Hello, everyone. My first story for the Harry Potter section, and my first multi-chapter one, after reading tons and tons of material available here.
I have the outline of the fanfic in my head, and it should be along five to six chapters long, maybe more but surely less than ten.

Since I am half Italian half American, firstly I hope my English will be good enough for you international readers. Secondly, I do not know a lot of British English expressions, so please bear with me for that. Rating is M for some swearing and future possible intense scenes. In this AU some characters will be OOC, and there will be bashing around. The pairing is Harry/Daphne, my absolute favorite, with a Powerful!Independent!Harry on the stage.

Please Read&Review!

I would like to dedicate this fic to the awesome writer Dorothea Greengrass. Her Harry/Daphne stories are simply great, so go and read them!

DISCLAIMER: I obviously, and unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter and everything associated with it. JKR does, and she did a fantastic job in creating our favorite Magical World. I only own the idea of this fanfiction.

"normal speech" - 'thoughts' - "$parseltongue$"

Blood, Fire, Venom and Tears

by Stormchaser17

1. A Destroyed Goblet

"Harry Potter."

Those two simple words. His name.

The beginning of the end of his tale. And, at the same time, the beginning of another one.

Naturally, after three years in a row with a problem after the other, among attacks, shunning, criticism, and so much more, anyone would imagine Harry Potter to break. To finally give in.

And maybe, some individual was literally expecting something like that.

To see the great Harry Potter destroyed before their eyes.

But Harry, my Harry, was made of other things, things which were more resilient and adaptable to any situation. Anyone would have caved in front of what he had to face in his first three years in Hogwarts, without talking about total and uncontrolled abuse, verbal, physical and mental by his supposed 'relatives'.

However, Harry endured, and endured, everything that came his way.

Simply because he was Harry.

This time it would have been no different from before. Or, maybe, it would have been the same and different in a whole new sense. And everyone inside the school, and among his enemies outside, was responsible for this.

Everything began on that cursed night, on October 31st, when the Goblet of Fire gave out the names for the Champions of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

As it is now history, Cedric Diggory won the competition for Hogwarts, Viktor Krum for Durmstrang and the lovely Fleur Delacour for Beuxbatons. Everything was going as planned, and the three, followed by their respective Headmasters and the Tournament judges were going in a back room to discuss when that damned Goblet had to ruin everything.

"Mummy! Mummy!"

"Yes, Lily?"

"Is that when you met daddy?"

Daphne Greengrass, now Potter, thought again of that day, fondly, with a smile on her beautiful rosy lips. It was a strange, unexpected, rushed decision, but the very best she had ever done in her life.

She embraced her five-year-old daughter and buried her face in her long black hair making her giggle; she had a fantastic mix of her luscious mane with the color of her father. "Yes Lily, it was somewhere after that."

"Continue with the story! Continue!"

Daphne smiled at the eagerness of her second born, even if it was already the tenth time, she wanted to hear 'the proud and noble tale of her mother and father' as Harry was used to calling it. Mockingly, of course.

"Sure my flower."

After his name was called absolute silence descended on the Great Hall of the School, and everyone slowly turned his eyes on the small figure of the last Potter, who gave the sure impression of wanting to disappear into the stone floor of the big room, or maybe becoming directly invisible.

A prompt from his neighbor, the muggle born Hermione Granger, was more than enough to shake him from the trance he fell in, and with another shove she made him stand up, and he knew, he just knew, that he could not get out of this situation.

No one noticed his feral expression of absolute fury.

He slowly walked towards his Headmaster, the great Albus Dumbledore, with his too many titles, and the only thing he could see was the sad expression of pity mixed with disappointment. This increased his rage tenfold, and he could not wait to rip the man a new one if things went south.

And, indeed, things went way more than south in the meeting.

"Dumbledore!" Roared Karkaroff. "What is the meaning of this?! It's outrageous that Hogwarts will have two Champions! We of Durmstrang demand a new name extraction!"

It was doubled by Madame Maxime, from the French School, and obviously, by Snape who was calling Harry all the names in the cursing dictionary. There were some never heard before, it was impressive in a sense.

Harry Potter remained quiet, but his eyes were always moving, always active, searching for every bit of information which could be useful to him. 'Maybe this is the time to do it' he thought 'To change everything.'

Moody noticed this from his secluded spot in a corner of the room and wondered what the boy was thinking to do.

Harry was straight in front of the trophy showcase of the room, and he was surprised when Dumbledore, with a swift move, literally shoved him into it, breaking some glass and making two or three cups fall on the floor.

"Harry, did you put or made someone put your name into the Goblet of Fire?"

Harry stared in his always annoying twinkling eyes and answered with the truth. "No, Sir."

"Ah! Obviously, the little brat is lying! You cannot trust a word that comes out of his mouth Albus. He is a compulsive attention seeking liar!" As usual, Snape was the most direct. And that gave away another round of shouting coming from all directions.

Harry kept his eyes trained on the Headmaster, he would not show cowardice or guilt right now. Only defiance, in front of a situation which he was just thrown into, unwillingly.

The disappointed look did not disappear, and that was almost the final straw.

"Eet iz impossible. Zey want this 'leetle boy to compete? Ah, eet iz out of his leegue!" His blood began to boil, and he tried to convey this message looking finally at the other three Champions in the room.

Viktor was looking at him like he was a bug, ready to be squashed under his boots. Cedric had a sneer on his face, and that was more than enough to understand his thoughts, while the so-gracious Miss Delacour was continuing to spout something in French and regarding him with a look that meant 'I am so above your station that it will not even be funny'.

Harry instead adopted a cold mask of indifference, wanting everything to play out before making some decision. It was about time that he gave what he had to give to the first decision of the Sorting Hat, because being a Slytherin was the best choice in that situation. Suddenly, the limping Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor came out of the shadows and added his two cents.

"It's so amusing! I hear and see everyone here complaining and ranting but the only person who should is not. Care to explain me why?"

All the eyes went on him immediately, and again, the blue-dressed French Champion was the first to voice her opinion. The stupid one, obviously.

"Eet iz for ze fame! And for ze galleons!"

And that was the breaking point for Harry. He tried to reign in the emotion, but it was impossible. He started to laugh so intensely that for a moment you could think he had been possessed, or put under the Rictumsempra Curse. He was laughing so hard that he had tears cascading from his eyes and it was maybe a minute until he regained control of himself.

"And where is the fun in what Miss Delacour said, Harry?" That was Cedric, saying his name with venom in the word, and being awfully protective of the silvery blonde haired witch. Was there something else going on? Maybe the boy liked the girl?

"I'll answer you, Cedric." Still regaining his bearings among bouts of laughs. "I am a Potter. Harry Potter."

Snape immediately went to say something, but Harry silenced all the present in the room, with the simple movement of his hand. Everyone went wide eyed at that.

"And, since I am Harry Potter, I am the single most famous wizard in the whole country, and maybe even in some foreign ones. Short of Dumbledore here, naturally." He paused to look at his potions professor. "I'm sure that now the greasy one wants to say that I am just like my father, always bragging and so on… and as the muggles would say, that music is old."

He paused again, and swept with his eyes over the room. He wanted to see their reactions. The Headmaster was the most unnerving one, always showing a mix of emotions impossible to fully decipher; Snape had pure and undiluted hate on his face; Professor McGonagall was looking at him with a mix of surprise and again, disappointment.

Moody was grinning from ear to ear and, with his scarred face, that was a very bad sight; the other schools were furious and the Champions mirrored the emotion very well. Finally, the judges of the Tournament were looking around like him, not knowing how to defuse the whole situation.

"Furthermore, I may have been in my personal Vault at Gringotts only a single time before my first year, but I remember piles and piles of gold, and silver, and bronze in it. So really, one thousand galleons to participate in this deadly tournament? Please."

He regarded them with pity. Such potential and surely capable minds filled with stupidity. It was almost a sad sight to watch.

"So, we erased the two reasons that our gracious French princess said." There was sneering in his words, as well sarcasm. He did not forget about the 'leetle boy' thing. "Someone wants to add some intelligent thing to the conversation or have we finished here?"

He canceled the spell with another twist of his hand and crossed his arms in front of him. If they wanted to play, the game would be on them.

The first one out of his reverie was his Head of House. "Mr. Potter! I cannot say how much I am disappointed in…"

"Professor McGonagall. Please, I said intelligent things." He interrupted her with a scowl. "When I came inside this room I already noticed that for every one of you I was already guilty, it was clearly on your faces. So, let's skip the useless pleasantries, cut this farce to the chase, and go straight to the core of the matter."

"Headmaster, I suppose I cannot withdraw out of this, am I right?"

Albus Dumbledore regarded the teen steadily. This was a completely unexpected development, and he was not ready to confront the rapidly evolving matter. He tried to salvage what he could of the situation, and after that, he had a lot to think about. "Harry… the Goblet is a magic tool, a very powerful one, and when your name came out of it… it is like an agreement of sorts. You must compete, it is required by its magic."

Harry expected the answer, but it was none the easier to hear it. "So, another time, I'm in the middle of something which I cannot control. Really, a great job Headmaster."

Now the look on the boy's face was of pure contempt. And they were the ones disappointed in him. He instead, was the one totally disillusioned in them.

"Mr. Potter, you cannot accuse the Headmaster of this. It is unbecoming of you to…"

But what the feline professor was trying to say was again drowned in the new uproar caused by the other people in the room. In particular, this time, the other Champions were listing some interesting expressions, even in their native tongues, he was sure of it.

Harry paid them no attention, wanting to see the reaction of the Headmaster, and hoping he would make everyone stop to discuss the thing.

Instead, he just let everyone say their piece on him, vilifying words, hurtful words, words of contempt, promises of maiming him, to watch his back when he was walking around the Castle, to be ready for everything because he would severely pay for what he had done.

When their steam ended, all the people expected to see a destroyed boy, pleading for forgiveness or mercy. Instead, they just saw a calm and collected Harry Potter, who was still looking at the Headmaster. Truly, he got the Slytherin thing down very well. He should have done it before.

"So, Headmaster, you heard what they said about me and the situation I'm in. Can I count on your assistance about that or do I have to do everything by myself, as usual?"

"My boy…" How he hated when he called him such! "…their words are just spoken out of anger for this situation. You have to forgive them and move on." And his eyes were twinkling again. Damn him!

"Let me understand, Cedric here just told me that all his House would be hunting me out for blood around Hogwarts and I have to let that pass?" He pointed at him with his eyes.

The other Champion was surely not remorseful of his words and it showed on his face.

"You do not have to worry Harry. You are perfectly safe inside the Castle."

The snort from almost all the others did not go unnoticed by the teen, and he just rose an eyebrow.

"Safe? Safe as in Second Year Headmaster? When all the school shunned me and I had to battle a monster to survive and to save everyone? Just after going after the troll and Quirrelmort during my First Year, and followed by rats, werewolves, and Dementors in my Third?"

If Snape had a child, and this child had the sneer which was on Harry Potter's face right now, he would have been proud of it.

"Now Harry, there were some incredibly rare coincidences in the past but you do not have to keep everything inside you. It will be bad for your mental health."

"Ah! My mental health! I lost that one in years and years of abuse by my oh so loving family of muggles!"

"My dear boy, I am sure you are exaggerating about them, they treated you well and they continue to do it every summer."

Oh dear, he really believed that.

It was almost a whisper, his answer to that absurd affirmation. "Well? Dear Merlin, Dumbledore, you are blinder that I could have ever imagined."

Cedric interrupted their conversation, and blatantly accused him. "Come on Potter, you do not think that we will believe you when you tell us that you have killed the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, like the rumors said at the end of the year?"

He finished laughing, and when the others understood they did the same. "Really!? A basilisk? Such fantasy! I told you he was an attention seeking liar! Eediot 'leetle boy! You don't ever know what you are talking about!"

"I could tell you, Cedric. But you will not believe me."

His face darkened instantly, the green in his eyes doubled, tripled in intensity until it was almost glowing, and his irises became slits, like the enormous serpent that he had slain. But if this scared everyone instantly, what he did after transformed their blood to ice.

"$I will tell you thisss inssstead. I will dessstroy you all.$"

Using Parseltongue had always the same beautiful effect. All the conversation immediately stopped, and he was rewarded with shocked and scared expressions. It was such a great view.

"Harry, what did you say to them?"

The young Potter looked again at Dumbledore and answered. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Eventually."

Then he addressed the judges. "So, is there something that we have to know about the Tournament or this stupid meeting can come to an end?"

Ludo Bagman was the first out of his reverie and said swiftly, not wanting to further anger the boy. "The first task will be around the end of November. The 24th to be precise."

He paused a little to wipe the sweat on his forehead. "We cannot tell you what it will be, because your reaction towards the unusual and the unknown is an essential feat for every wizard. We can only tell to prepare at the best of your capacities."

And that was all, Harry pulled out his wand from his sleeve and unlocked the door to the Great Hall.

Unfortunately, he still had to receive his greatest and worst surprise at the same time.

He purposely kept looking ahead of him, not wanting to see the expressions of his classmates, which he was sure to be a furious one and only when he reached the Gryffindor table pandemonium exploded.

"Hey, cheater!"

That was not a voice he wanted to hear, the one of his very first human friend, Ron Weasley.

He kept walking ahead, ignoring him, and seeing the scowl directed at him from Hermione, he canceled even her from the list of his allies. It was very true, that the most intelligent people could be also the most stupid in certain situations.

"Cheater! I am talking to you!"

What he did not expect was the red head to come towards him running and punching him straight on his shoulder, to double it on his face when he turned around.

In the meantime, all the professors came out from the room, and they were standing there, simply watching and not doing anything. The Champions had happy faces in seeing the show, and the only one who had a reaction was McGonagall, who brought a hand to her mouth in surprise.

He tried to reason with his ex-friend, but he already knew that it was impossible. His stupid inferiority complex was too big.

"Ron, listen to me, I did not put…"

He was not able to finish because another punch forced him to silence, and socked him straight in the eye. Another gasp from some of the professors, but again, no interference from their side.

"I should have imagined it, Potter! Do you want everything given to you, right? You have the money, the fame, and now you can maybe even score with some chick because you did this, eh?"

"Ron, please…"

"You cannot go on every year and do something that will bring you even more fame eh?! You disgust me, Potter, you and all this circus you put on all the times! And we are always risking our lives for you like idiots! Getting nothing out of it!"

Ah! That was the problem. The git was jealous of his money, fame, hypothetical girls, and wanted more and more out of him.

And this was his friend?

He had to be blinded by something to accept his company!

And he knew what it was. The deprivation of any human contact in his childhood, a gift from the long bearded individual near the main table of the Hall and the Dursleys.

He looked at the Headmaster for a single second, watching if he wanted to intervene, but as usual, the man was a perfect waste of space.

When Ron charged again for another punch… that was the final straw. And the old Harry Potter was no more.

He simply blocked it, stunning Ron for a second, and mustering all the strength he had while remembering his fights with Dudley and his stupid gang of people, punched the boy in the stomach with such force that he actually heard a couple of ribs breaking, and obtaining the effect of cutting his breath from the source.

The second punch was to his face, maiming heavily his nose and sending him straight to the floor, where he fell in the middle of his own vomit and blood.

He spoke then, with a soft velvet voice, which was full of steel at the same time. "Well, Ronald, if you are so envious maybe we can level our situation, eh? It seems that you want to be like me so much…"

"Maybe if I kill you parents, your brothers, and your sister, and make you an orphan, you will be like me, mmmh?"

That managed to make everyone in the whole Great Hall go white and trembling. The first and second years were simply terrified and didn't know what to do.

"Because remember, idiot, I am who I am because my parents died to give me the fucking possibility to live! And now, I am thinking about how much I have disappointed them in slacking off like you, a pathetic and envious child, while doing stupid things with a person who was always jealous of me."

"Harry!" The bossy one decided to open her mouth. "What are you saying? Are you out of your mind?"

"Well, Hermione, I am not seeing you defending me here. Something to tell Ronald about his actions?"

"Harry! You have to understand… What about yours? You threatened to kill everyone in his family!"

"What?! What do I have to understand, Hermione?"

"Harry, you know…"

But the light blush on her cheeks, and the fact that she was continuing shifting her sight from the red head to him and back again, gave everything away. He could have been a social recluse, but certain things were easy to pick on.

The girl liked the boy.

"Now it's clear, Granger. So, when he punches me and says whatever crosses his reduced pea-sized brain, everything is ok. But on the opposite…" He regarded her with pity.

"Remember that sometimes you are wrong!"

The expression on the bushy haired girl face was indignant.

"Honestly!" Now she was screeching, and that was annoying, it seemed like that overbearing Molly. Wonderful woman, but too oppressive. "First you do this thing with the Goblet, then you punch Ron, then…"

"So, in the end, you think that I put my name in, right? Is it the thought of all the House?"

The look which he received were more than self-explanatory, but the powder keg was ready to explode, the tension was already past above its maximum.

"Diffindo!"

The Cutting Charm went directly at him, he did not see who cast it, since it was behind him, but it was sure it came from the Gryffindor table. And, unfortunately, he was so enraged in his mind about all the situation that he did not manage to evade it in time.

It went straight through his wand hand, cutting two of his fingers, and his magical focus in two clean pieces.

He gave out a grunt when after an instant his nerves registered the pain. It was excruciating, and for a moment his sight gave out, being replaced by an unfocused mess.

Harry tried to bring his hand next to his face to see better his wound, but when he moved the arm pain spiked again from where his fingers were cut off, and he collapsed on the ground, managing only to not cry out for the intense pain.

Tears were falling down his cheeks, and he also bit his tongue inside his mouth from the sudden event. The metallic flavor of blood invaded his taste senses, while all the Hall descended into silence.

There was a single moment of uncertainty, and then everything went to hell. It started slowly, and he could manage to avoid the attacks thanking the self-training he did during the previous years, but it evolved quickly in a more and more uncontrollable situation, when he saw the swarm of spells coming towards him from almost every student in the Hall.

"Diffindo! Defodio! Incendio! Tarantallegra! Incarcerous! Stupefy! Confringo! Expulso! Filipendo!"

It was almost impossible to dodge every one of them. He would have been surely hit. The only solution was to stand his ground.

Fighting through his suffering he managed to put his good hand on the stony floor, fingers spread open, and yelled.

"Protego Maxima!"

His golden shield encased him, just in the nick of time, and it immediately began to sustain all the spell damage. The problem was that someone began throwing him food and goblets, even some dishes, from all the directions, and the shield did not provide cover for physical objects.

Harry sustained the onslaught, his shield never wavering, with continuous spells washing over it, and his resolve getting stronger and stronger. His eyes trained on the professors, and on the Headmaster, with disgust in his eyes, and etched on his features.

Revenge will be mine. Against all of them!

Shots of adrenaline invaded his bloodstream, opening the way for his healing powers. Harry began to feel less and less agony from his maimed hand, which was still bleeding though. He thought about firing back, since he was somewhat versed in wandless spells, but unfortunately he needed all his concentration to sustain the golden dome around him, while fighting to regain full control over the pain. The bitter irony was that he had planned to use this year to study and practice more advanced incantations, which would have been useful now.

Shortly after, everything slowed down and then ended. There were only red and puffing faces in the whole place, enraged about everything that he had said and done.

The Hufflepuff students had something in their hands, every one of them, from cutlery to goblets, from fruits to actual food, among the other things. The Ravenclaws were a little bit more reserved, but in the end, their reaction was the same.

The Gryffs were all on their feet, the Twins with some boxes ready to launch at him and the jinxes inside them already active. He could feel something on his skin, like boils, and he knew from where it came. Ginny had her wand trained on him, like Hermione.

He did not need to look at the Slytherins, since he already knew their expressions. A shame, because he would have seen a familiar couple of icy blue eyes looking at him with hidden concern.

Harry waited for a couple of seconds more, then released his shield, always ready to cast it again.

"Great job with that shield boy! Awesome display!" Moody was crazy as always but, nonetheless, he felt a little bit proud of what he had done.

He slowly got up, covered in food and pumpkin juice, with bruises on his face, a black eye, boils on the right side of his body and a bleeding cut on his cheek and forehead. He noticed that Ron was still moaning on the ground like he was almost dying from a couple of punches.

"Headmaster, your thoughts?"

Dumbledore snapped out of his reverie. "Harry, my boy, you have to understand their mood and spirit in this particular situation."

Harry was not amused, especially in his current condition. "So… I have to forgive them, and move on?"

"Yes Harry, they will understand their errors in time." The old man was smiling now, glad that finally the point he wanted to prove passed onto the boy.

"Good. Good." He slowly brought up his cut appendage, fighting against another wave of pain coursing through his arm.

"And what should I do about the fact that I lost two fingers." He showed his mauled hand to everyone, that was still dripping a little with fresh blood. "More importantly, the fact that my wand was cut in two?"

"And, may I add, to a curse from behind from the oh so glorious and brave House of Gryffindor? Such a shame." He said in a mocking voice. The Slytherins sniggered at the display, while some members of the red golden table cringed about it.

"My boy, it is an unfortunate consequence of everything. I am sure we will be able to think about something, if you come to seek my advice."

He just nodded in mock acceptance. His rage was topping over now.

After that, all the students acquired a new piece of knowledge about a simple yet complex thing regarding Harry Potter, perfectly related to the school's motto: 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus' – 'Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon'.

In this case, the Dragon, or better, the Basilisk, was the boy at the end of the Great Hall.

His eyes were burning with uncontrolled anger and his magic was going raw. They were even more green than the Killing Curse, and someone swore that they saw green smoke coming from them. It was a captivating and terrifying sight at the same time.

He extended his good hand, noticing that his arm was cut and bruised too, and his uniform was almost in tatters. All the forks and knives in the Great Hall began to levitate slowly, and at the same time, trying to morph into something else.

The look on Harry's face was impossible to sustain, and his irises became slits again, but no one noticed that.

"Mr. Potter! Stop immediately what you are doing!"

"Professor McGonagall. Where were you, when what happened, happened?"

That silenced her but gave way to Snape to open his filthy mouth again. "You deserved it, Potter! Liar! Scum! Your parents are turning in their graves looking at you!"

Oh! That was the wrong thing to say.

All the cutlery suspended in the air transformed immediately from their half-morphed state to long, thin, and very spiky shiny steel lances.

Each one of them pointed at every eye of every student inside the room.

Ronald Weasley was the first one, and the last, to open his fat mouth, even if he was terrified of having two steel spikes just in front of him.

"I always knew it! You are a Dark Wizard! Look at this, you will kill everyone!"

Harry simply laughed, more and more at the simple thought! "Really, Ronald? And someone can tell me what oh-so-dark spells am I using?"

Not giving time to answer he simply answered himself. "A Wingardium Leviosa, from first-year Professor Flitwick's class, paired with a Transfiguration spell… oh, done by Professor McGonagall also in the first-year class!"

He continued to laugh. "Such dark spells. I am truly the darkest mage on this land! Fear me!" The irony was very strong with those last sentences.

Immediately he became serious again. "Now, if I were to do something like this, after losing two of my fingers, then with time I would be forgiven, right Dumbledore?"

The venom in the voice was so thick you could imagine seeing it dripping from his mouth.

"Harry, please, you are overstepping your bounds, and I will be forced to intervene if you do not stop."

The distance was reduced to half in a single shot, and almost everyone screamed in terror since they noticed that the spikes followed the movement of their heads. No matter where they were trying to escape, they remained fixed on their eyes.

"And, as I already asked Professor McGonagall, where were you, Headmaster? Where were you when everyone humiliated and attacked me in the middle of the Great Hall?"

"My boy…"

Suddenly, every piece of every absurd adventure that happened to him since he started studying in the School four years before fell into place, as going to complete a bigger puzzle. And it made so much sense!

"This" he spat "is another of your stupid games and trials, right?" He was coldly laughing. "To see if I am worthy of something you only know about, am I right?"

"Do not think for a single moment that I have not understood what you were doing through my years here Dumbledore."

He paused and looked straight at him. "And, I suppose that this time I did not pass."

"Harry, please…"

"$Thisss year will be the lassst one I will be playing your ssstupid gamesss with my life!$"

All the steel spikes moved instantly, towards a new target, the Goblet of Fire!

The movement was so sudden that all the students cried in fright, thinking they would have gone blind, or worse, killed. The no-more-cutlery pieces sped and sped towards the object in the center of the Hall, and in the meanwhile, Harry began to draw something on the floor, using his own blood.

Hermione screamed "Blood Magic!" while her companion Ron was repeating and repeating "Dark Wizard! I knew it, I told you! He is a Dark Wizard!"

"Shut the hell up you two morons! Or I'll show you what I am really capable of!"

The ex-cutlery embedded one after another into the sides of the Goblet, as its flame went from the normal blue to an angry orange, before setting into an ominous dark blood red.

The last spike was what remained of the upper portion of his wand, coated in his blood. It went straight through the Goblet, from one side to the other, and when a single drop of blood fell into the flame, it happened.

The professors were too stunned to do anything in time, and the only warning came from Harry's voice.

"You said that the Goblet would have stripped me of my magic if I went away. Since it is so hungry of magic, I will have it all for me!"

At the same moment the drop of his blood touched the angry flames, a burst of magic energy made all the stained windows in the Hall explode and shatter into thousands of pieces, falling on the students and cutting them in some way or another. A good punishment, he thought.

The burst seemed to go on endlessly until it suddenly stopped in front of him, and started going in reverse towards the Goblet, which was looking more and more contorted and deformed with the passing of time.

Waiting for the explosion Harry readied himself, channeling his magic into the main rune under his feet. A syphoning rune, the worst and maybe darkest of them all, since it enabled if cast correctly with the caster's blood, to steal magic from objects.

A shame it did not work on people.

Once the runic circuit was fully activated, Harry Potter was surrounded by red light, and five runes carved ethereal columns, forming something like a pentagram around the boy.

No one noticed that the blood had actually eroded the stone floor like it was some kind of acid.

As the wave went again inside the Goblet of Fire, the flames extinguished themselves, and the big cup exploded releasing all its magic, which went towards the first absorbing well it could find. So to speak, towards Harry.

The magic sped faster than a blink of an eye, and he was engulfed in a strong vortex which tore his already cut dress into pieces and made him grunt and crouch on all fours for the pain due to the sudden influx of energy.

The whole process lasted an entire minute, and when the vortex dissipated Harry was still there, covered in cuts, bleeding, but alive, and powerful.

"Harry, what have you done?" The Headmaster whispered. He had never seen something like that. Studied yes, researched, yes again, but put in practice, never.

Simply because there was no magical item more powerful than the Goblet itself, saving maybe Horcruxes or the very Hogwarts Castle. But in that case, the receiver of the magic would have simply been killed by the enormous amount of it.

The fact that Harry was still standing and conscious was an astounding feat. It was a pitiable situation, because if not for the prophecy, Harry would have made truly a great mage.

"Harry! Where have you learned about that rune? It's a Dark one!"

"Funny that you are asking me that, Granger. And save me your useless opinions." She cringed at the use of her last name. "I have to thank you actually."

This stunned her, and everyone else, professors included.

"What… what do you mean?"

"Well. If I did not have a nagging bossy know-it-all bitching all last year about the importance of Runes because I -and I admit it- stupidly chose that fraud that is Divination, I would have never learned about it."

Those words hit straight to her heart. She knew she forced people to learn, even exaggerating in some cases, when it was not her place to do it. She knew that not everyone shared her passion in almost every subject, but it had always been difficult for her to restrain herself.

And, furthermore, she was fully aware of being overbearing in showing her prowess in the studying field. It was because of that that no one liked her in her pre-Hogwarts years.

But hearing this from her friend, who saved her from the troll, had the same effect of a bullet.

"And no! Don't start crying right now!"

"Granger, you, like a lot of people in this school, are a very gifted witch. And I thank you for all the help you gave me in the last years. Especially the last one."

This almost managed to bring a smile to her face. The Buckbeak time-travel adventure had been truly a great one, even if a frightening one.

"But, you, like everyone else here who today thought that I have broken your trust and got my name inside those charred remains of a Goblet, and attacked me for whatever idiotic reason, without having any proof but rumors and voices…" He sneered loudly. "…You all lost my trust. So, please, never ever cross me again."

"You will not like the consequences."

"Shut up you Dark Wizard! You are not welcome here! Go away to You-Know-Who and wait there for your end!"

"Weasley, you and your family here made your position really clear as of ten minutes ago, more or less." He looked at the Twins and Ginevra with contempt. "Never speak to me again, or I will do more than breaking some bones!"

The Twins were conflicted, but after hearing about killing and such they just went with their emotions. No one threatened their family, Harry included. But they never considered, at the worst time possible, the situation and the words of their stupid younger brother.

Ginny was bawling because she knew that now her dream was shattered. Harry would be impossible to obtain for her. They had been stupid and went with the idiotic flow of the sheep in Gryffindor House.

"Ah, and Headmaster…" Harry spoke again to the aged wizard. "… about the treatment given to me by my family of muggles."

Harry disrobed, making his broken dress disappear, and everyone froze on the spot.

The scars.

The scars!

His chest and upper arms were covered in wounds, old ones under the fresh of the evening, but they crisscrossed every part, creating a web of faded skin, and making him comparable to the muggle Frankenstein monster, for the ones in the Hall who understood the reference.

It was a gruesome sight to see, and many lost their dinner just where they were seated. Minerva McGonagall simply stood rooted where she was, devastated for the destiny of the little Harry Potter, whom she helped herself to place in that damned muggle home.

In her mind, there was one thought, directed at Albus, his image of leadership cracking before her eyes. 'I had told you. I had told you they were horrible muggles.'

The very same Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster, Supreme everything, seemed to age on the spot, at least fifty years in a couple of seconds, when the reminder of all his faults and errors reached him. He had failed him, and his parents.

Severus Snape was still sneering at him. What if some stupid muggles had abused the boy? It was surely well-earned by the Potter spawn. True, he hated Lily's sister with a passion, she was a horrible person, and his boyfriend, now husband, was even worse. Nonetheless, the boy had to do something to receive that punishment, like during his Potion class.

But the final surprise had still to come. Harry simply turned and showed his back.

The gasp of horror that the student gave was enough to make him understand that they had seen the worst one.

On his back, along his spine, and from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, was a cross.

A cross branded with a hot iron tool.

Like what they did on the wizards and witches during the trials centuries before.

"Do you know when is this from, Dumbledore?"

The Headmaster was silent. He simply shook his head in a negative gesture.

"They tried everything to beat my magic, my freakishness, out of me during the years." He gave a shallow laugh. "But obviously, it was not possible to do it with beatings, broken bones and bleeding skin."

"So! They called an exorcist to strip my magic from me."

Hermione inhaled sharply. Certain horror films coming to her mind. And all the muggle borns had the same reaction.

"When what he was doing did not work, they decided to brand me like a monster."

Harry fixed the Headmaster in the eyes.

"Like the monster you helped to create!"

"And, imagine what! I came to Hogwarts awaiting a new different world… and what did I learn?"

Again, a shallow laugh. "That everyone here is a fucking sheep, ready to follow the flow of things without thinking! That when something like this happens… well, you all have seen the results."

"I do not hate the world of magic. Magic is a wonder, and a continue surprise to me. But I hate all the stupid people who live in it!"

Harry twirled around, extending his arms to prove his point. "I do not know why I am who I am in this world, just having survived a Dark Lord when I was simply one year old!"

"Really! What the fucking hell do you imagine I had managed to do at that age? You really think that I had some hidden power which can erase people on the spot?"

He squinted his slit eyes at them. "Because, trust me, it would have been damn useful now!"

Harry spit on the floor, showing all his disgust with the situation and the people in front of him.

"Thanks to I don't know who, I have to participate in this farce of a Tournament, together with three companions who loathe me just for stealing their spot."

"To them, I tell again what I told you in the room. I. Will. Destroy. You. All!"

He was finished, and turned to go out from the Hall, since he badly needed to concentrate and heal all his new wounds. But the voice of his ever-present antagonist came out for the first time and stopped him.

"Potter, you pathetic half blood! Do you think that this stupid show and the glamour on your body will convince anyone!? Do you think that your sob story will bring someone to your side?"

The blonde little boy laughed heartily at the simple thought.

"Even your friends abandoned you! You have all Hogwarts against you! And other two schools think the same! You will not survive to tomorrow, or you will die in the Tournament!"

He concluded, and he seemed even satisfied about his little stupid speech. And, as the sheep everyone was, people began murmuring agreements towards what Malfoy had said regarding what had been shown to them just minutes before.

"Fifty points to Slytherin for defending the School honor. And one hundred points from Gryffindor for being a fraud and a liar."

Obviously. But the fact that the Lion's points counter did not go down was immediately noticed.

"Potter! What have you done! You are already in deep trouble for everything you have…"

"Shut up Snape!" That made everyone turn around their necks, some creaking here and there was heard from the speed of their heads. The Professor's face was red with rage.

"Mr. Potter! Professor Snape…"

"And you shut up the same Minerva!"

"I remember what you said to every first year when we came in. Do you remember it?"

The Transfiguration Professor was still dumbfounded from the outburst of his student. Never, in her long career, she had been disrespected in that way.

"It was something like… Your House is like a Family where each one will look after each other."

Harry paused to make that sink in. "And look at that, the brave Lions were the first to curse me, towards my back!"

"What would I want to do with a house of pathetic jackals?" They all recoiled at that caustic affirmation.

"I formally disclaim myself from the Gryffindor House and all its pitiful people."

All the students were again shocked. The very same Golden Boy just renounced to his house! And someone recognized it. You had to have true courage to do something like that.

"Good! We did not want you inside our House anymore Dark Wizard! And you better watch you back in the future!"

Well, right now he was tired of dealing with the freckled boy, so he just looked at his Head with eyes telling 'What did I just tell you?'

Then he turned to Malfoy. "Dear Draco… I may be pathetic, without friends, a liar as you continue to believe, or everything else." The white-blonde boy was smirking openly at that declaration. That smirk was canceled after two seconds. "But, at least, I'm not the son of a Death Eater."

That outraged and silenced the boy, who went from pale to red-faced in the span of very little time.

"How dare you! When…"

"Yes yes, when my daddy blah blah blah." He looked at him with a mix of pity and disgust. "Are you sure you are a Slytherin Draco? No, I'm telling you because that was my first choice, and I had to plead the Hat to put me among those stupid Gryffs."

Well, that silenced everyone. Again.

At the golden table boys and girls were confused, enraged, fearful, disbelieving, and a myriad of other emotions. Ronald Weasley had the expression of a sour lemon painted on his face, and Hermione Granger finally understood that, unlike she liked to say, she did not know everything.

"You all can ask him if you want. And, trust me, I can be more Slytherin than you, and it would be easy since your behavior is well comparable to the one of those with the red and gold dresses."

"Bye Draco. And to everyone else. Stay the Hell away from me!"

Saying that, he went out from the Great Hall, leaving his temporary audience of students, professors, Tournament organizers and foreigner guests.

Just three steps out of the doors, which closed after him, and pandemonium began anew!

Everyone was shouting about something, and only after ten minutes the professors managed to bring again the calm among them. But, as they were sheep, almost everyone kept Malfoy's or the Champion's words for true, or near-truth.

He would show them.

"Wow! Daddy is cool!"

The emotions coming from the ice blue eyed child were a sight for tired eyes and always managed to bring a smile to her mother. Now, if her husband would stop to frighten her every time he did a dive with his broom and their firstborn son Charlus on his shoulders it would have been better.

The view from the parlor of their manor on the Greengrass gardens was breathtaking, especially with the sun closing on the horizon, going towards the sunset. There was a multitude of clouds that evening, and maybe the show would have been a wonder.

"Yes, your daddy is very cool!"

"But mummy! When are you coming in the story? I want to see you in the story!"

She was pouting, and it was truly adorable. Daphne felt so many emotions in her and for every day she thanked her Harry to have managed to accept her for what she was as a whole.

"I am coming right up sweetie. Do you want to hear about it now or tomorrow? It is getting late."

"NO! I want to see you and daddy in the story now!"

And, as usual, the mother pleased her only daughter. It was incredible how much she had her wrapped around her finger from the instant she was born in this world.

"Well, then listen again little Lily." She kissed her on her chubby cheek. "Your mummy is coming into the story."

After healing his cuts and wounds, bar his hand, where he only managed to stop the flow of the blood, Harry continued to run in the corridors of the School and he knew he had to reach his room in Gryffindor Tower before anyone else. They surely would prepare some traps or jinxes to ambush him and maybe destroy some of his properties.

That would have been unacceptable. Especially for his photo album, all his memories of his parents.

They had already destroyed his wand and he was sad about that. It was a connection to the Magical World, where his family had been. But, luckily, it was not a problem since he had another one available, way more powerful and suitable for him.

But his photo album, his meager possessions in his trunk and his precious broom had to disappear together with him. The Invisibility Cloak paired with the Marauder's Map too, they were a must to have for what he planned in his mind.

Hedwig should have been safe in the Owlery, but if the new place had an external access suitable for her, he would bring his very first and only friend with him.

He had the perfect location in mind. And he was sure that no-one would have been able to find him there. But, not seen, three people were following the Boy-Who-Lived from the distance, having come out from the Great Hall in the general chaos that followed his exit from the stage.

He finally reached the top of the Moving Staircases, and managed to enter the Common Room even if, technically, he was not a Gryffindor anymore. Moving swiftly, and fast, he collected everything he needed and packed all into his trunk, moving away from the place, going towards the second floor.

If his thoughts about the situation were correct, he should not have found anyone along the way.

Obviously, he wasn't correct at all.

Just before opening the entrance in Myrtle's bathroom, after having said hello to the ever-present ghost who blushed and floated into her toilet, he felt the distinct sensation caused by a spell being enchanted behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck had gone immediately from relaxed to spike straight. They always reacted in that strange way in those situations, after confronting Voldemort at the end of his First Year.

While instantly dropping to the ground to avoid the possible curse he swept again his hand quieting everyone in the room.

When he managed to have a first look at his attackers, he saw the eyes of a very enraged, very icy, and very beautiful Daphne Greengrass.

They were something like friends, if you can think about Harry Potter being friends with a Snake, and more, with the Ice Queen of Slytherin.

Harry did not have the time to think about anything else because the companion of said girl tried to mouth another spell with her wand fully visible, and his reflexes engaged again, momentarily forgetting that she could not speak any enchantment. He had met and talked to her maybe just only three times in the past, but she was a cute one.

However, after what he experienced, he surely would have not caved in without a fight.

The final girl was a little beauty which had almost the same traits of the blonde one, probably her little sister. It was his first meeting with her. She had stayed back, looking a little bit fearful.

He managed to regain his bearings after defending himself and back stepping further into the bathroom. He was almost sure that they were not there to capture him.

"Hey hey, just stop ok?!"

The answer of the young women in front of him was not the positive one, so he was forced to freeze them on their spots with a Sticking Charm. They were surprised at first, and then relented after a couple of seconds, relaxing their shoulders. He took that as a good sign.

"All right! Timeout girls!" Harry was becoming angry again, and what he said in the Hall about not following him was still in action. Even for them.

He stood up slowly, and released them, keeping his good hand ready to cast again if needed.

"Harry."

"Hello, Daphne."

"You are not stupid as you seemed to be until this evening then. And I'm glad to see that you are always a fast reacting one in a bad situation."

She always used to say that he was an idiot, and that he acted like a Gryffindor, so this time he was not sure if she was complimenting or still insulting him. He went with the first, just to see where all this was going.

"Err…"

Daphne smirked. "But your skills in talking with someone else have still not improved at all. " That caused a giggle to come out from the smaller one together with a snort from the brunette.

"All right. Let's start again then. It's nice to meet you once more Daphne, Tracey. And I'm pleased to meet you for the first time, little one." Astoria scowled, she always hated to be called like that, especially by her older sister. "This is maybe the worst moment to do our presentations. I'm not quite in my right state of mind now."

The blonde snorted and answered him swiftly. "You don't say, Harry. After what happened…" She paused for a moment. Was that a hint of a blush on her pale cheeks?

The brunette came forward. "It's nice to meet you again Harry! We definitely missed you!"

He smiled at her. Even with not knowing her well, he always liked her personality. It reminded him of one of the children who did not bully him in his first school years, with a solar mood always around her.

"And I am Astoria, Astoria Greengrass, Harry!" He was surprised by her sudden hug, which instigated a little chuckle to escape from the others.

"Can I assume that this is the annoying little devil you talked me about, Daphne?"

Astoria was instantly murderous at her sister, but the older one didn't give her a chance to reply. "Tori, let's do this later, ok?" She was trying to detach her 12 year old sibling from the black-haired boy.

"Just because you want to do it yourself does not mean that I cannot do it too!"

Now Harry could clearly see a widespread blush on her face, which made her skin glow and her eyes to shine brilliantly. Why did he never notice that before?

Her friend, Tracey, was barely restraining her laughter, looking at them both.

"All right… I think there is a story here, but this is not the place to tell it. Just answer this…"

He paused fixing them with a cold stare.

"What the hell did you had in mind when you wanted to attack me? I could have hurt you!"

Daphne snickered, unrepentant of her previous actions. "Do you really have to ask?"

Harry did not have to reply, his eyes did for him. Confusion etched in both, and it was almost funny to watch.

The three girls in the bathroom above the Chamber of Secrets recognized an impasse when they saw it, so they exploded in quiet laughter again, while Harry was more and more jumbled from the situation.

After a while, the look on the blonde face turned dark. "You tried to kill us with your stunt in the Hall, you idiot!"

"Oh! That..." He had at least the decency to look abashed, and blushed in his shame. They were right, he deserved that. "Yes. That! We understand you did not have any other choice… but you earnt it, and maybe more!"

"Thank us that we didn't use worse means." The brunette said, smirking devilishly to him.

Daphne regarded him again and, fighting down the now permanent blush due to the fact that he was still half naked in front of her, concluded. "But, as usual, we were no match." She huffed annoyed.

"All right, I concede your point, you're correct. Please, however, don't try it again." They nodded and he relaxed a bit. "Now it's better that I disappear."

The three looked at him intensely.

"Girls, all the School is out for my blood. Those fucking sheep will be all over the place, and while I can take on them, I cannot do it with two missing fingers and my other wand. And I cannot do it after all the magical stress I went on this evening."

He sighed and took his trunk again.

"I have to rest, maybe we can meet again another day?"

"You are out of your mind Potter, we are coming with you." Daphne answered promptly.

"Sorry… What?!"

"Wherever you are going, we are coming with you. Do you think that… trust me, Potter, it will be better if we come right now."

He snorted. "Daphne, while I would like that, associating with me is not the right thing to do as things are. "

"I don't want to put you, Tracey and especially your sister in danger. And I don't want your House to use you to force me to get out. Or worse."

"Potter!" Daphne always reverted to use his surname when she was annoyed with him

Tracey added immediately, calming her blonde friend with a hand on her arm. "Daph, he is right, and we cannot trust the people in the Pit. Hell, I would think the same and worse maybe."

Astoria butted her way into the conversation, releasing her final absolute weapon.

The puppy-eyed look.

"Ehm… can someone stop her? It's really, well, I don't know how to put it without offending anyone here."

"Sorry Harry, when Tori goes into that mood the only thing you can do is whatever she wants!" Tracey seemed accustomed to it, but immediately all the bantering went silent when Harry heard some shouting from the floor above, and a rush of feet on the stairs near the bathroom.

"Shit! I knew they would have been fast, but not this fast!"

Thinking fast, he maybe chose, like Daphne, the best thing in his entire life.

"All right! It seems that the others have made the decision for us." He imploringly looked at them in the eyes. "Please know what are you going into if you follow me. "

That sent a cold shiver along the spine of the three teenagers, but they nodded nonetheless. They wanted to be there for him. "Come with me and I will tell you I am already sorry for the filth and grime down there. I did not really have had the time to make it presentable during last year."

He hissed "$Open$" and "$Ssstepsss$" to the sink in front of them, and his companions watched with awe the old bathroom basin open under his commands.

"I don't believe it. Is it really true Harry?"

"And why didn't you show this to us before?!"

He rewarded them with his trademark grin. "Girls, follow me!"

Harry surely didn't have to repeat it a second time, and all the girls, Daphne first, then Astoria, and finally Tracey went after him into the bowels of the School.

Just after entering the sink closed again, and the parseltongue wards that Harry had reactivated went into full functionality, canceling their magical signature from everyone. It had been a close call, because after spare ten seconds, some of the Hufflepuff seventh years passed in front of the unused bathroom, still looking for a Potter to murder.

After a long descent, like ten or more flight of stairs of a normal building maybe, they reached the end of the steps, and a long not well torch-lit corridor opened in front of them.

"Lumos!"

A bright ball of light appeared on the palm of Harry's good hand, moving and hovering in front of him after a couple of seconds. Every girl was staring at it with awe in their eyes.

"Harry, how are you capable of doing that without a wand?" Tracey was totally excited about it; she was always hungry to learn something new.

Daphne added. "That would be something I would like to know too."

"I could teach you. It is frustrating in the beginning, but rewarding." They piped up at his answer.

Astoria was a little frightened of the dark place and kept going attached to Harry's tattered pants. He looked down and put a hand on her head to reassure the little girl.

"Don't worry Astoria, can I call you Astoria?" At her nod, he continued. "Under here, there is no one except us, and no one knows about it. There are also no dangers at all." She smiled at him, and the other two girls had also little smiles on their faces, looking at the boy.

It was almost incredible that the same Harry Potter who was shouting and almost killing everyone mere minutes before now was being so sweet to the little girl.

'There is always something new to discover with you, eh?'

They almost reached the entrance when Daphne spotted the old skin in the corridor. "Merlin Harry, are you telling me that the Basilisk was that big?"

Tracey whitened on the spot at the thought and Astoria went even closer to Harry. "You told us that it was a big snake, but this…"

His expression was sad. "I would like to tell you that Daphne. I so would like to."

"What did you mean with that, Harry?" They were still going on in the tunnel maze, but they had almost reached the main entrance of the Chamber.

"You are about to see something, girls. Something that no-one except me has ever seen before."

They were enraptured by the mystery, and it was clearly visible.

"Also, even if I killed it, it can be still frightening, so it is better to be prepared!"

Tracey quivered. "Harry, you are scaring us right now."

"I'm sorry girls. I know that you are strong but trust me with this."

He smiled again at them, causing another little blush to appear on Daphne's cheeks.

He always wondered, who was the idiot who named her an Ice Queen?

Once in front of the big door, all his companions gave out an exclamation of wonder "So it really exists…" while Harry was giving the gate the command to open in the language of the Snakes.

Immediately, after going in, other torches lit up with magical flames, among the snake heads, and the Chamber of Secrets was revealed to three new people. They continued to advance and jumped a little when the door behind them closed with a tight gong. Harry stopped again before the bigger room ahead of the group and asked again if they were ready.

"Daphne, Astoria, Tracey. Remember, that thing is dead, totally, since more than one year ago. Stay next to me and do not, absolutely, go near its mouth and teeth, ok?" His tone was a no-nonsense one, and the three nodded their confirmation.

As soon as they saw the mythical beast for the first time, in all its width and length, and especially the big and razor sharp looking teeth the could not restrain the tight scream from their mouths.

Astoria buried her head towards Harry, not wanting to look at it again, while Daphne and Tracey were trembling with fear and looking from the boy on their arms to the beast and again to the boy.

It was incredible. At least eighty feet in length, black as the night with a green undertone on its scales, mouth still half open with all the teeth in a gruesome display, and a dried black thing oozing from a cut on the side of its face. A true monster.

The Basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets.

The girls' legs were about to collapse, and only the remaining strength of Harry kept them on their feet.

"Har… Harry. Did you tell us that you killed it at the end of our Second Year, when you were tw… twelve?"

Harry was actually embarrassed to answer, even after all that time, but he did it the same. "Yes Daphne, with a sword and the help of Fawkes and the Hat, since I did not have my wand."

"Dear Merlin and Morgana. You are even more awesome than the rumors!"

Harry blushed heavily after hearing Tracey say that. He was not accustomed at all to receiving praise.

"Maybe it will be better to move into the main room ok? It seems that we all could use a sitting comfy place." At his statement, they all nodded since they were all about to fall down.

The Boy-Who-Lived crossed swiftly the space between the opposite walls of the Chamber and opened a hidden door behind what had to be some kind of statue. It got destroyed during his fight, after the Basilisk had been blinded.

The room was small but cozy, candles all around to lit it, with a fireplace which he didn't know if it was connected to the Floo System, a small library, a couple of tables and two cushioned chairs. He transformed them into a big couch for everyone.

Reaching the now big sofa, he sat down after the other two girls and Daphne pulled Astoria on hes lap. She was clearly still distraught by what she had seen just moments before, and her sister was stroking her hair and murmuring that the dead monster was in the other room and that they were completely safe.

"So…"

"So nothing Harry! How in Morgana's Magic did you manage to kill that beast?"

Harry launched in his tale, he never managed to tell them what really happened between him and the basilisk since when Second Year finished, they could not find the time to meet again while not raising suspicious concerns by Malfoy and his cronies. And during their Third Year, with all the Sirius Black and Dementors debacle, it simply skipped out of his mind.

He told them about the Lockhart stupid obliviation attempt -and so the real personality of the fraud Professor, the cave in just after that, and the confrontation with the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle. Then, his incredible luck without Fawkes, running around without being capable of opening his eyes in fear, and the following fight with the blinded snake.

Finally, the fact that the basilisk bit him while he killed it with Gryffindor's Sword, and what he remembered after. He skipped on Ginny's involvement because it was not his place to tell her story to other people.

"Wait wait wait! A minute here! Did you say that he bit you?"

"Yes, right here on my arm." And he showed them the round and whiteish scar on his forearm.

Daphne was out of her league. "But you should be dead! The bite from a Basilisk is highly toxic!"

"It's true, and if Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, used his tears a mere half a minute later, I would have."

That was too much for the three girls, and it had the effect of three pairs of arms going around him, while they were softly crying for all the emotions involved, and saying something like 'bloody stupid honorable Gryffindors' or similar.

After regaining a bit of control, Tracey was curious about the memory. "Who was that Tom something? I never heard anything about him."

"Actually, if you ever got a detention with Filch…" He received three negative amused answers and he snorted about that. "Well, if you received that, and he made you clean a certain trophy room, you could see his name on some Student Award some decades ago."

He used his finger to draw on the nearby table his name.

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

"However, you all already know him."

That drew curious stares, and he promptly added. "Only with another name." And the letters rearranged themselves. Daphne was the first one to realize who that memory really was.

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"Oh Mighty Magic! You had another confrontation with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? And you survived?"

It was incredible at the simple thought. That man was the most powerful Dark Lord in recent history since Grindelwald and Harry simply had battled against him emerging victorious?

"Yes Daphne, it was my third time actually. That stupid thing never managed to kill me, when I was a baby as you all know: when he was Quirrelmort in our First Year, like I already told you, and again appearing as a memory two years ago."

The way Harry talked about Voldemort was astounding. He was treating him like a simple moron or something like that. A common street thug. Daphne, Tracey and Astoria were in complete awe.

They never trusted or believed all the stories in the books they read when they were little. They were too absurd, like the one who told the tale with an eight-year-old Harry Potter battling against a werewolf.

But now they had the real deal in front of them, with a dead enormous Basilisk next room as a true proof of what he had done.

Daphne could not resist anymore. This was her dream since she saw Harry shunned by everyone for the Heir of Slytherin story two years before. And this was also the reason which moved her to meet him for the first time in the same year.

She simply got up, crooked down in front of him, put her hands on both of his cheeks, and kissed him with all the might she could muster.

Harry was stunned, at first, embarrassed, at second, but after a couple of seconds he began to enjoy the feeling and gave into it, putting more pressure against her lips and showing that he was participating in the kiss.

It was the first time that he had been kissed, and by such a beauty as Daphne Greengrass.

The kiss launched fireworks in both of their minds, and they managed to end it only because they lacked air in their lungs. At that time both their faces were blushing like a nuclear reactor, you could feel the heat coming from their cheeks, and the heavy beating of the hearts inside their ribcage.

"What… what…"

Harry did not know what to say, so he kept stumbling on his words while his brain tried to process the sensory overload on his mouth.

The sniggering and the blown-out laughter from the other two girls in the room was more than enough to skip them out their personal moment, and as impossible it may seem, to make them blush even worse than before.

Tracey was the first one to regain the ability to speak after all the laughing. "Harry, I have to tell you a secret, and I'm sorry that no one of us told you this before."

While still blushing, Daphne regarded her with a sour look which promised pain.

Tracey continued without problems though. "What you have to know is that Daphne here…"

The blond-haired girl clamped her hand over the mouth of her friend, still looking murderous. "Tracey…"

"What! If you don't have the courage to tell him after two years, Daphne, I will! He deserves to know!"

Harry was confused. "Sorry girls, to know what?"

The Ice Queen was embarrassed, with chaotic and conflicting thoughts in her mind, she wanted to tell him but a part of her was afraid of rejection. She was at loss at what to do… so she just nodded to Tracey. Her friend would help her, she just knew.

Her longtime friend smiled. "Well, Harry, as I was saying… she is totally smitten with you!"

His eyes bulged out of their sockets. He could not believe it, and his face had to be an amusing one, because Astoria was giggling at him.

"You know, when we noticed you during the first year you were this little cute scrawny boy, which was almost afraid of his own shadow…"

"Hey! I was not!"

"Yes." She answered him in a condescending tone. "Now, let me continue. You were cute, but not the Harry Potter everyone imagined."

"Well I don't know who imagined what about me, but everything you have believed before our meetings was a complete fake. I already told you! And I hate my fame for that!"

Daphne continued. "We knew that, and to reassure you again, no one here is a fan of the Boy-Who-Lived thing…"

A cough both from Tracey and Astoria, which strangely resembled the word 'lies' made him raise his eyebrow to the two.

Daphne was sending daggers from her eyes at the two, but even so, they started talking.

"Well… if we have to confess everything, Harry…"

"Yes?"

"I never told you, but I had your figurine bought for me when I was six!" Tracey blurted out with red cheeks. Astoria was immediately after the brunette putting out her hand, like in a class. "My parents gifted me all your books for Christmas when I was four!"

Harry turned towards Daphne, who seemed immensely embarrassed.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Daphne wanted to go away and never look back but she steeled herself and said with a whisper. "I have a bed cover with Harry Potter written on it, and I bought your First Year original Quidditch robe with your name." She was totally mortified.

Harry groaned. "Great, more and more fans…"

"Don't even start!" The coordinated triple shout for each girl surprised him, and Tracey took the reins of the situation. "We were children, and you were almost everywhere…" He groaned again.

"Shut up!" She said smiling. "When we grew up we started to understand, unlike Weasley, that those stories were absurd. Even our parents shared our thoughts on the matter, and we wanted to see how much that was real, and how much that was a fake."

Daphne began again. "And this evening… this evening you have been awesome Harry!" She was completely excited and her eyes sparkled like two blue gems in the night. "You managed to stand your ground, to not cave in like you usually did in the past."

"You even told McGonagall and Snape to shut up! I so wanted to kiss you there! And then when you showed you hand to the stupid Gryffs, that was amazing, and Johnson will regret hexing you first!"

"Ah, so it was Johnson. Maybe because she was one of the seventh years in my old House to put her name in the Goblet?"

"Yes, and then the golden shield, and what you said after!"

Astoria added excitedly. "And don't forget what you did with the Goblet, it was awesome!"

"I really hope that right now you are not thinking that I am even more like what you have read in those stories…"

Daphne smiled, a sweet smile on her lips, and shook her head. "No Harry, this evening you showed everyone, even the blind ones, that you are a person with your own strength and morals, and who will not be pushed around anymore. I am so proud of you, you know."

It was the first time in all his life that someone said that to him. It filled him with an unknown feeling, an extremely good one, and he feared that something would burst from the inside.

"Shit Harry, now that I remember, that bitch cut your fingers, we have to do something!"

Harry smiled at Tracey. "Don't worry girls, another couple of minutes and I will be all right."

"What?!" Was the collective scream from everyone else around him.

"Well… do you remember when I said to Dumbledore that I was the monster that he helped to create?"

"Yes. You were referring to your scars. If I can get my hand on those muggles…" Daphne was seething with rage at the thought, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"To tell you the truth… not really."

"What are you meaning…" Tracey was silenced when he brought up his mauled hand. His ring and last finger were missing and it was a gruesome display.

But what they saw after would remain etched in their memory forever and ever.

"Merlin… I… I don't know what to say."

"Tell the truth, Daphne. I have accepted it long ago."

He sighed sadly. "I am a monster."

"NO!"

Her outburst shocked him. "You are not a monster Harry! No no no! You are the Harry that I always dreamt on, that I longed for, and I do not care about this or other things."

"You are Harry! Simply Harry!"

Those words were the ones that Harry wanted to hear since he was thrown inside the Wizarding World. Since he was damned with the Boy-Who-Lived legend.

To be only a normal boy. Only Harry.

Everything crashed on the spot. He cried, loudly, suddenly, releasing all the pent emotions that he had inside him, stored for years and years. He cried for his lost parents, who gave their life for him, he cried for his lost and traitorous friends, he cried for all the expectations put on him by everyone, and he cried for the affection this new girl who was squeezing him like he was about to disappear showed him.

It was the release he needed to continue his new path.

Little Lily was crying for her father. This part of the story was always the most painful and at the same time the most beautiful for her to hear.

It showed that her treasured daddy loved her mummy, and loved her and her brother.

Daphne was trying to comfort her, emotions rolling off her like waves. She could never forget that day, ever. It was always at the forefront of her memories, as one of best memories in her life.

They were comforting each other when Harry came in the room, with a sleeping boy on his hip.

"Daphne, love, is everything ok?"

Daphne looked up towards him and smiled through her tears. "I was telling her our story, Harry. We were in the Chamber."

Harry smiled as the memory came out again. "It was a good day that one."

"It was a perfect day Harry."

He could not say anything against that. It was a perfect day indeed.

Harry embraced his family. How he got this lucky, he didn't know. But he would be damned before something happened to those people who were the very life for him.

"Everything is fine, Harry."

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Chapter Released on 15/05/17 - Edited on 20/05/17. A lot of the reviews and PM's pointed the fact that the first meeting between Harry and the girls was strange, confusing, or with things happening too fast. I completely modified it and changed their background (which will be further explored in future chapters). It should make more sense now and give out a better feeling. I also added more details to the scene in the Great Hall, along with correcting some minor grammar mistakes.

This concludes the first chapter of this fanfiction, 13k words excluding the two AN at the beginning and the end of it.

The story will cover all the Goblet of Fire book (and movie), mixing elements from both. I hope that the next parts will be as long as this one, and that I will be able to mantain a good update schedule. I'm still in college, so do not expect regular updates unfortunately.

I hope that you liked it! Don't forget to leave a Review!

See ya at the next one! Ciao!