not know how many participants are involved? As was clearly pointed out, either it tried to elect two champions for Hogwarts, which is patently unfair to our honored guests, or it tried to enter four schools in the Tri-Wizard tournament. It is undeniably broken or has been severely tampered with. Since this tournament is considered too dangerous for those who are not yet adults. I would have thought you would actually care about the SAFETY or your students. Or is Harry the only one you are willing to put into life threatening situations without support?"

"Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain," Headmaster Dumbledore nearly shouted.

"Then why is it someone is always trying to kill me inside at the safest place in Britain? I lost count of the number of times my life has been threatened by something in this school."

"You are a liar. You make up these stories and expect everyone to believe you. Potter you are just an attention seeking fraud." Draco Malfoy had leaped to his feet and shouted his opinion.

"Is that your opinion or the Malfoy position, Heir Malfoy?" Harry said in a low voice that still carried to the entire hall.

"Both," Draco said without a moment's hesitation.

""You may also want to check your facts before spouting your godfather's opinions as yours. You are actually doing something your weak willed father never did. He never called a Potter a lair to his face."

"My father is a great wizard, he is not weak."

"According to the ministry, your father was consistently placed under the imperious spell and committed many immoral and illegal acts while under its influence for several years."

"Headmaster," Barty Crouch senior spoke up. "Control your student."

"He has been trying to control me since I was fifteen months old, Mr. Crouch. I think it is time I defend myself. Are any of you saying that you will be taking responsibility for putting the heir of House Potter's life in jeopardy in a tournament that is clearly a risk to life and limb for of age witches and wizards?" Harry's fierce gaze swept the room, looking at the adults. None of them seemed to be ready to take on his challenge."

"Fine, I will need to be meeting with my advisors first thing in the morning. Professor McGonagall, would you be willing to accept my list of advisors tonight and allow them access at eight?" The dour professor simply nodded before she even turned to her superior.

"Then we better get this meeting of champions underway." Mr. Bagman, if Harry remembered right.

"Yes, yes," Dumbledore said, ignoring Harry and turning to the other champions. "Let us go back here and discuss what to expect next."

Harry was busy looking into Hermione's eyes at a distance of just a few inches. After another moment he sighed, "I guess I better tag along in case I can't get out of this," Harry said finally and turned to follow the rest of the delegation.

After they had all taken many turns either discussing or harassing Harry, with Professor Snape's comments the most acerbic, Harry decided to upset the cart one more time.

"Headmaster Dumbledore," he said clearly into the still noisy room. He had already heard about how this task was to challenge their daring and courage.

He was either ignored or unheard. An amused Fleur laughed at him.

"This doesn't seem to be your day, Mr. Potter." He was surprised to note that her condescending attitude had disappeared. He looked over at her and nodded understandingly. He still had trouble with her accent, though.

Fleur noticed that, unlike just about every man from thirteen to one hundred thirty, he looked at her eyes not her assets. She almost let out more of her Veela charm, but thought better of it. It still stung somewhat that he had frowned at her use of it when they first met. He should have been easy to control. This made her more concerned about the possibility of competing against him than most of the rest of his speech earlier. Harry Potter was not like any other, fourteen/fifteen, year old she had met before.

Harry listened to the last few words.

"Then it is settled," this from Barty Crouch.

"Not quite, gentlemen," Harry's voice finally managed to carry far enough to be heard. "I have agreed to nothing here and I am not agreeing to your designated 'School Staff Liaison,' which seems to mean someone who is on my side and will actually help."

"Are you rejecting Auror Moody's help, boy," Kakaroff mocked.

"Possibly, I just want it to be clear that I am not a Hogwarts Champion, that is Mr. Diggory, and I will need to look into my resources and talk to my advisors before I choose one staff member to represent me."

"Just like a Potter, arrogant enough to try for special permission as the boy-who-lived," Snape almost bellowed.

"Why is he even here, Headmaster?"

"Because I trust his judgment," Albus almost smiled. 'Let's see him get out of that,' he thought to himself.

"As everyone else has had their say, may I have mine?" Harry only waited a moment and seeing no immediate objections continued. He certainly didn't want the Headmaster too much time to reply.

"Why the head of Slytherin House is here, well I would believe because he can say all the nasty things about me that you want said and don't want anyone to believe you said them. Or possibly because you find it easier to manipulate things when people are concentrating on degrading insults from a teacher who has yet to drop a grudge against my father, even though I barely knew the man and he has been dead more than a decade? How about one of a hundred other reasons? Because it doesn't look like he is advising you, just being… himself I suppose.

"You say I am being shown favoritism, Professor? Who else is being forced into this tournament? Which other 'champion,' has not one person they know to defend them in the room? No one willing to say, 'I am on your side.' That lack means I am NOT being treated the same, so perhaps I am not the one whose perception is skewed, Professor Snape.

"I believe every one of your positions fall into the category of public servant, but none of you really take care of the very people you are pretending to serve, the students. All of you are looking forward to having a grand time and get some positive publicity for your organizations on the backs of the very youth you claim to care about. It has been happening to me every year, but now we can let other schools see just how we value our 'treasure.'" The last word was almost spat out.

His glare returned to Snape, "oh, and every time I hear that stupid label, 'boy-who-lived' and see everyone celebrating the victory over the terrorist Voldemort, I am reminded that my parents died for this victory while I was thrown away by the wizarding world. I lived in exile for a decade, tossed into the cesspool where I was raised. The thanks the Potter family gets for spending most of their resources and their very lives to protect you all. The only people getting positive publicity during these times are those who 'say' they are either reformed or are not at fault because they were cursed. At school, not once, since I came to Hogwarts has anyone made positive mention of my parent's sacrifice, instead they have mandatory celebrations on Halloween and rub my nose in the fact that I am an unwanted orphan. Bunch of hypocrites.

"Now can I get someone on my side? Someone I trust, because it certainly isn't anyone in this room." He scanned the room again, noticing Cedric's downcast look and Fleur's pensive frown. Krum just look bored as if the trouble of mere mortals affected him not at all.

After several long moments, "that's what I thought," Harry almost barked, then stormed out of the room.

In the quiet that followed, not even those standing near Cedric heard his comment to himself, "there goes one angry kid."

Harry found Hermione still hanging out in the Great Hall where he immediately wrapped her in a huge hug and just hung on for a few minutes, letting the anger slowly seep away. Finally he was still and moved away, claiming her hand then they turned to walk back to the dorms, completely unaware that the confrontations were not finished for the night.

Harry planned to go strait to his bed but when the portrait opened, there was a lot more noise than he expected.

"Hey, it's our hero!" this was from Dean of all people. I guess he isn't always as quiet as everyone expected.

Katie bounced over, "Harry, we are waiting for you to cut the cake." Harry had to laugh for just a moment. Katie loved her sweets. Then he realized the truth and frowned.

"I know I am going to regret this," Harry said with a low growl that silenced the room, "but what is going on?"

"Harrykins," Fred nearly bellowed, "come be the life of the party."

Harry's fierce gaze told everyone that something was wrong. "Whose idea was this anyway," he said in a calm voice that fooled no one.

Fred turned his eyes for just a second, then back, giving Harry enough information to turn to George.

"Mr. Weasley, could you step out in the corridor with me for a moment?"

"Harry," Hermione tried to intervene. She didn't elaborate, but he clearly got the message.

"Not even a little bit dead?"

"No Harry, we don't kill our friends. Not even a little bit."

"All right you lot, I am going to have a brief chat with George here and you folks can steer away from any congratulating me for people trying to force me into a life threatening tournament I want no part of, okay?" After that Harry pushed George out the door and let it shut behind him.

Harry waited while he knew George was processing his last comments and just stared at the older boy.

"Uh, Harry we might have … " the extreme level of discomfort he felt from the stare made him restart. He could give mum a run for her money.

"I honestly thought you would want this. I mean we are trying to support you here."

There was another long uncomfortable pause. Where Harry's presence was almost suffocating and finally he sighed, shaking his head.

"What you managed was to do was to portray House Potter, me, as both cheating and then lying about it."

"But, but, nats not hmmb, we weren't trying to. Sorry old boy."

"Don't call me boy," Harry snapped.

"Dreadfully sorry. Won't happen again. Um, don't kill Ronnie all right?" Harry nodded toward the door ant they reentered.

Harry was still puzzling over this as he walked through the common room, ignoring everyone's interest in his involvement in the tournament. He gave Hermione a quick hug and, seeing most of the others breaking down the party, went to bed.

He had just taken a deep breath to start his meditation practice when he heard it.

"Git."

"What was that?" he was sure he had not heard that properly.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what Ron?"

"You could have at least told your best friend."

Deliberately being slow, Harry asked again.

"Told my best friend what," he didn't want this to escalate into whether Hermione or Ron was his best friend. He didn't think Ron would like it. He certainly wasn't willing to join them on any of their additional work they had planned, while Neville had been quite enthusiastic about it.

"How did you do it? Why didn't you tell me? You could have put my name in too, or did you think that no one would pick me over the great Potter who lived?"

Harry took another deep cleansing breath. "I am going to say this once, Ron. I don't want to be a part of this tournament. I did not put my name in the Goblet. Therefore, I couldn't have added your name because I have no idea how it was done."

"Better get some rest tonight so you can meet your adoring fan club, Potter."

"So now not only am I a cheat but a liar and bad friend as well now Ron? You honestly don't believe me, even though this is obviously just another chance to get me killed?"

Ron didn't say anything.

"In the morning, or whenever you decide to actually think, you can apologize. Until then I doubt our friendship will survive us being in the same room too often out of class. Good night Ron."

Harry tried to keep the venom from his voice and did a pretty good job. He still wasn't sure about their friendship, especially this year, but he wasn't going to just throw it away quite yet.

It was going to be another long year.