29

"Right, we've got about six weeks till the next task." Xander informed the Champions as they assembled in the classroom set aside for their use. "The Golden Egg you retrieved during the last task holds a clue as to what needs to be done for the next task.

"By mutual agreement of myself, Igor and Olympia you will automatically earn five out of ten for the second task if you can solve the clue. Harry of course will get point five." Xander grinned.

"If you haven't solved the clue by a week before the task we will tell you the clue and the solution but you won't be able to score more than five out of ten in total. Is that clear?"

There were several nods.

"We can't help you but you can get help from your fellow students. So good luck." With that Xander left them too it.

"Are we allowed to help each other?" Cedric asked with a frown.

"He didn't specifically say we couldn't, so we can." Harry shrugged in a relaxed manner as he sat back.

"You don't seem very vorried, Harry." Viktor observed.

Harry grinned and sat forward. "I don't need to solve the clue because they will tell us a week before. Regardless of how well I do, I will still walk away with only one point. Even if I fail."

"But the rest of us are in this to compete." Cedric nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, but I also might get Dad to tell me earlier. I am supposed to be part of the safety measures so I would prefer to have more time to plan." Harry said with a small scowl.

The room was suddenly filled with a horrendous screeching noise that felt like their brains would soon start dribbling out of their ears.

And then suddenly it stopped.

The three young men turned and glared at sheepish young vela. "Sorry, I was curious." She said with an apologetic smile.

"So… banshee?" Cedric queried.

"No, if it vas a banshee ve would be unconscious." Viktor frowned.

"I think I can help you solve the clue if you want." Harry grinned. "I recognise it, let me know if you want my help." With that Harry went off to test his theory.

Over the following week the three official Champions sequestered themselves in the Hogwarts library. They had been provided with unfettered access to all areas including the Restricted Section.

The two foreign Champions soon realised that Hogwarts did not have all the books they had at their schools and Hogwarts had books that they did not have.

"The politicians say this is about co-operation. Perhaps ve should say to our heads that we combine the three libraries and then duplicate them so all students can have access." Viktor proposed.

And so they proceeded to round up the heads including Minerva and Joyce, with help from Harry.

"Sounds like a good deal to me. Everyone gets to increase their libraries." Xander shrugged.

As it was Viktor's idea, he had presented it. He was visibly relieved that he hadn't immediately been shot down.

"But has too many inherent dangers to be successfully implemented." Minerva countered.

"'Ow do you mean?" Olympe asked.

"I would assume that as Durmstrang teaches Fiendfyre, you have books on it as well?" She asked of Igor.

"Of course."

"Those books would not be suitable in our library as our students do not have the same training and temperament that yours do."

"That's what the Restricted Section is for, Min." Xander pointed out. "Any book which we think requires a certain level of responsibility is either held in the Restricted Section or a staff library. Any student who wishes to access it can ask for it, and if necessary we can supervise them."

"That is how ve do it at Durmstrang." Igor agreed.

"I suppose. I am still wary of the idea. I have no objection to us sharing out our library, but I would like us to be extra careful about what we make available to our Hogwarts students. Especially with the unrest and recent war."

"We can share the libraries and see to it that any book we deem unsuitable for general consumption is held in the Restricted Section or a new Head's library stored in the Head's office." Joyce offered.

"Good, I want all the books in the Restricted Section moved to the new library. The amount of times a student has used it without permission is high." Xander scowled.

"It can't be that bad." Minerva argued.

"Yeah? Ask Mr. Innocent over there how many times he has taken a book from the Restricted Section." He said pointing at Harry who was doing a pretty poor job of looking genuinely innocent but would easily land a career in any American sitcom.

"Harry?" Minerva asked with narrowed eyes.

"It was for a good cause!" Harry whined.

"And what, pray tell, were these 'good causes'?" She asked in clipped tones.

"Nicholas Flamel and the Philospher's Stone was the first time." Harry shrugged.

"Why would you need to look in the Restricted Section for that?" Minerva asked in confusion.

"Because Hermione had already checked the rest of the library and couldn't find it."

"And the information was in the Restricted Section?" She asked sceptically.

"Erm… no. See, she couldn't find it because she had already checked the book out." Harry explained sheepishly.

Joyce just chuckled. "Of course she had."

"And the other times?" Xander prompted.

"Actually, that was the only time we snuck in. The only other time was the Polyjuice incident. But Lockhart gave us a permission slip." Harry explained hastily.

"Polyjuice incident?" Igor asked with an amused look.

"We swore never to speak of it." Xander said solemnly. "Hermione can be… creative." He grimaced as Minerva, Joyce and Harry did so in sympathy.

"Now I am very… interested." Viktor smirked.

"You want to be the one to annoy our animagus teacher?" Cedric asked pointedly.

"Ah… I withdraw my comment." He said with an incline of his head. Fleur just giggled at their antics. She had been told the story and Hermione's retaliation to the teasing. It was true that it was harsh, but the boys where such sissies.

"I believe that Viktor's proposal is approved?" Fleur queried.

"Yes, it will take time though." Minerva stated as she received nods from her colleagues. "I assume this came about due to your preparations for the second task?"

"Yes Professor." Cedric confirmed. "Viktor was looking for a book he used at his home school and couldn't find a copy in our library. I believe Madam Pince was… a bit embarrassed."

Minerva rolled her eyes as Joyce chuckled. "She is rather passionate about her work."

"She's also too over-protective of the books!" Harry moaned. "Every time you check one out she looks at you like you stole her baby."

Harry became increasingly worried about Hermione as she tended to shut herself away and work on the project she had going. Emma put a stop to that when Hermione didn't show up for dinner one week when she had come over to join Dan after his First Aid class. Harry, Luna and Neville were given strict instructions to drag Hermione out of her room if she was missing meals.

Joyce decided to forbid them all from working in their rooms and created a study room which could be partitioned for each of them. She would be able to prevent Hermione from entering if she went overboard. The same worked for Harry who had also taken to hiding in his room and working on something.

There was some worry that Harry and Hermione had managed to bypass the alarms on sexual activity as they were both missing at the same time and Harry's door was locked.

Much to Xander and Sirius' disappointment, they had not managed to crack the thousand year old wards for a bit of nookie but were simply both engrossed in their own projects.

By the beginning of the first week of February both Harry and Hermione burst from their separate partitioned study areas with looks of triumph.

"I DID IT!" They shouted simultaneously.

The current occupants of the room they made their announcement to were Xander, Fleur, Nym and Neville. Neville looked like he was very relieved for the interruption.

Xander looked between the two teens as if trying to decide who to go first. So he pulled out a coin. "Nev, assign a side to Hermione."

"Heads." The boy shrugged.

"Heads it is! Hermione the floor is yours, Harry, take a seat."

Harry just rolled his eyes and slumped down.

Hermione floundered for a second as she suddenly realised she was the centre of attention.

"Wait, I think mine would be better if the people who worked on the latest map were here." She said sheepishly.

"Harry?" Xander asked turning to his son.

"And I just sat down." Harry grumbled as he levered himself out of his chair. "Ok, so we were watching Star Wars and they had all these lasers and blasters. I was watching the other champions practice and I noticed that all their spells had different colour lights. So-"

"You didn't!" Xander exclaimed excitedly.

Harry froze for a second. "Possibly… what do you think I did… or didn't?"

"You… actually I'm not sure… it sounds cool though… carry on and ignore me." Xander said as sat back shamefaced as the other giggled.

Harry just rolled his eyes. "I was thinking about trying to make a blaster, but to be honest, our spells are sometimes better. But there is one thing I can't do with a spell. Dad, can you conjure a nice slab of metal?"

Xander waved a hand and a square meter slab of metal appeared that was about two inches thick.

Harry took a step forward and withdrew his wand, he pointed it at the metal and then paused. He looked up and straight at Xander.

"You might not want to sit there." He advised.

Xander's eyes widened and he quickly hustled his girlfriends out of the way.

Harry resumed his position and suddenly there was a red beam of light from the tip of his wand to the surface of the metal. Harry concentrated a bit more and smoke started to rise. Hermione and Xander crowded closer to get a better view.

Harry's red beam was clearly cutting straight through the metal.

"Harry, you are a true genius… and my absolute hero." Xander said reverently as Harry stopped his laser. "All you need to do is come up with a-"

Xander was stopped cold by the sight of Harry standing there with a metal cylinder in his hand and a huge dopey grin on his face.

"Harry…" Xander said with the utmost reverence. "If you do what I think you are about to do… I may just have to offer the last twinkie out of every pack to you."

Slowly a beam of red light extended out of the tip of the cylinder.

Xander fell to his knees.

"All hail the almighty Potter!" He cried theatrically as he bowed down over and over again.

"There was something very… sexual about that." Nym commented, causing the young people in the room to blush.

"NYM!" Xander cried in horror. "How can you sully a moment such as this with crude and profane comments? This is a moment that will go down in history!"

"Only if you are a muggle raised teenage boy." She sniffed in disdain.

"Really? Then why does Hermione look like she wants to drag Harry to the nearest broom closet?" He countered.

Sure enough, Hermione had a look of pure worship on her face. It was making Harry a little uncomfortable.

"Oi! Girlie!" Nym said loudly as she gave Hermione a light punch on her shoulder.

"Huh? Wha?" She asked intelligently.

"You're giving us feminine types a bad name!" She said in a rather gruff voice.

"Oh, no… I mean… Harry has to be part of my presentation. But I need to borrow him to fine tune it and rework some stuff." She babbled as she grabbed Harry and dragged him into the study room, slamming the door shut behind them.

Xander looked up and examined the ceiling for a few moments. "One day they will do that exact move and all the alarms in the castle will go off. I'll be a very happy man that day." He said wistfully.

"Not sure the same could be said of Dan and Emma." Nym retorted. "Wasn't the light sabre enough to make you happy?"

"I just wish he had told us how he did it before he got dragged off."

Harry later explained to Xander how to create his own light sabre or laser.

"First comes the laser." Harry stated. "I knew I could blind people with a wandless Lumos, but more importantly, that I could create light. So I did some research on what makes a laser. I then managed to recreate a laser beam.

"Making a Light sabre was a little harder." At this point Harry made a Light Sabre blade extend from his wand.

"I had to make a tiny shield to sit on the top of the wand and move up to the require length. Plus I conjure a metal handle around the whole wand so it doesn't break when you swing at something."

"You can't do it with out a wand?" Xander asked with a hint of distress.

Harry shook his with a sympathetic look. "Like a Light Sabre needs a crystal for a focus, we need the wand for the same reason."

"Dammit." Xander sighed. "Wait, how do you know about the crystals?"

Harry just stood there shuffling in embarrassment.

"Harry." Xander said sternly as he tried to stifle a smile.

"Fine! I bought some books."

Xander just laughed. "My son the Star Wars fan. Beautiful! Just let me know if you go dressed as a character for Halloween. I'll dress in kind."

"Ha! For laughing at me, you can be R2-D2 to my C-3PO, and I will squeeze you into a transfigured dustbin!"

A few days later and Hermione was ready for her presentation.

"When we finished the new Marauder's Map, I was worried that there were a few things we needed to take into account.

"First, once an intruder is found on the grounds, how are they captured or apprehended?

"Second, how do we deal with the people Xander is allowing to be taught his method of teleportation?"

There were a few scowls sent Xander's way at this.

"First I wanted to work on eliminating intruders that get into the castle. Unfortunately, at the moment I could only make a lethal system that would create lasers to attack intruders based on Harry's work.

"I'm hoping that you can figure out a way of re-directing people or transporting them to holding cells."

"Erm… I hate to point this out, but I think we overlooked someone who should have been part of your group." Harry interjected. "Bill? He's a Curse Breaker, he must know a fair amount about making wards in order to break them."

Everyone just stared at Harry for a good few seconds, making him very uncomfortable.

"DAMMIT!" Xander exclaimed. "Right, after this I'll go grab him. Carry on Hermione."

Hermione just nodded.

"Ok, so the second issue was keeping out or holding in people who can teleport like Xander and Harry.

"I went through various failed avenues before I decided to try an experiment based on something that happened on Xander's first morning after he arrived in the castle years ago."

Xander was getting a bit nervous, wondering about what he might have accidentally done now… or then.

"He helped show me with Joyce that magic only affects unshielded electronics. So, if the electricity was powerful enough, would it be able to over power the magic.

"This is where a lot is still theoretical.

"What would happen if someone tried to teleport through a electrified fence or field?"

Xander turned to Harry with a solemn look on his face. "My son, you have found your perfect woman. You make the sci-fi weapons, she makes the sci-fi shields."

Hermione just rolled her eyes as Harry blushed. The others looked on in confusion and bewilderment.

"Yes, well, we still need to find a way to safely test it." She said with a hint of annoyance directed at Xander.

They all sat there for a few minutes pondering the problem of how to safely test Hermione's shield idea.

Eventually Harry sighed and spoke up. "I think this might be a question for Bill and the goblins. They must have a safe method for testing wards, if that fails, can't we try the old spoon through a chair method?"

"'Spoon through a chair'?" Sirius queried.

"When Dad first came up with the phasing thing the question was 'what would happen to photographs hanging on a wall or cutlery on a table if you phased through them?' Would they phase through the hangings or table, or would they simply stay put?

"So we put a spoon on a chair and Dad phased through the chair, the spoon was unaffected."

"For the record, Harry put the spoon on the chair. That whole test was his idea, and it was a great one and a good place to start, after all, thanks to Neville we can teleport objects to a place without having to accompany them." Xander said proudly.

After a quick tutorial on how to create a laser by Harry, he and Xander left the experts to do their stuff. It was only a day later that they had successfully proved Hermione's theory of electric fields and fences preventing magic. They still had to figure out how to implement that on the castle or homes. This task was assigned to Hermione whilst the others focused on redirection wards.

Xander was over the moon later that night when Harry and Hermione presented him with his own lightsaber.

"How?" He asked as gazed lovingly at the green hued blade of light.

"Hermione needed a way to make the lasers without needing a wizard or wand. She did it through a light creating rune. That metal cylinder has the necessary runes etched into it." Harry explained.

Xander switched his brand new lightsaber off and grabbed the pair into a hug. "You guys are the absolute best!"

Hermione was sure Xander was crying… he was such a baby.

A week before the second task, Xander called the Champions together.

"So, I know Harry figured out the clue, how did the rest of you do?"

The three proper Champions shared a look of uncertainty.

"Viktor was able to recognise it for Mermish, but we don't think we fully understand the message." Cedric explained.

"Any particular part?" Xander asked.

"What is the thing that will be 'sorely missed'? None of us wants to even entertain the thought that a loved one will be down there." He said a little desperately.

At this point they were interrupted by two low growls as neither Xander nor Harry looked very pleased.

"I promise you that we did fight this one tooth and nail, but the something sorely missed is going to be a person you know."

Fleur gasped in shock. "Who?"

"Gabrielle, Luna, Hermione and Cho." Harry said with a slow smile.

"What?" Cedric asked suspicious of Harry's expressions.

"What you don't know can't hurt the ones we love. I can promise that they will come to absolutely no harm." Xander grinned.

"We can't tell you more otherwise you could be accused of being cheats or disqualified. Just… trust us on this. By the time you exit the lake you will be holding your loved ones in your arms." Harry assured them.

"Vhy Luna?" Viktor asked curiously.

"Because you live a very solitary life and they can't trick your parents into doing it so they picked your Yule Ball date." Xander rolled his eyes.

"Trick? So they know they are wrong?" Fleur scowled.

"Trick is the word I used, they were smarter than that." Xander admitted. "All you need to do is get to the 'hostages'" he said with air-quotes, "and return them to the shore. The Mer-People will be guarding them and keeping them safe until you get there.

"If Harry gets there before anyone else, he will stay until you have successfully retrieved your 'hostage' or he will return to the surface with all of them.

"Questions?"

"Why didn't they choose you or Nym for my hostage?" Fleur asked.

"Because they think a child will be more exciting." He scoffed. "I could have vetoed it, but it was safer this way. They would have likely kidnapped someone else. We currently have perfect control over their safety."

"Can we teleport?" Cedric asked.

"No, that is the only thing they have said you can't do."

"Please remember that exact sentence Dad just used. It might help you come up with a plan." Harry added anxiously.

It was freezing. Warming charms had been cast over the entirety of the spectator stands which surrounded a large area of the lake shore. Seating capacity had been increased as more people wanted to see it despite the tragedy of the first task.

A small dock was constructed on which stood the Champions and Xander, above the lake hovered two large screens and Sirius and Sal, both assigned to watch Viktor and Cedric respectively. Xander would be watching Fleur.

Harry was sequestered in a triangle formed by the other champions who were attempting to shield Harry from view and lessen his stress. Harry was in turn, pushing himself gradually out of the triangle as he tried to overcome his fears.

They were dressed in their wetsuits covered in bathrobes, which Xander had conjured for them after it became obvious that Fleur was… cold.

Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the second task of the Tri-wizard Tournament!"

"How can it be the 'tri-wizard' tournament when there are four champions?" Cedric asked.

"Only three tasks." Viktor grunted causing the others to snicker.

So did the rest of the crowd as the Champion's hadn't realised that the dock was charmed to relay what was said there to the crowd.

"Yes, erm… the… task… where was I?" Ludo stumbled as lost his place in the champions comments.

"Shut up and sit down Bagman." Xander snapped.

"The task is simple, in theory." Xander added with a mutter. "The Champions are to traverse the lake and 'rescue' their 'hostage' from the mer-village. They then need to bring the hostage back to shore.

Xander then pointed to the left screen above the lake. "On the left, we have a map of the lake and it's inhabitants. On it we can track the progress of the Champions towards the clearly marked hostages.

"On the right, courtesy of our French guests, we have a team of underwater camera experts who have littered the lake with camera's so we can watch their progress.

"All safety precautions have been taken, but please pay attention to the ushers in the event of an emergency."

Said ushers were volunteer werewolves, tonight was a full moon, but thanks to Xander they were neither tired nor depressed.

"Now, without further ado-" And Xander blew his whistle causing the Champions to glare at him and cries of pain to echo through the stands.

"Amplified sound." Harry growled.

"Oh yeah, anyway, off you go." Xander said sheepishly.

Three of the Champions shed their robes and dived into the icy water, Harry just stood there.

"Sporting chance?" Xander asked his son.

"Nope, just wanted to see if they paid attention to what they've been taught." Harry shrugged.

"And…?"

"They need better training. You might need to teach them some stuff or stand in and watch as the rest of us teach."

"They seem to be doing ok." Xander frowned.

"They could be at the hostages by now!"

"No teleporting, remember?" Xander said pointedly.

Harry sighed and shrugged off his robe, he floated a foot off the ground and waved sarcastically at Xander before zooming across the water.

"Oh, right. My bad." Xander winced. There was laughter through the crowds and Xander remembered that they could hear what was said.

Harry was once again looking for the most boring route to the end of this task. Plus he had to stick around by the hostages to make sure everything went smoothly. So rather than traverse the icy waters of the lake, he flew to where he knew the mer-village and hostages were.

When Xander had arrived in this world, Harry had had his first experience with bathing. Previously he used showers, or in the case of the Dursleys, a cereal bowl of water.

Harry knew what a bath was, but had only ever seen Dudley use it when they were small. Harry spent some wonderful evenings relaxing in the bath after Xander arrived and playing with his magic. This included making the water do all sorts of wonderful things.

This was why Harry was able to sink into the lake and have the water move back from him so he landed on the dry lake bed where he could see the hostages in front of him and the mer-people laughing at his method, some of the younger mer-children would come up and poke their hands into Harry's area where he would get into playful slap fights whilst waiting for the other Champions to arrive.

The hostages were lying on the bottom of the lake with their arms crossed over their chests and their eyes wide open and staring forward sightlessly.

Cedric decided to make full use of the Bubble Head charm. It was within his range of spells and allowed him to cast spells. Unlike the Gillyweed that Xander and Harry used which required silent casting.

Having been told in advance that Cho would be his hostage, he had, with her permission, placed a tracking charm on her. Only the charm said she was back on shore but the mer-village was in the opposite direction.

He seemed to have screwed up the charm. Cho would never let him live this down, pitfalls of dating a Ravenclaw. Of course, she had helped, but she was only a fifth year, so she had an excuse.

Cedric decided to simply swim for the centre of the lake. He had a back up plan in the form of the Point Me spell.

Viktor was a fair hand at self-transfiguration. He had transfigured half of his body into a shark.

Said half was his upper half which left him incapable of performing magic. But at least he could breathe and track under water which is what he needed. He wasted no time in heading towards the mer-village.

Fleur, like Cedric, had gone with the Bubble Head charm. It was relatively simple for her age group and allowed the use of magic.

As for tracking, the previous week Sal had given them tours of the mer-village with gillyweed, he allowed them to explore the lake as well. Gabrielle had always loved her big sister and demanded that she read her fairytales before bed. Using that as her inspiration, she had left several trails of 'breadcrumbs' in the form of white pebbles.

She was making good progress, the lack of streamlining on the bubble made it difficult to maintain any speed and also forced the swimmer to work harder.

As Fleur reached a veritable forest of vegetation a small creature darted out and grabbed her leg tightly. Recognising it as a grindylow, she reached down and broke it's fingers thus freeing herself. She swam forwards less than a meter when another burst out and grabbed the other leg. By the time she reached down to break it's fingers a third had attached to the previous leg and more were clearly approaching.

Fleur quickly drew her wand and cast a banishing charm at the incoming grindylow as she ignored the biting and griping on her legs. This gave her some space to free her legs. But the grindylow were too fast and they swarmed her, quickly grabbing her limbs and her head, some even trying to grab her torso. All of them biting at her and squeezing tighter and cutting off the blood flow.

Fleur screamed as her magic failed and the bubble burst, this only allowed more grindylow to grab her.

Fleur felt her consciousness slip away as she sank deeper into the lake.

There was a sudden feeling of lightness and then she was gasping in air as she felt warm hands on her limbs, she could hear sounds of breaking and feel the grindylow fall away.

When she was finally free she felt warm strong arms lift her up and then the feel of air rushing past.

She opened her eyes to find herself safely in the arms of Xander as the lake fell away behind her. He didn't say a word as they landed on the shore of the lake.

There were shouts and curses thrown over them and Fleur realised that the grindylow were actually leaping out of the water at them.

Xander waved a hand and conjured a metal wall. Soon all that was heard was the sound of grindylow hitting the wall over and over again.

As the excitement bled off Fleur she suddenly remembered the whole point of the task.

"Gabrielle!" She screamed.

"Easy!" Xander soothed as he held her tighter. "Remember what I told all of you, I wouldn't let any harm come to the hostages, besides, Harry is down there waiting for everyone to come, if the time runs out he will bring back the remaining hostages."

"Actually, I had him bring them all back now." Sal informed them as he flew over from the lake. "We have no idea what is happening with the grindylow and we can't risk the same thing happening to the others. The warriors of the mer-village are escorting them now." He said indicating the two screens over the lake.

They could see Harry, Cedric and Viktor calmly walking along the lakebed as the water parted in front of them and the hostages floated behind in their wake.

"Oh god, he's gone theatrical again, worse than Albus Bloody Dumbledore!" Xander moaned.

"It's your fault for making us watch that Heston Marathon!" Nym admonished as she came up and hugged them both. "I thought we almost lost you." She said as she held Fleur tightly.

"We were foolish to worry, Xander was there after all." Fleur whispered back.

Eventually, Harry approached as the other two Champions headed off to the medical tent for evaluation, he left the hostages lying nearby on conjured beds.

"Fleur, I would just like to thank you for taking my place for life threatening situations today." Harry grinned.

"Harry!" Nym said in horror.

"Oh no! You don't get to raise a fuss when I make jokes about you lot facing death and danger. Not after all the jokes you made about me!" Harry scowled.

Nym had the grace to look apologetic.

"If we don't laugh we cry, right Harry?" Xander smiled at his son.

"And if we don't cry, we die."

"Morbid… but true." Xander admitted.

"Right. Now, why don't we call in the real girls so Fleur knows Gabrielle is fine."

"Real girls?" Fleur asked.

"I did say your loved ones would never be in any danger." Xander reminded her as the four girls were teleported in by Hermione and Luna.

Fleur's head snapped back and forth between the four motionless bodies lying on the shore and the little girl that looked like her sister running towards her.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS DECEPTION?" Crouch boomed as he stormed over.

"What's the big deal? Hostages were needed, hostages were provided." Xander shrugged, not at all phased by Crouch's tantrum.

"The hostages were supposed to be something they would 'sorely miss'!"

"They also weren't supposed to get them back after the hour… but we both know that wasn't going to happen… or are you saying you were going to let the youngest daughter of a foreign official die?"

"I-That-IRRELEVANT!" Crouch screamed.

"Well, perhaps you would like to explain to the man behind you why you were conspiring to kidnap and kill one of his colleagues daughters."

Crouch spun around to find himself face to face with the French Minister of Magic and his Deputy, Alain Delacour. And behind them, several imposing men in suits.

"I believe we 'ave much to discuss, Monsieur Crouch." The Minister snarled.

As the Frenchmen walked Crouch off, Fleur turned to Xander as she held her sister in her arms. "If this is Gabrielle, who are they?" She asked indicating the four motionless bodies.

"Four French female Aurors who volunteered to take Polyjuice and be petrified by Slinky. The petrification was Harry's idea. They are pretty safe in that state."

"But they will be stuck like that till July when Mandrakes mature." She argued.

"Haven't we told you about Harry's adventures in his second year?" Nym asked with a grin. "Might as well wake 'em up Harry."

"Shouldn't we deal with the grindylow first?" Harry asked, they listened for a second to the sound of the grindylow still trying to get to Fleur.

"Wake the Aurors first." Nym ordered.

Harry sighed. "Fine, but you can chaperone, I don't wanna get slapped!"

"Just watch." Xander said seeing Fleur about to ask.

Fleur saw Harry march over to the polyjuiced and petrified Aurors and kneel down by the first and place his hand on the chest of the one looking like Cho. Harry's hand glowed and the glow spread through the girl who suddenly gasped and sat up.

As Harry moved on to the next girl the first one began to morph as the Polyjuice wore off.

"I can understand Harry being able to do the things he does… mainly by not trying to understand, but how did he get the Polyjuice to wear off?" Fleur asked.

"We didn't actually petrify them until the Polyjuice started to wear off, that way they wouldn't have to walk around in front of everyone in someone else's body." Xander explained.

"What about the grindylow?" Hermione asked. By this point the Heads of School's had all gathered, including Sal, Sirius and Rick. Nym and Harry had also returned.

"It could be scent based, how about a full body bubble?" Sirius suggested.

"Allow me." Minerva offered as she drew her wand and formed a large bubble around Xander, Fleur and Nym.

They stood for over a minute just to make sure, but the grindylow were still coming.

"Next." Sirius sighed.

"What if someone put a charm on Fleur that attracts them?" Hermione suggested.

There was a few moments as they considered this before they all turned to Remus, who just chuckled.

"I suppose it's possible, Fillius would be able to tell us more."

"How about we just try a finite?" Harry shrugged.

"Quick and simple. I got this one." Sal said as he stepped forward.

"Finite Incantartum"

There was a slight drop in the hitting of the wall before it picked up again.

"We appear to be on the right track." Remus mused.

"Harry, wandless and non-verbal." Xander instructed.

Harry nodded and stepped forward, he focused and waved his hand at Fleur who was still seated in Xander's lap with Nym holding her. Gabrielle had gone off with her mother when Crouch was dragged away by the French Minister.

"Erm… oops!" Harry exclaimed as he darted forward and touched Nym's shoulder making her invisible, something else that Neville and Xander had cooked up to compensate for not having a cloak like Harry.

"Define 'oops'." Nym's disembodied voice growled.

"I accidentally cancelled your metamorph… erm… state."

"Thank you very much, Harry." She snapped sarcastically.

"On the bright side, the grindylow have stopped." Hermione offered.

Godric peered behind the metal slab. "Yes, the last is just re-entering the water."

Xander dispersed the metal wall protecting them. "Why does everything seem different?" He asked in confusion.

"Harry appears to have cancelled your wolf eyes as well, your patch is back." Nym explained.

Xander's hand shot to his face, he glanced at Fleur before vanishing causing her to squawk in shock as she fell back without Xander to support her.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"No." Joyce assured them. "Just some… insecurities that have come to light that Xander didn't realise he had." She turned to Nym and Fleur. "Girls, come with me and I'll explain things."

"Mum, the tournament?" Sal interjected.

The little group of friends and family suddenly looked up and realised that everything they did and said was heard by the attending spectators.

"Crap!" Harry vanished.

"Crouch can sort this mess out. Go find him and make him deal with it." Joyce ordered as she popped out taking Fleur and Nym with her.

Xander was sat in the quickly darkening room of their home by the Grangers. It was the only place he was used to not having two eyes. He couldn't exactly walk out into the non-magical world with a pair of wolf eyes. Nym, Harry or Hermione usually had to remind him to revert. There was even a sign on the back of the front door that read: 'Are you wearing the right eyes?'

The home was currently empty as the Weasley family had moved back to the Burrow, Dan and Emma often entered the house to do some light cleaning. Dobby would pop over and turn the lights on and off to give the impression of being lived in.

But Xander was alone in the darkening living room just trying to wrap his head around the burning question of the day. Why had he fled from the school when he realised his wolf eyes were gone.

Xander struggled to be honest with himself, he had fled from Fleur so she couldn't see his eye patch.

He could handle Nym and the others as they knew him before he attained his werewolf form. When he and Nym slept at night they both reverted to their natural forms, they were comfortable with each other and more often than not would have sex in their natural forms.

So why was he afraid of Fleur seeing him like that.

Not afraid, ashamed.

He felt shame when Fleur had tried to touch his face.

"There you are!"

Xander jumped in surprise at the sound of Nym's voice from behind him.

"God, Nym. You almost killed me." Xander muttered as he sank back into his chair.

"Pfft, you've been through worse." She said dismissively. "Are you done sulking and being broody?"

Xander looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You've been talking to Joyce about Angel, haven't you."

"Well, she simply had a chat with us and told us to 'go find him and stop pulling an Angel'." She said with a grin.

"Joyce told us what happened to your eye." Fleur said softly.

Xander shifted uncomfortably, but Nym simply drew her wand and enlarged the seat around him so she and Fleur could sit on either side.

"Joyce felt it was important for us to know that you lost it trying to save a girl from an evil man. Not to mention the callous and horrific way it was destroyed." Nym spat.

"Why did you leave?" Fleur asked maintaining her soft voice.

Xander began to fidget again and sat forward putting his face in his palms. "I… I was… ashamed."

"Of… me?" She asked with hurt in her face and voice.

"No!" Xander was quick to assure her. "I… I didn't want you to see me… like this." Xander took a deep breath and let his wolf eyes fade away.

"Xander, show us what's under the patch." Nym said softly as she let her own base form appear.

"But it's disgusting! There's nothing there, just a void." Xander said with panic.

"Then I will show you my horrible form first." Fleur said as she stood up and moved to stand in front of them.

Nym and Xander frowned, not sure what Fleur could possibly show them. Then Fleur started to glow her mouth began to protrude and harden forming a beak, there was a tearing sound as scaled dragon like wings burst from her shoulder blades through her clothes, standing before them was a Veela in battle form.

With no lips, Fleur could only make subtle cooing noises, but her eyes told of her shame and fear of rejection.

Xander instantly stood up and pulled her into a hug kissing her beak before he did so. Nym joined them and did the same.

Xander took a step back out of Fleur's arms and raised a shaking hand to remove his eye patch.

Both girls gasped at the sight, Fleur's form returning to normal, it was truly horrid, a void only partially concealed by a scarred and drooping eyelid. It explained why his eye patch contained sterilised patches on the inside.

They reached forward and pulled him towards them and into a tight hug.

They stayed that way for several minutes before they collapsed into the enlarged chair.

"You should bring back your wolf eyes, Xan. We know you are uncomfortable like this." Nym assured him.

Xander sighed in relief as his vision gained new depths. A grin split across his face. "Plus I can now see you both at once."

They gave him an indulgent smile, but neither was going to let the opportunity for honest revelations pass.

"Xander, why have you never had a glass eye?" Fleur asked. Many glass eyes in the magical world could be enchanted to allow the functionality of the missing eye to be restored, or even enhanced, as with Moody.

But Xander shook his head vigorously. "No, can't stand someone trying to touch my face, let alone my… socket."

"Ok, ok." Nym said soothingly as Xander became agitated. "Your nightmares, most of them are about when this happened, aren't they?"

Xander closed his eyes exhaled deeply. "Yeah, sometimes the girl changes, or worse, Caleb becomes someone I love."

Both girls were shocked at the implication, that at some point, Xander had dreamt that they had been the ones to destroy Xander's eye.

"Xander, I need to go see my father today." Fleur said firmly. "Nym will explain what happened after you left." With that she vanished.