"Lemon drops." Hermione told the bronze coloured gargoyle which was as tall as Harry and Ron together. At once, it rotated upwards, giving way to a circular staircase. Quickly, Hermione jumped on a stone stair and got spiralled upwards. Harry and Ron followed suit. Once the staircase stopped moving, the trio walked up the last few stairs and stood in a large circular room. The walls were also made of stone and one side was full of portraits of former headmistresses and headmasters. The desk and shelves as well as small tables were piled with curious items, some emitting smoke, some making noises and others moving. Above the right hand side of the desk some kind of golden platter jutted out of the wall and on it sat a beautiful familiar bird.

Harry had a sudden flashback to second year in the chamber of secrets. The cries of the bird, the sounds of fighting and the gruesome shadow play that showed a bird picking at the huge snake's eyes... The Phoenix had saved his life. And gave him new hope.

As if guessing what was going on in Harry's head, Fawkes looked right back at Harry, almost looking like he was smiling, which was of course impossible for a bird.

At last, Harry looked at the headmaster behind his desk. With him stood Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout and...

"Cedric!" Hermione exclaimed. Right, Harry thought. The guy had been missing since after the Tournament. Now that he thought about it, Harry could not remember seeing the boy since yesterday, which was strange since he was the winner of the Triwizard Tournament.

Cedric just nodded at them. He was the only one besides the headmaster who was sitting in a chair. He looked a little paler than usual.

"Welcome." Dumbledore said.

"Where have you been?" Mc Gonagall scolded. "We have been waiting for a while now. Didn't I tell you to come directly after our visitors have departed?"

"Yes, we're really sorry, Professor." Hermione said. Ron nodded in agreement, looking genuinely remorseful. Harry said nothing. He was too busy wondering what this was about.

"Come here, please." Dumbledore beckoned them to come closer. "We have a lot to discuss."

Hermione led the boys to stand in front of the desk, right next to Cedric. For a few long moments, no one said anything. Dumbledore just watched the trio thoughtfully. McGonagall looked at him expectantly before looking impatiently at the small, golden pocket watch lying on Dumbledore's desk. Cedric looked too tired to worry about the awkward silence and Professor Sprout looked worried while frequently glancing at the Hufflepuff.

It was Ron who broke the tense silence. "So... What's up?"

"That," Dumbledore fixed him with a piercing stare, making Ron even more nervous. "Is a wonderful question. Unfortunately, we're a little stuck on that part. I must admit, I find it hard to decide where to begin."

"Why don't we start with, where were you yesterday at the task, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"Umm..." Harry tensed. He had feared that question coming up, but he had kind of hoped there were more pressing matters to discuss.

"We heard a warning yesterday." Hermione jumped in. "They said Harry was in great danger if he competed at the Tournament."

Professor Sprout seemed to get taller and her face grew red with anger. "And you couldn't care enough to tell us?"

The trio looked at her with great surprise. During their four years in Hogwarts they had not once seen her angry. Not even with the Slytherins in her Herbology class. And the reason for her anger was not clear to any of them.

"Now, now, Pomona." Dumbledore said and gave her a simultaneously strict and reassuring look. Harry wondered how he did that. The headmaster leaned his elbows on his desk, folded his hands and leaned his chin against it, focusing on the trio again. Harry in particular, but he already seemed to expect Hermione to answer his next question. "What kind of danger?"

Harry frowned, not getting the question straight away since he was still hung up on Professor Sprouts outburst. "We don't know exactly." Hermione said. "But... Someone else heard it too and they took the threat really seriously. And they tried to warn Harry first but, well. You know Harry." Hermione let out a laugh that was a bit too high pitched to be natural. Technically, what she said was not wrong. Malfoy had tried to warn Harry by letting Neville overhear a conversation where the danger was discussed. But Malfoy did not let Harry decide whether he wanted to believe that warning or compete anyway. "So they locked Harry in... his empty dorm until the tournament was over." Hermione finished. But she was a terrible liar. And Harry knew it was enhanced by the fact that she was lying to the headmaster and two Professors. She was still Hermione and she hated disobeying Professors.

Dumbledore did not let any of his suspicions show and nodded along. "And who was this person?"

"Irrelevant." Harry interrupted hastily. "We've talked to him- them, I mean. We're good. No need for adults to interfere."

"No need for adults to interfere, I see." For a second, Harry saw a twinkle of amusement in the headmasters eyes. But just as quickly it was replaced by a severe frown. "Then lets talk about how you broke a contract with a powerful magical object."

Harry had not thought about that. At the sharp inhale from Ron, he grew anxious. Not daring to speak, he just nodded.

"Since you did not show up without any acceptable excuse-"

"Acceptable excuse?!" Hermione interrupted the headmaster. "Isn't 'Harry, your in severe danger if you participate' enough excuse?"

"Well, no." Dumbledore said. "Technically, all the Champions were in severe danger in every task. They knew what they were getting themselves into-"

"Harry didn't-"

"He did." Dumbledore said. "He may not have planned on participating, but he did know what this tournament was about. Anyway, since you broke the contract, Harry, the goblet of fire repudiates Mr. Diggory here as the winner."

"What does Cedric have to do with that?" Ron asked. Harry was glad his friends had taken over the talking. He was scared of the answers to his questions. "Harry was the one... breaking the contract."

"He is." Dumbledore said. "But since one of the Champions broke the contract, the tournament is invalid in the eyes of the goblet."

"What does it matter what the goblet thinks?" Ron snorted. "Everyone else sees Cedric as the winner. They actually love him. I only heard good stuff about his victory, well, except for the part where he suddenly disappeared."

"That's for the next topic." Dumbledore said. "And you are right, Cedric is definitely the winner of the hearts. But the goblet, like I said, is a powerful magical object. And breaking the contract will have consequences. For all the champions."

Ron sighed like he had already guessed that. From his fathers' work at the ministry he probably knew about magical objects and their peculiarities. "What are the consequences and what can we do about it?"

Dumbledore scrutinized Ron for a few seconds. "Your father taught you well. Or your brother William." Ron's ears grew redder than his hair and he looked to the ground, then glanced at Hermione, who was watching him with a small smile. He quickly looked away. "First, lets talk about what we can do about it. You four, Ms. Delacour, Mr. Krum, Mr. Diggory and you, Mr. Potter, are going to repeat the task exactly a year from yesterday."

"One second." Hermione said. "All this talking about contracts and consequences, Harry did not sign anything, did he? He could not read about all the requirements and the small print that tells the contract partner what the consequences are or what the steps are to get out of it. He did not explicitly sign it. So in the eyes of the law, the accusations are invalid."

"Things in the wizarding world work a bit differently than in the muggle world, Ms. Granger." Dumbledore said. He opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a small, blue velvet casket. Out of it he pulled four small, slightly charred pieces of parchment. Harry recognized his own name as well as Victor Krum's on two of them. "The moment the participants threw their names into the goblet, they agreed to all the conditions involving the tournament."

"But Harry didn't-"

"I know, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said. "But the goblet got tricked to believe that he did."

"Okay," Harry said. "Repeating the task in a year does not sound too bad. What do you think, Cedric?"

Cedric looked surprised at being addressed. Then a worried frown replaced it and something akin fear settled in his eyes. Harry had not anticipated that. Had the third task been that awful?

"Let's get to that part later." Dumbledore interrupted before Cedric could say anything. He did not look like he was going to answer anyway. "You should know, until you have completed the contract with the goblet of fire, there will be a curse on the four of you."

"A curse?" Hermione almost shrieked. "That's outrageous!"

"What exactly does this curse attack?" Ron asked.

"Your victories." Dumbledore said. "From now on until you've completed the Third Task, you, including your team if one is involved, will lose in every competition you participate in."

"Every competition?" Harry asked. That was not so bad. It was not like Harry was competing in anything except for chess against Ron, where he lost most of the time anyway-

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "Quidditch!" Harry stared at his best friend, aghast. He had not thought about that.

"If I compete in the Gryffindor team, they will lose?" Harry asked for clarification. Dumbledore nodded severely.

"Dang it." Ron cursed. "I bet that was Malfoy's plan-"

"Malfoy?" Harry elbowed Ron and laughed nervously. "What does Malfoy have to do with any of this?"

"Oh." Now Ron looked nervous and guilty. "Nothing. I mean, Malfoy and Cho, they're the only seekers left now, right? I mean... Oh blimey, Krum! He's playing for Bulgaria. This is a disaster for him."

"Is there any other way?" Harry asked, beginning to panic. Not only would the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor seeker be unavailable until next year, but he also would be responsible for the possible end of career of one of the greatest and youngest world class Quidditch players.

"I'm afraid there isn't." Dumbledore looked apologetic. "But Mr. Krum will be officially pausing this year due to an injury he got during the tournament. At this point I will have to request you to maintain silence on the curse. Many people will not accept Mr. Krum in any team ever again if it gets out." Ron nodded most fiercely. Despite not liking that man for taking interest in Hermione, Ron was still a huge fan of him as a Quidditch player. "Thank you." Dumbledore said when he had seen agreement on all of their faces. "Now that we have covered that, we can move on to the next topic. Mr. Diggory." He turned to Cedric. "Would you like to report on yesterdays' events?"

Everyone's focus was now on Cedric. Professor Mc Gonagall and Professor Sprout looked worriedly at the handsome young Hufflepuff, who bit his lip shakily. "Do you want me to tell it?" Professor Sprout put her hand on his shoulder gently. For a moment Harry wondered what it would be like to be a Hufflepuff with a sweet woman like her as head of house. Not that Professor McGonagall was not great, but she was undoubtedly more strict.

Cedric shook his head. "'s okay. I want him to know." He straightened up in his chair and looked up at Harry, then down at his hands. "As you probably heard, I reached the goblet first." He started to recount. "Turned out it was a Portkey. It took me to a graveyard."

Harry frowned. A graveyard? A million questions shot through his mind.

"It was dark, kinda spooky." Cedric continued. "At first I thought this was maybe another part of the task. Maybe there was something I needed to find or fight. It was strange to do a quest away from the audience and the judges, but what did I know. So I looked at the tombstones. One of them, the biggest one actually, was engraved with a name that sounded familiar. Tom Riddle."

Alarm bells went off in Harry's head. Malfoy was right. It had something to do with Voldemort. Knowing that, it was not a surprise that Cedric looked so shaken up.

"Then I saw someone coming. It was a guy with some kind of... baby. I don't know. But it sounded like it was whispering 'Who's that? That's not Harry Potter'. Or something like that. I don't remember the exact words..."

Harry exchanged surprised looks with Ron. He saw Hermione sending him a worried glance before focusing back on Cedric.

"And then this... thing started to talk more viscously. It cursed and ranted and raved at the guy who was carrying him. And he kept saying 'sorry my Lord'. And I got a bad feeling and I was starting to suspect... You Know Who, but I thought this was too crazy. I mean, he has been gone for twelve years or something, I don't know. But this creepy thing in the man's arm said something like, 'If I could Crucio you right now, I would. Do it to him.' and before I could react, this man..." Cedric took a shuddering breath.

Harry exchanged another look with his friends. They all looked incredibly sorry for the Hufflepuff. He had been Crucio'd by one of Voldemort's followers. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that this "baby", like Cedric had tried to describe it, was Voldemort. He did not know what they wanted from Harry though. But at least he knew why Cedric looked so scared and beat.

"He kept saying 'More!'" Cedric whispered. "It was not enough for that creature, the pain. He wanted me to hurt more. He said it was my fault that he could not come back as the ruler of the world. If I had not won, Harry would be there."

Finally, Cedric looked up, directly at Harry. There were tears swimming in his eyes. And Harry could see the pain in them. "I'm glad you weren't though." He whispered. "I'm glad I was the one. Who knows what he would have done to you?"

Harry stared back at him, flabbergasted. This guy had just gone though the biggest trauma of his life. He had been tortured, more than once from the sound of it, and he said he was glad. Because with that Harry had been spared. This young man was unbelievable.

Cedric was the first to break eye contact. He looked back down at his hands and started talking again. "From what I gathered, You Know Who needs you to be able to return. I don't know how exactly. But at the first break that was long enough for me to gather my thoughts, I crawled to the goblet and it took me back to the maze. Professor Sprout was waiting there for me. I was lucky that guy was not strong enough to break my Protego shield."

The office was quiet for a long time. Everyone was thinking about Cedric's story and no one dared to break the silence. Finally, Dumbledore said, "I would say not being able to play in the Quidditch teams is a small price for what has been prevented tonight."

Harry silently agreed. Then it occurred to him that Malfoy had been right. Something terrible was going to happen. And technically, by locking Harry in, he had saved the world from the return of Voldemort.

"But he can still get me." Harry said and everyone looked at him. "Don't get me wrong. It was incredibly courageous and just, incredible what you did, Cedric." Harry felt a bit awkward saying that so he looked at the ground, then at the headmaster, "But Voldemort can still get me, right? He just needs to catch me and he'll come back. However that works."

"We'll do our best to prevent that." Dumbledore said. "This is not the first time Voldemort has tried to get you," Like Harry, the headmaster ignored the flinches from the other people when hearing that name. "But he has not succeeded yet. I need you to return to your family for the break. You'll be safe there. I will try to arrange something with the Aurors so maybe you can visit the Weasleys. And afterwards, you're back in Hogwarts. There are not many places that are safer than Hogwarts."

"But he almost did it." Hermione said. "How was that even possible? It must have been You Know Who's plan, putting Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, making sure he is picked as the champion, trying to get him to win so he gets to the goblet first..."

"That's an excellent question." Dumbledore said, making Hermione trying to hide the pleased expression that she always got when teachers complimented her. "It was not Voldemort's plan. It was Barty Crouch Jr."

"So I did see him yesterday." Ron said. "In the room with you. How is that possible? I thought he died in Azkaban."

"Oh, that's a long story." Dumbledore said. "Crouch Jr explained his mother took his place in Azkaban and died in his place. He himself was held imprisoned by his father so no one would know. Eventually, he fled, killed his father and made a plan to bring his master back. He went undercover in Hogwarts as Alastor, I mean, Professor Moody."

"Moody?" Harry wondered. He had talked to him a few times. "He did not seem like a death eater to me."

"Oh, he played his role extraordinarily well." Dumbledore said. McGonagall huffed. She seemed to be especially insulted by the fact that she had not seen through the act. "The flask he always carried with him was polyjuice potion. He had run out of it at the end of the Tournament. That's why we noticed. Seemed to think after the Tournament there was no need to play Professor Moody anymore."

"But, where is the real Professor Moody?" Hermione asked. She looked like she was afraid of the answer.

"Stuck in a box for a whole year." McGonagall exclaimed. "Can you believe we trusted that rat? That ruse. Alastor was in a box in his office the whole year, and I didn't notice. I've never been so disappointed in myself."

"Now, now, Minerva." Dumbledore said. "He was well informed and he was able to trick the whole school. This is in no way your fault. Alastor will be fine. St Mungo's said they would keep him there for two more weeks but he has a thick skin. Knowing him, he will disobey the healers and leave in a few days to find a few Death Eaters to catch."

###

The ride home was quiet. The trio had a secluded compartment in the Hogwarts express to themselves. They spent their time discussing recent events and thinking about the impact it might have on their lives.

Before leaving, Harry had sent a rushed letter to Sirius while Ron struggled getting ready on time. He hoped he would be able to see his godfather during the break and talk to him.

The further they got from Hogwarts, the more glum Harry's mood grew. Hermione kept nagging them to keep her updated through letters. He had no doubt that he would get at least one letter per week from her, but he already knew he would struggle knowing what to answer. Nothing exciting would happen with the Dursleys. All there was to tell about were the looks of disdain every time he left his room and his wishes to go away as far and as fast as possible. But he knew he would not write any of that because it would only worry Hermione and make her feel bad about writing about her great holidays with her parents. And she would feel guilty for not being able to get Harry out of there. Though she would certainly try.

The Hogwarts express slowly decreased in speed. Way too soon they drove into the station Kings Cross and the train came to a halt. Great, Harry thought. When I get out of this train I will see Hermione being greeted by her loving parents and Ron joining an unceremonious greeting ritual with at least six other family members. And Harry would join a family that perceived him more like a parasite coming to infest them every summer than like an actual family member.

Ron seemed to notice his glum mood and petted his shoulder comfortingly. "We'll get you as soon as we can, alright mate?"

Harry just nodded, trying not to let show how much he dreaded stepping out of this train. Hermione and Ron passed him on their way out of the compartment. Before Harry could follow them, a familiar face made Harry freeze in the glass door. A flutter came alive in his stomach and for a second, Harry was uncertain which demeanour was right for a guy who had saved him by abducting him against his will and who was so damn attractive...

"Potter..." Malfoy came to halt in front of him. Hermione and Ron stopped leaving and turned around to watch them.

Harry wondered if he should thank Malfoy for saving him, if he should tell him about Voldemort and Cedric, but there was something about that confidence that made Harry stay still. It was not like Malfoy did not always appear confident, except for those times when Harry was able to conjure that beautiful blush onto his cheeks, but this Malfoy... He looked like he was on a mission. Like there was something Malfoy needed to say. "Malfoy." Harry said, because there was something Harry had to counter.

"One more thing." Malfoy took a step closer. Close enough that he was now all Harry could see. He could smell the mix of herbs, something Harry associated with potions, and a certain sweetness that reminded him of blue cotton candy, and then there was something else that was just so distinctly Draco Malfoy, but Harry was never able to describe it.

Draco looked right back into Harry's eyes, then lowered them. Harry felt his heart speed up like a train out of the station when he felt a hand settling on his chest. Malfoy's eyes fluttered back up to Harry's face and Merlin, Harry had never seen anything so seductive like the look on that face. It was soft and trusting, but somehow demanding and Harry did not notice he was leaning in.

"You wouldn't be able to handle me." Malfoy whispered. Harry almost fell forward when Malfoy took a sudden step back, a satisfied smirk on his face, before disappearing right to where he had come from.

Harry was still staring at the spot where Malfoy had just stood, feeling his heart beat out of his chest and a fire flaring in his lower stomach like he had never felt before. You wouldn't be able to handle me...

It was probably a response to Harry's joke of just telling him if Malfoy wanted them alone in a room. Was it a joke? Harry could think of little he wanted more in that moment.

"Harry?"

His head snapped up to his friends, who looked a bit worried, a bit disturbed, but mostly amused. "Shut up." Harry shouldered them with their smug faces and hurried out of the train before them.

The memory of that face, that proximity, that smell... It was still so vivid in Harry's mind that he almost did not notice the hostile looks he got from his 'family'.