The Interdimensional Goblet of Fire

Dumbledore sighed as he settled into the chair behind his desk, removing his glasses to rub tired eyes. The last several hours had been spent on damage control, spending what political capital had needed to in order to stave off the investigation into Harry’s allegation of kidnapping. He had spent so much time building up the image of the Boy Who Lived that the people immediately accepted Harry’s word as golden. That meant that everything that was said in the arena was taken as truth, at least at first.

Fortunately, only a few truly powerful political people had been in the audience. Unfortunately, one of those was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a no nonsense woman who didn’t always see eye to eye with Albus. Amelia had demanded answers on the charge of kidnapping, but he had been able to convince her that there was no evidence of such a kidnapping. Even the eyewitnesses for Harry’s arrival could only say that he arrived in a pillar of fire. There was nothing that could be used to link him to that summoning, even if someone had access to the Goblet to examine the enchantments. He had long since removed any trace of his magic on the goblin artifact, though Barty’s still remained should he need a scapegoat.

A gentle trilling from across the room brought Dumbledore’s attention to his phoenix, Fawkes. His familiar was in the middle of the current life cycle, meaning he looked hail and energetic, sitting atop his perch. The gentle sound filled the old wizard with calm and he offered the phoenix a grateful nod.

Things weren’t nearly as bad as they could be. Harry had been forced to show up at the First Task and while there hadn’t been a direct confrontation, it was at least confirmation that the threat of the Goblet worked. That meant that the Headmaster had a means to force the Boy Who Lived to return, as well as controlling when and where. While the date of the second task was already set during the formation of the Tournament, the content of the task had some give. The outline still needed to be followed, which meant that at some point Harry would be forced into the lake.

Dumbledore had contacts among the merpeople, including several debts that he could call into play that would allow him to control the event. Once Harry was in the lake, he would be at the mercy of the denizens of the deep, which meant he would be at the mercy of the Headmaster.

A frown came to his lips as Albus considered the other significant event of the First Task. Harry somehow gained control over a quartet of dragons. There was no precedence for such a thing. No one had been able to command even one dragon, let alone four. Dragon Handlers worked in teams for a reason, and that was only to corral and control the movements of the dragons rather than compel them to do anything specific. It had almost appeared that Harry was able to converse directly with the dragons.

How long would that control last? What would Harry do with those dragons? He had stated that he would hunt down the acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. While a noble cause, it wouldn’t do for the young man to build up any political capital by seemingly saving the children in Hogwarts. There hadn’t been an attack by the spiders in decades and even then it was usually just troublemakers wandering where they shouldn’t. No one of consequence had ever been lost and more importantly, the spiders were fantastic for disposing of problems for both himself and Severus.

Albus would have to send out Hagrid to check that Aragog and his kin were alright. Even if Harry had access to the four dragons, there was no way for them to know where the spiders were. The spiders were also powerful and cunning and would know to run should they face such an overwhelming foe.

Replacing his glasses, Dumbledore stood up to make his way out to Hagrid’s hut. Time to talk to the giant about a spider.

***

Force Lightning flashed through the air, driving the spiders back the way they had just come. One unlucky specimen had taken a direct hit and erupted in a blast of burnt chitin. That had been enough for the rest to scuttle away. Back towards where the dragons were gorging themselves alongside their gleeful carnage.

Harry cut off his attack before stalking through the forest with a pair of former Death Eaters at his side. Both Lucius and Igor had taken to the techniques of the Sith with an enthusiasm that he could appreciate. Malfoy especially had a quick mind and a hunger to learn, something that he hadn’t expected from his contact with Igor. The young Sith really should have known better than to judge all wizards by the standards of the first to join him, but he had never claimed to be infallible.

Reaching out with the Force, he searched for the animal minds of the spiders, then directed the other two on where they needed to go to continue the culling. The goal that night wasn’t to finish all of the spiders, as that would deprive them of a most useful resource. Instead, it was to get the spiders down to a manageable level, as well as slay their leaders.

While collecting his earlier samples, he had learned of the larger versions deeper in the forest. The fact that some of the spiders could talk had initially surprised him, though only for a moment. There were thousands of sentient species back home, and countless near sentient ones. There were even some that were vaguely shaped like the acromantula. That knowledge wouldn’t keep him from exploiting them though. The strong preyed on the weak.

As Harry moved deeper into the forest towards where he hoped to meet the largest spiders, he reached out to the mind of the Hungarian Horntail, the largest and fiercest of the four dragons that had joined his cause. And wasn’t that a strange and wonderful discovery. At first he had hoped to just dominate the mind of a powerful animal, thinking them like rancors or krayt dragons. Instead he had found that he could communicate with the dragons and that they were much more intelligent than had been portrayed to him. Striking a bargain with them was the best thing that had happened since his summoning and he looked forward to developing that relationship and seeing if he could empower them with Sith Alchemy at some point.

Several moments later a large form forced its way through the trees, the Horntail knocking down some of the smaller saplings before nearing his position. Harry bowed to the powerful being, who nodded her head in response. Calling upon the Force power that allowed him to communicate with the dragons, he informed her of his plans, of finding the largest of the spiders and slaying them. The dragon’s eyes seemed to glow red for a moment before a pleased hiss escaped her.

Together they stalked through the forest, only rarely coming under attack as most spiders seemed to go out of their way to avoid the two. It was only the largest ones, bigger than Harry himself all the way up to the size of a land speeder, that made attempts to attack, sometimes in groups. Harry’s lightsaber saw its share of use, though the dragon’s claws and tail did more work.

Finally they reached a section of the forest that was practically covered in webbing, forming a path that would have been foreboding had Harry not visited some of the Sith Temples. Utilizing another of the more useful spells taught to him by his ally wizards, he sent a ball of light into the lair of the spiders.

Angry chitters echoed from the darkness, countless eyes gleaning in the light. Most of the size that had been encountered on the way there, though far more than Harry had anticipated. The fact that the spiders were not swarming out to attack spoke again of intelligence. A heavy, deep voice sounded from the as yet unrevealed back of the lair.

“Let them pass, my children. I would discuss with those who bring Death.”

Harry allowed a smile to grace his lips. Those Who Bring Death. Much better than Death Eaters. He would have to bring that up to Lucius and Igor once they met back up. Conjuring another ball of light, he sent this one towards those deepest areas. This allowed him to finally see the largest spider he had ever conceived of.

The spider was easily the size of a small building, with legs as thick as Harry’s torso. The massive head stood over a dozen feet off the ground and clustered around it was another couple of dozen of the person sized spider, along with a half dozen of the land speeder sized ones flanking the group. The ones who had been along the side of the lair flowed to flank the largest specimen.

“These are your children, then? Every one of them? Or is there another lair in the forest?” Harry kept his force senses on all the spiders, not trusting them a bit. Beside him, the dragon crouched, hunger and rage burning within her, though she seemed somewhat content to let him lead things at the moment.

The massive spider clacked its mandibles together in answering rage. “All that roam this forest are my children, born since Hagrid released me all those years ago. I met my mate soon after and since then all that have roamed this forest have been prey to my family. Only the centaurs and their bows have stood against us and even they will not do so for much longer.”

One large leg stomped down, shaking the lair. “Why do you kill my children? You do not eat them?” It seemed to consider for a moment before turning those multitudinous eyes towards the dragon. “Or are we to be prey now?”

Harry offered the spider a nod of the head. “You are to be prey now. Though it doesn’t have to be all of your family that dies this night. I will allow some to survive, to provide me and mine with silk and venom.” Igniting his lightsaber, he allowed the blade to bath him red. “Either way though, you and those here will die.”

With a scream, he sent his blade scything towards the spider. The creature was nimble for a beast that size, but it still lost a limb before the lightsaber sailed through and carved several of the largest spiders to pieces. Even as the other scrambled to attack, Harry raised his hands and unleashed lightning, while the dragon leaped into the fray, bodily smashing several before lashing out with fang, claw, and tail.

Liberal use of Force Push kept Harry from being spiderpiled, as well as ensuring that none of the spiders could swarm over the dragon. He kept the lightsaber at the edges of the fight, slicing through those trying to maneuver around even as he harassed the largest specimen. There were several close calls, where the massive creature was able to somehow force its way through some of Harry’s attacks, catching him with a flailing limb a few times before he was able to slice them away.

Fed up with the constant attacks, Harry Force Jumped and landed on the back of the spider, calling his lightsaber back to his hands. Before one of the numerous other spiders could take advantage of the momentary shift in tactics, he used the Force to keep himself steady then beheaded the spider from behind.

For a moment there was silence in the lair, as if the rest of the spiders were stunned. Even the dragon had ceased roaring, as if sensing the passing of a foe worthy of respect. Suddenly, a very human cry echoed from the entrance to the lair.

“Aragog, no!”

A large humanoid figure came crashing from the darkness, looking like a wookie dressed like one of the wizards, only taller. Harry managed to keep steady as the body of the spider crashed to the lair floor, then had to defend himself as every surviving spider turned their attention to him, even those that had been trying to attack the spider.

Harry made free use of Force Lightning, cooking many of the spiders in midair, though a moment later the dragon was by his side, swatting spiders aside. That final frenzy did not last long though, as by that time most of those in the lair had already been slain.

Panting from atop the large corpse, he took a moment to regain his energy, concentrating on his connection to the dragon who had immediately begun feasting on some of the other large spiders, leaving the main corpse alone. Harry looked down from his vantage point to see the wookie man coming to a stop before the large spider, reaching up to pull off his hat and… was he crying?

“Oh Aragog, look what ‘e’s done to ye.”

Yes, the large man was crying. What species was this creature? Reaching out to the things mind, Harry was shocked to realize that he was a type of halfbreed from another magical race, giants of all things. From what he could glimpse in this Hagrid’s mind, the giants truly did rival the rancor is size and strength, if not intelligence. More importantly, Rubeus Hagrid was one of the staff of Hogwarts, and that made him one of the enemy.

Deactivating the lightsaber, Harry clipped it at his side before sitting down on top of the spider corpse. Even sitting on the massive body he wasn’t that far above the Hogwarts Groundskeeper. “Aragog was a danger to all around him. He and his kin would have eventually overrun the forest, the centaurs, and eventually Hogwarts.”

Hagrid stopped sniffling for a moment to look up at the young man sitting atop the body of his best friend. “Aragog wouldna done anything to the students. E listened ta me bout that much.” The half giant reached into one of his pockets and pulled out what appeared to be a towel to use as a handkerchief.

Harry shook his head. “From what I have been told, Acromantula are an aggressive species and would never have stopped expanding until they had consumed everything in the forest. Then they would have gone looking for new prey. They needed to be culled and that is what happened here tonight. The more important question is what to do with you?”

The Groundskeeper sniffled for a moment before returning the towel to his pocket and turning his attention to the young man. “What do ya mean?”

“Mr. Hagrid, you are a member of faculty of the organization that had me kidnapped. Your Headmaster then threatened my life and magic by forcing me into a deadly tournament where I was made to fight dragons.”

The half giant shook his head. “Dumbledore wouldna done that. Great man, that Dumbledore.”

“Great man or not, that is what happened. Furthermore, I was attacked after defending myself. You were there, if I recall.”

Hagrid took his hand in both hands and seemed to wring it out before nodding. “I was there. I saw you.” He seemed to nod to himself before putting his hat back on his head. “I saw you attack Albus. And then the Headmaster asked me to check on Aragog and his brood.” The large man shook his head. “I don’t rightly know what’s going on, but I think I’ll bring you to Albus to figure it out.” He lunged towards Harry far faster than a being that size should be able to move.

Harry was already raising his hands, guided by the Force. Lightning streaked through the air, smashing into the halfbreed, who grunted for a moment before continuing forward. The young Sith had only a moment to widen his eyes before he rolled backwards to dodge, then flipped off the back of the spider, pulling his lightsaber before landing. A bare sliver of a moment later he was flipping back forward, blade extended in a stab that took Hagrid in the chest.

Hagrid looked at the glowing sword sticking through him, then brought his arms around to grab hold of the young man. “I’m sorry, Harry, but its for yer own good!”

The Sith growled. “I’m not sorry.” Then slashed his sword sideways through the big man’s heart. There was a slight gurgle from the Groundskeeper before he looked down, confusion in his eyes before his arms dropped to his side, followed by him collapsing to his knees, the move driving the lightsaber up and out of his shoulder.

Harry stepped back, deactivating the lightsaber once again. Nodding to himself, he turned to the dragon, who had stopped eating for a moment to look at him. Glancing back at the half giant, he paused for a moment, then turned back to the dragon and nodded. “All yours.”

The dragon leaped onto the kneeling corpse of the half giant and swiftly tore it apart before feasting.

***

Harry reclined in his meditation chair, the very one that he had first occupied on arriving in Hogsmeade. The woman’s body had been fed to the dragons, who he had left back in the forest. Looking at the other two men in the room, he smiled. “With the funds from the sale of the acromantula products, we will have a secure base with which to work, without relying on the donations of our group. Additionally, those same funds and the fact that we have dragons on our side will be a show of force to help gather others to our side.”

Lucius nodded, even more pleased to see that he wasn’t here just for his money, as not once had the young Sith asked for a financial contribution. Instead it was his connections and influence that were in demand. “I would also suggest looking into domesticating the remaining acromantula. Without their progenitor, they will be more easily controlled, not to mention the threat of the dragons. Also, should things come to a head and we are forced into more aggressive methods, they will enjoy being allowed to feed on our enemies.”

The young Sith grinned and nodded. “An excellent idea. Though it would be nice to conquer without violence, we all know that won’t happen. At some point Dumbledore will make his move, as he did with Grindelwald, from what you’ve explained to me of his past. Though how much time he will give us to assemble our forces and resources will be the true key to an easy victory. From what you’ve both explained to me, the Hogwarts Headmaster is a man of slow response and almost limitless forgiveness. Hence why so many of his former enemies still live to this day and will soon be flocking to our side.”

The grin turned into a frown as Harry focused on Lucius. “What do you think of the chances that the more martial minded members of the Pureblood Agenda will be willing to follow me without being forced into it?”

The Elder Malfoy leaned back in his conjured chair, the head of his cane between his hands. “There are many of those who will join just for the excuse to return to some of their old ways. Not the outright terror attacks, at least not at first. More along the lines of lording it up over those they see as beneath them. Some though, especially those who allowed themselves to be sent to Azkaban rather than turn on the Dark Lord, will never join you. When they learn of the Dark Lord's imminent return, they will be even more vehement in their denial of you.”

Igor frowned but nodded agreement. “While there are those who I have come to know since my time in the Death Eaters, names I did not have at the time to turn over, most of them haven’t been of the militant variety. Just those who long for the glory days when Pureblood reigned supreme and could do and take what they want.” He rolled his eyes. “Those days were centuries ago and even if and when we return to Pureblood rule, there will still be a hierarchy. Too many people seem to see themselves at the top of the heap.”

“Not everyone can rule.” Harry nodded. “I do not even see myself as the top of things in the end. My skills are not those of one who means to rule. I have always been trained in combat, for fighting against the Jedi.” He waved away the curious looks at the world. “You have no Jedi on your world, though your Light Wizards seem to be a more watered down version of them, without the backing of your government.”

Shaking his head, he continued. “There will be a time when I will not be the one leading the faction. That I will be another soldier in the war of conquest. I know this, as I do not have the temperament to lead. I do have the experience and temperament to fight though and that is where I shall focus my abilities on… in the future. For now though, let us discuss what we can do to gather more forces to our cause, get them trained in the techniques of the Sith, and most importantly, find who is trying to resurrect your Dark Lord and stop them.”

***

Harry looked incredulously at Igor. “Dumbledore still has no idea that we’re working together? How has he remained in power for so long?”

The Durmstrang Headmaster smirked. “Inertia and the inherent laziness of wizards. You may have noticed that we wizards have spells for even the simplest of things. It is far easier to do with magic than to do ourselves, just as it is far easier to let Dumbledore be in charge of things than to have to think for ourselves. That is especially true of the British Magicals.”

The young Sith scowled. Even in this strange world he found himself in, he kept up his exercises and continued to study, both the ways of the Force and the new expression of the Force that the locals called Magic. He could see the value in both ways of doing things but could never really imagine surrounding control like that. Shaking his head, he then nodded. “Then we shall continue. What news of the next task?”

Karkaroff went on to describe the Second Task, which involved having retrieving something they would miss from the bottom of the lake. This information was to have been hinted at by the clue in the Golden Egg, but Harry had never bothered to even try, merely waiting for this moment. As the explanation wound down, he leaned back in his chair, hands up his sleeves.

“There is nothing in this world that I would miss that could be taken away from me. The dragons are safe in their forest lair, as are our other assets from the region. No one knows about my connection to anyone else and quite frankly, I wouldn’t miss you if you disappeared.”

The crooked smile on Igor’s face at those words said enough.

“Still, being underwater would have me at a disadvantage. I do not have any training in underwater combat, nor do I now have time to learn any spells that would prepare me for such a thing. I think it is more important that we focus on another show of power rather than trying to complete the task. From what we’ve been able to deduce from the contract with the Goblet, only my participation is required, not winning. Otherwise the Goblet would have stripped far more people of their Magic.”

That thought continued to make him ill any time he was forced to dwell on the possibility. Yet again he contemplated storming the castle and stealing the Goblet, to study it and find a way to break the contract. Yet again, he rejected the idea. Not only was the castle highly defensible, with forces that still outnumbered his own, but he wasn’t an artificer of any kind, nor had they managed to recruit one to their services yet. It would serve no purpose to have the Goblet in their possession at this time.

“Let’s get together with Lucius and some of the others and see if we cannot find a way to tweak Dumbledore’s nose. Do you think we could get one of the dragons to accidentally eat him without getting blamed?”

Igor gave him a very flat look.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Shame.”

***

Three champions stood on the docks of the Black Lake, attired for swimming, though none looked forward to the frigid temperatures of the water. Behind them, the Tournament staff were going over the last minute arrangements for the task, while on the shore the stands were filled with curious spectators.

Just as Ludo Bagman was making his way over to announce the task, there was a loud crack as someone apparated on to the docks. Harry Potter had made his arrival. Once again his voice rang out without any visible spell.

“Greetings, Wizards and Witches, and welcome to the Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And what a task it shall be, with you the audience staring at the top of a lake while the champions struggle to find that which was stolen from them. Sounds so exciting.”

There was a ripple of laughter from the audience before Harry continued. “While my fellow champions, the rightful champions, compete in their task, I will be providing the entertainment. With a little help from my new friends, of course.”

The sound of wings cut through the air before a roar ripped through the sky. The massive form of a dragon swooped over the crowd before dropping something at the end of the docks, the corpse of a large acromantula, nearly as wide as the docks themselves. Harry waved towards the corpse as the dragon winged away. “There you see one of the acromantula my spiders and I were able to slay in the Forbidden Forest. I can now say that the forest is safe from the depredation of these foul creatures, who numbered in the hundreds when we began. Even their master, the house sized Aragog, had been slain. Something your Headmaster not only refused to do something about, but actively encouraged. For you see, Aragog, the father of all the acromantula in the forest, was the dear pet of one Rubeus Hagrid, the Groundskeeper of Hogwarts, all with the direct knowledge and support of Albus Dumbledore.”

Harry turned to the Judges’s Table and gave the man a mocking salute. For all that he wished he could just kill the kidnapper outright, doing so in front of so many witnesses would make his life more difficult than the satisfaction was worth.

For a moment the Sith’s eyes flicked to the members of the audience who had their wands out and were maintaining the silencing ward over the Judges, keeping Dumbledore from interfering.

Returning his attention to the audience, he offered them a grin. “There is yet another threat that lurks near Hogwarts, one that I will deal with while the champions complete their task.” He waved towards the cannon at the end of the dock, igniting it with a thought. The boom of the cannon seemed to startle everyone else, before the champions rallied and jumped into the lake.

“Now that our champions are away, we can deal with the bigger issue. And I do mean bigger, for there is a massive threat that has lurked in the lake.” Turning away from the audience, he held both hands out towards the waters, concentrating on the Force. Never before had he attempted to levitate something of this size, but he knew he could do it. There was no doubt in his mind that the Force would let him do so.

Out in the middle of the lake the waters began churning before a large tentacle broke the surface, followed by another, both lashing wildly. Soon more tentacles emerged, followed by the bulbous head of the giant squid. Harry ignored the sounds of the audience as he concentrated on his task. He needed to only get the thing in the air. That was his purpose today.

Over the course of several minutes, more and more of the squid rose above the surface of the lake, until the entire writhing mass lifted free of the water and squirmed in the air. While not quite the size of viewing stands, it wasn’t much smaller.

Suddenly roars sounded through the air as all four dragons winged their way over, taking place on all sides of the squid. Tentacles tried to lash out at them, only to find themselves halted by a combination of the force and more wizards that held themselves out of view of the general audience, yet close enough to control the movements of the beast.

Four dragons roared again before unleashing fire upon the monster of the lake. The resulting scream ripped the air apart and nearly broke Harry’s concentration. He’d never heard a sound so loud and powerful and filled with rage. A rage he recognized and identified with, yet would not let stop him. For several minutes there was only the sound of fire and agony and anger before the squid eventually perished.

Just as Harry felt himself at the limit of his capabilities, the four dragons latched onto the fried remains of the dragon and started carting it off towards the forest. He had negotiated with the dragons to help prepare the squid for preservation to feed the brood for months to come in exchange for their help in slaying the creature. Even now there were people waiting in the forest to process the meat, as well as any valuable pieces that could be sold.

Taking a deep breath to banish the feelings of weakness, he turned back to an audience who had gone silent in what felt like a combination of awe, terror, and a small amount of revulsion at having seen death. Even with the body of the acromantula still sitting at the end of the docks, the gathered people still did not seem to quite accept death. Their feelings told him that death was only a concept that did not apply to any of them, even those who had last ones in the previous reign of the Dark Lord.

Reaching out to quickly sift through those minds, he found none that seemed to be involved in the resurrection of the Dark Lord. At least, not among the audience. He felt like he got a hit from among the Hogwarts faculty, but the mind quickly closed off before he could clearly identify who it was. He just knew it wasn’t one of the ones at the Judges’s Table.

After bowing to the audience, he then turned to hop into the lake, floundering for a moment before leaping from the waters to the docks with the help of a Force Jump. Turning back to the audience, he offered them another bow. “Alas, I could not find that which was stolen from me and I fail the task.”

With another loud crack, he disappeared.

***

Harry scowled at Igor. “What do you mean you can’t tell which one it is? Skimming their thoughts should be well within your abilities by now!”

The Durmstrang Headmaster returned the scowl. “And the Hogwarts staff have all been training in occulamency and can defend their minds. The fact that you were able to get even that glimmer of information out of them, especially at such a remove, is quite frankly terrifying.” Reaching up, he gave his short goatee a tug. “I cannot perform it as well as you, even after all our training.”

The young Sith’s scowl deepened for a moment before he turned away. He reached out for the familiar rage at Dumbledore and whoever else had a part in his summoning. If only he had a better outlet for that rage. With the spiders having been culled to the working level and the Forbidden Forest under control of the dragons, he had no more monsters to unleash his abilities on. Neither could he practice lightsaber forms with anyone in this world, as none knew techniques that he had not taught them and most wizards and witches did not practice melee combat.

A crooked smirk graced his lips as he thought of the other method of channeling that energy that had been introduced to him. Someone had finally been found to teach him those seduction techniques he had lamented earlier not knowing. It was too late to utilize those techniques himself for recruiting, since that aspect of the plan was in the capable hands of Lucius, but at least the study itself was rewarding.

Shaking away those thoughts, he returned his attention to Karkaroff. “Would it be possible to those faculty out of the castle where I could get access to them?”

Igor immediately shook his head. “Not with the way you’ve stirred things up. Dumbledore has been spending his influence like water to try and retain his positions. That has led him into a bunker mindset, keeping his supporters close. I’ve even heard that he’s put together an organization outside of the school that reports to him, though other than the so-called Light Families, I am not sure what other members he may have recruited.”

“Then we are still no closer to stopping the Dark Lord than before.” Leaning back, he slipped his arms into the opposite sleeves, feeling the comforting outline of the lightsaber and wand. He’d taken to wearing them in his sleeve holsters instead of on his belt for faster access to them. He was confident of slaying whoever he needed to in a one on one basis. The problem was getting that one on one confrontation.

“Then we shall have to put that aside for now. Instead, let us focus on ensuring that, whenever the Dark Lord returns, he has no supporters left. Those who will not join us will need to be dealt with. Between you and Lucius make a list of any that you need me to deal with. While you’re doing that, I think I’ll go deal with the followers in Azkaban.”

Igor blinked before frowning. “What are you going to do about Azkaban?”

Harry offered him a grin. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

***

“People never look up.” Harry grinned as he soared through the air on the back of the Hungarian Horntail. The two had really bonded since their initial meeting, with the dragon having emerged as the leader of the four. Their eggs had finally hatched as well and the brood was doing well in the forest.

As the air grew colder, Harry wrapped the two of them in warming charms. He felt it when they hit the anti-broom charm, as well as the anti-apparition and portkey charms. From what he had been told, only authorized portkeys would work on the island, and then only to certain places. Since there was no chance of him getting one of those portkeys, especially given his desired outcome, he had chosen another method of travel.

Soon the bleak island came into sight. The construction reminded him of some of the construction back home and for a moment he felt true homesickness. He quickly shook off the feeling, the grim task ahead taking precedence.

Reaching out with the same power that had allowed him to lift a giant squid from a lake, he took hold of the building, while the dragon hovered in place. For several minutes there seemed to be no effect even as he continued to stare down at the structure.

Suddenly the building seemed to groan before starting to collapse in on itself. Far below Harry could hear panicked shouts from what appeared to be a guard room at the front of the building. However, by then it was too late. With a final slash of his hands, he sent the building crashing down upon itself.

Just as he was congratulating himself, he noticed the air growing even colder than before as something billowed out of the ruins. Many somethings. Frowning, he concentrated on the creatures and only felt a coldness, a desire to feast upon life. While he would have normally been happy to find something like that, something that would could have been turned with Sith Alchemy to his purposes, he didn’t have the time, nor did he currently have the energy.

A whispered hiss to the dragon had her bathing the approaching creatures in fire. Several of the beasts ignited and went crashing back to the ground, while the others scattered and returned to the ruins.

With the job complete, the duo turned and headed back towards the Forest.

***

For once Harry was standing with the other champions as the Third and Final Task was gearing up to start. He avoided looking at the Judges’s Table rather than confronting Dumbledore as he had during the other two tasks. There was no longer a need to, as the Hogwarts Headmaster was nearly out of resources to call to his name.

Scattered among the audience were numerous members of the New Order, the name that had been officially selected for the Pureblood Movement. They numbered among their ranks almost all of the surviving Death Eaters, with only a few of the more diehard followers of Voldemort refusing to even listen, let alone join. None of those were members of influence or wealth in the community so they wouldn’t be missed.

Rather than focus on the Judges, Harry cast his senses over the faculty of Hogwarts, searching for that mind that was part of the forces that had summoned him to this world. He had only had a brief moment before with that mind in the second Task and none of his agents in Hogwarts had been able to identify who it had been. However, the young Sith was confident in his ability to pierce the veil hiding whoever it might be.

Scanning the crowd and the faculty alike, he searched with both magic and the Force. A spike of intent focused on him caught his attention and he turned towards the grizzled features of the man who had been identified to him as Alastor Moody, one of the best fighters the forces of the Light had ever put into the field. Only, it wasn’t really Moody, now was it?

The man had some decent mental shields and Harry could see how he had kept out the other members of the New Order. They wouldn’t stop a Sith though. Taking note of the man, he turned to talk to Victor Krum, the champion for Durmstrang. The two held a short discussion before separating to finish preparing for the task.

Harry ignored the pomp of the Task, his attention elsewhere. This was to be the culmination of months of work and the start of the real journey.

As the Task finally got underway, Harry walked unhurriedly into the Hedge Maze, keeping track of the fake Moody through the Force. The young Sith kept to the edge of the Maze, making no effort to advance. Eventually he came to a stop alongside one particular hedge. Drawing his lightsaber, he easily cut through the plants, though he made no move to leave. Instead, Lucius entered, levitating an unconscious impersonator, accompanied by a pair of New Order members.

For a brief moment Harry thought about unleashing his anger and just killing the impostor. However, he needed information more than he needed the satisfaction. Nodding to Lucius, he stood back as the man was bound, his wand taken, then woken back up.

Fake Moody looked around, his artificial eye whirling around wildly before settling on Harry. “Potter. What is the meaning of this?”

Harry offered the man a crooked smile. “Come now, man. Surely you know what this is about, considering you were one of the people involved in my summoning. Oh. Fascinating. You didn’t know Dumbledore was involved and thought I was just saying things to get under his skin. Well well well.” Tucking his arms into the opposite sleeves, he considered the man before him.

“What I want to know is why you summoned me? I have an idea on what Dumbledore’s angle is, with him having spearheaded the whole Boy Who Lived nonsense, not to mention what has been revealed about the return of Voldemort.”

Harry’s grin widened as he felt the spike of intent from the fake Moody and force his own spike of the Force through the man’s mental shields. There was a convulsion from the restrained man as he tried to fight the invasion.

Once past the defenses, Harry combed through the mind as thoroughly as he had those of Hogsmeade from months ago.

“Bartimous Crouch Junior. Death Eater. Supposed to have died in Azkaban only to have had your place taken by your mother. Kept under the Imperius by your father. Won’t that be a lovely piece of leverage for us to use later. Ah, here it is. You made contact with Quirinus Quirrell, who found the spector of Voldemort on the mainland and is making preparations for the resurrection of the Dark Lord.”

Turning away from the man who had collapsed in the grip of the two random New Order members, Harry focused on Lucius. “I have the location where the ritual is to take place. It seems they needed my blood as part of their ritual and this summoning was a convoluted method of getting me to the graveyard.” He didn’t quite roll his eyes but it was a close thing. “Call some of the other members and meet me in a few minutes in the clearing in the Forest. I shall meet you there and we shall confront Quirrell.”

Lucius nodded and left.

Returning his attention to the bound man, Harry allowed his rage to take hold, eyes shifting to red. “As for you…” He trailed off as his lightsaber ignited and he swiftly beheaded the man.

Waving away the two others, Harry took hold of the corpse and aparated to the Forest. Tossing the corpse to one of the dragons, he settled in to wait for the others.

***

Quirinus Quirrell looked around the graveyard, thinking once again that this wasn’t what he had signed up for when he found the Dark Lord all those years ago. He had thought he would be able to immediately resurrect Voldemort and be rewarded beyond any of the others. However, it took longer than he had hoped to find a way to communicate with the disembodied spirit without giving into possession.

While possession would have allowed for them to talk, it also would have been only a short term solution, as Quirinus didn’t have the magical power to survive the process for long and didn’t feel confident that he would be able to find a method to restore the Dark Lord within that time. Instead, they had worked towards building a body for the spirit to inhabit. Even that took longer than it should have and the bodies quickly decayed, unable to harbor the spirit for long.

Finally, they settled on this ritual. However, they needed the blood of the enemy for the chance to fully empower the ritual. The first option would have been Dumbledore, but the man rarely left the castle and when he did it was to the Ministry where he was just as protected. The other option was to find the Boy Who Lived, but the child had been missing for over a decade. Their options had been limited until they learned of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and The Goblet of Fire.

Plans were put into place to force the summoning of Harry Potter. They had succeeded, though they weren’t able to immediately capitalize. Tonight would be the night though, they would finally be able to complete the ritual and return the Dark Lord to his full power. Quirinus would receive his reward.

A snap-hiss was barely heard before a sharp pain caused Quirinus to look down at the red blade sticking out of his chest. He only had time for a “wha?” before collapsing.

Harry stepped forward to look down at the corpse, the scowl on his face illuminated by the light of his lightsaber. Such a disappointment.

Turning away from the corpse, he searched the surroundings, finding the cauldron that was to have been used in the ritual. He also found a bundle that contained the homunculus body of Voldemort. The misshapen thing reminded me of some of Sith alchemy stories he had heard though never seen with his own eyes.

However, there was only thing to do with the hissing, angry creature. Force lightning blasted out, smashing into the bundle, both Harry and Voldemort screaming, though for different reasons. Voldemort in pain. Harry with unleashed rage.

For several minutes the graveyard was illuminated by Force Lightning, the members of the New Order watching on in silent vigil.

Eventually only a charred, blackened smudge remained where once the potential for a returned Dark Lord had been. Suddenly a spectral shape erupted from the remains, rushing towards the sky before anyone could do anything about it.

Harry watched the disembodied Voldemort flee, a smirk on his lips. Voldemort’s power was broken in England and soon he would have no followers on the mainland either. Now it was time to focus on finishing off Dumbledore.