"Professor," Harry Potter asked one day in transfiguration class, "May I ask you a question?"

Professor McGonagall had watched the young boy from the corner of her eye for the entire class, mindful of any signs of increasing stress, but so far the pressure of being forced to take part in the Triwizard Tournament had not seemed to weigh on him too heavily. Until today, that is; all throughout the class, his head had been down, his forehead crumpled as if pondering some deep question.

"Of course, Mister Potter," She replied coolly, "Are you having trouble with your assignment? Remember, you must hold the transformation clearly in your mind." Approaching his table, her eyes slid over the perfect copper kettle on the table. Glancing subtly around the class, she quickly saw that only Hermione Granger had completed the transformation so quickly, and her heart warmed to see his skill showing through.

Her voice was cool as ever, however. "You seem to have completed your assignment without difficulty. What seems to be the problem?"

Harry gazed at the desk before him, not meeting her eyes, as if contemplating some tremendous issue. Finally, he glanced up to meet her gaze. "Professor, we've transfigured animals into objects, and objects into animals, and all sorts of things. But what would happen if you were to try to transfigure air into something? After all, air is...something. And when we transfigure things they sometimes weigh more or less than when we started. Would that..." he seemed to struggle for the words, and finally gave up with a sigh, "Work?"

Professor McGonagall cocked her head to the side, startled. "It...That is a very good question, Mister Potter. I don't know that anyone has ever tried. Even now, many wizarding folk think that air is not so much substance as the fabric of reality. After all, you can't see it." Pondering the question, she looked off into space, mind flicking between the hundreds of texts she had read in her time as Transfigurations Mistress, "I seem to recall mention of Alberich the Insane attempting to transfigure clouds into sheep, but he died shortly afterwards."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "With a name like that, I'm not surprised. How did he die, if you don't mind me asking?"

A faint smile found its way onto the Professors face, "By falling sheep, I believe."

A laugh sounded in the back of the class, causing the Professor to instantly glance towards the back of the class; the laugh choked off as if strangled. Giving the class a warning glance, McGonagall turned her gaze back to Harry, "Will that be all, Mister Potter?"

"One more thing, if you don't mind, Professor. What happens to something when it gets...de-transfigured?"

"Counter transfiguration leads to the object reverting to its original form," McGonagall said frostily, "Something you would know if you were reading your text as you should. That goes for all of you, by the way!"

A hurt whimper came from Miss Grangers direction, and McGonagall sighed softly and amended, "Most of you. Now back to work!"

Making her way back to her desk, she again let her eyes flash over Harry's position; he still seemed to be deep in thought, and that persisted for several minutes, before suddenly a flash of inspiration appeared like it was shining on his face. For a moment a wide grin graced his section of the class. Even after it faded, however, his cheerful attitude remained, and McGonagall was happy to see that he returned to his work, managing to transfigure his kettle to a turtle and back a half dozen times before the class was through.

"I was thinking," Harry began.

Immediately Fred and George grabbed Ron and Hermione, yanking them with them as they dove under a nearby table. A moment later, a tiny periscope peered up from behind it, looking in all directions and inspecting the staring common room before a Twin's head peeked up, "No explosions?"

"Har Har," Harry said sarcastically, "Now get out from there you lumps, you'll like this one."

Snorting, the Twins let an outraged looking Ron and Hermione out from under the table and returned to their spots, "Alright Harry, out with it! What is it this time?" "Going to find another chamber of secrets perhaps?" "Or go looking for your evil godfather!" "OR put yourself in the running for the bloody Triwizard Cup without letting us know how you did it!?" "Wait, I think he already did that one, old chum." "Oh, right you are."

Simeltaneously they turned to regard harry, and spoke in their slightly creepy twinspeak, "Out with it, Harry!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Actually, with all the ridiculous attention I've been getting recently, I've been thinking that maybe we shouldn't be worrying about fighting so much as getting away. After all, it's not like any adult could honestly expect someone our age to fight against some great dark wizard in some epic duel of the fates!"

Somewhere in his Aerie, Dumbledore spurted out a mouthful of tea.

"So I was thinking, isn't it about time we learned how to apparate?"

Somehow, the Twins, Ron, and Hermione all managed to take a sip of their various beverages at the same time; butterbeer went flying across the room, and somehow managed to almost entirely fly into the fire. By a strange coincidence, a leftover puff of floo powder combusted at that very instant, reactivating its connection to Malfoy Manor(sent during a half-remembered match of magical Truth or Dare among 7th year students the night before), and spraying a very surprised Lucius Malfoy with a surprising quantity of the magical beverage.

"Blimey, Harry," Ron said, forgetting his Tournament-inspired animosity for the boy for a startled moment, "That's bonkers even for you!"

"Harry!" Hermione said almost at the same time, "I know we do some strange things but apparation is...it's...illegal!"

Harry shrugged, "Since when has that ever stopped us before?"

Fred and George(or was it George and Fred?) sent each other a measuring glance. "Do you ever get the feeling that we've been left out of a loop, oh brother of mine?" "Never more than now, old chap." "Nevertheless, that-" "-doesn't change the fact that-" "-Harry's idea is-" "-bloody brilliant!"

Glancing between his two closest friends, with looks of horror still on their faces, and the Twins, with looks of dawning appreciation, Harry lowered his head into his hands. "Your approval fills me with shame."

"Too bad! You mentioned it, now you've got to follow through! Off with you, go get your invisibility cloak and steal the books from the restricted section! Chop Chop!"

"Kill the Spare."

"Wait!" Harry screamed at the last moment, mind whirling at a million miles an hour, "Before you do that, I have something I want to say to this...pitiful piece of scum. One final taunt, if you will."

The low hissing slowly resolved into a painful, wheezing laugh, "Very well. Say your words."

Harry turned and looked the other Hogwarts champion dead in the eyes, seeing the dawning surprise and revulsion there. "Cedric, there's one thing I've always wanted to say to you." Slowly, Harry walked around to the far side of Cedric before abruptly spinning, want aimed dead-center at the other boy's forehead. "Cedric...Accio Cup!"

With a thud the cup slammed into Cedrics back, and with a look of surprise, he disappeared."

"NO! Do not let him esssscape!"

Wormtail wallowed on the ground, "It is too late, my lord! He is with Dumbledore as we speak."

"You fool! Why in the name of Slitherin himself would you enchant the cup as a two-way portkey!? CRUCIO!"

The screams of Wormtail filled the air for a moment.

"As for you," the high voice said, "Wormtail! Subdue the boy!"

"Y-Y-Yes my master!" The worm stuttered. "Expelliarmus!"

With surprising ease, Harry's wand flew into Wormtails extended hand.

"Sssssubdue him," the voice again whispered, but this time Harry surprised them both by strolling jauntily towards the two, "Do you suppose we could skip the whole 'subdue him' part, he asked casually, "I mean, I don't have my wand, and the cup is gone, so there's no possible way I could escape, so..."

There was a moment of silence, and then the high, reedy laugh filled the cemetery again, "How very right you are, boy. It is good to see that my rival is wise enough to know who is the better."

Harry smirked, "That I do. That I do."

"Soon I shall be resurrected, and then we shall duel in a true battle of fate!"

several minutes later

"Wormtail! Give him back his wand!"

"y-yes, my master!"

Squabbling in the dirt, the Worm dug out Harry's wand and thrust it into his hand.

"Now, we shall duel, Potter." The snakelike face of Voldemort contorted into what was almost a smile, "Will you bow? You have shown such wonderful manners up till now..."

"Of course," Harry said calmly, and slightly bent at the waist, "In return, I hope you don't mind if I strike the first blow."

The Dark Lord stared at him for a long moment, and then let out a monumental laugh, all his followers following suit immediately. "As if you could strike me down, puny boy!"

Instead of responding, harry stared past the dark lord, peering at something in the darkness.

"Do you hope to see your salvation in the darkness, Potter?" The Dark Lord sneered, "We have assembled wards so that none can apparate into this location until our duel is completed. And then the prophecy will be completed, and this world will be mine at last."

Harry shook his head, "No, not that. Didn't there used to be a statue there? And there? And...there?"

The death eaters around turned to look where he was pointing, finding large holes in the ground as if giant stone monuments had once stood where there now was nothing.

"Doesn't that seem strange to anyone?" Harry asked quizzically, "Didn't you even notice me casting a dozen spells when you were torturing Wormtail that first time? Didn't you notice the modified bubblehead charm I cast on my face? Seriously, this is a depressing lack of attentiveness you're showing here."

Voldemort was no longer smiling, "What does it matter to me if you have destroyed some puny monuments? I will destroy them all when this battle is concluded, so that no monument remains of your pitiful death!"

Harry sighed. "You don't get it at all, do you? Oh well, you'll figure it out soon enough. See you never, I suppose."

With a crack, he apparated away.

A moment later, the 40 or so tons of stone he had transfigured into air, now separated from the transfigurer, reassumed its original shape...inside the lungs, bloodstreams, brains, and internal organs of every living death eater, and freezing Voldemort himself into a startled statue of unthinking rock.

Appearing just outside the Hogwards grounds, harry calmly walked through the anxious crowd, smiling and saying hi to the few people that noticed him, and finally walked up behind the more and more desperate Cedric as he tried to explain what was happening in the graveyard. Tapping the boy on the shoulder, he grinned as Cedric spun and stared at him, wide eyed.

Turning to face the similarly startled Headmaster, he calmly asked, "In the context of 'Neither can live while the other survives', what exactly counts as 'Living'?"