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The morning of the first task finally came around and breakfast was filled with conversations and bets. The redhead Harry played chess with said his older brother worked with dragons and sent him a letter that four dragons were being sent to Hogwarts. Harry wondered how many older brothers the boy had.

This did at least clue Harry in that the first task involved dragons which gave him time to prepare a few plans.

The only interesting thing to happen since Harry's Basilisk encounter was the edition of the newspaper that had Harry's interview. Luckily Harry's lies had been strange enough for the woman to not change much except for some heavy exaggeration on Harry's emotional state.

The entire article had been mostly about Harry as, officially at least, that was the first interview ever obtained for Harry Potter. It included details mentioned about Harry's supposed life before and hinted that Harry mentioned that his Godfather was both responsible for Harry's vanishing for a year and his entry into the tournament. However it only gave vague clues as to the identity of said godfather.

It also included several paragraphs of quotes which Harry thought impressive as he only gave four lines of dialog. Harry at least appreciated that those lines were in fact included.

The story at least went in the direction Harry intended. It gave an outline of a young child way over his head with the weight of the wizarding world crashing down on his shoulders.

When questioned about the story Harry would laugh and tell everyone he'd never met the woman though he appreciated her imagination. Some had doubts but when Harry mentioned that his godfather was Sirius Black and that he was in Azkaban, no one took the article seriously anymore.

Several students, especially that bleach blond slytherin Snape seemed to treat as royalty, attempted to insult Harry or demean him on several encounters. Harry would simply ask if any of their parents would contribute their own funds to Harry's funeral and what they intended to wear and if they were going to get white lilies or something else.

When Harry didn't bother denying that he was going to die, they didn't really have much more to work with. That and the fact that the first year blond, Mofo? Yeah, Mofo was squeamish so when Harry started describing the possible gruesome ends he was likely to face with a flat, emotionless tone, the blond would usually back away and find somewhere to heave into a bucket. Harry wondered how many purebloods would retain their sanity if forced to watch a day or two of television. Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors anyone?

The classes of the second half of the day had been cancelled and everyone was waiting at the Great Hall. McGonagall later showed up and said Harry was due in the stadium for the first task. Harry nodded and said to the Great Hall, "We who are about to die, salute you!"

Harry wondered if defeating a dragon would be easier or harder than slaying a basilisk, but since Dragons weren't artificially created creatures with such bizarre weaknesses, Harry figured the dragon would be harder.

Harry was taken to a tent near the stadium that had been set up over the last three weeks.

Within the tent Harry met his three fellow champions and Ludo Bagman who explained their first task was to get a golden egg and they would have to face a 'thing' which would be decided by pulling it out of a bag.

Harry went last and pulled a very small animated hungarian horntail.

Snatching an egg from a nesting dragon was not the worst case scenario Harry had in mind but it really wasn't that far off. It was not however impossible if he used a few tricks and showed off a little of his skill.

Suddenly Harry had a really, really stupid idea which caused an unstoppable grin to appear on his face.

*Ping*

[Warning, taking items out of the inventory during a task constitutes cheating.

Taking items other than a wand into the first task constitutes cheating.

Cheating will cause Goblet of Fire Perk to change to Broken Contract Perk.]

It seemed the system thought his idea was no good. What about...

Harry thought of a slight alteration to his really stupid idea. No warning popped up this time. The plan wasn't all that different, it just required him to use the summoning charm. It would reveal he could use a fourth year spell, but Harry doubted that would be what people paid attention to once Harry was done.

The tent itself was not monitored so Harry snuck out and took all the items he needed out of his inventory and set them near the tent where no one would notice them.

Once the time came, Harry was escorted to the entrance. The fact that the man escorting him was asking for forgiveness and pleaded with Harry not to haunt him showed how much confidence the general audience had for his chances.

The open area had various levels of terrain and just on the other side of a rock was Harry's dragon. The exotic energy Harry could sense off the thing greatly eclipsed the basilisk which answered his question from earlier. Then again it could have been that the basilisk was weakened after a few centuries of hibernation so comparing the two might not be fair.

In either case Harry found a place to hide and watched the dragon through his senses. Luckily the dragon wasn't investigating him. Harry was using the masking technique he usually used to prevent his exotic energy from destroying electronics which basically meant his magic wasn't leaking. Harry's various libraries all told him dragons could sense magic for no other reason than the fact that dragons preferred to eat food that contained magic.

The hard thing however was that the dragon would sense when he cast one of the only two spells he was going to use as the masking technique couldn't be used while casting magic.

"Accio Controller," he called out.

The black controller Harry set outside the tent launched off the ground and flew towards the stadium and into Harry's hand.

Harry prepared himself for the dragon's inevitable attention.

Which never came. Harry suddenly remembered that for some reason his magic was invisible. He still didn't know why. Something to find out later. Even when Harry fully removed the masking technique the Dragon's attention didn't turn to his direction.

A number of the audience was impressed that Harry used the summoning charm but perhaps a dozen or less of the audience had any idea what he had summoned.

The remote control was not a simple store bought one, but one Harry built and designed himself using a kit. Several kits actually. It controlled not one, but seven different heavy duty electric helicopters.

The remote was half the size of a keyboard and twice as thick. It had five different joysticks, three knobs, five switches, and five buttons. Even a muggleborn would likely have no idea how to use it but it was ideal for the mayhem Harry was about to bring.

For a few minutes nothing happened. The dragon's chain was long enough for it to reach half the arena near the eggs but unless attracted elsewhere it wouldn't leave the area close to the nest.

Suddenly a whirring sound approached and six different dog sized RC Helicopters flew into the arena. Each had two shopping bag sized sacks strapped to them

A seventh Helicopter flew over from a different side of the stadium. This was Harry's special one which was only cat sized and ran silent. None of them had more than a single spell's worth of magic, so though the dragon heard them approach, wasn't too interested in them.

The seventh one came to Harry who cast his second spell on a sponge tied to a long string to the helicopter. The sticking spell.

Harry piloted it back into the air and had the other six approach the dragon in formation from a few different directions. The dragon was getting annoyed and breathed fire at one which promptly exploded with a loud bang.

That got the dragon's attention. Though it was just the flour Harry stuffed in the sacks that flash fired, it made the Dragon classify the flying objects as things which couldn't get close to its nest.

The helicopters' smooth hovering ended at that point and they started moving around very fast left and right. One flew right at the egg batch which earned the dragon's fury. The hungarian horntail was not known as one of the nastiest dragons around without reason. The dragon swung its tail at the chopper but the mechanical toy swerved in a spiral and dodged the strike. The dragon's ire had reached its limit and it jumped at the helicopter and crushed it with its jaws.

The four remaining helicopters the dragon could see were flying around and two charged at the dragon thus challenging its authority. The dragon leapt away from the nest to destroy the remaining helicopters giving Harry the chance he needed now that its attention was away from the eggs.

While simultaneously flying his four distractions around the arena, Harry flew the silent chopper above the nest and carefully lowered the sponge with the sticking charm on a string down. The area of the nest was enclosed so Harry didn't have to deal with any wind so it was basically a very complicated and moderately dead claw game.

The sponge landed on the golden egg and Harry rose the helicopter into the air, lifting the egg with it causing Harry to silently thank the heavens the egg didn't seem to be that heavy. The reason Harry was able to aim so well was his liberal use of pausing. He'd pause, walk over as close to the egg group as he could and check the accuracy of the sponge before unpausing and making an adjustment.

The silent chopper delivered the egg to Harry who took the lighter than he thought egg off the sponge and flew the very expensive toy back into the air. Harry then flew all the remaining helicopters at the dragon in a group and charged them forward to their doom. Seeing the whole flock line up, the dragon let loose a storm of flame turning the entire group into ashes with an impressive explosion.

Harry quietly took the egg and his controller and returned to the exit. Each of those toys cost several hundred pounds but it was certainly worth it. The man at the gate saw Harry with the egg and looked like he'd swallowed a fly. Harry figured the man didn't expect to see Harry return.

Harry had to clear his throat to get the stunned man to register that he was supposed to open the gate and let Harry out of the arena.

The announcer eventually realized the golden egg was missing from the nest and when he called it out the audience exploded into a frenzy. Very few people appreciated what Harry had done and plenty of them had no idea he used muggle toys to do it.

A minute or so later McGonagall showed up only now noticing Harry had already left and gotten his egg.

"Mr. Potter, are you alright? What were those things?"

She was more than a little relieved that not only was Harry not dead, he didn't have a single injury despite getting the most vicious dragon.

Harry pointed at his controller and said, "I've spent the last few weeks practicing the summoning charm and summoned this muggle toy," he showed the controller, "that was able to use muggle means to control the other flying muggle toys."

"Wouldn't that be against the rules?" She asked worriedly. If Harry cheated, he would face the consequences.

Harry shook his head and said, "Nope, the rules said I can't bring anything but a wand into the task. There is no rule against summoning outside tools and using things outside the arena."

Harry used a levitation charm at a nearby chair to pick it up and set it down to prove his magic wasn't affected.

Mr. Bagman showed up a moment later and repeated McGonagall's question, "Mr. Potter, can I ask what you did? I seem to have missed it."

Harry explained once more, "I used magic to summon some complicated muggle toys and used them to distract the dragon while I used another muggle toy to retrieve the egg. I still have my magic so none of that was against the rules."

The Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports looked intrigued, "Those were muggle toys? Fascinating. I've heard rumors that the Muggles had some rather sophisticated toys, but I've never seen one work before."

Harry nodded and said, "You wouldn't. Magic makes muggle toys break or act weird. I made those toys myself so they could work around magic."

This was true. In order to finally get his Crafter Path rank, Harry had to make something but he couldn't just buy and assemble from a kit. Sure, he did that at first, but since it didn't work, he had to spend almost a whole weekend using the parts from several kits and some extras to assemble his remote control. He also had to use a computer to write his own software for the helicopters. There was no actual way a single controller could manually operate a half dozen helicopters perfectly so he actually wrote twenty or so different programs onto his controller that would do most of the detailed stuff on its own.

Bagman looked impressed and said, "You controlled them yes? Why did you fly them at the dragon in the end?"

"Because I challenged a dragon and if they left, the dragon would remain angry and would be harder to handle later."

Bagman hadn't considered this but it was true all the same, the Hungarian Horntail seemed quite pleased with itself after destroying the toys and for such an aggressive dragon, it had been nowhere near as riled up as the other contestants left their dragons at the end of their tasks.

Of course the actual reason was that Harry didn't want the rune schemes he set into the choppers to be examined by others. The helicopters were a loss to be sure, but 95% of the work Harry had put into this project had gone into the controller. The helicopter drones were just assembled and engraved. The controller on the other hand was where he put the real work into.

After a few more clarifying questions the man left Harry to return to the judges panel. Sure Harry hadn't used magic beyond the summoning charm and the use of muggle toys did go against the spirit of the tournament if not the letter. But on the other hand, Harry was eleven years old and had been set against a dragon.

The Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports had in fact assembled twenty dragon wranglers on standby once Harry had been incapacitated to save his life if possible which, as long as he was unable to continue, was not against the rules though he would of course not be scored well and wouldn't get the clue for the next task.

Harry was quickly accosted by the school nurse who for the third time this year checked him over to find no injuries. The nurse was more than a little skeptical at this first year's level of being danger prone yet after falling from a broom, defeating a troll, and stealing an egg from a nesting dragon, he still didn't have a single injury.

He returned to the tent from before where he had to await the judges scoring and was met with the disbelieving eyes of the other three contestants, all of which were injured or had damaged clothes except for him. Harry didn't see what they did but since Harry was last, they all saw what he did.

Cedric shook his head and said, "I don't know whether to be impressed or ashamed, Potter."

Harry cocked an eyebrow and Fleur answered the unasked question in a french accent, "Mr. Diggory transfigured a stone into a dog for a distraction, but ze dragon lost interest and shot fire at 'im." Harry did notice the orange burn paste over his fellow's student's face but was polite enough not to stare. Fleur's dress also appeared quite singed.

Krum said, "The seventh flyer vas silent and your dragon didn't notice it. Even I only noticed because I am seeker and I saw it carry egg on string. Why was it silent but not the rest?"

Harry wasn't surprised someone spotted the last one, it wasn't like he made it invisible or anything. That was another project altogether. He thought of the best way to answer someone who likely didn't know any muggle terms but as the man was a seeker, he likely knew a lot about brooms. Harry said, "The last one was a different model. It could not go as fast or as far but it could go quietly."

They asked a few more questions and exchanged stories. Fleur it seemed, used a powerful spell to put her dragon to sleep. It mostly worked, save the Dragon's flaming snore singed her dress. Krum actually fired a spell at the dragon's eye to blind it but the dragon crushed some of its eggs in the confusion. That would have worried Harry had he not felt that the eggs were all fake. How they convinced a dragon to guard a nest of fake eggs though he didn't know.

The scoring came out with Cedric in first place with forty-four points, Krum in second place with forty, and Fleur with thirty-nine. Harry was in last place with thirty because Krum's headmaster gave him zero points while Crouch and Fleur's headmistress gave him six a piece. Dumbledore gave him eight and Bagman gave him ten. Harry wondered if Bagman had bet on Harry's victory.

The moment Harry left the tent Hermione ran past Neville and straight for him before almost shouting, "Why didn't you tell me you were going to use RC Helicopters?! I thought my hair would turn grey watching the other students face those dragons worrying about you!"

Harry smiled at his friend's concern and easily admitted, "I came up with the idea at the last minute so even I didn't know. It was only when they told us we had to retrieve an egg did I come up with that idea."

Hermione shook her head for a moment to get her bearings before asking, "How did you get muggle electronics to work here? I brought a calculator which didn't even turn on when I took it out of my bag on our first day."

"A side project I've been working on. Didn't think it'd be that useful. Wonder if I can do the same for the next two tasks."

Neville chipped in his two cents, "Not a bad idea. You were the only one who didn't get hurt so a repeat performance or two wouldn't be bad. You won't get the highest score and you won't win the tournament, but you'll survive."

Hermione only took a moment to consider this before saying, "He's right, survival is the most important."

Harry noticed a magical being approaching and turned to see Rita Skeeter show up with a predatory smile.

"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How did you feel facing that dragon? How do you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

Harry paused for a few minutes to consider the best way to address the witch. After coming up with the craziest believable story he could, he unpaused and said, "Of course I don't mind Ms. Skeeter. I almost couldn't breath when I saw that dragon, everyone kept telling me before entering how it was the biggest, meanest, nastiest one so I was terrified. I don't know how fair the scoring was, but other than Mr. Bagman and Headmaster Dumbledore, I don't think the others had any idea what I actually did or how impressive it was so they scored on their ignorance."

Skeeter took a look at her quick quill notes to confirm the exaggerations they jotted down at least had the pertinent details. She continued, "About that, why did you use muggle toys in a wizard tournament and why do you think that was impressive?"

Harry figured the woman wanted to write down that Harry was looking down on the tournament and that he was spitting in the face of tradition and yada yada. Nothing Harry said or didn't say would stop her from writing that, but Harry could redirect who she said that about.

Harry said, "It was actually my godfather's idea. He's a terrible prankster and told me I had to use muggle toys for the competition. I told him it was impossible, but he told me to find a way. The reason it was impressive is because no one has ever applied wizard magic to fancy muggle toys before. No one. I'm the first. It wasn't cheating either. A sword is a muggle toy but if you cast magic on it it is a magic tool. Those toys were the same. If they weren't, I couldn't have used them since everyone knows muggle toys don't work around magic."

A small group of teachers was heading towards them so Skeeter thanked Harry and parted.

Hermione used the moment before the teachers got there and said, "You did tell that woman those lies about Sirius Black!"

Harry said, "Yup."

At this point Neville had to fight to hold back his laughter.

Professor McGonagall saw Harry and said, "The Headmaster would like to have a word with you Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded and followed her. He had been wondering when this would happen.

The silent awkwardness of the walk back to the castle was broken when the professor said, "I'm pleased to see you made it out in one piece considering how little confidence you showed earlier."

Harry shrugged, "If I told anyone I wasn't going to die they'd call me a liar, a fool, or accuse me of being in denial. I was just saving myself from being insulted until after I survived my imminent death."

McGonagall didn't really have a response to that so the silence resumed until they had entered the castle and made their way up to the Headmaster's office.

The ancient wizard noticed their arrival and said, "Thank you Minerva, you can return. Mr. Potter, please sit."

Harry sat on the chair before the man's desk and for a moment neither said a word. Dumbledore broke the silence first, "This would be our first meeting, yet up until now I've done so much damage to your life Harry, and I cannot ask you to forgive me. I tried to correct my mistakes, I wanted to keep my distance, allow you to live your own life, but it seems such is more difficult than I first had hoped."

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the obviousness of that last part. But it did answer Harry's questions. The man did, and rightly so, consider himself responsible for Harry's death.

Dumbledore moved to open a drawer and took out a silver cloth and a wand. He said, "This is, or was, a Cloak of Invisibility that belonged to your father. And this was the Elder Wand. Two of the three Deathly Hallows of legends."

Harry quickly went over the tale of the Three Brothers, a copy of the Beetle and the Bard was in the Potter library. His father did in fact tell Harry about his family cloak, but for some reason never mentioned its location as if he didn't intend for Harry to get it. Harry decided to ask the question the headmaster was waiting for, "Was?"

"Yes Harry. On that terrible night last year, this wand lost its power and this cloak no longer rendered its wearer invisible. The third Hallow, the one said to be capable of bringing those from the other side back to this realm I suspect has also lost its power. And I have my suspicions why."

Harry was certainly interested in this so he waited for the old man to continue.

The headmaster said, "Harry, when you summoned your muggle invention, I nearly cried out in terror and could only wait until the dragon noticed where you were. But it didn't. It wasn't until that moment that I noticed that your magic appears to be invisible to the senses of others. And then there is the fact that it is so simple for you to cast magic, powerful magic I suspect, without a wand. And of course there is your remarkable return from the other side. Invisible magic, magic that can be cast without a wand, and the gift of returning from the other side. You see where I am going with this Harry?"

Harry was curious to know where Dumbledore's certainty that Harry had died was coming from, but Harry supposed the man may have had his ways which was why he knew that Harry had died which meant Harry had returned from death.

As for the implications, it was certainly interesting. The power of the Deathly Hallows had vanished when Harry died and seemed to become a part of him. Invisible magic? It could still damage electronics which meant that his magic would still affect things but it just couldn't be sensed actively or directly. Indirectly however it could be. Something to consider. It certainly explained why he didn't need a wand.

Harry asked, "So what now?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "I would be willing to personally teach you if not for the Goblet of Fire. It would take my magic if I tried to tutor you this year, something I would not regret if I could help you, but I am far too old and would not last long enough without magic to teach you much if I tried."

Harry thought on it for a moment and asked, "Can I borrow your library for a week?"

Dumbledore's brows rose on that statement and considered it. However a moment later he let a small frown followed by an amused smirk. He said, "As it is my personal library, granting my permission to loan any book would constitute assistance and risk my magic. Therefore if you ask," he said emphasizing the word, "I cannot allow it. Now if you excuse me, I have to meet with some of my fellow headmasters."

Dumbledore twirled his wand and cast a petrification charm on the portraits in the room. He then got up and said, "You may rest here as long as you wish, and on an unrelated note, if you come across any book of my private collection around the castle, please hand them to Professor McGonagall when you can and she will ensure I get them back. My memory is not what it used to be and I don't recall if they have gone missing or not so do keep a lookout for them in case they have."

A moment later and Harry was alone in the Headmaster's office. Harry decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and proceeded to nab every book from the headmaster's shelf. Stealing certainly didn't qualify as assistance rendered. Once his inventory was stocked, Harry returned down to his dorms where there had been a party waiting for him, congratulating him on not dying. As he had the lowest score, Harry figured that was just about the best thing they could think of congratulating him on.

The nameless redhead handed Harry the golden egg he had forgotten at the tent and Harry decided it would be best not to question why the redhead had it. Time to see what the clue for the next stage was.

A week after the first task brought forth three problems of different types, but unignorable all the same. The first was that there was a Christmas Ball and which Harry had to attend. He asked Hermione as the only girl of his age he knew well and after flustering for a few minutes with some excuses which ended in Harry promising to get her a dress, she accepted. She was going home for the Holidays but Harry begging on his knees and promising bribes of her choice of books for Christmas presents had successfully convinced her.

The second, and slightly larger problem was the details of the second task. The egg once opened had a recording of a shrieking sound. According to a few books Harry knew, the only species that sounded like that were banshees and mermaids above water. Once submerged, the clue became audible and Harry figured he would be given an hour to find something, or someone, taken and placed in the black lake. Hermione and Neville both blanched at the idea and said they didn't want to be hostages, even fake ones.

The third, and comparatively largest problem was the issue of the unidentified animagus hiding in the dorm. The youngest redhead brought out his rat and Harry saw it for the first time that year during the party. The exotic energy it contained was certainly that of a wizard. Harry hadn't noticed it before because it was such a weak wizard he thought it was one of his classmates of his year. If it was anything else, this problem would not rank higher than the other two, but Harry's father told him that Peter Pettigrew, the man who actually sold him out to Voldemort, was a rat animagus. The fact that the redhead's pet was missing a toe sealed the deal.

All three problems required a large amount of preparation. Harry would have to ask McGonagall for permission to head to Hogsmeade with Hermione as he heard there was an excellent tailor there but no one below third year was usually allowed to go.

As for the second task, Harry decided to continue the theme of muggle toys. He first considered submersible drones, but the drones wouldn't be able to do much even if they found a person. Harry decided to go for broke and just get a personal submersible vehicle for himself and outfit it with extras. However, likely to prevent cheating or exploration prior to the event, Harry figured some time before the second task, the black lake would be closed off. The task was in February, so just to be safe, Harry would have to acquire and outfit a sub, then transport it secretly to the black lake in a place it could be hidden, all before January.

The last problem was the most delicate. Harry discreetly borrowed an owl and sent a letter to his Gringotts account manager that Peter Pettigrew had been found alive and asked for arrangements to be made for the freeing of his godfather. He already received a reply instructing him to capture the rat in a week and to get Amelia Bones involved as Sirius was her betrothed.

And now Harry found himself in front of the star of Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory, and asking, "Would you be able to get Susan Bones? There is a matter I need to speak with her about."

Cedric thought on it for a moment before answering back, "Um, sure. Oh yeah, have you figured out the clue yet?"

"Yeah, it's mermish. Open the egg under water. Basically someone we each care about will be taken as a fake hostage and thrown into the black lake and we'll have an hour to rescue them. My muggle toys don't do underwater so I'm still thinking up ideas."

Diggory was more than a little surprised Harry not only easily figured it out, but was willing to give the summary to him. He'd check it out himself of course, but having three full months to prepare certainly helped him.

A few minutes later Susan Bones, a short but cute redhead came out of the dorms. "You wanted to see me Potter?"

Harry nodded and said, "This is going to get very complicated so don't jump to conclusions before I'm finished. First, what do you know of your aunt's relationship with Sirius Black?"

She looked offended for more than just a moment but held her tongue about why Harry was asking such a personal question for now. "She doesn't speak of him much, but what happened really hurt her."

Harry nodded. "From what I've seen of the arrest records, Sirius literally shouted, "I killed Lily and James," to the sky which seemed to be enough for everyone to simply skip giving him a trial and he was sent directly to Azkaban."

Susan nodded. More than a few knew that Sirius never had a trial but there were over a dozen Aurors cited as witnesses to his confession so it didn't seem to matter back then.

Harry continued, "The reason he said that was because it was his idea to change the secret keeper from himself to Peter Pettigrew. Turns out Peter was the traitor, and if Sirius hadn't suggested the swap, my parents might still be alive."

Susan scowled at Harry because it was far more likely this was a cruel prank at her aunt than it was the truth.

Harry noticed this and said, "I wouldn't bring this up if I didn't have evidence. Pettigrew is alive, and I know where he is."

Her scowl lessened to a degree before she asked, "And what do you want me to do?"

"Contact your aunt and bring her here without raising alarms. Once here, I swear I will bring her directly to Pettigrew. I don't know if he will be armed or not but he won't be expecting to get caught."

There were of course several ways to contact Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement without going through her niece. But they were all about as subtle as calling a fire truck by pulling the fire alarm.

Susan asked a few more questions and Harry answered what he could. She said she would send her aunt a letter and bring her here in an hour.

Harry had chosen Saturday for this plan simply because the redhead with the pet rat usually spent it playing games with their other roommates and the rat seemed to be caged up during this time.

Harry stayed in the Great Hall with a book on runes laid out at the Gryffindor table while Susan waited at the other table. An hour passed and the doors of the great Hall opened to reveal a slender redheaded woman wearing an Auror's uniform flanked by two others wearing the same uniform.

Harry walked right up to her and introduced him, "Ms. Bones, thank you for coming, I'm Harry Potter."

The woman's passive face arched an eyebrow. The Daily Prophet articles recently were most confusing as they claimed Sirius Black had secretly escaped and was responsible for Harry's vanishing act a year prior while everyone thought he was dead. The post first task article also claimed it was Black's idea to use muggle toys to complete the task. Amelia was uncomfortable reading those articles as she knew they could not be true and also knew that Sirius would have enjoyed reading them himself. That last realization truly hurt.

The head of the DMLE said, "I do hope you understand the severity of your claim Mr. Potter. One way or another I will be taking someone to my holding cells today, and if a word of what my niece has written is untrue, I can promise that someone will be you."

Both Aurors flanking Madame Bones flinched at her scowl which wasn't even directly at them. Harry remained unphased which Ms. Bones noticed either meant he was a very good liar, or perhaps...

Harry said, "I understand Ms. Bones. Please follow me and I'll explain on the way."

Harry led the group up to the Gryffindor tower with Susan and a few others in tow, wondering what was going on.

Harry explained aloud for everyone along the way, "According to a letter I found, Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper. It was Sirius's idea. A giant prank on You Know Who and the Death Eaters. If a Secret Keeper is killed, those who were given the secret become Secret Keepers themselves. Sirius knew he would die before giving up his friend's lives, so he told everyone he was the Secret Keeper so that he would be targeted, and if he actually did die, others who knew the secret and were more inclined to share it wouldn't be able to."

Harry didn't see it but Amelia's face frowned in realization and a little bit of shame. It was exactly something Sirius would do and if the secret was only given by parchment, no one would know who the actual Secret Keeper was.

One of the Auror's spoke up, "But he confessed."

Amelia answered back, "If it was Sirius's idea to use Peter, he would have felt responsible for their deaths regardless. Something that would have become known had he been given a trial."

She said that last part with more edge than she intended.

The other Auror said, "But those muggles he killed."

Harry said, "If Peter survived, then the question of who actually killed those muggles is no longer certain."

By this time they had reached the Fat Lady's portrait and Harry said, "Balderdash." The Fat Lady looked questioningly at the guests but as they had Auror robes, she did not hesitate to open up.

Before the group could enter the common room, Harry said, "Wait here a moment."

He then walked up to the redhead playing Chess and said, "Would you mind bringing your rat in his cage? I saw something unusual about him. He might be special."

The redhead looked confused for a moment and said, "Scabbers? Special? Not that dingy old rat."

"How old exactly is that rat?"

The redhead looked pensive for a moment and answered back, "Ten years I think."

Harry smiled back and said, "Rats normally die of old age after two years. Can you please fetch him?"

The redhead looked more confused but said, "Alright," before heading off to his room.

Amelia and the others heard the conversation and Harry motioned for them to enter.

Harry said, "The only thing they found of Peter was a toe and according to the letter my mum wrote, Peter was an unregistered rat animagus. The rat he's bringing is missing a toe on its front paw and as you heard, it has been with his family for ten years."

A moment later the redhead brought the cage containing Scabbers and Amelia quickly took it from him. When she looked at the rat within, it looked back at her and backed into a corner.

She gave a cruel smile at this and directly reached into the cage and grabbed the rat. She let the cage fall with her other hand before grabbing her wand and tapped the rat.

A moment later the rat enlarged into a grotesque fat man. The cruel smile deepened as she practically sneered, "Hello Peter."

Before the man could even whimper, a Stunner was sent by another Auror.

Harry quickly thought of something and said, "If you take him back to the Ministry, Galleons will likely be used to delay his questioning before removing the source, just like they were to keep my godfather from a trial. Would it be possible to question him in an unused classroom before taking him away?"

Madame Bones considered it and was disappointed to admit Harry wasn't wrong. Although not compliant with regulations, she wasn't going to let Sirius stay in Azkaban for another moment if she could.

Another Auror said, "I did bring Veritaserum. A witness would be required but if we call McGonagall and Dumbledore, they'd fit the bill I'd think."

Amelia said, "I do believe Dumbledore has a Floo in his office. Using it to leave but doing a few things with the Headmaster as witness before we head out would not be unacceptable."

The Aurors left with Peter floated out with magic and the common room remained silent for only a moment before bursting into questions. Harry did the best he could to answer and promised the redhead he would replace his pet.

The events that followed were somewhat summarized by the Daily Prophet. "Posthumously Awarded Order of Merlin Third Class winner found alive as a Marked Death Eater!"

The testimony given under veritaserum proved he killed those thirteen muggles and framed Sirius Black who was never the secret keeper to begin with. He was the one who led Voldemort to Godric's Hollow that night and ran away when his master was vanquished.

Harry's concern about Pettigrew however proved accurate when the rat reportedly escaped custody with help from an unknown assailant. Luckily the earlier Testimony was enough to warrant the trial of Sirius Black who was found innocent of all charges and admitted into St. Mungo's Wizard Hospital for care.

As if trying to make up for the blunder of imprisoning an innocent man and allowing the guilty party to go free, the Minister of Magic in his great wisdom thought to assign a hundred Dementors to guard the school in the case of Pettigrew's return.

Harry was conflicted over that last part. His quest very clearly said to master the Patronus charm which he did a week into the first year, but would that have been needed if Harry hadn't captured Pettigrew? He thought the Quest wasn't a self fulfilling prophecy. Then again, perhaps he would have needed it anyways. He still hadn't defeated Voldemort and it was said the man could control the blasted things.

Of the Quest requirements he had for the year, mastering the Patronus charm and defeating the Basilisk were the only two things he had completed. He still didn't know anything about the Philosopher's stone he was supposed to protect. Sure, academically he knew it apparently could turn base metals into gold and produce an elixir that would heal any wound and stop a person from aging for a time. He also understood in all likelihood Voldemort wanted it and Harry had to stop him from getting it. But how? Harry had no idea where the thing was.

If he were Dumbledore or Nicolas Flamel, he'd give it to someone and ask them to hide it, obliviate that person of the knowledge they had of it, then when the time was needed he could ask them where they would hide it if they did have it. Using that method, Dumbledore could even have told Hagrid to hide it in the forbidden forest and obliviated the knowledge of doing so from Hagrid. There were too many perfectly undefeatable ways to protect something using magic and if Dumbledore hid it, there should be no way for anyone to find it right?

Of course, this was under the assumption that Dumbledore was competent. Harry's stomach felt cold when he thought that his assumption relied on this for some reason.

At the moment what he knew was that Quirrel wanted him dead and likely entered Harry in the Tournament. However Harry had no proof one way or another that Quirrel was connected to Voldemort or not. He knew someone opened the Chamber of Secrets and although Harry took care of the Basilisk, the culprit remained unknown. Harry kinda hoped that was Quirrel as well but he couldn't rush to judgement.

Worst case scenario, Harry would have to fight Voldemort, Quirrel, whoever released the Basilisk, an army of Dementors, all of Voldemort's Death Eaters, and Peter Pettigrew all at once. Oh, and if any of them got the Philosopher's stone, Voldemort might end up immortal.

And Harry had a ball to attend, a submarine to build, and training to do.

At this point Harry was tempted to ask a teacher for a Time Turner, but that would constitute assisting a student with the Tournament so they couldn't do it.

Harry wondered at this point if faking his death, again, would be easier than Hell Mode. Harry already found the part of the settings that would turn things into ranked dungeons and Harry turned it off forever. Even if there were fabulous prizes at the end, Harry didn't want to have to go through something like this again, ever.

Harry decided for the final boss he would cheat as much as possible. Like stocking up on one use overpowered items and filling his inventory with them. Harry had to create them, but he was coming along. He was tempted to buy a gun or a pile of grenades, but unless he built them from scratch himself, the exotic energy he released would change the physics of them and likely prevent them from working or worse, would make them go off prematurely.

It was a little known fact that magic shields didn't protect against bullets. Most Magic shields were designed to block magic. There are in fact spells that repel or block arrows, but the force of a bullet was 20 to 70 times more condensed than a primitive arrow and Harry hadn't found a single spell he felt capable of stopping one. In order to have a magic proof gun though, Harry would have to rune inscribe the bullet, the shell, and every single individual part of the gun. He would also have to make and press his own ammo for that to work, he couldn't buy his own. Thanks to that, he couldn't simply whip a gun out of his inventory and pop Voldemort between the eyes. Well, he could, if he suppressed his own exotic energy to the level of a non-magical. But then obviously he couldn't use magic. Perhaps as a Plan 'M.'

Harry also had that treasure trove of nice things he looted from Salazar's study. Going over those tomes on Parsel Magic Runes made Harry feel like Christmas had come early. There was also a large amount of very nice Ritual magic and Blood Magic tomes. Harry was sure whoever controlled the Basilisk didn't know of that room or those books would have been taken long ago.

The problem oddly enough was that very few of those nice things, even the blood magic, were of any use to Harry at the moment. Since Harry's blood turned back into magic particles and faded away a few minutes after leaving his body, any blood magic Harry performed would not last longer than a few minutes. This did however provide some opportunities. Blood magic, even using your own, was illegal in Britain with very few exceptions. But if he didn't need the effect to last long, Harry could potentially perform blood magic and later there would be no evidence. This meant although Harry couldn't use any of the really powerful blood magics with long term effects, he could use short term effect ones like those that boost magic and such free of risk.

The Parsel runes were more useful for Harry's hobbies and he already incorporated them into his magic resistant rune scheme to place on electronics. It was thanks to that his helicopters could even fly in proximity to a dragon without getting fried as dragons practically emit a medium level spell's worth of exotic energy just from breathing. Harry really wanted a magic proof rune scheme but even months of Paused times turned up no way to create one with just what he had.

Harry however didn't let all his worries get him down, not today, for today was a very special day. It was the last class of the last day before the Winter Break and it was also Potions class with Snape.

Hermione fidgeted every so often at the beginning of class but luckily the potions professor's attention was on Harry so he missed the signs of nervousness. The professor had placed his cauldron on the fire a few minutes ago and was currently berating everyone except Draco for not being perfect, even making up things to accuse people of as he pleased.

"Potter, your ingredients look like they were sliced by a blind drunk." He pointed his wand at Harry's ingredients and cast an Incendio charm, burning them all to a crisp. "5 Points from Gryffindor for wasting ingredients. You'll receive a zero for the day."

Suddenly Snape heard a sound that was forbidden in his classroom. A snicker. He turned to face the sound but found not one, but several people seemingly trying to hold back their laughter. He sneered and said, "What could possibly be so amusing?"

One of the slightly braver Slytherins pointed at Snape's cauldron. Snape turned and saw that his cauldron bore several words that glowed in bright pink letters. "Snape treats me horribly, no wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend."

Snape quickly pointed his wand at the letters and cast a quick cancellation spell at the letters but it did nothing. He then used a cauldron cleaning spell but that too had no effect. The snickering got louder. He turned to Harry of course, but the boy didn't even look up. Harry was staring at his book through his perpetually broken glasses which he still wore to every one of Snape's classes. The fact that he still turned in good work when Snape didn't sabotage him remained one of the great mysteries of Hogwarts.

Snape of course played his part and deducted further points from Harry, his only evidence that Harry did it was his lack of a denial when asked. Of course everyone knew Harry didn't speak in that class so everyone saw it as a low blow.

After class, Harry got the message he was looking for.

*Ping*

[Quest Complete: Heir of the Marauders.

Reward: Animagus Perk]

Harry smiled inwardly. Quest rewards really were quite good. Neville had already turned to Hermione and asked, "How'd you do it Hermione?"

She looked abashed and said, "I used a solvent and chemical that stained his cauldron. The chemicals the stain was made up glowed pink in the presence of pewter at a certain temperature. It wasn't a magic reaction so he couldn't cancel it. And since it was an active chemical reaction, his cleaning spell wouldn't work unless he used it for a few minutes.

Harry put his arm around Hermione and said, "You pranked a teacher, I'm so proud of you."

She looked sideways and removed Harry's arm. "I did lose the bet."

The twins somehow heard about the prank and congratulated Hermione on it after questioning her thoroughly on how she did it. Seems they intended on starting up a joke shop and she'd given them a number of ideas. Oddly enough, Hermione really clicked with the pair as they were both brilliant and knew lots of muggle chemistry along with charms and potions along with their applications.

Hermione actually got the idea for the prank during one of Harry's lessons with her. His Scholar Rank progressed not just when teaching magic, but any subject. Harry abused this of course and brought Hermione's mundane studies up with every week and at the moment she was at freshman level high school in Chemistry, Algebra, Biology, and Physical Sciences like basic physics and geology. Harry was hoping that teaching her enough to get her accredited for a GED by the summer would be enough to get his Scholar Rank to 21. She could then start college level material and by the time she finished Hogwarts, she'd be able to get into any University and do whatever she wanted.

She was Harry's first student and he had already become quite invested in her future so he wanted her to be the best she could be.

After getting Hermione a dress on the first day of the Winter Break, Harry snuck out of Hogwarts and headed to Gringotts to get more British Pounds and eventually bought a personal sub about the size of a motorcycle and a large amount of extras.

Harry invited Hermione to carve the Magic Resistance runes into the submarine parts which she accepted as long as Harry answered her questions.

"I understand how the runes work together, but why does this prevent magic from destroying it? I mean we're using magic to make the runes aren't we?"

Harry considered the best way to translate how it worked and answered back, "Imagine that magic is like water and that electronics don't like water. This castle would be raining all day every day and us students are worse than sprinklers when we use magic.

Hermione nodded and Harry continued, "This rune scheme uses magic to hold back magic. It is basically like covering the electronics in a layer of water then freezing the water into ice. The ice surrounds the electronics, preventing more water from getting in, and the ice itself doesn't penetrate the electronics so they still work because they're not technically wet."

It was actually more complicated than that as the volume the runes prevented the magic from penetrating was not so easily described. However as long as Hermione practiced, she could use these rune schemes in the future herself to prevent electronics from frying around her. Harry already showed her how to suppress her magic like a muggle so she wouldn't be trapped in the magic world like other muggleborns.

The Yule Ball came and went without fuss. Hermione looked as stunning as a twelve year old in a dress could be and Harry looked nice in a tuxedo as well. Hermione enjoyed counting off each person she caught staring at Harry aloud just to mess with him and break the tension.

Before the last day of 2004 the parts of the sub had been inscribed and reassembled, The fully assembled sub could actually be shrunken and re-enlarged without breaking, something he only was able to do with the stereos before. It allowed Harry to bring it to Hogwarts in his inventory and place it in the Black Lake.

The sub had a remote control which Harry used to sink it down and partially bury it. He could remotely set it to come up when he needed it so he set a timer that would automatically bring it to the surface of the lake near the shore at 11:01am on February 24th, a minute after the first task was set to begin.

The first interesting thing that happened of 2005 was Harry getting assaulted and squeezed nearly to death by a man he'd never seen before, "Come 'ere Pup!"

Sirius Black had been released from St. Mungo's and was finally free to see his godson for the first time in ten years. Though he had to meet Harry in Hogsmeade as opposed to Hogwarts which still had dementors flying around it. Understandably the man never wanted to come within a thousand feet of a dementor again.

His godfather brought him to a pub where he checked into a room and sat his godson down.

"So, I've been hearing all sorts of things about the adventures we've been on for the last year. Not that I disapprove, but what was that about?"

Harry shrugged, "When I first came to the wizarding world, they had books about my adventures too. I don't exactly remember doing those things either."

Sirius smirked and continued, "And what's this about you dying last year. That's not exactly a joke even I would approve of."

Harry shook his head and said, "I didn't have any say in that and I don't want to talk about it. Did you like Skeeter's articles?"

Sirius smiled and said, "Loved 'em pup. What did you have in mind for the second task? Can I help?"

"I already finished preparing for that one but there is something during the task you can do if you want though. I'll go over it with you later."

Sirius's smile faltered and silence fell for a few moments. He said, "Can you forgive me Harry? I wasn't there for you."

Harry waited a few moments before answering back, "Things don't always go the way you wanted them to."

Sirius raised an eyebrow and stated with a smirk, "Now when did the brat I used to change the diapers of get so wise?"

"Don't tell anyone, but I am secretly a genius. Only two of my friends know and Dumbledore suspects but he hasn't told anyone."

"A genius you say? We'll see about that."

An hour later and Sirius Black was lying prone on the ground in defeat. He had thought trying to show his godson his animagus form and explaining how he succeeded in only a few years without professional help would convince Harry of his own amazingness. Harry ended up asking twenty or so questions regarding the animagus process and now Harry was a large, nearly pure white Snowy Owl.

It was a bit surprising that when he looked inside himself to see what his innate animal was. He quickly saw a familiar looking snowy owl and felt a connection to it. After feeling out the process, he was able to shift his form into this owl.

Sirius was very clear that you couldn't choose your animagus, it was something that was already a part of you and Harry was not disappointed. The Snowy Owl was pretty much the largest species of owl and a bird of prey, top of the food chain. It was also native to the UK, Europe, and even North America so it would not be out of place if he was seen flying around. Throw in the symbolism and the pure color and Harry allowed himself to feel more than a little pride at the quality of his inner animal.

Sirius was dramatically banging his fist on the ground and called out, "Ok, you win, I give. You're a genius."

The fact that Harry got the Animagus Perk in advance but didn't know how to use it until now was something he would never speak of. His Godfather looked like his ego could use a little deflating.

Harry shifted back and began talking with Sirius Black in earnest about whatever he could think of. The reason was simple, when Harry went from that hell of a cupboard to that heaven of his parent's arms, the act of his parents telling him about their lives was almost therapeutic. Sirius Black had just gotten out of his own personal hell of Azkaban and Harry was now with one of the only three people in this world he considered family other than Lupin who he couldn't find and his cousin Andromeda.

Harry told him about his life with the Dursleys and only the fact that they had already been confirmed dead stopped Sirius from sending them on their way himself. Harry said he didn't remember what happened that night but showed up a year later in a park with new knowledge and a letter. It was that letter that told him to find out what happened to Sirius which led to Harry getting the details from the goblins.

Several parties tried to stall Sirius' trial through several means, but the goblins had already taken significant measures to prevent their interference beforehand in the week prior to the rat's capture. It was only thanks to that measure his godfather was a free man less than a month later.

Sirius was surprised that not only had Harry captured the rat, but had arranged ahead of time for the interference of others. Had Harry simply gifted Pettigrew to the DMLE, Sirius would likely still be in Azkaban

After a few more hours of conversation they had something of a plan which Harry later brought to Dumbledore, who immediately approved. Sirius would stay in Hogsmeade for the remainder of the school year and every weekend Harry would be allowed to go to Hogsmeade where his godfather would secretly train him to the best of his abilities.

Dumbledore's smile could not be brighter when Harry asked this of him and Dumbledore had no problem approving it. This did not constitute assistance from the school as 3rd years and above were allowed to go anyways and Harry only being a first year was at a disadvantage for not being allowed. Dumbledore even suggested using the path beneath the Whomping Willow to access Hogsmeade so the training could truly be done in secret.

Harry figured Dumbledore had been looking for a way to make things up to Harry for some time but the restrictions of the Tournament had prevented many of the ideas he could think of. He couldn't even hire a private tutor for Harry as paying for it himself or through Hogwarts was still considered assistance.

Thankfully, Sirius was in no way a student or staff member of Hogwarts and had the grounds not been covered in Dementors, Dumbledore would have allowed the man to use the Guest Quarters at the School. Dumbledore also suspected another reason for Harry's plan. Sirius had been locked away and useless for a full decade. Now he was being given the chance not only to keep in contact with one of the last remnants of his family, but also to feel useful by training Harry himself as the only person who could do so. When Dumbledore saw Sirius during their most recent meeting, the man had the fire of life once more burning in his eyes, something he sorely lacked when he visited the man at St. Mungos a few weeks prior.

Had Dumbledore known the other reason Harry set up this arrangement, he would not have been so pleased. Harry pretty much told Sirius he could memorize several books a week and asked him to bring some from the Black Family Library each weekend. Sirius wasn't thrilled with returning to his prior home but he couldn't deny the request. Since Harry also told him the future was looking dangerous, Sirius also felt it would be wise to brush up on his family magics himself.

The only part of the meeting that Harry didn't enjoy was Sirius's hysterical laughter when he answered a question that had been on Harry's mind since Sirius obtained his freedom.

"What are you going to do about your Lordship? You have a target on your back since once you die, everything goes to some death eater right?"

Sirius had a maniacal grin when he said, "You mean what am I going to do about that fact that Malfoy wants me dead? I've already taken care of that pup. Should I die from anything but old age, you'll inherit everything, save a few trinkets for my favorite cousin and Mooney."

"What?"

It was at that point looking at Harry's dumbfounded expression Sirius started a five minute laughing fit. Harry was tempted to hex the man but this was likely healing him better than St. Mungos had so he couldn't in good conscious stop him. Next time though...

Two months passed quickly and on the eve of the day of the second task, the redheaded twins came up to the common room and said, "Hermione, McGonagall said she needs to speak with you."

Without looking up from the Runes book Harry gave her for Christmas, she said, "No."

The entire common room went silent. One or two students checked the windows to ensure the sky wasn't falling as Hermione Granger had just refused instructions from a teacher!

The twins looked equal parts impressed and distressed. Hermione told them, "I know what she wants and I have no intention of agreeing. Tell her to find someone else."

Neville realized what she was referring to and said, "Me neither, I'm not a very good swimmer."

The twins picked up on something and decided it was worth the risk to go along with it. They returned to McGonagall and gave her the pair's message. She was surprised they knew what she was going to ask and not surprised they refused. If she were their age, she wouldn't want to do it either. There wasn't anything further she could do so she asked the twins to fetch someone else.

This time they did ask what for as if the situation was worth refusing, they had the option of refusing to help. McGonagall caved as the point of discretion was preventing Harry from learning of it in advance. The fact that he already knew made that pointless. When the twins thought it over, they agreed to fetch the student. They knew he'd agree to help and he could in fact swim. That and if Harry knew about it, he likely already had a plan.

The next day had the whole school and the foreign delegates on some bleachers overlooking the lake. Several men with passive faces had been paid by someone to prevent anyone from approaching the lake for the past month. Cedric had already spent much of January practicing in the lake so this didn't impede him much. It did however stop Fleur and Victor from practicing as they only solved the egg after January. The one who paid these men was pleased when reports came in that there were no signs of Potter doing anything in the lake. He also made a few other arrangements to ensure the task went as he felt it should. Either do it with magic or not at all.

Harry lined up on the docks with the other three contestants. Unlike them, Harry wasn't wearing clothes that would be comfortable when wet which got a number of reactions, most of them concerned. Cedric simply raised an eyebrow and hoped the first year wouldn't show them all up too badly this time.

Up in the sky was a shining silver phoenix patronus cast by Dumbledore at Harry's request to keep the Dementors as far from the lake as possible. Thanks to this, Sirius was able to join the audience to watch the task.

Bagman used magic to turn himself into a loudspeaker and said for all to hear, "Well our champions appear ready for the second task and they have one hour to recover what has been taken from them. I have also been informed that to prevent outside interference, nothing not currently in the lake or on the Champion's person is allowed in the lake. Any wizard approaching the lake will be stopped and any object entering the lake will be destroyed."

The man seemed completely ignorant that this would prevent Harry from using the same feat as last time. The reason Harry was sure of the man's ignorance was that he figured the man had bet on him and didn't seem dispirited at the new policy.

Cedric and the other contestants all turned to face Harry and observed he still seemed lackadaisical about the new rule.

Bagman continued, "On the count of three we shall begin. One, Two, Three!"

The other contestants jumped into the water and waded out into the depths. Harry simply stood there while everyone watched him. The redheads both seemed a bit nervous.

Suddenly something broke the surface of the water. Harry's submarine stopped right in front of the dock and opened the hatch on its own, just as the timer he set for it instructed. Harry jumped in and shouted, "Now Sirius," before closing the hatch and submerging the sub.

Sirius Black got a trunk out and set several small items in front of the bleachers. He then used his wand to remove the shrinking magic on them and now there were several 80" monitors in front of the bleachers. Hermione took over from there and used a remote to turn them on.

Harry got a signal from his sub showing he was now live. On each monitor was a feed to one of the cameras on his sub looking out and a picture of him inside the sub appeared in the corner of each monitor. Harry turned on a microphone and said, "Testing, testing, do you read?"

Sirius smiled and picked up the microphone Hermione already turned on and handed to him. He said, "Padfoot to Potter, we read you loud and clear. How you doing Harry?"

Harry responded from the monitor, "Not bad. For anyone who has no idea what is happening, the answer is Magic. We'll just leave it at that." Hermione shook her head but couldn't keep the smirk off her face.

The main feed came from a camera in the front of the sub so the audience could see what Harry was seeing in the lake as if they were there with him.

Bagman, who had removed his voice amplification charm, said, "Was that thing already in the lake?"

Sirius said into the mic, "Harry, Mr. Bagman wants to know if your sub was already in the lake."

Harry answered back from the monitors, "Yes, I parked it here last year. I would have just shrunk it and carried it like these monitors, but I can't use shrinking or enlarging charms so I had to plan ahead." That was a lie of course but he still wanted people unaware of his skill in magic.

Bagman nodded, that was not against the rules so he had no problem with it.

Sirius asked, "So what are you going to do Harry?"

"Well, there are three places of interest in the Black Lake. The Sunken Ship, the Giant Squid's nest, and the Merman Village. I'll be checking those out to see where whatever has been taken from me has been placed."

Harry knew it was likely in the Merman village, but he put a lot of effort into this so he wanted to make it a show. Besides, the Merman village was about a kilometer out and both the Sunken Ship and Giant Squid's nest were only a little out of the way.

First stop was the ship. Harry turned on the headlights of the sub which allowed the camera to see the ship they were closing in on. Harry spoke into his mic, "This boys and girls is the Silver Wand. Before the invention of portkeys in the 12th century, those incapable of apparition or without a Floo relied on this ship to take them to and from Hogwarts each year. It was as traditional as the Hogwarts Express is now. It lasted for two centuries before it finally succumbed to the years when magic could no longer restore it. Here it has rested for the last seven hundred years."

Harry drove the sub around the ship, turning the camera to an angle so the monitors would see it though it wasn't what Harry was facing.

Once done with the ship, he turned off the lights and piloted the sub further into the lake. He had in fact used a dozen submersible drones with cameras to map out the lake in the second week of December so he had no problem finding things. A few of those drones placed markers around the lake bed Harry's sub could use to triangulate its own position in the lake and the position of everything else.

Back on the surface and watching the screens, Bagman was slightly upset the spotlight had been taken from him. On the other hand, if Harry had done nothing then the whole group would spend the next hour watching the surface of the lake waiting for something to happen. He decided to see it as an opportunity and took his time to consider the applications.

Those who watched the monitors suddenly gasped when the lights turned back on and the giant red squid was looking at Harry. Its enormous body completely dwarfing the small submersible. A tentacle reached out and wrapped itself around the sub, bringing it to the creature's eye. Harry turned the camera and dimmed the lights so it could be seen clearly.

Harry turned on the mic and said, "The bane of ancient mariners and students at Hogwarts, should the latter decide to go for a dip in the lake. Or at least that's what the chocolate frog card says."

The squid released the sub and swam away a moment later. Harry continued, "The card isn't quite accurate however. This squid is ticklish and enjoys bread which some students often throw into the lake. This fellow is also known to scoop up any first year who falls out of the boat and drops them back in. It is of course a magical squid, as the non-magical types are not ticklish, do not live in freshwater, and do not eat bread."

Harry let the lights shine on the ground for a few moments revealing a lack of anything before saying, "To the village!"

Hermione couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at Harry's narration. She looked around and confirmed most of the audience was engrossed in the monitors. Up to this point Harry hadn't used a single spell so she wondered how he would be judged.

Ten minutes later the monitors showed some grindylows approach the sub and try to grab something. However nothing they grabbed felt like flesh so after a few moments they got bored and left Harry alone.

Harry dimmed the lights further as the next area seemed to be magically lit.

The monitors showed the whole of the Merpeople village to many who had never seen it before. One of them approached Harry's sub and the monitor showed Harry waving back and smiling. The merperson swam away and the others simply stood outside their houses and watched Harry's small sub float past them on the underwater street.

Harry turned his mic back on, not because he had something to say, but because the merpeople were singing and he felt the audience might want to listen.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took.

Your time's half gone, so tarry not,

Lest what you seek stays here to rot."

Harry's face went a bit stern at that last line. He continued into the heart of the village where he saw a large statue of a merperson and tied to it by a cord of bundled weeds was four humans.

Harry asked into the mic, "Which one's mine?"

Sirius seemed more than a little amused and asked Dumbledore, "Which one is Harry's?"

Dumbledore sighed when he remembered that his first pick and second pick had both figured it out ahead of time and refused. He said, "Ronald."

Sirius said back into the mic, "Dumbledore says it's Ronald."

Harry asked back, "Who?"

Bagman said, "The small ginger boy," which Sirius repeated back.

Harry noticed that one of the hostages was indeed the redhead he played chess with. He wasn't particularly great with faces, especially underwater.

The location with the statue seemed to be a village square of some type and was surrounded by merpeople, most of which carried tridents. Luckily Harry's sub really wasn't that large so it did not appear threatening to them.

It approached the hostages and Harry was inwardly glad he went with a sub instead of drones. How would drones free a bound hostage? Harry's sub of course had many extras built in for many circumstances. But there was something he had to do first.

Harry spoke into the mic and said, "Hey, I need confirmation, will any hostage that doesn't get rescued actually be left here? I need someone to tell me otherwise or I'll get them all and damn the tournament." The camera shifted to the little girl floating in the water.

The judges discussed this and determined there was not much point in leaving it out now. Dumbledore said, "The song is merely for atmosphere, no harm will come to those left in the care of the merpeople."

Sirius said into the mic what Dumbledore told him and Harry let out a sigh of relief. He said, "Thank you. That being said..."

A mechanical arm came into the monitor screen and placed something against the red headed hostage. It suddenly attached itself to him like a belt. Harry then attached another object to him which looked like a block with a fan.

Harry then used an arm that had some sheers on them to cut the rope. The yellow belt suddenly inflated which caused the redhead to quickly float to the surface. Harry switched the monitor feed from the front camera to the top camera. The merpeople around the village watched with interest and wondered what was going to happen. A moment before the hostage reached the surface, the inflated belt massively increased in size and became a raft that held the redhead above the water. The block he attached turned on and started dragging the raft in the direction of the shore like a small motor boat.

Harry however piloted the sub off to the side and parked it there. He said back into the mic, "I hope you don't mind if I make one hundred percent sure."

Harry wasn't aware of it but the mother of the little girl was watching from the audience and was more than thankful that someone was keeping watch over her daughter.

The rest of the audience had no problem with Harry as they now had the best seat in the house. The monitor had a full view of the statue and the remaining hostages so they'd be able to see what happened themselves.

The judges were simply going to rely on what the merpeople told them had happened to score the contestants, but now they didn't have to.

Harry's hostage had awoken in his raft that was currently speeding towards the shore. His brothers told him Harry would definitely rescue him but this was certainly not what he expected. Where was Harry? His raft arrived at the shore and he was met by people with blankets who explained what had already happened.

A few minutes later Cedric came by and spotted Harry. He had a bubble head charm and swam up to the Gryffindor first year and practically shouted, "Really Harry?!" He had no idea he was on television and that his reaction earned an assortment of laughs from the crowd. He shook his head and took out a knife to slice the ropes and free his hostage. Harry was tempted to give them another raft but decided against it. He already helped him enough.

Another few minutes passed and a half man half shark appeared wearing a Durmstrang uniform. He too took a long look at Harry's sub while Harry waved back at him. The seventh year seeker tried to rip through the rope binding his hostage with his hands but they were too slimy and thick. If the man asked for help he'd give him a knife but offering before he asked would be insulting. After a few moments of looking Victor found a sharp rock. He actually attempted to get one of the merman's tridents but they laughed at him. He used the rock to slice the rope then grabbed the line with his shark jaws and swam away.

A few more minutes passed and Harry said into the mic, "Time?"

Sirius said, "Fluer's out. Seemed she got attacked by Grindylows. Times up in two more minutes so if you have another of those boats feel free to use it."

Harry's sub approached the statue again. One of the merpeople said, "Only one," through his glass. Harry said back, "I'll wait till time's up in a minute ok?"

The merperson thought about it for a moment before nodding.

Sirius said though the mic, "Time's up pup, bring her home."

Harry already had an arm positioned to place another belt on her. He then attached not another motor block but a line which tied her to his sub. Harry cut the reed corded rope and the belt inflated again. This time Harry's sub rose with the hostage and the moment it reached the surface and turned into another raft, Harry floored it and sped the sub towards the shore. At full speed the kilometer back to shore was traversed in a few minutes. The sub landed ashore where another woman quickly made her way to the raft Harry was dragging and grabbed the little girl into her embrace.

Harry opened the sub hatch and stepped onto the shore, still completely dry. Sirius chuckled and walked over to the sub to shrunk it for Harry as per the plan.

Harry could tell from his smile that Sirius had a very good day.