Chapter 31: The End of a Toad

A few weeks after the Fourth Task, Fleur caught up with Harry while he was outside practicing spell chains with Flitwick. The diminutive professor had been gradually pushing Harry towards doing some of the simpler chains silently and while he could get most of them down they weren't very powerful yet. "Excuse me, Professor," said Fleur. " 'arry, Madame Maxime has requested to speak with you and Professor Babbling as soon as possible."

Flitwick shrugged good-naturedly and holstered his wand. "That's quite alright, Miss Delacour. Harry, continue to practice strengthening those. You're improving quite nicely."

Harry, breathing hard, nodded and put his hands on his knees as he doubled over. "Sure…thing…Professor." Flitwick chuckled and headed back inside. After a minute Harry finally regained his breath and stood straight. "Shiva's on break at the moment. We can go grab her now and head over. What did Madame Maxime want?"

"I do not know," Fleur shrugged. "She simply said zat it was quite urgent and zat both of us and your guardian should be zere. Ze phrasing was worrying but she did not seem flustered so whatever ze discussion is I don't zink ze zreat is anyzing immediate."

"So it might just be something about the final Task?" Harry asked. Fleur nodded and threaded her arm through his.

They walked through several corridors only passing by a few people – for which Harry was rather thankful. Even after almost three weeks of officially dating Fleur he was still getting quite a few nasty looks and whispered comments. While he couldn't entirely blame them the real issue was that everyone seemed to think of Fleur as simply a piece of meat. They weren't so much complaining that Harry had multiple partners, they were complaining that he 'nabbed the Veela'. It wasn't everyone in the castle, but it was enough to get his blood boiling every time he saw someone whisper to their friend as he walked by with Fleur. Hermione had been required to physically restrain him the first few times.

By now all three girls had found a far better motivator to ensure Harry behaved.

Knocking on Shiva's office door, Harry stepped inside only to find her standing at the chalkboard with her wand stuck in her hair and a determined expression plastered on her face while she tapped her foot staring at the diagram displayed in front of her. Harry couldn't resist laughing at that picture and Fleur started giggling a little as well. "Bit of an issue, Shiva?"

"Hey, kid," she said waving her hand but not looking towards him. "Oh! Here it is!" She reached out and crossed off a rune in the scheme and added a slightly modified one in its place. "Gotcha. Now that will work. What's up, Harry? Oh hey, Fleur," Shiva said nodding to them both as she took her wand out of her hair and cast a quick copying spell on the board, transferring the diagram to a nearby sheet of parchment.

"We need to head over and talk with Madame Maxime about something. We think it has to do with the Final Task, but we aren't completely sure," Harry said.

Shiva raised her eyebrows. "Ooookkkkaaay…you don't need my permission to walk across the grounds, kid."

Harry snorted. "No, I meant Fleur, me and you. Not just Fleur and me."

"Oh, well you should have said that to begin with. Give me a second." The professor cast a quick cleaning charm on her robes, straightened her hair and waved them out of the office. Falling into line with the two Champions Shiva looked at them both critically. "So what does she want me for too?"

Both students shrugged. "No idea," Harry said. "Fleur was saying that she didn't seem frightened, just a little worried." Shiva frowned and lapsed into silence.

The trio made it to the Beauxbatons carriage without incident and Fleur showed them into the Headmistress' office. The large woman quickly stood as they entered and nodded to each. "Hello. Zank you for coming so quickly. I have two guests who wished to speak wiz you all."

Harry and Shiva frowned at that while Fleur just looked puzzled. "Headmistress, zis seems most irregular," the blonde said.

"It is," Maxime said sighing. She took her wand and sent a quick spell towards the door and leaned back. "I assure you zough. No one here wishes to harm any of you. Zis is simply a secure location for ze meeting."

Shiva narrowed her eyes at the other woman, but before she could say anything the door opened again and two more people stepped into the room. Her gaze shifted to the newcomers. Both were dressed conservatively in something that could pass as either demure robes or fashionable Muggle clothes and carried themselves with a sense of authority. The woman smirked in amusement at the three people sitting across from the Headmistress while the man nodded happily at them all.

"Hello, hello! So good of you three to come and agree to speak with us. I apologize for the bit of cloak and dagger but sometimes it's necessary," the man said. He stepped up and offered his hand. Shiva let out a breath and shook her head. She stood to accept the handshake from both the man and the woman as did Harry and Fleur before all five sat down again with the chairs twisted to face each other in a loose arc.

"Newton, you're forgetting your manners," the woman said with a lightly scolding tone. "This is my husband, Newton Fulcanelli and I am Paracela."

"Pleasure," Shiva murmured. "I assume you already know us, but just in case, I'm Bathsheda Babbling, this is Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour."

Paracela nodded. "We do know of you. We've been taking stock of your ward for some time now actually. Manners are always appreciated though."

Harry's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. Fleur stiffened beside him and Shiva subtly fingered her wand. "Taking stock of me how?"

Paracela smiled and shrugged casually. "Nothing dangerous or invasive, young one. Simply keeping our eyes and ears open. We like to determine one's character before we agree to meet with them. The Quibbler was quite useful for once instead of simply being amusing. I must congratulate you by the way. I never would've thought that Xeno would be able to resist printing his conspiracy theories!"

Harry relaxed slightly and snorted. If they knew Luna's father personally then they probably were okay. The man may be not be entirely stable, but he seemed to have a decent head for people from what Luna had said. "Don't thank me for that. That was all Luna. You can't refuse that girl anything and her father is even more wrapped around her finger than the rest of us."

Newton chuckled as well. "Well I for one rather miss some of the wilder stories. We went on several hunts with him in the past to try and track some of the critters he talks about. Paracela and I actually found a few on our own solo excursions some years ago. It's a good way to pass the time."

"I can imagine…" Shiva said trailing off and furrowing her brow. She stared at the two visitors muttering softly, "Why do those names sound so familiar?" Newton sat up a bit straighter while Paracela's mouth thinned into a line.

Harry's eyes narrowed as he stared back and forth between the couple. "Fulcanelli was a pretty famous alchemist…"

Newton deflated slightly and Paracela's grin widened considerably. "Go on," she said winking at him.

"Newton and Paracela…I don't suppose you're named after Paracelsus by any chance? Another famous alchemist?" Harry asked. At her nod, Shiva gasped and stared between the couple.

Fleur just looked between the other four people and grimaced. "I feel I am missing something extremely important in zis conversation."

Harry ignored her for the moment, focused fully on Newton and Paracela. "So then Newton would be for Isaac Newton…Merlin…" He suddenly shot to his feet and pumped his fist in the air. "Ha! I knew it! Hermione and I were right!" He turned back to the two and smiled wide before bowing a bit. "It's an honor to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Flamel." As he said that, Fleur gaped staring goggle-eyed at them.

Paracela chuckled and patted Newton's leg while he sat there looking dejected. "She was sooo close," he moaned. "She would've had it in another minute or two!"

"And yet I still win," Paracela said. "We haven't been back to San Diego in a while. I think this time we'll go to the International Comic Con."

"It's so boring!" Newton whined.

"It's getting better! They have a new logo and location this year!"

Harry stared between the two and laughed. "Why are you deciding on a vacation?"

Paracela saluted him. "Because you won me our bet, Mr. Potter. Every time we switch to a new identity, Newton and I have a bit of an ongoing wager over whether a Muggle-born/raised or a Pureblood will figure out who we are first."

"Well naming yourselves after famous alchemists and keeping the N, P, and F initials really doesn't make it that complicated," Harry snorted.

Newton groaned and held a hand over his eyes. "See that's what I said! But noooo, apparently it's still too subtle for most magically raised. I haven't won the darn bet since the 11th century!"

Shiva gurgled and struggled for words. "11th century…but…you're…"

"Far older than 600 something," Paracela laughed. "I'll grant you, the Nicolas and Perenelle names lasted a lot longer than we had expected. Plus the manner of killing them off was annoying to the extreme, but don't make the mistake of assuming that was the first time we had to do it."

Newton sighed dramatically and lowered his hand looking at Harry, most of the joking expression gone from his face. "You said you and your girlfriend assumed we were alive? When was this?"

"My first year," Harry shrugged. "We weren't sure whether Dumbledore actually believed you would let yourselves fade away or if he just wanted us to believe it, but we didn't think you'd just give up because of one guy trying to steal your stuff even if that guy was possessed by Voldemort."

Paracela smirked. "I don't know what Albus was smoking that year, but it must have been strong. Even just as Perenelle and Nic, we were around for over six centuries. Seriously, to think we'd just roll over and die between a single upstart tried to steal our fake things…idiots. I swear the world is getting stupider every century."

Fleur finally managed to restart her brain and rejoin the conversation. "You are ze alchemist pair?! Ze founders of ze school?! And you are speaking wiz us?!"

"That we are," Newton laughed. "Peace, little Veela, we're just two extremely old senior citizens who like looking after our legacy when we have the chance."

"This conversation isn't just a social visit though, is it?" Shiva said leaning back and crossing her arms. Her comment wasn't a question.

Paracela slowly shook her head and mirrored the other woman's posture. "No, it isn't. We have some information for you that we felt should be passed along."

"Why us?" Shiva asked.

"Well to be perfectly honest, we like you. We keep tabs on the big things and young Harry has impressed us," Newton said. "We were going to consider offering to let you do some research with us in a decade or two. We've come forward a bit earlier as events have started becoming increasingly charged each year. Ms. Babbling, you're a rare one. You'd be amazed at how many educators would've simply looked the other way upon discovering a bit of child neglect. That you not only took control of the situation, but actively worked to assist was extremely impressive. Had you spoken French we would've tried to recruit you to our school."

Paracela took up the narrative as she smiled at Fleur. "And you, Mademoiselle, have been consistently exceptional throughout this year. Your previous school performance was noteworthy as well though not quite as flashy." Fleur blushed and mumbled something unintelligible.

"So, to be blunt," Newton said shrugging, "we would prefer you and your friends survive and flourish. In the interest of assisting in that endeavor we're willing to pass along some…interesting bits of info every now and then. Such as who we believe to be behind the mockery of fair play that this Tournament has become."

"Well the Umbitch is obviously involved," Harry said narrowing his eyes. "From what Fleur's said though, her father should be taking care of her soon enough."

"Oui, he has most of ze necessary documentation and Fudge is starting to back off from shielding her. She will be gone by ze time ze Final Task is complete," Fleur said fire flashing in her eyes.

"Ah, but do you suspect who pulls her strings?" Paracela asked.

"There's a couple of possibilities," Shiva said nodding thoughtfully. "All equally worrying and with potentially multiple players involved. The worst options I think are Voldemort, Fudge or Dumbledore. I would've originally thought attempted assassinations wouldn't be Dumbledore's style, but I'm starting to change my opinion on that."

Harry frowned, "I'd still prefer to think that he's simply a manipulative arse, but not evil. It is getting harder and harder to entertain that possibility as this year goes on."

Fleur shook her head. " 'arry, no sane individual would place a zirteen year old Veela in zat lake. I do not care how manipulative you zink he is, he is as bad as ze Toad in my mind."

"Yeah, that was where I hit on him to," Shiva nodded as did Paracela.

"Agreed," Paracela said. "We worked with him for quite a few years in the past. Albus was always well educated and did his homework. He'd have known about the Treaty of Athens and the danger involved. He has a hand in recent events and while it might be subtle it is not idle."

Newton grimaced. "He was a good man once…"

Harry sighed and leaned back into his seat. "Well he certainly hasn't shown that side concerning pretty much anything dealing with my life. Do you have any proof? That's always the problem when dealing with Dumbledore. He's good at working behind the scenes and doing legal gymnastics to avoid being punished for anything."

"Unfortunately, we still lack that proof," Paracela said shrugging. "As you just said, he's good and has been playing this game for a long time. We're continuing to keep our eyes open and investigating a bit here and there, but we mostly just wanted to pass along our suspicions and warn you to keep your eyes on the man. Forewarned is forearmed and all."

Shiva nodded and leaned forwards to fix each with a considering look. "Can you help us at all?"

"Can we? Certainly. Will we? Well…that is an entirely different animal," Paracela sighed.

"You aren't willing to do anything beyond give us a heads up?" Harry asked incredulously. Fleur also looked rather affronted as she reached over to take Harry's hand and squeezed softly.

Newton grimaced. "I wouldn't say that exactly. The thing is though, we made it a policy not to interfere to any large extent. If we stepped in every time things started going to hell we'd quickly become a crutch for humanity. People would stop trying to fix things for themselves and just wait for us to do something. Eventually we'd tire of it, stop helping and then the world would self-destruct when the next self-important idiot stepped forward to cause trouble."

"This country stopped standing up for itself a long time ago," Harry muttered.

Paracela shrugged. "True. But it doesn't change our policy. And besides, we might be unaging, supernaturally healthy and regenerative but we are not immortal. We haven't survived this long by getting involved in every wannabe Dark Lord or master fool that sprang up."

"We are however," Newton said holding up a hand, "willing to help a little. We won't fight your battles and we won't publically reveal ourselves. However…I cannot condone what Albus appears to be doing. If you neuter him we will take care of him."

"Take care of him, how?" Fleur asked shrewdly.

"Leave that to us," Newton said firmly. "Albus is an old friend. Even if I find his recent actions to be repugnant, I have no wish to see him die in prison or be summarily executed."

Paracela's smile had an evil little set to it. "I think you will find his fate rather karmic."

"Please," Harry entreated quietly. He stared at the floor scowling and continued, "That man made me live with the Dursleys and has kept everything he possibly could from me since I was a baby. Shiva and I have been trying to get something on him for almost four years now. Please. I need to know what you're planning before I can agree to let you deal with it."

Paracela looked to Newton with raised eyebrows. He sighed heavily but waved her to go ahead. Turning back to the trio, she smirked. "Well…Albus is quite old. We were thinking he might be more comfortable in a…group setting. Perhaps a…new home. With his magic properly bound up by a nice little potion we invented a few centuries back of course."

Shiva's eyes widened before she started laughing hysterically. "A Muggle nursing home? Seriously? Okay, I vote we let them have the geezer! Imagine how frustrated he'd be trying to tell everyone 'No, you don't understand! I'm the leader of the Light! I must return to my fellow wizards!' It may not be Azkaban but it's certainly prison."

Harry considered that, looking to both Fleur and Shiva before finally turning to the Fulcanellis and nodding. "Okay."

"Excellent!" Paracela said smiling. "You neuter him, either politically or personally and we will take care of the rest."

"We'll contact you if we find anything concrete," Newton said. "I do hope this all turns out well enough. This has been some of the most fun I've had in decades!"

Fudge was sitting in his office with his head in his hands. How had things progressed to this point? All he had wanted was to humiliate the Potter boy a bit. Take him down a peg or two and teach him some respect. Now though…now Fudge was facing political and economic censure from nearly the entirety of the ICW unless he acted soon.

He had given Dolores free rein in crafting the Tournament Tasks and that had been such a foolhardy mistake. Even after he realized the damage she could be doing he'd still trusted the woman to take care of it. Now the French were out for blood, the Scandinavians scented weakness and the rest of the ICW were peering at his administration far too closely. If they actually followed through on their threat to examine his practices for compliance…they'd likely find his special vault. From there it wouldn't be simple disgrace; it would be Azkaban.

Fudge whimpered. He wouldn't let that happen.

"You called for me, Minister Fudge?" Sébastien Delacour asked with a smirk as he stepped into the office and took the seat across from Fudge.

"Yes, yes I did. I've gotten the recent request from your superiors."

"Oh, good. I was hoping that'd come in before the Task started. I am rather displeased that the attempted murder of my daughters has gone unanswered for nearly two months," the steel in the man's voice was frightening.

Fudge shifted several papers around to try and cover his hesitation. "Yes, well it took some time to complete the internal investigation and agree to some of the stipulations…"

Delacour had the audacity to snort. "And your conclusions?"

"Dolores Umbridge is the individual culpable for the continuous safety oversights involving the Triwizard Tournament. She is currently on a leave of absence and left no forwarding address." Which was actually true. He had hoped to be able to contact her and tell her to run. Or at least tip off Lucius so that her memory could be taken care of prior to any interrogations…Fudge sighed. "I can however, say with some certainty that she will be at the Final Task of the Triwizard Tournament. I can arrange for Aurors to be there to conduct the arrest and transfer her to you."

Delacour just smiled and shook his head. "Thank you for the generous offer, but I do believe the French officers will handle the arrest ourselves." Fudge sweated a bit at that. He knew that Lucius had one or two contacts among the foreign Ministry, but their influence was minimal. He'd just have to hope his Undersecretary would be able to resist antagonizing them enough to render truth serum a viable option…or maybe Lucius would know what to do to get around this…

"Yes, of course," Fudge said nodding hurriedly. Better to keep the man happy for the moment. Even if Dolores did spill some secrets she didn't know enough that would see him following in her wake and any goodwill he could engender with the damnable French should be sufficient to at least see him allowed to retire with grace. "Perhaps a peace offering as well?"

"Oh? Such as?"

Fudge pushed several sheets of papers to Delacour. "The Final Task is to be a floating labyrinth. There will be magical creatures and enchantments inside the confines to challenge the Champions, but there should be minimal risk as outside personnel will be immediately on hand to assist if needed. The walls will be transparent to observers as well so everyone should be able to watch what is going on inside. I trust these safety precautions are to your liking?"

Delacour took the diagrams and spent several minutes looking them over before nodding. "This is a runic expansion charm? I am slightly concerned about…oh no, never mind. I see the addition that prevents collapse while personnel are still inside. Excellent." He set the papers down and gave Fudge a genuine smile for the first time. "It's good to see that your government is finally taking this seriously."

"We have always taken it seriously," Fudge said scowling slightly. "I simply trusted my Undersecretary too much and the oversight Bagman was supposed to be providing was horribly insufficient. He will be properly disciplined as soon as the Tournament is over."

"Ensure that he is Fudge. Ensure that he is. We will take care of Umbridge."

Harry caught the rosemary scent of Daphne's perfume as the door to the owlery opened behind him. He lifted a hand in a wave while he kept talking with Hedwig. "I'll be fine, girl. Yes, if I'm not fine I will give you an extra two treats for every day I'm in the hospital wing. And yes, Hermione, Tonks or Fleur will watch out for you if something happens." Hedwig barked and started nipping at his finger. "Ow! No, I'm not trying to pawn you off on my girlfriends! I'm telling you you'll be taken care of in case the worst happens! Hedwig stop!" The snowy owl barked again and glared at him twisting her head. "I told you, I plan on being fine, girl. Okay?" She twisted her head back to him, barked, nipped his finger far more affectionately and took wing back to the rafters.

Harry shook his head muttering, "Crazy bird." Turning around to Daphne he smirked. "How come you always manage to be the one to find me the day before these Tasks and not one of the others?"

Daphne shrugged. "Probably because they look for where you'd go while I look for you."

"There's a difference?" Harry asked furrowing his brow.

"It's subtle, but yes there is." Daphne sighed and stepped up to look out the window. "You should stop trying to hide before these things, Harry."

"I'm not hiding," he said. She shot him a glance with raised eyebrows. "Okay fine, I'm not intentionally hiding. I just like some time to think beforehand. That gets a bit tough when everyone wants to talk to me and go over last minute things."

Daphne sighed. "I know the feeling. Harry, I want to ask you something. And I would appreciate it if you thought about it for a time before answering."

"Okay…"

Daphne kept staring out the window and stayed silent. Harry had started to fidget by the time she finally started to say something. "Harry, I…would you be…are you willing to consider…" she scowled and her mouth clacked shut. "Do you plan to try and win this Tournament tomorrow?" she finished in a rush.

Harry frowned. That wasn't what she had been planning to ask. He didn't need to be taking Divination to know that. Well if she didn't want to ask her real question he wasn't going to force her. "I may not have entered myself, Daph, but I would like to try and win, yeah. I think I have a decent shot at it. While I don't need the money, I can use it to help invest in the twins getting a physical shop location with enough room next door for a Potter Runes shop also in the future. Or I could just donate the winnings to an orphanage or something if they have enough and don't think we need the extra money."

Daphne shook her head, the ghost of a smile on her lips. "Typical. Both noble and practical options. I'll admit I'm a little surprised you're thinking ahead so much. It's…good to see you can make long term plans beyond a year out…"

"Daph," Harry said coming up beside her and reaching out to squeeze her shoulder, "what's going on?"

Daphne turned to look at him and narrowed her eyes. "Why do you have to be so bloody exceptional?"

"What?" he asked shaking his head in confusion.

Daphne didn't bother to respond verbally. Instead she reached out and pulled his head to hers drawing him into a kiss. Harry's eyes widened and he froze. She had barely touched his lips before she pulled back and hugged her arms around herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Good luck in the Task tomorrow, Harry." Without another word, Daphne turned on her heel and practically ran from the owlery.

Harry was left standing and gaping at the door and his vanished friend. "What the hell just happened?" he asked quietly. Hedwig flew back down to his shoulder and barked knowingly. Harry scowled. When his owl knew more about people than he did…there was a problem. He needed to find Hermione. Or maybe Fleur would be better for this.

The door to the Gryffindor Common Room opened and Harry strode through. Seeing Hermione and Luna sitting together on the couch and studying, Harry sighed in relief. "Hey," he said sitting down next to his girlfriend. "I need your help in deciphering the female gender and I can't find Fleur."

Hermione chuckled slightly and put down her notes. "This ought to be good. What's the problem, Harry?"

He threw up some quick privacy charms and frowned looking at his lap. "Daphne just kissed me a few minutes ago."

"Oh." Hermione's amused expression melted away replaced by a carefully neutral one. "And did you kiss her back?"

"I froze. It was rather unexpected to say the least. By the time I realized what she was doing she had already pulled back and all but ran away saying she was sorry…"

Hermione wrestled with herself for a few moments. Eventually she reached over and patted Harry's hand. "While I take fault with her chosen method of intimating interest – "

Harry shook his head and interrupted. "She was trying to work up to saying something when she found me, but she switched gears halfway through. I guess I know what she was trying to say now."

"Be that as it may, Harry," Hermione grimaced. "There was a reason that I put Daphne at the top of the list for suitable partners for you over the summer."

He frowned, thinking back to that conversation before Tonks had been brought into the talk. "Even above yourself if I remember right…"

"I know I am not an ideal partner, Harry," Hermione sighed. "I'm bossy and overbearing. I'm not beautiful, social, political or tactful. Daphne is all those things. She is also far more of your equal in battle situations."

Harry stayed quiet for several long moments. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Mione. None of that should matter anyway!" he exclaimed scowling. "I already have three girlfriends – which are far too many for any one man – and she's dating Tracey! What the hell do I keep doing that makes every female I know go crazy?!"

"Did you know that Tracey and Daphne have been having problems?" Luna asked quietly. Both Harry and Hermione turned to look at the blonde. Luna shrugged. "You must've seen they had issues throughout the year. You are not totally unobservant, Harry."

"Well sure, but they've been better the last few months," he said. "They stopped arguing and started hanging out alone again."

Luna sighed and shook her head. "Daphne has spent so much time with you this year that…well Hermione is not the only one who feels that you two fit very well. Tracey and Daphne had previously come to an understanding. I believe I actually factor into it as well though from the other side. It is quite possible that with the end of the Tournament looming and the potential for further lethal complications, Daphne finally was confronted with being forced to act on her attraction. For her and Tracey, this may be the straw that breaks the camel's back, so to say."

"But…" Harry said frowning in confusion.

"They will both be fine," Luna assured him. "They will remain friends and they may even remain lovers. I don't profess to know the full details of their agreement; you would have to speak with them. The important thing is that both knew and expected this day would likely come for some time now."

Harry scowled. "Now I'm even more confused. And it still shouldn't matter! I'm with Hermione, Tonks and Fleur!"

"Daphne was always going to be a Consort, Harry," Luna said with a sad little shrug. "Her father would never allow for any other option if she wished to inherit any of his estate. She made peace with this as a little girl. As did I after my mother's death – though, granted, for far different reasons."

"Luna," Harry groaned and put his hand in his hands. "You aren't going to try and convince me to let you be my Consort as well are you? Bloody hell I can only have two anyway!"

Hermione shook her head and patted his hand. "Language, Harry."

Luna smiled slightly and chuckled. "I don't know for sure yet, Harry. At this point I don't think so, but I can't claim to know the future. For the moment I think I will simply maintain my courtship of Tracey and remain FWBRs with you."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Luna. "I know I'm going to regret this but…FWBR?"

"Friends With Breeding Rights," the blonde explained with a wide grin. Harry and Hermione both groaned. Luna laughed again and got up to give Harry a light hug. "Relax, Harry. While you will likely have to have a very long, very frank talk with Daphne it does not have to be tonight. The fact that she did it rather impulsively and ran afterwards makes this something better put off for the moment rather than confronted immediately. Instead, rest. Center yourself and focus on the Task tomorrow. Good luck Harry. I'll see you both in the morning." Luna smiled at the couple and left their little contained bubble.

Harry sighed and leaned against Hermione. "Why can't my life ever be normal, Mione?"

Hermione shook her head amused and embraced him. "Somehow I don't think the forces of the universe would quite stand for that, Harry. Go to the Room. I'll find Fleur and Nym and meet you there. We can all talk or simply relax and try to get some sleep."

Instead of moving, Harry just squeezed her hand. "Why aren't you angry with me, Mione? I kissed another girl. I have two other girlfriends besides you. It looks like at least one of our close friends is going to try and make that into three. Why are you okay with all of this?" he finished the last barely above a whisper.

"Harry, I love you," Hermione said softly. "I have loved you since I was 12. I knew the type of crazy roller coaster I was going to be getting in for when I chose to pursue a relationship with you. I won't lie and say I'm fully comfortable with how things have turned out. It would however, be extremely hypocritical of me to berate you for these types of things that are completely out of your control. You need a second wife if you want to stay in this world. Fleur needs someone she is comfortable with and will allow her to maintain her family for at least one more generation. Tonks needs someone who can look at her as more than a sex doll. I have suspected Daphne would be interested in you since she fought with you against that basilisk. This is nothing like what I planned for my life when I was a little girl. But that is a price I am perfectly willing to pay if it means that I get to live with magic and be with you."

She paused and gave a small chuckle. "And I have to extend that statement to Nym and Fleur now too. I admit my feelings for each approach my feelings for you." She pushed him back a bit and glared at him. "And for the record from what you said a few minutes ago, you did not kiss another girl. She kissed you. This is a very important distinction, Harry. It means I can be angry with Daphne and tell her off later. Should you be the one kissing someone other than the three of us…well this conversation would have been quite a bit more heated. Just because I think Daphne is well suited for you does not mean I am willing to have you just up and kiss her without speaking with the rest of us!"

Harry shook his head and grumbled. "I really don't understand girls at all."

"No, you really don't. Most males don't." She shook her head and stood pulling him to his feet and pushing him towards the portrait hole. "Go to the Room, Harry. I'll find the others. Bedroom configuration, please."

Harry relaxed on the bed in the Room of Requirement with his head resting on Fleur's chest while she stroked his bare back. "Thanks for not asking anything, Fleur," Harry said quietly.

She smiled and kept running her fingers up and down his spine sending pleasant tingles through his back. "You will say somezing when you are ready to, 'arry. Besides, Nymph and Mione are not here."

Harry snickered. "Yeah, Nym can really disappear pretty well when she wants, huh? Are you okay for the Task tomorrow?"

Fleur nodded. "Oui. Knowing zat zis is merely a maze makes zings far less stressful. And wiz ze wings clipped for ze Toad…I zink we should be – "

"Don't!" Harry said sitting up and covering her mouth with his hand. Fleur's eyes widened a bit and he could feel her laughing against his hand. "Don't even finish the thought, Fleur. We don't need to tempt Fate."

"Don't need to tempt Fate for what?" Tonks asked as she walked into the room. Her foot caught on a the edge of the rug and she let out a squawk of surprise as she was sent careening into the bed. Harry twisted and caught her half on and half off the bed sending them both tumbling to the floor to the laughter of both Fleur and Hermione. "Ow…"

"At least you landed on something soft. Namely me," Harry groaned from his position underneath Tonks.

Hermione, grinning, walked over and pulled Tonks up while Fleur stayed laughing hysterically in the bed. Harry levered himself up and went back to his previous position. "You make a good cushion, Wonder Boy," Tonks said as she dusted her jacket off and stripped off her boots. "Fleur, already topless I see."

Fleur shrugged. "Well, it is a bedroom. It seemed appropriate."

"Harry, certainly doesn't seem to be complaining," Hermione commented also kicking off her shoes and removing her robe.

"Hey I wasn't complaining about the lack of dress of the hot Veela bedmate. I was complaining they didn't wait for us."

Harry snorted. "Well you should've been easier to find instead of Hermione having to track you down with her Aide."

"Oui. Zis is ze night before ze Final Task. You should have expected us to be sleeping togezer, Nymph," Fleur commented with raised eyebrows.

"How can you pronounce 'Nymph' and not 'that'? 'P-h' isn't that different from 't-h'." Tonks asked pulling off her own clothes and hopping into the bed with them. "And I was busy trailing Moody."

"I can pronounce 'Nymph' because Nymph is cute and not 'zat' because ze t and h togezer are hard."

Hermione frowned. "While the latter half of that explanation makes perfect sense the first part with being able to say something because it is cute is…wait, you're just having us on! Part of your accent is exaggerated isn't it?"

Fleur dissolved into giggles. "It took you zis long to figure zat out, Mione? Most of it is real. I will admit to not putting any effort into improving ze rest zough. I know you zree find it…attractive."

Tonks snickered. "Not the word I would use. Endearing, hot, sexy, alluring. Those are more appropriate qualifiers."

Harry just shook his head. "I am so totally outnumbered here. Nym, did you catch Moody doing anything suspicious? With Umbridge about to be arrested tomorrow, I figure we need to watch both him and Dumbledore in case they try anything daring considering the prime saboteur target is going to vacate the premises."

"Dumbledore being the prime mover here is so frustrating! I still can't believe you spoke to the Flamels about this in person…" Hermione murmured dejectedly. "I hope they want to talk with the rest of us soon…"

"Let's focus on our partners surviving the Task first and then deal with the centuries old pranksters being interested in us, yeah?" Tonks said raising her eyebrows. "In answer to your question, Harry…yeah I kinda did. He snuck out of the grounds using the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. I couldn't follow him any further without risking getting caught unfortunately."

"Sneaking off the grounds the night before the Task? Yeah, that's not suspicious at all," Harry sighed collapsing bonelessly back against Fleur again who proceeded to wrap her arms protectively around him.

"Zis time, I will protect you, 'arry," Fleur murmured rubbing her cheek against his hair. "You have been ze hero enough for zis year."

Hermione growled as she moved to Fleur's other side and pulled them both into a hug. "I quite agree with that assessment. Nym, why can't you just have Amelia arrest him?"

Tonks sighed and fell back against the sheets. One arm snaked under the other three while she stared at the ceiling. "Mostly because he's a retired Auror and we have no proof. Same problem with Dumbledore just a different fashion. Dumbles is protected by his image and the public's opinion that he can do no wrong. Mad-Eye is protected by the law."

"What do you mean, protected by the law?" Harry asked frowning.

"Auror veterans are covered by a lot of extra laws, Wonder Boy. If we arrest an ex-Auror without knowing exactly what they've done and pre-stating it, even if we find evidence against them, it's not supposed to count in the court."

"What kind of stupid idiot decided on that policy?!"

Tonks shrugged. "Actually, it tends to work out really well for us. See, the original intent was to prevent anyone we had put away or pissed off while on the job from framing us for something and then having their buddies do a raid to 'find' the 'evidence'. It's saved a lot of veteran's arses to be honest so I can't really fault the law just because it's inconvenient at the moment."

"So we can do nozing while he hides behind a cloak of legalese and plots our murders?" Fleur asked narrowing her eyes.

"There must be something we can do, Nym," Hermione pleaded with the older woman.

Tonks snorted and lifted herself up to stare at each of them. "Do you guys seriously think I'd let my partners waltz into that maze without taking some steps to keep them safe?"

Harry held up a hand. "I figured you had a plan!"

"Nobody likes a suck up, Wonder Boy," Tonks said with an amused note in her voice. Then her face twisted into a wry grin and looked at him hungrily. "Though I can certainly think of another use for that snake speaking tongue of yours…"

Harry felt Fleur make a deep guttural sound of agreement that vibrated through her chest while Hermione just rolled her eyes. He shook his head and reached over to pat Tonks on her bright pink hair. "Later, Nym. First we need to finish this conversation."

"Always spoiling my fun," Tonks said shaking her head. She sighed theatrically and her tone grew far more serious. "In all honestly though, I didn't want you guys to worry. Bonesy is sending over Shack and a few other Aurors to help me keep watch. Shack and her will be on Dumbles duty along with my cousin. I'll be watching Mad-Eye along with Proudfoot and Scrimgeour. If either of them try anything to hurt you two, we'll take them out before they get a spell off."

Fleur nodded and squeezed Harry tighter. "Good. I am getting razer tired of 'arry continually being injured in zese Tasks."

"Yeah, it's not exactly my favorite past time either," he snorted.

Hermione just leaned into them both and buried her head in Fleur's side. "I hope you both come through this without injury. When I heard you'd nearly died last time…" she let a short sob causing the others to shift so that Hermione was in the middle. "I'm sorry, this is just all so overwhelming at the moment. I don't want to see anyone getting hurt anymore!"

"Shhh," Harry said holding onto the brunette. "We'll be fine, Mione. We always are. We may end up being banged up a bit, but we'll be fine."

"You better be, Wonder Boy," Tonks murmured. "You're not off the hook either Fleur. You're far too hot to get hurt tomorrow."

"I will take zat as a compliment," Fleur said affecting a high class tone and setting her shoulders in a haughty air. Inasmuch as that was possible while still cuddling Harry to her chest at least.

Tonks just chuckled. "As it was intended to be. Harry, to take our minds off of this depressing route, Mione mentioned something as we were coming up about Daphne. What happened?" Fleur lifted her head at that and looked at Harry with interest.

Harry groaned and shook his head. "I have no idea. She kissed me in the owlery and ran away saying she was sorry. Luna said she's interested in the other Consort thing and has been for a while, but didn't want to act until the stress of the last Task coming up brought it to a head and forced the issue."

Surprisingly, Fleur grinned. Tonks on the other hand groaned and lay back down slapping her free hand to her forehead. "Merlin, another one? How do you keep acquiring girls, Wonder Boy?"

"I would say karma, but this is getting ridiculous. I already told Hermione, I can barely handle you three let alone anyone else!" Harry grumbled.

"Well I am certainly not surprised. On zat date to Hogsmeade, I considered joining forces wiz her if she decided to make a move," Fleur said. Three sets of mouths gaped open and three sets of heads twisted to stare at Fleur. She shrugged. "What? She is very attractive, non? It is also readily apparent zat she is extremely skilled for a fourz year, plus she has history with you zree and has proven herself loyal to 'arry above all ozers. I don't really see ze problem."

Tonks snorted. "Well we know where her vote lies. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that at the moment, Harry. Daphne is nice enough and certainly a huge ally, but she doesn't strike me as the type who'd be interested in the rest of us besides you. I mean, yeah, she'd probably be okay with it every once in awhile but it would be primarily just you and her in a relationship – unlike the whole group thing we're trying to make work at the moment." She sighed and shook her head. "Like with accepting Fleur I'm going to default to the majority either way, but I would ask that you wait and have a really long talk with her."

"It's not like I was going to run to the Slytherin dorms and drag her to bed, Nym," Harry said annoyed. "Jeez it took me months to accept Fleur into this relationship and I knew she liked me beforehand!"

"Sorry, Harry," Tonks sighed. "That came out sounding mean. I didn't intend it like that and I know that's not what you would do. What do you think, Mione?"

Hermione grimaced and let her hair fall over her head like a curtain. "Well, I always said that Daphne was a perfect partner for Harry. I was perfectly fine with it when it was just him and me. Now though with you and Fleur as well…Daphne is very much an alpha type personality and while I think she'd do fine with just Harry and one other, I'm not sure how well she'd be willing to slot into this many people. So like you said, Nym, I'd like to sit down with her and see what she expected."

Harry raised his hand again. "Girls, I have zero intention of starting anything with Daphne without everyone sitting down and talking to her. Preferably with Tracey there as well if what Luna was intimating is correct. No matter what it's not something that's happening tonight or tomorrow night so can we please drop it and get to the relaxing?"

Tonks raised her eyebrows and grinned at him. "I like it when you get assertive, Harry."

"As do I," Fleur said licking her lips.

"It does have a certain attractive aspect to it," Hermione commented smiling.

Harry looked at the three women staring hungrily at him and gulped. Something told him it was going to be a long night.

Shiva couldn't stop fidgeting in the seat next to Remus. There were still a few minutes before the Final Task would begin and Umbridge had just shown up. The bitch had the audacity to waltz across the grounds like she owned the place. Obviously no one had bothered to give her the heads up that her arse was about to be arrested and tossed into a French prison.

While two junior Aurors approached the Toad from the stands, Shiva caught her staring at the giant floating egg labyrinth and a huge grin crossing her expression. The professor growled and stood up. "Remus, tell the others I'm going to talk with the Umbitch. She looks way too pleased at the moment."

"They'll be interrogating her," the werewolf said turning to look at the Toad and frowning.

"Yeah, and if she's already acted they might not get answers fast enough. Everything else has been sabotaged prior to the start. I'll let you know if I find out anything." She started pushing her way past the seats keeping her eyes centered on Umbridge. She had just cleared most of the rows when the Undersecretary started swatting away the hands of the Auror trainee who had approached her.

"I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic! How dare you! I will have your jobs and see you in Azkaban for this!" Umbridge's voice carried over most of the crowd and drew several eyes. The Auror said something else prompting Umbridge to rear back in shock. A moment later Shiva saw a snarl curl the woman's features and she raised her wand. The junior Aurors were too slow to react and Umbridge hit them both with a jet of purple light before turning and starting to run towards the Forbidden Forest.

Shiva cursed and jumped over the last partition rolling to her feet as she hit the ground. She started sprinting after the Umbitch while the two Aurors were mobbed by Pomfrey and another witch. Nobody but her seemed to be going after the Undersecretary. "Damn you, Fudge," Shiva muttered as she crossed into the forest closing on her prey. "You made sure the newbies would be the ones to pick her up so she'd get away. Not going to happen. Not this time! I let Pettigrew escape, I'm not letting her get off too!"

Umbridge had obviously never bothered to try running from someone before and made no effort to cover her tracks. Nor did the woman seem to be in shape at all since Shiva could hear her breathing hard just a short ways up the path. The forest path grew darker and darker as Shiva drew the gap shorter. She tripped over a root and stumbled, falling to the forest ground. The impact jarred her Comm Stone loose and it bounced away into the brush but Shiva ignored it and the pain in her ear focusing instead on not losing Umbridge. Scowling at the lost time Shiva quickly picked herself back up and activated one of Harry's Slow Burns to light the way. Assured that she could see the path again, Shiva continuing back on towards Umbridge when a loud shriek sounded from around the bend ahead of her. A satisfied grin crossed her face as she sprinted to finally catch the woman.

Shiva tore around the bend and stopped short with her eyes wide. Her quarry had stumbled directly into a giant gossamer web strung out across the breadth of the trail. Umbridge's wand was lying on the ground several feet away and she was struggling against the web's sticky hold. All she managed to do was get her head turned slightly and wrap herself into the strands even tighter. The woman's face was twisted into a snarl of anger and distaste as Shiva slowly walked forward, wand held high and watchful for any other webs.

"You know, Hagrid has mentioned that there are some Acromantulas if you go deep enough into the forest. Apparently you've found them," Shiva commented.

Umbridge snarled. "Don't just stand there you conceited little woman, get me down from here!"

Shiva tapped her leg with her free hand and frowned. She really should get the bitch down. There was no telling when the giant spider that spun this web would be back. Instead she asked in a voice that was far more calm than she ever would've expected prior to speaking, "Why are you trying to kill Harry Potter?"

"Let me down!"

"Tell me why you are trying to kill Harry Potter, Umbridge," Shiva said again her voice still deadly calm.

Umbridge's snarl rang out and her face twisted into hatred and rage. "That jumped up little half-blood mutt thinks he so much more superior than his betters! He thinks he can get away with insulting and degrading Cornelius?! I showed that little runt who really runs this world! I showed him just who has the power! He is nothing! And his little bitches are nothing! Mudbloods, half-breeds, abominations!"

Shiva felt ice run through her veins and it took all she had not to send a piercing spell through the woman's body. Her lips pulled into a scowl and she had to take several deep breathes before she could speak. "Who put you up this? Who fed you the ideas?"

"You imbecile! Stupid little half-blood! How dare you imply that I'm not intelligent enough to do my own work! Get me down from here and I'll show you how intelligent I am!" Umbridge screamed.

For a brief moment Shiva entertained the idea that the bitch was actually crazy. If she honestly believed that she was smart while screaming obscenities at the only one close enough to help…no. It didn't matter. "Who told you about the Aspect Columns? Who mentioned it would be a good idea to use the extra ward on the First Task?"

"That pathetic fool Dumbledore wouldn't stop touting off about the safety concerns," Umbridge spat. "I saw the opportunity and I took it! Just like any true Pureblood would! He proved how weak he has become in his old age by ignoring what was right in front of him!"

Shiva shook her head in amazement. Umbridge really was this stupid. None of this would fall back on Dumbledore thanks to his brilliant playing of the bitch, but she could at least use this as a chink in his armor. "What did you do tonight? What sabotage is there on this last Task?"

"None of the fools will make it through quickly enough so they will all die! That trumped up half-blood orphan, his creature whore, the blood traitor and the dimwitted muscle have no hope of finishing in time! They'll scream as they're crushed and the world will see what happens to people who think themselves above their place in society!"

Shiva snarled and raised her wand to start and burn down the web so that she could get the bitch back quickly enough to try and undo whatever she had done to the arena. The professor froze solid with her wand half raised as chattering started up ahead and to either side of their position.

Umbridge's eyes widened as two large acromantulas appeared at the top of the web and slowly started coming down the tree line. "Get me out! Get me out you pathetic little worm! Get me out!"

Shiva's eyes flicked from the acromantulas to Umbridge and back. Finally she said softly, "If you escape you would just try to kill him again. You've already tried to kill Harry four times. Five counting tonight. You almost managed to get Fleur and Gabrielle in the process. If I save you and you manage to wiggle free of this…you'll just come at him again and again until either you die or he does."

"GET ME OUT!" The acromantula chattered a soft laugh as it stepped closer to the bound and screaming Undersecretary.

Shiva stepped back and her features went blank. She lowered her wand and activated her Ninja rune stone. "You shouldn't have tried to kill my son. Goodbye, Dolores Umbridge." Shiva's disembodied voice rang as a final bell toll for the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic as she turned and started running back to the arena.