Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I attempting to make any personal gain from this story.

Second Time Around: Year 4: Chapter 25: Q&A and Dumbledore

Dumbledore's point of view. Once again Professor Dumbledore found himself facing his perennial problem: finding someone to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. The problem was worse this year because of the upcoming Tri-Wizard Tournament that Hogwarts would be hosting. When no suitable candidate put their name forward for the job he decided to call in a favour from an old friend. Alastor Moody accepted the offer on the condition he could quit after one year. When Dumbledore explained to him that no one had held the job for more than a year for something over 30 years Moody had laughed. He had heard the rumour but didn't believe it until then.

With that sorted Dumbledore settled back into his office. He had decided not to attend the Quidditch World Cup but when the Dark Mark was cast in the sky after a riot at the campsite he set off to help with the investigation. What he found was a confusing situation. Apparently whoever had set off the mark had used a stolen wand and had managed to disapparate before the Ministry had arrived. He learned that Harry Potter and his friends had been first on the scene and that it was Ron Weasley's wand that had been used. Since there was nothing more he could do Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts.

The first week of the new school year brought some complaints about Mad-Eye Moody's teaching. A number of students had spoken to their Heads of House expressing concern about the subject matter. Apparently he was demonstrating the Unforgivable curses in class. Dumbledore assured the staff the situation was under control and informed them he would speak to Moody about it.

The opportunity never arose, however. On Saturday several aurors arrived at the castle and told Dumbledore that a Death Eater, Barty Crouch junior, was impersonating Moody. Crouch senior had been arrested for harbouring a Death Eater and now they were going to arrest junior. Crouch junior was alerted to this, however, and managed to escape. Until the real Moody was fit to teach the Ministry would supply an auror to cover the class; for the first week it would be Sirius Black. When Sirius arrived he informed Dumbledore exactly what had happened and recommended security be improved before the Tri-Wizard Tournament started.

Fortunately for Dumbledore things settled down after the first week. The real Moody proved an able teacher and no other unusual events happened until the day the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived. After the reception and feast to welcome the guests Dumbledore had introduced the judges for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He soon realised that several students knew who Madam Umbridge was and took an immediate dislike of her and her anti werewolf legislation.

That night, as Dumbledore made his way to the kitchens he noticed two snakes around the plinth on which the Goblet of Fire had been placed. Next day he asked Harry Potter if he had put them there and why. Harry told him of another prophecy; apparently Harry had seen his name come out of the Goblet even though he was underage.

That night the prophecy came true. Harry Potter's name did come out of the Goblet and Dumbledore now faced a competition with four champions instead of three.

The day of the first task arrived. Harry was the last champion scheduled to face a dragon but he proved by far the best. Even though Karkaroff had given him a low mark Harry had still scored a comfortable victory. The judges (other than Karkaroff) agreed the second task would be judged as a whole rather than individually to prevent such an event happening again.

The next month passed quietly. The Yule Ball came along and everything was running smoothly until Rita Skeeter was discovered in the grounds. An unregistered animagus, Skeeter was discovered when Harry Potter squashed a beetle only for it to turn in Skeeter, much to everyone's shock.

Although he suspected Harry knew more about this than he was letting on Dumbledore had no proof. Even after carefully questioning Harry and Ron Weasley, who had also been there, he was unable to gain much more information. He did, however, learn more about another incident that had happened three years earlier. Dumbledore asked Harry to take him into the Chamber of Secrets and Harry agreed, saying he would take him down there after the second task. Although not happy with the delay he agreed to Harry's request.

Dumbledore took Snape with him and Harry brought Sirius and two house elves. After a couple of hours they returned to the surface. Dumbledore now knew Harry was using the chamber as a private workshop and decided to carefully monitor all activity in the area. He set up a series of wards and waited for them to be triggered. Nothing happened, however. It seemed as though Harry was no longer using the room. None the less, it was clear Harry now that arry was exercising almost total independence and that Sirius was more loyal to Harry than to Dumbledore himself.

The rest of the term saw nothing unusual happen at school, but Madam Umbridge was found murdered in her own home. As Madam Umbridge was the Minister for International Magical Cooperation she had been a regular visitor to Hogwarts recently. Dumbledore contacted the Ministry to offer his services and to get up to date information. As little information was available at that time the Ministry felt he should stay where he was and look after the school and its students. They promised to keep him informed of any further information, however.

The third term started off quietly. Indeed, until the day of the final Tri-Wizard Tournament task, nothing unusual seemed to be happening. Exams were over and the entire school plus guests were assembled around the Quidditch stadium awaiting the declaration of the winner before anything did happen.

Firstly, a burst of red stars alerted everyone to the fact a champion was in trouble. Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour were both carried unconscious from the maze. Obviously another champion had found them and signalled for help. Once revived neither Krum nor Fleur were able to say what had happened to them since entering the maze. They were both taken away to recover since they were no longer in the contest.

Several minutes later more red stars were seen. This time Cedric Diggory was brought out of the maze and his report shocked Dumbledore deeply. Apparently the Tri-Wizard Cup was gone, as was Harry. Before anything else could happen, however, two house elves had appeared in front of the judges table and attacked Ludo Bagman then, when Minister Fudge had drawn his wand on the elves, Cedric had attacked him. It was then discovered 'Bagman' was an imposter using Polyjuice potion and that he was actually Barty Crouch junior.

Soon after this Dumbledore noticed Snape grab his forearm – the same place he knew Snape's Dark Mark to be.

When Crouch was questioned he revealed much information, including why Umbridge had been killed. He also explained exactly how he had escaped Azkaban, about what had happened to his mother and how he had remained hidden for so long. He explained how he had obtained a wand and why he used it to cast the Dark Mark at the World Cup.

Dumbledore then asked him for the names of as many Death eaters as possible and had Minerva record the information. None of the names came as a surprise to Dumbledore.

He began forming a plan to rescue Harry but Cedric mentioned it may already be too late, since it was obvious Voldemort had summoned his Death Eaters. Cedric also said Harry had a plan worked out and recommended they wait since there was nothing they could do. He decided to send Snape, anyway.

Within moments of Snape leaving, however, Madam Bones, Arthur Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks arrived via the Tri-Wizard Cup Portkey. They informed Dumbledore that Harry had defeated Lord Voldemort but had been badly injured in the process and was now recovering with Sirius. They also say that almost all of Voldemort's Death eaters have been captured.

Dumbledore immediately said he needed to speak to Harry but Madam Bones refused permission and Tonks told him Harry already knew of the Horcrux in him. It had been destroyed and there was danger of Voldemort returning this time. At this point he realized just how powerful Harry really had become along with how much Harry had done without his knowledge.

Weeks later Dumbledore visited Harry at Grimmauld place but his attempt to pull Harry back under his control failed. As he left Dumbledore realized he had lost Harry's respect. It was a bitter pill to swallow but he knew there is no chance Harry will turn out the way he wanted. Harry was simply too powerful.

Now for some notes of explanation.

1. Susan Bones' family. I am still surprised how many people think her parents are dead. Susan's parents are not dead. In Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 25: The Beetle at Bay it states her uncle, aunt and cousins were killed by Voldemort's Death Eaters and no-one else. If her parents were dead it would have said so. From this the only conclusion that can be drawn is that her parents must be alive.

2. Fay Dunbar. This is a character who only appears in the video games, which are definitely not canon, and in the later movies which are so different form the books they are based upon that they cannot be counted as canon either. Therefore, I do not deem her to be a canon character and will not alter the class list published in my Year 1 story. Even if her character is part of canon she failed in her ambition of becoming an auror. The only Gryffindors in the advanced (Year 6) Potions class are Harry, Ron and Hermione and Newt level potions is a prerequisite for auror training.

3. Some people have claimed it has been stated in canon that animagi can only become normal non-magical animals. I have never seen this so I will not use it in any story I write. Harry's ability to become a phoenix is special, anyway. I explained most of it in Chapter 23 of this story but I cannot see any reason why any other witch or wizard could not potentially become a magical creature animagus.

4. Talking Patronus. It is possible the talking patronus was developed specifically by Dumbledore for Order of the Phoenix members to use. I have read a number of fanfiction stories that use this as a convenient means of communication which is why I have used it in this story.

5. The Inter-House chess tournament came about as the result of a suggestion I received in a PM about getting Ron to change his attitude toward Slytherins. I thought it over and decided this might work. If Ron became Hogwarts chess champion and beat a Slytherin in the final he would be a better person. Once I reworked the idea I found it fitted well into this story since there would be no Quidditch to divert attention from it.