The day of the Third Task approached steadily, and Harry, with Luna and Hermione's help, was working at a feverish pace. He had upped the ante on everything, pushing his body as hard as it could possibly stand, and waking up every morning with all his muscles spent, aching and exhausted.

Knowing he could not learn a large array of spells in such a small amount of time, he had now limited himself to learning only the most powerful and the most useful. For everything he used, he attempted to cast silently with only the slightest wand movements.

When it came closer to the day, Harry decided to take it easy, spending time with his friends, and especially with Luna.

Now that they had freely admitted their feelings, all the awkwardness had dissolved. Sure they were both clueless about most matters of romance, but they would discover them together, with plenty of laughs along the way. That level of intimacy which was profusely denied was now accepted with wide arms by both of them.

Soon it was the day of the Third Task. Harry was taking in his charmed pack, shrunken down and hidden in his shoe as he slipped on his dragonhide vest and gauntlets, covering them with a casual muggle shirt. He decided not to get a full set, instead preferring to leave his joints free for mobility.

Now he was ready. "I'm going now, Luna."

Luna stood up, and hugged him tightly, giving him a soft kiss for good luck. "Please be careful Harry. And one other thing. Give Voldemort my greetings."

Harry smirked as he knew exactly what she meant. "Of course, Luna. And hey, I'm always careful, right?"

-------

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE THIRD TASK OF THE TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT!"

Huge applause from the students was the response.

"NOW I KNOW THAT YOU'RE ALL EAGER, SO LET'S GET TO IT! THE TRI-WIZARD TROPHY IS CONTAINED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THIS MAZE! TO WIN, ALL A CHAMPION NEEDS TO DO IS BYPASS THE OBSTACLES AND GRAB THE CUP!"

Yes, because that was really easy. That wasn't sarcasm, though – Harry knew he needed to get to the cup first in order to ensure the other champions were safe, and had already concocted a plan to ensure this. It was almost deliciously Slytherin.

Dumbledore nodded to him from where he was seated, his face grim but resolved. The message was clear, and Harry nodded back in understanding before stepping forward.

"BECAUSE THE YOUNGEST CHAMPION, HARRY POTTER, IS CURRENTLY FIRST, HE WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE MAZE FIRST! WHEN THE CANNON GOES, HARRY, YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BEGIN!"

Harry took a deep breath as he looked into the mist of the maze. It was vast, but if he got a good run in then none of the other Champions could see him.

There was a loud bang! And Harry surged forward, sprinting through as hard as he could with the sounds of the crowd in his ears.

He continued running for some time, until he was certain he had made enough distance for him not to be seen, before picking up his wand and murmuring an incantation.

Instantly a beam of thin light emanated from the tip, searching around wildly for several moments before flicking to one direction, locking onto the strongest magical source – the Tri-Wizard cup.

Harry grinned, memorising the direction before cancelling it, putting his wand forward. "Incendio!"

A massive stream of fire spewed forth, much more powerful than what even some Seventh Years could do, and the wall of bush withered and burnt underneath the intense inferno. He sprinted through, just as it began to close up.

Harry repeated the process, running through the temporary holes as fast as he could before they could close up, and decreased the time between cancelling the spell and re-casting it. Through this, he was swiftly able to traverse the treacherous maze, avoiding the obstacles as he moved quickly between walls.

And suddenly, a glimmer of light before him signalled he had reached his target.

The Cup! Harry glanced around, making sure no other Champions were in sight, before reaching forward and grasping it.

Just as he had expected, he felt a tug on his navel and the scene around him blurred, to suddenly warp and become that of a dank graveyard.

Here we are. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of a cauldron, already bubbling with several empty jars around it. It had gone a sickly black, mixed in with some red – what dark concoction was Voldemort making?

Suddenly his wand snapped up. "Wormtail!" he hissed, feeling the pain in his scar intensify, he merely blocked it out with Occlumency.

The traitor shouted something, and Harry lowered his guard, allowing himself to be telekinetically pushed back and locked in place against one of the statues, as Wormtail moved forward, and dropped something into the cauldron.

"Skull of the father, unwillingly taken," Wormtail murmured, digging it up, and dropping it back into the cauldron. "You shall revive your son..."

Harry watched in slight morbid fascination as the cauldron began hissing, and turned to absolute pitch black.

"Flesh of the servant, w-willingly given." The rat whimpered as he pulled out a knife, and cut off his hand, letting it drop in. "You shall revive your master."

Now Harry had a good idea of where this was going, confirmed when Wormtail moved towards him the knife.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken..." Harry gritted his teeth as he cut his arm, refusing to show pain. "You shall revive your foe!"

Wormtail moved, and allowed several drops to fall – when that happened, the cauldron began hissing uncontrollably, rumbling even, as Harry could distinctly hear the sounds of bones and flesh forming before the cauldron shattered, sending millions of pieces flying out, and in its place, wet from liquid...was a...thing. Something which vaguely resembled a humanoid, but was serpentine-like.

"Robe me," the thing said.

Wormtail hastily did so, handing back his master his wand and bowing.

The humanoid looked at himself, admiring his new body, then turned to regard Harry with cold, red-slit eyes.

Voldemort was back.

"Wormtail, give me your arm," Voldemort stated.

"Oh, master, thank you..."

"Your OTHER arm, you fool!" The Dark Lord hissed, grabbing it and pulling up the sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark, before pressing down on it with his wand.

Wormtail gave off a horrific scream, loud enough for Harry to know how strong the pain must have been. Voldemort removed it, and Wormtail slumped down, panting.

After several moments, there came a multitude of 'pops' – Death Eaters.

"Good evening, my friends," Voldemort began, turning to address them. "Here we stand, as we once did, thirteen years ago. It seems that nothing has changed... or has it?" his glowing eyes narrowed. "There are many spaces. These spaces belong to those truly loyal to me, who never renounced my name even at the end! Those spaces belong to the ones now residing in Azkaban Prison, while the rest of you feigned Imperius!"

Harry blocked out the rest of his little rant, mentally noting down the Death Eaters as he pulled off their masks. He checked that he was still gripping his wand, and quietly pulled his pack out of his pocket, unshrinking it and slipping it on.

"...And now to our guest. Our very own little hero, the Boy-Who-Lived." Voldemort turned to regard him. "You've been a busy little boy, haven't you, Harry? My insider tells me you're excelling at school. Why don't you be good now, and show me what you youngsters are learning these days?"

Voldemort was about to wave his wand, but Harry beat him to it. "No need." With merely a flick, he detached himself and landed. "Really, Voldemort, do you think that you can beat me? I allowed you to regain a body this time, so I can kill you again. Simply out of sheer boredom, as one my intellect tends to fall into."

"You foolish boy!" Voldemort snarled. "For months upon months I wondered why you, a mere child, kept outwitting me, the greatest wizard in all of history! Then I realised: luck, Potter! Blind, dumb, LUCK!"

"On the contrary, Lord Voldemort," Harry put a great sarcastic emphasis on his title, circling him mockingly, "it was blind, dumb luck, that saved you from being sent into the afterlife. I don't know what dark rituals you did to save yourself, but I think that YOUR luck has run out. I beat you as a one-year old, what makes you think you can beat me as I am now?"

"Is that so, Harry?" Voldemort sneered. "Well you see, this body has some new 'improvements'. Not only is your own blood protection negated, it is a body that cannot be destroyed."

"Let's put that to the test, shall we?" Harry smirked, raising his wand.

"A child like you could never hope to defeat me. But I will allow you the dignity of looking into your murderer's eyes before you die. Crucio!"

Although he moved fast, Harry had already been expecting such a move, and was already moving. He dodged the curse, firing repeated Reductor curses before conjuring up a solid marble wall, hiding behind it as he took several items out of his enchanted pack, one of which was Gryffindor's sword.

A powerful dark blasting curse finally managed to tear through the wall, but Harry had already moved, snapping off several more curses that were all rapidly blocked in one blurring motion. Damn, Voldemort was fast!

"You see Harry? I can react to your every slight gesture, read your every emotion, and even hear you breathing. Not even an invisibility cloak could save you."

He's inhumanly fast. He must really have made improvements. I guess I need to start bringing out the bigger guns. "Oh really? If you're so fast, then dodge this! FIENDFYRE!" A huge, monstrous inferno roared forth, taking on the form of a gigantic phoenix as it squawked and charged towards the Dark Lord, whose eyes widened as he swiftly waved his wand, creating a silvery bubble around himself.

Harry gritted his teeth as he pushed more power into the spell, controlling it so the phoenix then completely devoured the bubble, turning into a hellish volcanic tornado, spinning around.

Voldemort was taken aback from within the bubble as cracks began forming on it – he knew it would take him time for him to return to full strength, and he was NOT going to have his glorious resurrection spoilt by this brat! He began pouring more magic into the bubble, letting it expand out, pushing the inferno away – soon the flames began to weaken, and Voldemort knew his opponent was weakening.

Once all the flames had disappeared, Voldemort cancelled his bubble, smirking. "That was a nice little trick, Harry, one that I applaud you for. Few could...AGH!" He ducked and dodged as tombstones, trees, branches, rocks went flying towards him, having to banish several objects away, before feeling a sharp, hot pain in his side and a crackle.

Harry grinned as Voldemort turned in absolute fury – he flicked his wand, and the long whip of flame disappeared. "Surprised? Don't underestimate me, Voldemort." Despite that, he knew such a thing had severely depleted his magical reserves, and he was panting from the exertion.

"I see now there is more to you than meets the eye, Harry. I would extend to you the offer of joining my side, but I am no fool – I see that you would betray me."

"Of course. After growing more powerful than you." Harry taunted. Then to his shock, Voldemort's blackened side slowly mended itself, the bone growing back and resetting, and scale-like skin grew back over it.

"You see, Harry? I cannot be defeated. CRUCIO!"

This time Voldemort moved too quickly, and Harry was caught unawares – he slipped and stumbled as the spell hit, but gritted his teeth, using every ounce of his will to not show pain.

Voldemort held the spell for a full minute before releasing it. "Imperio. Admit it Harry – admit that Lord Voldemort is superior, that you are just a weak little boy, acting on pure, dumb luck."

Harry smirked, and easily threw off the curse. "How about you kill yourself instead – save us both the trouble?" He had too much to live for.

Voldemort suppressed his shock, walking closer, until he was inches away from Harry's face – who was pretending to be weaker than he really was. Quietly, he slid his hand behind him, into his pack, waiting for the right moment. "As much pleasure as I could derive from continuing to torture you, I'm afraid I have an army to raise. Now then..." he raised his wand. "Goodbye, Harry Potter! Ava..."

Harry growled, pulling the sword of Gryffindor out of his pack, stabbing it forward – Voldemort was able to barely pull back, but not before the tip managed to stab a fair way in.

"You'll pay for that, Harry!" Voldemort hissed, clutching his wound – but to his horror, the wound was not healing. Instead, pain racked him as he felt something spread through his body.

"Even if your body has regenerative abilities, it'll be hard-pressed to fight off basilisk venom," Harry smirked, sliding the sword back in. "And now before I go..." he flicked his wand behind him, signalling the cup to come, but flicked it again, causing it to fly up – then he fired a spell at it, a unique little spell which Luna had taught him. "A little gift from my girlfriend!"

As the spell hit the Portkey, it exploded, sending a backlash of its magic washing out – Harry felt a tug on his navel, as did Voldemort and Pettigrew, and several other Death Eaters before they were transported to the entrance of the maze.

"AND THE WINNER IS, HARRY....HUH? AGHH! DEATH EATERS!"

There was a huge amount of screaming as Voldemort spun around in shock, unfortunately catching the eye of several Ministry officials, such as Fudge, Crouch and Dumbledore – who recognised him immediately. Dumbledore was already making to stand up, his wand at the ready...

"You!" Voldemort roared in pure rage as Aurors rushed onto the scene, turning to the smirking Harry. "You ruined everything! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry conjured up a marble shield which blocked the curse but easily shattered – he quickly sent back some of his own curses, which Voldemort blocked, but their duel was over. Voldemort turned around, sneering, before Disapparating.

Pettigrew was shrivelling up under the gaze of several wizards who recognised him, and was about to Disapparate, but Harry beat him to it, firing a stunner which knocked him out cold. There was no way he was escaping this time!

"Harry!" Luna suddenly appeared as she ran out, avoiding the Aurors trying to prevent the Death Eaters from leaving before literally jumping onto him, hugging him close. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Harry winced, his adrenalin surge forgotten now. "Sorry...Voldemort hit me with a Cruciatus curse."

"Oh, Harry! I was so afraid! I was afraid that you'd leave me..."

"I will never leave you, Luna," Harry said firmly as she helped him across the field. "Never, ever. You have my promise."

Dumbledore quickly turned up, looking at Harry with concern. "Are you fine, my boy?"

"Better than expected. It worked without a hitch, and Voldemort is wounded, hopefully badly. You need to catch Moody's imposter before he escapes now...I would help you, but I think a little trip to the Hospital Wing is in order," he chuckled.

"Very well. I will obtain the full story from you later."

As Dumbledore left, Harry turned to Luna with a grim but resolved smile. "It looks like we have a war on our hands, Luna."