Chapter 22: Farewells

You were right to insist on age restrictions, Dumbledore," Fudge said. "Clearly the stress has been too much for young Mr. Potter. Hysterical hallucinations." He adjusted the cuff of his coat sleeve, making it clear he wanted to leave. Which he would, just as soon as the dementors showed up to collect Barty Crouch. The four headmasters all regarded him with expressions ranging from polite tolerance to outright irritation.

"Would that it were, Minister," Dumbledore replied, forcing himself to remain in the first category. "But I am afraid it is true."

"We cannot induce panic across the entire Wizarding World on the word of a fourteen year old."

"He is not the only witness," Dumbledore reminded him.

"Unfortunately," Fudge puffed himself up, "by his own admission, young Mr. Diggory suffered severe blood loss and passed out. He has no meaningful recollection. Or were you referring to the barking mad, self-confessed murderer?"

"I believe he is speaking of my student," Suoh said.

"Another excitable underage child," Fudge said dismissively.

"You would be hard pressed to find an individual of any age more sensible, honest or well grounded than Fujioka-san," Suoh gave a chill smile, "but he was speaking of Haninozuka Mitsukuni, heir to one of the most ancient and powerful pure blood families in Japan. I warn you, casting aspersions on his character will not be well received."

"Oh come now," Fudge temporized, "you cannot honestly expect anyone to believe that an eighteen year old singlehandedly fought off twenty dark wizards."

"Twenty-five. And if you had ever seen a Haninozuka in a duel, you would not be asking the question."

"Yes, yes. I'm sure your school is full of prodigies," Fudge waived his hand airily.

"And we are lucky zat zat one ees a prodigy," Maxime said. "Otherwise, there might be a death toll zat would end zis competition forever. Zees Eenglish madman disabled one champion, deesqualified another, and tried to keel ze remaining three, all to bring back someone you inseest iz dead."

"Yes well, doing things that make no sense to try to do something that is not possible is sort of the definition of insanity, isn't it?" Fudge said defensively.

"I did warn you years ago, when you first became minister, that I thought he might try to return," Dumbledore reminded him.

"He's dead!" Fudge said loudly. "Dead is dead. There is no coming back from being dead. Now if you'll excuse me," he glanced out the window, "it looks like the dementors have arrived. We'll take the prisoner and go." He stomped out of the office.

The headmasters stood there in silence, Karkaroff rubbing his forearm where it still burned in response to Voldemort's unanswered summons. After a while, he smiled grimly at Dumbledore. "I haf to go, Albus. Your student vas not lying. The Dark Lord is back. The Death Eaters vill come for me. I betrayed too many to be forgiven. They vill not care if there are students present, and they vill kill any student who gets in their way."

"I won't ask you where you are going," Dumbledore said.

"That vould be unwise," Karkaroff agreed. "Just tell my students I ran away. Let them think I abandoned them. If they haf no loyalty to me, they vill be less targets."

"You're a good man, Igor. I am sorry you fell in with them."

The former Death Eater nodded. "I am too; but I vas younger then, and angry and stupid. I became a teacher to stop others from making my mistakes. I hope he vill find Durmstrang a less good recruiting ground than he did before."

Karkaroff turned to go then turned back. "Thank you Albus for giving me a second chance back then. I did not deserve it at the time, but I haf tried to deserve it since."

Dumbledore looked at Madame Maxime. "Zis will become a political quaffle," Maxine said. "And it will likely take a very unpleasant bludger to wake people up. But it will be an easy sell back home to say zat ze reason Beauxbatons finished last is zat we were sabotaged by You-know-who's supporters making a bid for power. Eet is not ze whole truth, but zis half truth will be enough to put people on their guard."

Dumbledore turned to Suoh last. "Do you think he will find followers in Japan?"

Suoh looked thoughtful. "Some of his ideas will always be popular. When I was young, I thought the Statute of Secrecy was stupid. What did it matter if the muggles outnumber us ten to one? It would be like a pack of kittens attacking a Rottweiler; they stand no chance, no matter what the numbers. Then when I got older, I realized it was not meant to protect us from them or them from us, but us from our own worst natures. It is easy to abuse people who cannot fight back, doubly so when the abuse is socially sanctioned. But overall, no. We Japanese have our stupid, mindless prejudices, but they are not the same as yours. A prominent Japanese wizarding family would find less shame in a son marrying a Japanese muggleborn than marrying a French pureblood witch. When all is said and done, he is still a foreigner."

"Ironic, really," said Dumbledore, "since the purpose of this tournament was to break down those prejudices."

"And in that, it succeeded," Suoh assured him. "None of the students who came here will regard foreigners as being less than their equals. And my students will go on to be among the most powerful and influential of their generation."

~oOo~

Madame Pomfrey stared at Harry in shock - his shredded shirt, swollen ankle, gashed and bleeding leg and chest. "What, in the name of Merlin, are you doing out here? Why are you not in the infirmary?"

Harry splayed a hand across his chest to cover the wounds, not sure why he was embarrassed. "Well, you weren't here and..." He never even got to start explaining about the dragons; her exasperated snort cut all that off.

"Get in there right now!" She pointed to the hospital wing. Harry struggled to his feet with the aid of Haruhi.

The dragons watched all this with deep interest. "Is she roaring at him because the blood might attract predators?" asked the Short Snout.

"Blood does attract predators," agreed the Green.

"Yes, she is very smart," confirmed Kasaiana.

"We should go with them and guard them from predators," said Trouble, pleased with himself for thinking of it.

The mothers regarded the humans. "Tomorrow perhaps. It is nest-time for little dragons."

"I am not a little dragon," protested Trouble. "I have a name now."

"You have a name?" started a chorus of baby dragons. "I want a name." "How did you get a name?"

"The little female gave it to me!"

Haruhi found herself surrounded by fledgling dragons an chittering in excitement. "Mori-senpai?"

"She does not know you well enough to give you a strong name," Mori told them. "That will have to come later."

Even without speaking any dragon, Haruhi recognition the disappointed "Awww," as they scampered back to their mothers.

"Could we get moving?" Harry said testily. Now that the adrenaline was fading, his chest and leg were hurting and where his cuts weren't burning, he started to feel cold. And tired. And terrified at what had happened in the graveyard. He sagged against Haruhi more than he intended.

As they moved towards the castle entry, another group converged on them. Two tall, robed figures turn their heads and as soon as Harry locked eyes on them, they veered towards him. He was forcibly reminded that real dementors had an effect ten times stronger than a boggart. Already cold and half in shock, he couldn't make his fingers close around his wand. He felt himself

lose control of his limbs as sounds only he could hear started: his mother's screams, Voldemort's cold laughter, somehow more gleeful now that he was back. Then he heard Kyoya's voice, faint in the distance, "Expecto patronum."

The feeling of crushing despair started to fade. Harry opened his eyes to see a magnificent eagle made of light, wings spread, protecting the group. Then the dementors did something Harry hadn't seen before: rather than fleeing from the patronus, they redoubled their attack, as if more determined than ever to get at Harry.

"Expecto patronum," Tamaki added his spell to Kyoya's. A silvery Labrador retriever lept from his wand and charged. One fell back a pace, then tried to flank the group, still targeting Harry. His knees began to shake in the cold. He went down.

"Expecto patronum!" the twins said in unison. A pair of silvery streaks launched themselves at the dementors, who finally seemed to realize they were not getting around this group of humans, and changed course back to the castle, disappearing within.

"Dementors in Hogwarts!" Madame Pomfrey said in disgust. "Dumbledore will NOT approve.

"Those really hit you hard," said Haruhi, steadying Harry on the ground where he had collapsed.

"Yeah, well, Harry's has much worse things in his past than most people," Ron defended his best friend.

"No kidding," said the twins. They sent their patronuses over to chase away the last of the dementors' auras.

"You patronus is a ferret?" Harry said, watching them gambol around.

"Kaoru's is a ferret. Hikaru's is a weasel," said Haruhi.

"What's the difference?" Hermione said. They looked a lot alike to her.

"Weasels have longer tails, are more wild, untamable, less good company," said Mori.

"Hey now!" Hikaru protested.

"My dad's is a weasel," Ron said.

Harry hid a smile. These guys, with their constant good natured bickering, didn't need a patronus to drive away the gloom.

"But the behavior of the dementors was decidedly unusual," Kyoya adjusted his a glasses in thought. "They are generally opportunistic feeders, fleeing before a strong patronus charm. They don't try to get around one."

"You think they had orders to attack Harry?" Tamaki said.

"Who gives ordered to a dementor?" said Hermione.

"Who indeed?" said Kyoya.

~oOo~

"Now then," Madame Pomfrey said as her peculiar parade reached the doorway to the infirmary, "once we go on in there, I will examine these two, heal their injuries, and put them to bed. I want them to rest. I will not have any loud, boisterous goings on, is that clear?" She didn't wait for the answer, just opened the door

And nearly got run over.

"Harry dear!" Molly Weasley rushed over to hug him.

"Haruhi!" Ranka moved in right behind her.

"Woof!" barked Kuro, jumping up on Harry.

"Enough!" shouted Madame Pomfrey. "These two need quiet and healing!"

"You hear that?" Molly rounded on everybody else in the room. "Quiet and healing!" She turned back to Harry and took his shoulders as she gave him the maternal once over. "Are you all right? Charlie, why didn't you prevent this?"

"Me?" Charlie gaped. "How was I supposed to stop this? I was babysitting dragons the whole time."

"Then why did you bother bringing them back, if you weren't going to tell them to protect these children?" Madame Pomfrey tsked.

"I didn't bring them, they brought me. Bruised ribs, stuck on Gryffindor Tower... ring any bells?"

"Speaking of which..." Madame Pomfrey said as she walked over to one of the enormous leaded glass windows and vanished it.

"What's that for?" said Hermione.

"The last time the dragons came to visit, they melted the window so badly, it couldn't be repaired; it had to be replaced. If they decide to pop in and check on these two, I'd rather not have a repeat."

"Don't worry, Haruhi," said Ranka. "Daddy will stay with you all night long."

"Yes, I will," said Tamaki.

"What?" said Ranka.

"Nothing," said Kyoya, pushing Tamaki back.

"I don't need anyone to loom over me," Haruhi said, annoyed.

"Alright Mr. Potter," Madame Pomfrey said in a brusque tone, "strip off your shirt so I can look at your wounds." She made several disapproving noises. "Hm. Acromantula bite, knife wound, almost as bad as Mr. Diggory. You're definitely staying here tonight. Your shirt off, Mr. Fujioka."

"Um..." Haruhi glanced around at all the guys.

Kyoya whispered something in Madame Pomfrey's ear and she looked at the Ouran guys, aghast. "Are you all insane?"

"Clinically?" Kyoya asked.

"That's it, out!" She pointed at the door. "Out, OUT, OUT!"

"Pardon me Matron," Dumbledore said as he entered the room, "I need a word with your patients."

"Of course you do," She grumbled as she went to get a healing potion for Harry.

"Alone, if you don't mind," Dumbledore said to the rest of the room. "I need you to tell me everything that happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze."

"Then you'll need Honey-senpai here too," said Haruhi.

The small blond boy came over and sat on the foot of Haruhi's bed, swinging his feet back and forth like a little kid, but very much protective of her.

The black dog came over and emphatically sat beside Harry's bed.

"Oh very well, you can stay too," Dumbledore said. "But the rest of you, out."

"I don't know that I have much to say," Haruhi shrugged. "Cedric should have won clean, but it's probably better that he didn't. All three of us touched the Triwizard Cup and it took us to this graveyard. We wandered around trying to figure out if this was another challenge, then Honey-senpai showed up, then a weird creepy man came out of the dark and tried to kill us. Which he would have, if Honey-senpai hadn't been there to save us."

"About that," said Dumbledore, "how did you find them?"

"Do you know what paired vanishing cabinets are?" Honey said.

Dumbledore nodded. "You step into one and step out of another."

"Kyo-chan cast that spell on a pair of lockets. But Haru-chan wasn't cheating; she didn't know."

From the doorway, Madame Pomfrey gasped. "Are you saying a sixth-year cast a spell of that complexity? On something as small as a locket? And you took the risk that it was correctly cast and wouldn't kill you?"

"I didn't risk anything; Kyoya cast the spell."

Madame Pomfrey's jaw set in exasperation. "Not a week goes by that I don't see a student who was sure he could perform a spell that was beyond him."

"But clearly it was not beyond him," Dumbledore nodded at the locket.

"Don't encourage them Albus!" She glared at the headmaster, then started to apply the thick, viscous potion to Harry's chest. She watched in satisfaction as the wound started to close up. "It doesn't look like the knife was cursed, at any rate."

Honey nodded. "That would make sense. Using a cursed knife to draw Harry-chan's blood might transfer the curse to Voldemort."

"Getting back to what happened?" Dumbledore gently reminded them.

"The creepy guy tried to kill us, and Honey-senpai blocked the spell, then the creepy guy called for reinforcements, and they captured Harry and injured Cedric and Honey-senpai told me to bring Cedric back here."

"It was actually two creepy guys," said Harry. "Peter Pettigrew was the one who walked out of the mist, but he was carrying Voldemort."

The dog let out an angry growl. Harry reached down to soothe him, or perhaps soothe himself before telling the rest of the tale. He described every detail of the spell he could remember in painstaking detail. Madame Pomfrey looked up from where she was tending Harry's leg. "Blood, flesh and bone," she observed.

"What does that mean?" asked Haruhi.

"Those are the things that tie a soul to this world. That he used all three means his tie to this existence was breaking."

"It's fixed now," muttered Harry under his breath.

"And then what?" Dumbledore asked.

"Then the Dark Lord challenged Harry-chan here to a duel. Underaged, inexperienced and injured," Honey said disapprovingly. "Was he a bully in school?"

"Yes, he was."

"Then he didn't grow out of it."

"But that doesn't make sense," said Haruhi. "If you use Harry's blood to restore yourself then immediately kill him, doesn't that weaken your own spell?"

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "It would. But it might also tie just enough of Harry's soul in the world that it couldn't move on, trapping Harry in a disembodied wraith-like state, much as Harry trapped him for ten years."

"That's a nasty form of revenge," said Madame Pomfrey.

Harry looked aghast. "You mean I'm tied to him now?"

Dumbledore looked at him sadly but it was Honey who answered. "Blood magic is very tricky; you weren't a willing participant. In this case, it's more like he grabbed you by the hair or your clothing. If you know that's all he's got, you can cut yourself free. It's when you don't know that you get trapped."

"How do I cut myself free?" Harry asked.

"You'll know when the time comes," Honey answered simply.

That sat in silence for a minute before Madame Pomfrey stood up. "That, however, is for another day," she said briskly. She went into her back room and came out with a sleeping potion.

"No thank you," said Harry.

"Mr. Potter, you've been through a terrible ordeal, mind and body. You need sleep to heal."

Harry tried to find a way to refuse again that wouldn't sound paranoid. Fortunately, Honey said it for him. "A dark wizard tried and failed to kill Harry-chan tonight. It would not be a stretch for him to show up and try to finish the job."

Madame Pomfrey looked appalled. "But surely Hogwarts is safe."

"But You-know-who will be desperate," Haruhi said. "What happened at the graveyard did not make him look good."

"For what it's worth," Honey said, "I don't think he'll actually try again tonight; there are too many powerful wizards here. He knows about Professor Dumbledore and the other teachers and me. He may or may not know about Takashi and the Chairman and the other Ouran students and the dragons, but he's probably smart enough to know there are unknowns here. And if he comes for Harry-chan, he has to win; he cannot fail twice in one night."

Further speculation was cut short by a loud row out in the hallway, which only got louder and louder until it was cut short by Molly Weasley's piercing bellow. "Would you keep it down! Madame Pomfrey said Harry needed quiet!"

"Mum, they can hear you in the Great Hall."

"Don't you sass me Bill Weasley. And take that fang out of your ear and get a haircut."

"How did I become the target?"

"It's your turn," said Charlie.

"Would you please stand aside," said McGonagall tersely. "I need to see the Headmaster."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Minerva, you're overreacting."

Harry looked at Sirius, then at Dumbledore. "Is that Minister Fudge's voice?" They both turned and nodded at Sirius. The black dog prudently crawled under the bed as the door burst open. Minister Fudge and Professor McGonagall scarcely stopped shouting as they stormed into the room. Quiet as a shadow, Snape slipped in behind.

"Overreacting?" McGonagall said, appalled. "The man is dead!"

"What has happened?" Dumbledore interrupted them. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva - I asked you to keep watch over Barty Crouch -"

"There's no need to guard him anymore, Dumbledore," she shrieked. "The Minister has seen to that!"

"The Minister summoned dementors to accompany him to the castle," Snape said softly. "The moment one entered the room, it swooped down on Crouch, with the predictable result."

Fudge drew himself up in his most officious manner. "It's true I had not foreseen this and I admit I was too surprised to try to stop the dementor, but what did you think his fate would be? A convicted Death Eater who escaped Azkaban, murdered his father, attempted to murder Harry Potter, abducted and impersonated Alastar Moody, and endangered every child at this school. The only thing you would have gained by stopping the dementor tonight is the cruel satisfaction of telling him he would face the dementors later."

Silence descended as his words sunk in.

"Minister," Honey finally broke the silence, "the dementors attacked Harry-chan out on the lawn. That's twice in one night they acted without your authorization. You may have a bigger problem than you realize."

"I have never seen the like," Madame Pomfrey put in. "They tried to get past a patronus. A well cast, fully corporeal patronus. I initially thought the black haired boy was being dramatic when he said they were acting on somebody's orders, but the boy may be right."

"A child cannot cast a patronus of any real strength..." Fudge shook his head dismissively.

"Minister," Haruhi said, "my friends are many things, but incompetent is not one of them."

"I'm afraid, Cornelius, that we're going to have to face some very unpleasant facts," Dumbledore said gently.

"What facts?" Fudge snapped back. "So far I've heard nothing but wild stories."

"You think Cedric blasted his own side?" shouted Harry. "You think I slashed my own chest?"

Fudge gave him a patronizing smile. "I think the students who went into the maze sustained injuries consistent with the challenges in the maze. I noticed the one student who didn't go into the maze doesn't have a scratch on him."

"You could look for scratches on the Death Eaters who were there!" Harry yelled. "I can give you their names: Avery, Malfoy..."

"Enough!" Fudge shouted back. "Those men were cleared years ago. I knew you still nursed resentments, Dumbledore, but I did not think you would pass along your prejudices to your students. I think it's clear that starting next year, the Ministry will need to keep a closer eye on the curriculum here at Hogwarts. Good day to you." Fudge stomped out of the room leaving the door open in his wake.

The crowd in the hall wafted in, led by Molly Weasley. She took Harry's hand reassuringly. "Don't you worry, Harry. Not everyone is as dense as that fat old fool. People will believe you."

Harry smiled his gratitude, but Bill shook his head. "Don't count on it, Mum. People won't want it to be true so they'll find a reason to disbelieve."

"Whose side are you on?" Ron demanded.

"Harry's," Bill said. "But not preparing for a fight is not going to help you win it."

"I wish the Minister was that wise," said Dumbledore.

"Well, we believe you," said Molly firmly. "And we'll stand by you through whatever comes, and watch over you tonight ."

"That you Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, genuinely.

"And we'll keep watch over you Haruhi," Tamaki said, fervently.

"I don't want you staring at me while I sleep," Haruhi said. "That's creepy."

"You dirty old man, you," said Hikaru.

"I'm not dirty," protested Tamaki.

"And stalker-ish," agreed Kaoru.

"I just want to watch over her."

"The boss is a pervert! The boss is a pervert!" the twins chanted.

"I'm just trying to keep our little girl safe!"

"That's my job!" said Ranka.

"I don't want you staring at me all night either, Dad," Haruhi said. "I'm not five years old anymore."

"But..." Ranka's protests devolved into a series of incoherent noises.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki said sternly. "Daddy just wants to protect you."

"Yes I do!" said Ranka.

"What?" said Tamaki, looking confused.

"Nothing," said Kyoya, elbowing Tamaki out of the way. He walked over to the window frame and raised his wand. "Repello Inimicum Haruhi. Repello Inimicum Harry." Then added softly so no one could hear it, "Repello Inimicum Cor Meum." He turned back blithely, "That should keep out anyone who intends you harm."

"You can do that?" Hermione came over to study the spell. "Cast it on behalf of a single, other person?"

"Magical research, Miss Granger," he said. "You really should consider studying at Ouran."

"She's fine where she is," said Ron hotly.

"Quiet and rest! What did I tell you about shouting?" shouted Madame Pomfrey.

"The biggest dragon roars the loudest?" said Mori.

"That's it. Everybody out! Friends, parents, dogs, teachers, everybody out!"

"Pardon me, Madame Pomfrey, Pr'fessor Dumbledore said ter bring Pr'fessor Moody at the bes' pace he could manage." Hagrid came in with the real Professor Moody leaning on him heavily.

"Fine! Drink this and get into bed." Madame Pomfrey sent the sleeping potion she'd made for Harry zooming over. Hagrid looked very confused and drank it.

"Not you, him!" The healer sent the potion she'd made for Haruhi over to Moody.

"I don't drink anything I haven't..." Moody started.

"Drink it!" she commanded.

Moody blinked, then let go of Hagrid to take the floating vial. It was just as well he did, for at that moment, Hagrid collapsed and began snoring loudly.

"Now get into bed," Madame Pomfrey glared at the aged auror. "And if everybody who is not a patient will kindly leave..."

Dumbledore raised his wand and Hagrid began floating about four feet off the ground. "Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, if you would be so kind as to tow our gamekeeper back to his hut and position him over the bed so when the spell wears off he will fall into it, I'm sure he would be grateful."

~oOo~

Harry couldn't sleep. When Madame Pomfrey shooed the last of the stragglers out of the healing ward, Haruhi had simply shrugged and said "G'night," laid down, pulled up the covers and gone to sleep. Moody was snoring away loudly in his corner. But Harry stared into the darkness. How long before everyone realized the Boy-Who-Lived, the boy who had defeated the Dark Lord without knowing how, was now the boy who had brought him back. He kept thinking about what Bill had said, that nobody would believe him; Fudge certainly hadn't. But Haruhi and Cedric had been to the graveyard, and Honey had seen the whole thing. Harry couldn't even imagine how lonely he'd feel if he was the only witness. And when Honey explained the blood magic, Dumbledore had been strangely silent. Like there was more to it. Like there was something he didn't want to say in front of the foreigners. Yeah, that was it. He just didn't want to talk in front of outsiders. Harry thought that maybe he should have taken the sleeping potion after all. He purposefully shut his eyes, then Moody grunted in his sleep, causing Harry's eyes to pop open. He closed his eyes again and willed sleep to come, falling at last into a fitful dream. He was running and running through the maze, and every time he turned, another monster waited for him, sprung at him - the spider, the screwt, the black thing that killed the baby Horntails. The walls of the maze started to close in on him, forcing him forward to a clearing. Harry breathed with relief, knowing the Triwizard cup was there, and the way out. But sitting on the pillar was not the cup, but Lord Voldemort. The dark wizard languidly raised his wand and a green jet flashed past Harry's ear. Harry spun around in time to see Cedric fall to the ground, dead. There were black cloaked Death Eaters, surrounding the clearing, looking down on Cedric's lifeless body without remorse. He turned back to hear Voldemort softly say, "Don't move, Harry Potter." Suddenly the Death Eaters became dementors, circling Harry, trapping him in place. But they did not close for the kiss, just held him there awaiting something worse. A grey-white thing oozed out from under Voldemort's robes and began slithering across the unkempt, dead grass; an unholy hybrid of a deformed baby and the rotting corpse of an old man. It crawled up Harry's body and began burrowing under his skin, trying to merge with him. Harry thrashed trying to escape but it was no use. Then the light was blotted out and there was a sound like leather wings, and a smell of hot sulfur, and claws digging into his chest, and a voice saying "I do not smell it."

"What?" said Harry.

He felt a sniffing all over his face.

The non-sequitur shook Harry awake.

"The thing that was attacking you - I do not smell it," repeated the baby Horntail. The little dragon sniffed Harry all over again, even diving beneath the bed covers, rooting around near Harry's feet. Harry had a sudden, strange realization that he was probably the first human in history to find the scratch of the spikes from a dragon's tail to be comforting. "Nope, I do not smell it," the dragon said.

"I was dreaming I was being attacked," explained Harry. Did dragons dream? They must. Harry knew the word for it.

The little one nodded. "Mama says if something attacks you, you should kill it."

"Your mama is wise," said Harry.

"You should flame it and smash it with your tail and rip it to pieces with your claws and..."

"Yeah, I get the idea," said Harry.

They stared at each other, in agreement with Horntail wisdom. "What are you doing here?" Harry hissed at the little Horntail, finally breaking the silence.

"Trouble said that if I make the little female roar at me, she will give me a name."

"What? No, that's not how it works," said Harry. "Trouble, well, caused a lot of trouble."

"Horntails can cause a lot of trouble too," the little dragon nodded sagely.

"I'm sure you can, but that's not what I meant."

The little black dragon hopped over onto Haruhi's bed and paced up and down examining the sleeping female.

"Let her sleep," said Harry. "Predators chased her last night and she's very tired."

"But I want a name."

"You're going to wake her up," pleaded Harry. "Then she'll be in a bad mood and give you a bad name."

"I do not want a bad name."

"No, you don't," Harry relaxed a little.

"Therefore I will wake her up roaring and she will not have time to be in a bad mood."

"What? Wait! No!"

The Horntail launched herself into the air, hovered ten feet over the sleeping girl then turned and gaining an astonishing speed over such a short distance, struck the bed hard, claws digging into the down comforter.

"Aaggghhhh!" Haruhi sat bolt upright, arms flailing at the attack, knocking the little dragon to the foot of her bed. Her claws were still dug into the comforter, which ripped open, sending goose down everywhere. The dragon blinked in surprise at the little female's unexpected strength. Haruhi blinked trying to figure out what had happened. Her eyes focused on a cloud of white feathers settling on a black dragon in the moonlight. "What the hell, Harry?" she demanded.

Harry winced. "She was trying to wake you up."

"You tell that little terror in the dark I don't want to be woken up." Haruhi threw herself back down on the bed, pointedly grabbed the shredded comforter and pulled it over her head.

"What'd she say? What'd she say?" The little dragon looked back and forth between Harry and Haruhi excitedly.

"She called you the terror in the dark," said Harry.

The little dragon tilted her head to one side, then the other, analyzing her new name. Her shoulders went back, her chest puffed out, she preened just a little. "I am the Terror in the Dark."

"Yes you are," said Harry.

She hopped back to the head on the bed, pulled the comforter away from Haruhi's hair and rubbed her face on the girl's head in thanks. A sleepy arm snaked out from under the comforter to pet the dragon, who rubbed her head into Haruhi's hand and hummed happily. Then her scales rippled and she hissed fiercely to let the little female know she would work very hard to be worthy of her name.

"I thought she was happy," grumbled Haruhi, confused.

"She is," said Harry.

"Then why did she hiss?"

Harry started counting the number of baby dragons in the forest . Haruhi wasn't going to get any sleep the rest of her time at Hogwarts.

~oOo~

As soon as they returned to the floating Ouran palace, Tamaki started pacing.

At midnight, he was still pacing.

At one a.m., he was still pacing.

At two, he was still pacing.

At three Kyoya got up. "Still at it?"

"Of course I am! And if you had any motherly feeling for Haruhi, you would be too! So don't try to talk me out of it!"

"I wasn't going to talk you out of it. If fact, the reason I'm up is that something just crossed my spell."

"What?" Tamaki shrieked. "Men! Rouse yourselves! Gird yourselves for battle! Someone is attacking our beloved princess!"

"What?" the twins said, blearily rubbing their eyes as they stepped into the light.

"Someone's attacking Haru-chan?" Honey said.

"Someone broke Kyoya's spell?" Mori said.

"It must be the muggle mafia!" Tamaki resumed his pacing. "Ranka probably owes them money so they're going to kidnap Haruhi and force her into a life of servitude! That's the only possible explanation!"

"Poor Haru-Chan!" Honey wailed.

"We must rescue her immediately!" Tamaki said.

"But boss," Hikaru said, "Haruhi's a witch."

"Yeah," said Kaoru, "she could just magic herself away from them."

"Not if the muggle mafia is working with the Super Secret House Elf Liberation Front, determined to free all house elves against their will by forcing articles of clothing on them. Why, even now they are probably knitting socks and hats and leaving them under piles of old newspapers. Then, they will force Haruhi to do all their cleaning and serving."

"You mean like we do?" said Hikaru.

"Exactly!" said Tamaki. "Except we do it out of love."

"Nothing broke my spell, you morons," Kyoya said, irritated. "Whatever passed through meant her no harm."

"Are you saying it wasn't dangerous?" Mori said.

"Well," Kyoya admitted, "anything can be dangerous."

"Then we must check it out ," Tamaki insisted.

Kyoya just shrugged. "While I know my spell is intact, I have no objections to going along, if only to say 'I told you so.'" Also, it was another chance to see Haruhi while Tamaki's protective paranoia would take the blame.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, see to it!" Tamaki snapped his fingers.

"On it!" The twins waived their wands and everybody was suddenly dressed as black-clad ninjas. Mori looked down at his clothes, gave a sideways grimace, twitched his wand and changed his clothes to a samurai kimono, complete with katana hanging from his obi. The trio flung the door open; Hikaru looked left, Kaoru looked right, Tamaki straight ahead. They tiptoed down the stairs, then ducked behind the marble steps to avoid being seen. Honey jumped up on the stair rail and slid down, giggling. Somehow Mori zipped to the bottom in time to catch Honey at the end of the banister. Honey climbed up on Mori's shoulders, put a hand across his forehead and began scanning the area. Kyoya adjusted his glasses and calmly walked down the stairs.

They dashed across the lawn to the nearest tree. Five heads peered around to make sure the coast was clear, then moved to the next tree. Kyoya kept walking. The five behind the tree, zipped over to a rock and crouched low behind it. Kyoya kept walking. The five made a low crawl on all fours across the lawn to the base of the healers wing. Kyoya kept walking. They plastered themselves against the wall. "Ok, what now?" Tamaki said.

"You should climb up to the window to make sure everything's all right," Hikaru said.

"Why me?"

"So if there's something dangerous, it will attack you first," said the twins.

"Hey now!" Tamaki protested.

Harry was about to lean out the window to tell them to shut up before they woke Haruhi (again) when he heard a loud thump from the door leading to the hallway.

"What on earth are you doing here? Laying across the doorway, tripping people in the middle of the night!" Molly Weasley's irate whisper was not exactly quiet.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Sirius growled back. "That's my godson in there. I don't care what Dumbledore says, I'm not leaving him unprotected."

"What will people think if they find you here, a great big threatening black dog?"

"They'll think Ranka left his faithful guard dog here to protect his daughter," Sirius snapped back. "What excuse will you offer?"

"I don't need an excuse," Molly said. "I wouldn't leave any of my children alone after they'd been through what Harry's been through today."

"Harry's not your child."

"As good as."

Laying there in between two ongoing quarrels that were likely to last all night, Harry finally felt at peace enough to go to sleep.

~oOo~

"Oh good, you're awake." Madame Pomfrey came bustling in and began poking at his injuries.

"Where's Haruhi?" Harry tried not to wince as she hit a tender spot.

"Gone to breakfast," she answered absentmindedly, focused on his wounds. "Why is it injuries cause by dark magic always heal so slowly?" She slathered a gooey potion across the half healed cut.

"Will the others be ok?" Harry asked.

Madame Pomfrey sat back and regarded him thoughtfully. Asking about the others, not himself. "Apart for Cedric Diggory, the others are already healed. As for Mr. Diggory, he'll likely be in St. Mungo's for some time. All summer, I would guess. Somebody tried to explode his torso."

"They were actually trying to blow up the Tri-Wizard Cup. Trying to keep us from escaping. Cedric just got caught in the crossfire."

"I'm not sure that's better."

"Given what they were trying to do, it actually is."

Madame Pomfrey made a dubious noise as she dropped Harry's shirt down over his chest. "You should be healed up by lunch time. Try not to get injured again before you leave. I'd like to start packing up the infirmary for summer. Off with you now. If you hurry, you can still get breakfast."

Harry dashed down to the Great Hall, unsurprised to find half the girls from Hogwarts - and Beauxbatons and Durmstrang - all clustered around the Host Club, gazing at them, sighing at their last breakfast together. All the Host Club except for Haruhi that is, who was sitting down the table surrounded by baby dragons. Trouble had taken up residence on a plate of sausages while Terror-In-The-Dark was assaulting the bacon, but the others were all gazing intently at the little female.

Harry scooped up one of the little Welsh Greens off the bench deposited it to one side and sat next to Haruhi. The dragon immediately scrambled up Harry's shirt, sat on his head and went back to looking over Haruhi.

"Can you get rid of them, Harry?" Haruhi grumbled.

"She's not going to name you all today," Harry informed them.

""It has to be today!" protested one of the Fireballs. "The migration is tomorrow."

"The what?" Harry said.

"The One-Who-Speaks-Well told Mama that tomorrow, all the human fledglings will return to their hatching grounds. They will hunt there until the leaves turn red and yellow." "Do the trees really turn red and yellow?" "Why do the trees turn red and yellow?"

"Um, I'm not sure," said Harry. "Neville! Why do trees turn red and yellow in the fall?"

"They're actually always red and yellow," said Neville. "You just can't see it because of all the green. The trees use green chlorophyll to capture sunlight, but in winter, the days are too short to make photosynthesis worthwhile and the cold damages the leaves too much, so the tree just shuts it all down."

Harry considered. That sounded kinda technical for a bunch of baby dragons. "Um, he said it's too cold and dark to stay green."

The Welsh Greens looked at each other alarmed. "Will we turn red in the cold too?"

"You will like being red," Trouble assured them. "It is the best color."

"But I do not want to turn red. I want to stay green," said the first hatched Welsh dragon.

The others nodded. "I want to stay green too." "I want to be green like mama." "Mama will not know us if we turn red; she will think we are not her babies." "She will push us out of the nest."

"No, no!" said Harry. "That won't happen!"

"If she pushes us out of the nest, we will not have anyone to hunt for us." "We will not be able to hide in the green grass. Predators will find us and eat us!" "I do not want to get eaten!" The greens wailed.

"Would you shut them up before their mothers come to find out what's going on!" Haruhi hissed at Harry.

The Quetzalcoatl chick began looking at her green feather and began warbling in distress.

"No, no," Harry tried to soothe them. "Plants change color."

"So the grass will turn red too, and you will be able to hide when your mama pushes you out of the nest," the Short Snouts said encouragingly.

"Ok," Harry said, "the grass turns yellow, not red..."

"Red dragons cannot hide in yellow grass," Trouble said.

"In that case," said Terror In The Dark, "you will get eaten after all."

The wails of distress increased.

"Are you sure the grass will not turn red?" said one of the Short Snouts

"The grassss does not turn red but it doessssn't matter because dragonsss don't..." Harry tried to say.

"I do not want to get eaten!"

"Harry, stop upsetting them," Haruhi said.

"It'ssss ok," said Harry, his snake accent becoming stronger as he became unnerved. "Treessssss losssse their leavessss..."

"Lose their leaves? Will we lose our scales?" "I do not want to lose my scales!" "I want to stay green!"

"Harry!" Haruhi yelled at him.

"I'm trying."

Mori got up and calmly walked over. He picked up one of the wailing dragons and held it eye level. It went silent under his intent gaze. "You will not change color," he said. "Dragons are stronger then trees."

The little dragons cocked their heads to one side, considering. "Dragons are stronger then trees," they nodded.

"Yes, we are much stronger than trees."

Harry wasn't convinced that was true but wasn't about to say anything to disturb the new equilibrium.

"What was all that about?" Haruhi asked.

"Harry told the green dragons they were going to turn red and all their scales would fall off," Mori said.

"Why would you tell them something like that?" Haruhi said.

"I didn't!" Harry protested. "I told them trees did that."

"Oh for pity's sake," Haruhi looked at the baby Welsh, exasperated, "you're green, got it? You're green and going to stay green. Like an emerald."

"What'd she say?" The dragon looked back and forth between Harry and Mori.

"Did she name you?"

"Is it a good name?"

"She was only roaring a little. You should have made her roar louder."

"She called you an emerald," Harry said.

The little dragons cocked their head over. "What's an emerald?" one asked suspiciously.

"Oh, it's, um..." Harry glanced over at the house points but didn't finish the thought. He wasn't sure the Slytherins would take too kindly to dragons crawling all over their hourglass.

"Accio emerald," Mori said.

An emerald rose up from the upper chamber then bumped against the glass a few times, futilely trying to answer his summons. Then it pressed itself against the glass and slowly began to pass through, parting the glass as though it was water. Once through, the glass rippled slightly then resumed its original shape. The emerald zipped across the room into Mori's hand.

Every student in the hall gasped. Instead of dragons, the Slytherin hourglass was now covered in Ravenclaws, running their hands over the surface.

"You just passed one solid object through another solid object! How?" Cho Chang demanded.

"Friction," Mori said, handing the emerald to Haruhi.

The Ravenclaws looked confused, but Hermione's brain went into overdrive. "Friction...friction...when two objects come into contact, they generate friction, which can be dissipated as heat... He melted the glass around the emerald, which is why the glass flowed and rippled. But did he magically amplify the friction or did he vibrate the stone?"

Kyoya smiled at her. "Why don't you transfer to Ouran and find out?"

"She's fine where she is!" Ron said hotly.

Kyoya ignored him. "Not even for summer school?"

"Summer school?" Hermione's eyes lit up.

"Summer school?" Ron looked as though that was the most repugnant thing he'd ever heard.

Summer school, thought Harry longingly. A whole summer away from the Dursley's, learning magic. He was brought back to the present by Haruhi shoving the emerald at the little Welsh dragon.

"It's green! See? It's going to stay green. You're going to stay green. No more crying about your color, got it?"

The dragon picked up the emerald and began chittering excitedly.

"Uh-oh," said Haruhi.

"The little female gave me a name and a hoard!" He clutched the gem tightly. "I must show it to mama!" He zipped out of the hall, followed by all the other baby dragons.

"Harry," Kyoya said smoothly, "was that a real emerald?"

"Um, yeah."

"Ah. Well then, based on its size, color and clarity, I estimate a minimum value of two thousand galleons you just gave away, Haruhi."

"Wait! What?" Haruhi panicked. "We have to return it to the hourglass!"

Harry glanced over to where the excited young dragons could still be heard chittering in the distance. "I don't think we're getting it back."

Kyoya conjured a black notebook. "Since we'll have to reimburse Hogwarts, we'll just add that to your debt."

"I'm not the one who pulled it out of the hourglass!" Haruhi protested.

"No, but you are the one who gave it away," Hikaru pointed out.

~oOo~

After breakfast, the Champions were all taken into the little room off the Great Hall where they met the night they had been chosen. Their headmasters were waiting for them. All except one. "Mr. Krum," said Dumbledore, "I regret to inform you that Highmaster Karkaroff was force to depart last night with little warning."

Krum grimaced in contempt. "I vish I vas surprised by that."

Dumbledore regarded him steadily for a moment. "I wish you were too."

"Sir," said Harry, "this is all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" Haruhi looked at him like he was crazy. "You didn't set up this tournament, you didn't enter it, you didn't cheat, you didn't sabotage the other competitors, you didn't cast the spell that injured Cedric..."

"But I'm the reason those bad things happened. I'm the reason Voldemort is back."

For a moment, Dumbledore almost looked amused. "Well, given that you're the the reason he was ever gone in the first place, people will just have to come to terms."

"Actually, I doubt most people will ever put it together," Chairman Suoh said.

"I'm sorry too," said Haruhi, "for messing up Ouran's chances in the tournament. It's very clear the Goblet picked the wrong candidate," she said.

"Did it?" Suoh-sama said. "The Goblet was not spelled to select the strongest student, or the cleverest or any other one virtue, because it is the combination of all of these that makes a champion. So the Goblet was spelled to select the one student from each school who had the cumulative resources that would enable him (or her) to survive this competition and win it. Put another way, if one of the others - say Mr. Haninozuka - had been chosen, do you think the others would volunteer to train him? Would they have interfered on his behalf?"

"Well, no," Haruhi said reluctantly. "That would be insulting to him."

The Chairman smiled at her. "Miss Fujioka, even though this is a European Wizarding Tournament, I think the Europeans have misunderstood the point. It is not about who can cast the cleverest charm spell, but to show each champion's strengths. Your greatest gift is your talent for making true friends and the strengths of the friendships you make. Anyone foolish enough to attack any one of the seven of you will discover he has made a grave error indeed."

"It is a grave mistake to underestimate the power of friendship and love." Dumbledore's eyes slid from Haruhi to Harry.

"I suppose," said Harry, "in a way, Haruhi's friendship with Honey saved Cedric's life."

"Eet feels wrong to all be here wizout Cedric. Even eef it was a leetle unfair zat 'Ogwarts got two champions," Fleur said.

Haruhi shook her head a little. "You know, even if the Goblet wouldn't do it, I still don't see why we couldn't just have allowed each schoolmaster to have selected a second champion to keep the odds even."

The headmasters all looked at her.

"You could haf suggested zis earlier..."

~oOo~

As soon as Harry got out of there, he made a beeline for Hagrid's. It had become sort of a habit to spend a couple hours on the last day with him, and right now, Harry really needed to see him, to talk to him. He felt like Hagrid was the only person he really could talk to. It didn't make sense; Harry had just left a room filled with some of the most powerful wizards in the world, but it felt like Hagrid was the one person who couldn't be turned inside out, no matter what happened to the rest of the world, and Harry needed that stability just now.

It was a bright sunny day. Out on the lawn, the Ouran guys were hosting afternoon tea. The giant squid lounged near the surface of the lake, lazily waving a tentacle in the air, enjoying the warmth and reminding the dragons that he - not they - was master of the lake. It was weirdly like nothing bad had happened.

As Harry approached the hut, Fang bounded our the open door, barking and wagging his tail madly.

"Who's that?" called Hagrid, coming to the door. "Harry!"

He strode our to meet him, wrapped Harry into a hug, ruffled his hair and said "Good ter see yeh, mate. Good ter see yeh."

Hagrid pulled Harry into the cottage and plopped him down at the table. Harry just stared into the darkness while Hagrid made tea and pushed a plate of doughy cookies towards him.

"You all righ'?" He said gruffly.

"Yeah," Harry lied.

"No, yeh're not," said Hagrid. "'Course yeh're not. But yeh will be."

Harry sat there in silence. Then, without warning, the dam burst. "Cedric is in the hospital. He's going to be there for months."

"Well, yeah," said Hagrid. "If Madame Pomfrey can' fix him, yeh know he was hurt right bad."

"It's my fault!"

"You-know-who was plannin' to come back anyways. Known fer years he was plannin' teh. Well, now he has, so we jus' haf ter get on wi' it. And if you're blamin' yerself 'cause you couldn't stop him or protect Cedric, well, I don't reckon there's many could stop You-know-who when he's bent on killin'. Yeh did ok, Harry."

"I didn't stop him. Honey did," Harry said bitterly.

"His cousin Mori bin helpin' me wi' the animals all year, and he reckons his cousin Honey is the best deulist in the world." Hagrid chuckled a bit. "Course, he ain' never seen Dumbledore in a duel. Stuff o' legends."

"Yeah, well those legends are all acting like nothing happened!"

Hagrid looked at him sideways. "They don' think nothin' happened. Dumbledore don' think nothin' happened."

"They're not doing anything," Harry said petulantly.

"Las' night while you was in the hospital wing, Dumbledore was formulatin' plans, contactin' old allies. He even gave me a secret mission this summer." Pride tinged Hagrid's voice at this last.

"What secret mission?"

"Can't tell yeh, can I? It's secret."

"Is it to do with Voldemort?"

Hagrid flinched at the sound of the name. "Might be. But never you mind though. And don' you be sloppin' tea all over my table!"

"Why? Are you expecting company?" Harry looked around and realized there were two fancy teacups and saucers on the sideboard. Or maybe they were soup bowls. With Hagrid, it was sometimes hard to tell.

"Olympe be comin' by fer a cuppa, after she gets her students settled."

"Who?"

"Madame Maxime to you, o' course. Gonna try to get her ter come wi' me this summer."

"Why? Is she important to your mission or ... wait, are you sweet on her?"

"Never you mind. Adults got business that don't concern students. Now you git before you get in the way." The words may have been a rebuff, but there was so much affection for him in Hagrid's tone, that Harry stayed and helped clean the kitchen, even filling a vase with fresh flowers before sneaking out the door ahead of her arrival. Fortunately, as Maxime was so tall, even glancing across the lawn gave them plenty of warning she was on her way.

"Good luck!" Harry winked as her snuck out through the pumpkin patch.

Harry paused on his way back to the castle to watch the Host Club tea wrap up. There were fewer birds chirping Mozart now and only a handful of butterflies with red heart-shaped wings settling on the flowers that rimmed the tea garden. He wasn't surprised that Hermione was talking to Kyoya, or that Fleur had come out and joined the rest of the Beauxbatons girls, or that Krum had come in search of Hermione, or even that the Weasley twins had intercepted the last of the tea carts and were polishing off the snacks.

"So what do you want to do now?" said Fred as he smeared clotted cream over a scone.

"We could play Quidditch again," said Hikaru.

"Quidditch?" George's eyes lit up at the possibility of fleecing the Ouran guys one more time.

"Qvidditch?" said Krum, coming over.

"Hey, good idea!" said Haruhi. "You can play seeker for our team."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Fred. "We're not play Quidditch for money against Viktor Krum."

"No offense, Harry," added George.

"None taken," said Harry.

"And we're not playing at all if Haruhi's not playing," said Hikaru.

"Are you trying to get out of this game?" said Kyoya.

"What? I suck, he doesn't."

"We're not playing if Haruhi's not," Kaoru reiterated.

"Need I remind you how much money you owe us?" Kyoya said.

"I hate you guys." Haruhi stomped off to get the brooms.

"Sorry," Tamaki said to Krum.

"It's ok," Krum shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"Why don't you just make it a three way game?" said Hermione.

"Um, because there's only two sets off goalposts?" Tamaki said.

"So Gemini the goalposts and rearrange them in a triangle," said Hermione.

The guys all blinked as her words slowly sank in.

"A triangle?" George looked at Fred.

"Three teams?" Hikaru looked at Kaoru.

"That vould completely change the game," said Krum.

"You'd need a whole new set of strategies," said Kyoya. "Constantly shifting between helping and hindering each of the other teams to maximize your own advantage."

"Much more like actual war, or business," said Mori.

"But we'd have to put together a team for him," said Tamaki.

The Weasley twins shrugged with that nonchalance that said they had already thought up an evil plan. "Durmstrang has been hanging around the Slytherins, same as Ouran's been hanging with us," said Fred.

"Get the Slytherins to back him up," said George.

"What?" said Harry. As much as Harry liked beating Malfoy, the Slytherins weren't a fun team to play against. They were physically rough, didn't mind hurting other players and frankly cheated whenever Madam Hooch's back was turned.

"No, this'll be great," said Fred.

"That snot Malfoy will get kicked off his own team..." added George.

"...And we get to play Quidditch with Viktor Krum," said Fred.

"Score!" They finished together.

"What do you two have against him?" Hermione's asked.

"He picks on our brother all the time," Fred said.

"So do you guys," Hermione's pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's our brother..." said George.

"...So we're allowed..." said Fred.

"...He also picks on our sister..."

"...which is definitely not allowed..."

"...and then there's that time when his dad tried to kill our sister..."

"...Yeah, that one was kinda hard to get past."

.

Haruhi didn't even twitch when she got down to the Quidditch pitch saw three sets of goal posts arranged in a triangle. Harry wondered if she'd always been this unflappable or if it was a necessary survival skill acquired by hanging around these Ouran guys. He strongly suspected the latter. She just dropped the brooms unceremoniously, picked up her ratty old broom from the pile of gleaming firebolts and wandered over to the guys. "So who else is playing?"

"Hmm, yes, that is a problem," said Tamaki.

"Seriously? You rearranged the whole field and you don't even know who's playing?"

Ok, maybe she wasn't all that unflappable, Harry thought.

"Strictly speaking, we don't," Kyoya said .

"Hikaru! Kaoru! We must see to it!" Tamaki flourished his wand dramatically at one set of the steel grey goal posts. A polished, brilliant silvery blue streak spiraled up the posts, tinting them that same silvery blue as it went, then split around the hoops and when they rejoined at the top of the circle blossomed into a gold filigree of the OR Ouran crest. Hikaru turned and did the same, his set of goal posts turning scarlet with a golden Gryffindor lion atop while Kaoru's turned vivid green with a golden double-headed eagle.

"You could have just said Durmstrang," Haruhi rolled her eyes.

Given that there were still a handful of birds tweeting Mozart and the boat was still paddling around the lake in the form of a giant swan, Harry wondered if this transfiguration would last all the way till next fall. He smiled inwardly at the idea of the Slytherin Quidditch team having to defend a Gryffindor themed goal post. But he shouldn't have said the word even in his head because...

"What are you doing here?" Fred said.

"They tell me there's a Quidditch game about to start," Malfoy answered.

"Yeah, well, they already have a seeker, so you're not required," George said.

"Apparently I am," Malfoy smirked.

Krum came over. "It vould not be fair if I played seeker, so I vill play chaser."

"So he's going to be your seeker?" Fred indicated Malfoy, just to be clear.

"Hey, you guys want to put money on this after all?" George yelled over to the Hitachiins.

Harry turned to Haruhi. "Are they having you play seeker again?"

"Well," Haruhi said, "it is the most useless player on the team. I mean, I'm not exactly athletically inclined. All the other positions require you to be coordinated. You have to be able to hit balls with bats in the direction you want them to go, you have to be able to pass back-and-forth with the other players, you have to keep track of where everybody is on the field, you have to be able to aim balls through hoops. The seeker has one stupid job that doesn't require any particular skill. You know, I have a theory on the seeker, that a bunch of kids were going out to play and mom said you have to include your little brother. But no one wants to play with their brother so as soon as they were away from mom they said 'ok here's this little ball that's super fast and hard to catch, but you're the only one allowed to touch it. That makes you the most important person on the team cause it's worth 150 points, right? Way more than our ball is. So we're all going to play the game over here while you chase the little ball all by yourself over there. Let us know when you catch it.' "

Harry and Krum were trying very hard not to be offended. Especially because her theory had a certain ring of truth. "Do you guys win many games?" Harry said.

She shrugged. "About half. Their usual strategy seems to be get up by 150 points and then wait for the other team's seeker to get bored."

"Ah," said Harry. It was the only answer he could think of.

Poliakoff arrived with a keeper's helmet tucked under one arm, along with a Durmstrang girl carrying a beater's bat. Graham Montague and Cassius Warrington, who Harry assumed we're going to round out the chasers, came over carrying a green box inlaid with twining silver serpents. "What's that for?" Ron asked.

Malfoy gave him a withering look. "Quidditch balls. We'll need those if we're going to play Quidditch..."

Ron glanced over at the beat-up, plain brown box that housed the Gryffindor Quidditch ball set. "Oh. I thought we were playing sports, not having an art competition."

"Hey could we get this thing moving?" Haruhi yelled over at the guys. "The feast starts in a couple hours and I don't care what the score is, I'm not missing it."

Warrington flipped open the green chest. As usual, the bludgers rattled and strained against the latch holding them in place, while the red quaffle sat serenely in its space. The snitch delicately unfolded its wings and fluttered at Malfoy.

"You trust them?" Fred said rhetorically, eyeing the snitch's suspicious behavior.

"Not a bit," said George, flipping open the Gryffindor case to let their balls loose before the Slytherins could. Everybody mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground.

Krum was quickest to the quaffle. No surprise, thought Harry. Lightning fast reflexes and riding on a Firebolt to boot. Having seen Harry's broom and the Ouran guys as well, there was no reason to hold back. Krum flew straight to the Ouran goals, lining up for either the center or right hoop, but Mori flanked him, forcing Krum to change targets and shoot for the left goal. Honey blocked it and threw to Kyoya, who carried it back to the middle of the pitch. Warrington zipped in front, so he tossed the ball to Tamaki.

Tamaki held the ball up and waited for Alicia, Katie and Angelina to catch up. A bludger smashed into him, nearly knocking him off his broom.

"Hey, he's on our team!" Haruhi yelled.

"Oops, sorry boss," Hikaru yelled back.

Harry caught sight of the snitch flitting around mid-field and made a run for it. The Durmstrang beater sent a bludger his way. Harry rolled to avoid it, but when he righted himself, the snitch was gone.

Meanwhile, Alicia caught the quaffle that Tamaki had dropped. "Come and get it, blue eyes." She made a beeline to the Slytherin goals but Warrington clipped her and the quaffle came loose. Montague seized it and headed to the Gryffindor goals. He passed to Krum who put it cleanly through the center goal. Durmstrang/Slytherin was on the score board.

Alicia, again in possession, passed to Angelina but was intercepted by Montague who tried to pass to Krum, but was intercepted by Kyoya. A well aimed bludger knocked the quaffle from his hands, recovered by Angelina, who tossed to Katie who was out in the clear. With nothing between her and the green hoops she leaned into her broom. Montague on his Nimbus 2001 outpaced her, only instead of grabbing the ball, he grabbed her head and ripped her clean off the broom. Tamaki caught her. "That was on purpose!" Tamaki said.

"Yeah, he's a jerk," Katie replied.

Mori caught her broom and brought it over, steadying her while she remounted.

"Oops, sorry," Montague whizzed past, giving an insincere apology.

From his position on high, Harry watch all this with fascination. Three teams made a totally different game. Then he remembered he was supposed to be looking for the snitch. He scanned the field and noticed Malfoy also watching the game from above. The fact that they were both high up meant Haruhi, flying low, saw something neither of them could. A little golden ball making figure 8s less than six feet off the ground. For the first time in her life, she might catch the stupid thing. Her sudden change of direction caught the attention of half the players on the field.

Lucien Bole, the Slytherin beater, sent a bludger at her. She dodged, but that sent her right into the path of Warrington and the two collided and tumbled into the grass, Warrington landing on top of her.

Warrington. Laying. On top of Haruhi.

Hikaru saw red.

He put his broom into a steep dive, brandishing his beaters bat.

George watched thoughtfully. "He really is supposed to hit him with a bludger, and not the beater's bat directly."

"We could give him a bludger," suggested Fred.

"That really would be the sporting thing to do," agreed George. He hit the bludger hard, sending it just to the right of Hikaru, who walloped it forward. As soon as Warrington stood up, he was hit in the stomach with the black ball, thrown back two yards, landing on top of the open Slytherin ball box.

The Ouran guys swarmed Haruhi. "Are you all right?" "Are you hurt?" "Do we need to call the medics?" "Are you okay, Haru-chan?"

Meanwhile above, Montague put the quaffle through the undefended Ouran hoops three times. "Hey! Time out!" said Katie.

"They didn't call it," said Montague, putting the quaffle through the hoops a fourth time.

"Yeah, well I'm calling it," said Angelina.

On the ground, nobody noticed Warrington change out the bludger that hit him for one in the Slytherin box. He let it go, then mounted his broom and took off.

"I'm fine," Haruhi said exasperated at the guys' exaggerated concern. "I don't suppose that snitch is still around here..." But it was long gone.

.

"Mama, why are the humans swarming?" Trouble asked.

"Swarming?"

The little dragon nodded. "They are flying and circling and diving where the twisty bush used to be."

"I miss the twisty bush," said Terror. "There was good hunting there."

"Yes, it was fun," agreed Trouble, totally forgetting he'd almost been eaten. "We should go and see if it is back."

"I wanna go!" "Me too!" "Me too!" "Can we please, Mama?" "Pleeeeaaassseeee?"

The mothers considered. "The twisty bush was a good training ground for young hunters," the Horntail said.

Little Emerald flapped her wings vigorously to remind her mother that she had just learned to fly and should get a chance to hunt properly.

The whole flock moved towards the edge of the forest. "Where are you going?" Charlie tried to stop them.

The little dragons were excited and speaking quickly, so he only caught about every fourth word. "...hunt...humans...food..." He wasn't actually sure what they were telling him, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to hear it.

.

Krum flew over to the Ouran guys. He threw a sour look at Montague and said "Qvidditch is a rough game, but it is not a game for cheating. You may haf four throws at our goal."

Poliakoff, equally annoyed at his Slytherin teammates, shifted his boom the one side.

Harry came over to Haruhi. "You ok?"

"I'm fine" she shrugged. "I wasn't very far off the ground."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Fred said as he and George came over to join them. They watched as Tamaki, Kyoya and Mori lined up to take their shots at the undefended green goal.

"Guess we should have warned Krum to pick Adrian Pucey as one of his chasers," said George.

"Why?" said Haruhi.

"He's the only one on the Slytherin team that doesn't cheat," said Fred.

"They'd probably throw him off the team for being a decent sort, except he's really good," George finished.

"Oops, looks like the game's back on," Fred said. The time-out expired, the penalty shots taken, a bludger soared straight for the four of them. George batted it straight at Warrington, winked at Haruhi, then flew off.

The bludger, however, made a U-turn around Warrington and headed back at Harry. Harry twisted sharply and it whistled past his left ear before turning around to have another go at him. "Not this again," thought Harry. He started looking around for Dobby, wondering why the house elf decided to "protect" him this time. But Dobby was nowhere to be seen. Then it dawned on him that Dobby might not need to cast the spell twice. No one ever mentioned removing his spell from the bludger and they'd had new balls for the next game. The Slytherins must have grabbed the cursed bludger and been holding onto it all this time. "Son of a ..."

WHAM!

Lost in thought, the bludger had caught up to him. It may have only clipped his shoulder, but it was hard enough to make his whole arm go numb. He shook his arm to try to wake it up when the sky got noticeably darker.

"Uh... Harry?" Katie said.

Harry looked up to see a flock of dragons descending on them.

"Potter!" Malloy barked. "Get your ugly pets out of here."

"Are you stupid, Malloy?" Fred said.

"Did you learn nothing from the hippogriff?" George said.

Everybody within fifty feet of Draco looked at each other and immediately cleared out.

Harry signaled for a time out and landed to talk to the dragons. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to find out what you are hunting!" said Trouble.

"What are you hunting?" Kasaiana said, looking around and not seeing any obvious prey.

"Oh, um, we're kind of, you know..."

"Practicing hunting and flying skills," Mori rescued him.

"But how can you hunt if you have no prey?"

"We kinda do. Accio Quiddith box." The Slytherin chest with balls slid across the grass towards him. "See?" He pointed at the snitch. "There's one of these flying around up there and I have to catch it."

"You caught it already," pointed out the Green.

"No, I need to catch the one up there."

"Is there something wrong with that one?"

The Quetzalcoatl looked down her nose at Harry, over at tall Mori, then back down at Harry. "You are too picky about what you eat. No wonder you are so small."

"You should always eat what you kill," said the Short Snout.

Harry didn't like where this was going. "It's not mine." Harry waved in the general direction of Malloy. "It belongs to the yellow one and his nest-mates."

The mothers were clearly not impressed with a hunter who would leave his kill unprotected.

Trouble sniffed at the snitch in the box. "Can we hunt the little flitty too?"

"You may hunt the flitty," the his mother said.

"No, no. You have to be able to fly to catch it," said Harry.

"We know how to fly," said Trouble. "Last night, we climbed up on Mama's back and she flew high in the air then rolled over and dropped us."

That's one way to learn, thought Harry. "It's not that simple," he protested. "See, there are a whole bunch of...there a set of..." But try as he might, the word wouldn't come out. He looked over at Mori.

The tall Japanese kid shrugged. "Dragons do not have a word for rules. Dragons do what they want."

That explained a lot, thought Harry. "But ... the little ones do what their mothers tell them."

"Their mothers are bigger and stronger," Mori said.

It was hard to argue with dragon logic.

"Fine," Harry gave up. "That is the prey. We need a hunter to catch the prey. The hunter needs to be very fast." Harry threw a sideways glance at Haruhi, who totally missed it.

"I'm fast!" said the little Fireball.

"I'm fast too!" said the oldest little Quetzalcoatl, who flattened her feathers to show how streamlined she could be. (The fluffy down somewhat ruined the effect.)

"I'm fast!" "I'm fast!" "I'm fast too!"

"No, no," Harry said. " We only need one hunter."

"But what if we're all hungry?" asked one of the Greens.

"You can't actually eat it." Unbidden, the thought came back to him that he had caught his first snitch in his mouth. "There are other things to do. See, um, these are the bludgers." Harry pointed at the black balls straining at the straps and rattling around in the box. "They are ... uh ... predators. This is a game so they won't actually kill you but they will try and knock you out of the air and it will hurt. So two of you are like the parents and you have to keep them away from all of the rest of the nestlings." The little Horntails narrowed their eyes, bristled and let out a fierce growl at the evil bludgers. The bludgers rattled around in their box to show they were not afraid. The Horntails unsheathed their claws. Harry had a sudden feeling this was going to end badly. "Anyway. Those hoops up there are nests."

"But the eggs will fall out," said the Green.

"Those are not very good nests," agreed the Short Snout.

"That's not the point," Harry said. "The point is someone has to defend the nest and keep the red egg up there out."

"Why would someone want to put her egg in our nest?" The green looked confused.

"I don't know,"Harry said. "They just are."

"It is a nest parasite!" The Horntail's scales rippled in anger. The other mothers all began to bristle.

"No, no, it's not!" Harry said. "I don't even know what that is. Mori?"

The tall student thought for a moment. "They are putting a mark inside your territory."

The mothers looked displeased, but at least not murderous.

"Ok, everyone," Harry called out. "The dragons want to play too."

There was a pause. "Vhat?" Krum may have said it, but everybody was thinking it.

"No, they're... they're ok," said Ron, trying to project more confidence than he actually felt.

"But no flaming anybody!" Harry turned back to the dragons. "This is just playing. And it is just the babies, right? 'Cause, you know, they need the practice and you don't." Oh please let them not realize there are two humans present who beat them at "guard the nest."

Thank Merlin, they didn't. The baby dragons swarmed all over the Quidditch box and sniffed at the balls. Harry was about to inform them that Quidditch balls didn't have a distinctive scent when Trouble whipped his head around and zoomed off. The baby Horntails they looked up. "Is that a predator?" one of them asked.

Harry looked up. Thirty feet above him hovered the cursed bludger, waiting for the timeout to expire so it could renew its attack on him.

"Yeah," Harry said, knowing the clock was counting down. The little Horntail tensed for the spring. The clock ran out, the bludger came down, the dragon sprang towards it. Harry snatched the little dragon cleanly out of the air and rolled to one side to prevent a disaster as the bludger slammed into the ground where Harry had been standing. Halalfelul inhaled in rage at the attack on her offspring as the bludger rose up. It headed off to gain momentum for another go at Harry. Halalfelul let out an earsplitting roar warning it to stay away.

.

The small black predator sprung at her nestling for no better reason than he was attacking it. The One-raised-by-snakes pulled him away as the predator imbedded itself in the ground with a thud. She sniffed in fury. Realizing its mistake, the small black predator began to flee. She roared out a warning to never try that again, but thus challenged, it turned and came back at her. It was time to teach the would-be predator that proper relationship between Horntail Dragons and flying black eggs.

.

The force of the fire blast blew the bludger back a solid ten feet; its leading edge starting to glow. Incredibly, as her breath waned, it started to push forward. Great, thought Harry. It's not enough to get killed by a cannonball, I get to get killed by a flaming hot cannonball. As it moved forward, Halalfelul whipped her tail around and

WHAM!

She slammed the bludger hard into the ground. The deformed, semi molten bludger tried to roll -or maybe ooze more like it - towards Harry.

WHAM!

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

It was now so mixed in with the rocks and dirt, it would have to move the Earth to take another pass at Harry.

The little Horntail scrambled out of Harry's arms, over the to remains of the bludger, sniffed at it, flamed it with his little, tiny flame, then smacked it with his tail for good measure. He looked up at his mother for approval.

"What the hell was that?" Haruhi asked.

"Horntail wisdom," muttered Harry.

"So... we're only playing with one bludger?" said Fred.

Oh what the hell, thought Harry. He reached over to the crate, flipped up the restraints and released the bludger that he was pretty sure had started the day as a Gryffindor training ball. It flew up in the air, hotly pursued by the little Horntail and his sister Terror in the Dark.

Harry mounted his Firebolt and kicked off the ground. It seemed he was wrong about Quidditch balls having no traceable scent. Trouble had fixated on the snitch. However, the snitch was faster and more agile and had flitted and looped around so quickly, it tied the little dragon in a knot before zooming away. Warrington took advantage of the distractions, took the quaffle and headed for the Gryffindor goal. George knocked it out of his hands with a well aimed bludger, Alicia recovered and made for the Durmstrang goals, rocketing it past Poliakoff who was still half watching the dragons. Gryffindor was now on the boards.

Ron did a double take as the newly named Emerald climbed up onto the center Gryffindor hoop. "Um... Harry?"

"Just guard a different goal."

Ron moved down to the right goal, but angled himself for a quick streak towards the left, if needed.

Kyoya took the quaffle back to center field, but his pass to Tamaki was intercepted by Krum. Krum in possession, dodged around Angelina and over Katie to the Gryffindor goals. He threw to the center ring.

Emerald leapt up, but was knocked backwards through the ring by the force of the throw. She squawked in protest. Her mother came over and sat on to the the hoop. Then wrapped her wings around it for good measure. Nothing else was getting through that hoop today.

Katie whizzed by with the quaffle. Tamaki was blocking her progress towards the goal, but she didn't seem to mind. She veered off slightly and they flew side by side, smiling at each other. Oliver Wood would be having kneazels right now. A bludger flew by pursued by two baby Horntails who were alternately flaming the ball and trying to tear pieces off. Pieces which continued to follow the ball.

Great, Harry thought, shrapnel.

Maybe he could catch the snitch before the bludger pieces hurt anybody. He flew around the field, scanning for any sign of the golden ball. Then he realized he didn't have to find the snitch; he just had to find Trouble. Sure enough, fifty yards in front of the dragon's nose, there it was. He dove for it, but just as his fingers were about to close over it, a freak wind shear sent him one way and the ball another.

He threw a sour look at Trouble's mother who was suddenly staring at the sky, the clouds, the trees, the ground. Anywhere but at Harry.

"I told you," Haruhi said. "She can control air currents."

Kasaiana gave a smug little glance at Harry out of the corner of her eye before going back to looking innocent.

Harry wasn't the only one who noticed that the little Fireball could hone in on the snitch. Malfoy began shadowing the little dragon. His Numbus 2001 might not be able to beat an adult dragon, but it could outrace a fledgling.

Krum came over to Harry. "Qvidditch vith three teams vas a good game. Qvidditch with dragons, not so much." He glances meaningfully at the Durmstrang goal, where the whole clutch of Short Snout hatchlings was hopping from hoop to hoop like squirrels on tree branches. Then they began leaping over to Poliakoff's broom, sniffing at him before leaping back. Like any intelligent human being, he froze in abject terror.

Abruptly, Trouble snapped his head down, his eyes went wide, and he dropped into a power dive. Malfoy flattened himself against his broomstick and followed him all the way down to the ground. There was a sickening crack of a broomstick shattering and a triumphant roar from the little Fireball. "I got the rabbit!"

~oOo~

The Great Hall was strangely subdued that night. It wasn't the food; that was fantastic as always. The decorations were grand more than festive, but that wasn't it either. It was something in the air. It wasn't that this was the seventh years' final feast; that usually gave the event the feeling of a graduation party. Nor was it the last meal with the foreigners, though certainly everybody would miss them. It was... it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. A horrible, oppressive shoe.

There was an empty seat at the Hufflepuff table, right in the middle. A place of honor for one they knew would not come.

The real Mad-Eye sat at the staff table now, pale, thin, twitchy. Madame Maxime sat next to Hagrid. She was dressed in somber black, her normal flashy jewelry replaced by opals and moonstones, speaking in low tones to the game keeper. Chairman Suoh was seated between Dumbledore and McGonagall, but there was no light flirtation or laughter tonight. Snape rubbed his forearm absentmindedly. Karkaroff was nowhere to be seen. When Dumbledore rose, the Hall became instantly silent.

"The end," he said somberly, "of another year." His eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff table. "There is one who should be here, but is not." He glanced down at a small piece of parchment before continuing.

"The Ministry wishes me to tell you that Cedric Diggory was badly injured in the maze but will make a full recovery."

A wave of relief swept through the Great Hall. Students smiled as they released their collectively held breaths then they looked back up to discover that Dumbledore did not share their happiness.

"Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that, because every word of it is a lie." He crumpled up the paper and dropped it. The paper burst into flames and burned to ashes before it hit the ground. "By the accounts of all four of the other champions, Cedric Diggory reached the center of the maze sound and solid, a testament to his skill, courage and cleverness. To say differently would be to dishonor him"

The students all turned to stare at the empty seat, some whispering, some just moving their lips in empty denial.

"The Ministry of Magic does not want you to hear what I am about to tell you. They feel you are too young, that you are incapable of coping with the truth. However, it is my belief that truth is generally preferable to lies. Denying the truth will not make it any less true.

"Cedric Diggory was attacked by Lord Voldemort."

A collective breath of dismay swept the hall. People were staring in disbelief, in horror. He looked perfectly calm as he watched them mutter themselves into silence.

"The curse is rebounding inside him, doing damage almost as fast as the healers can repair it. Even if he lives, he will bear the scars for the rest of his life. He was attacked for no better reason than he stood between Lord Voldemort and someone else Lord Voldemort wished to kill. I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter."

A kind of ripple crossed the Great Hall as a few heads turned in Harry's direction before flicking back to face Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for that, I honor him."

Dumbledore turned gravely to Harry and raised his goblet. Nearly everyone in the Great Hall followed suit. But through a gap in the standing figures, Harry saw that that Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and a handful of others remained defiantly in their seats, their goblets untouched.

When everyone resumed their seats, Dumbledore continued. "There are some who would deny Mr. Potter's courage, pointing out that he was not alone. I speak of our guests from Ouran.

"Haruhi Fujioka was also taken from this place. She stood with her fellow champions. She left only to bring the injured Mr. Diggory back. Without her actions, he would be dead." He nodded in her direction and again raised his goblet. "Haruhi Fujioka."

Again, the Hall raised their goblets. The Slytherins who remained seated for Harry seemed less certain now.

"When Fujioka-san disappeared, her friends pooled their talents and sent one to her aid. Mitsukuni Haninozuka went willingly into unknown dangers, fought overwhelming odds to protect his companions. It is friendships such as these that will triumph over the darkness that is to come.

"The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote understanding within the magical community. Every guest in this Hall," Dumbledore looked meaningfully at the Ourans students at the Gryffindor table, the Beauxbatons students at the Ravenclaws table, then lingered pointedly on the Durmstrang students at the Slytherin table, "will he welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you once again - in light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."

~oOo~

The morning sky was clear and bright. Students from all four schools spilled out into grounds, mixing, saying their goodbyes. Harry set Hedwig's cage gently on his trunk, piled next to Ron's and Hermione's, waiting for the carriages that would take them to the train station. Out on the lawn, the giant Abraxan horses were being backed into their traces by Hagrid and Mori, while Madame Maxime supervised. The Beauxbatons carriage would soon be ready for takeoff.

Harry wandered over to Honey. "They didn't give you half enough credit last night."

"For what?" said the short blond. "You're the one who fought him. I just held off the others."

"Twenty five others," said Harry.

"Yeah, but You-know-who was still probably more dangerous. But I did want to warn you - Voldemort? He's going to come after you. Soon. He can't afford to have people know you escaped him again. He said it himself, there are people who think you can beat him, but he is one of them. That gives you an advantage, because even though he has to win, he can't look like he's trying very hard. His pride is his weakness."

Harry grimaced. "I'd prefer actual weakness."

"Yes, but you aren't that lucky. I teased him to make him angry and careless, but he's actually one of the most powerful wizards I've seen."

"The most powerful in the world?" Harry said.

Honey looked thoughtful. "I don't know, I haven't seen most of the truly powerful wizards up close in a fight. Dumbledore could probably take him, and possibly Grindelwald. My dad and Uncle Akira could take him together. Not sure about individually. And maybe that wizard in South Africa or the one in Ecuador. Or that peculiar witch who breeds thunderbirds in South Florida. But it's not their destiny. I'm pretty sure it's yours."

Haruhi came over. "Sorry to interrupt. Just wanted to say goodbye. I can't say it's been a fun year, but... you know."

"Yeah," Harry said, "I know."

"'Arry!" Fleur came running over, her silvery hair rippling in the sunlight. "I wanted to say goodbye as well. To both of you. It 'az been a pleasure meeting you. We will see each uzzer again, I 'ope." She kissed Harry lightly on the cheek and went off to join her fellow Beauxbatons students.

Krum waded our to the crowd of Quidditch fans to say his farewells to Harry. "I vonted to thank you, as well. You and Diggory vere alvays polite to me. Alvays. Even though I vos from Durmstrang - with Karkaroff." He said it to Harry, but it was clear he included Hermione in his thanks.

"Will you be able to steer your ship without him?" Ron asked.

"Karkaroff did not steer," Krum said shortly. "Ve students did that. He said it vos to train us, but I think he vos a bit lazy." He turned to Hermione. "Could I have a vord?"

The two moved off into the crowd. Ron strained his neck trying to keep an eye on them, but lost them behind the crowd on Beauxbatons girls clustered around Tamaki, saying their tearful farewells.

"'Ow will we ever be happy wizout you?" one asked.

"Happiness is always fleeting, but our memories will stay with us always." Tamaki purred.

"Your eyes are ze color of ze sky. Whenever I see eet, I will think of you."

Ron turned away, somewhere between jealousy and nausea.

Viktor gave a crisp bow and left Hermione to help his schoolmates set the ship's sail. When Hermione returned alone, Kyoya extricated himself from Tamaki's admirers. He nodded to Harry and Ron and turned to Hermione. "Next to Haruhi, you are the brightest witch I have ever met, and from what I have seen, you will likely become the most powerful witch in the world. You should consider transferring to Ouran. It really is the finest magical education available anywhere.

"Hang on now," said Ron. "Hogwarts is the best school in the world."

Kyoya glanced derisively in his direction but ignored the comment. "We offer courses no one else in the world does, such as Magical Research and Spell Development, Adapting Muggle technology for Wizarding Purposes - ever wondered how radios work in the magical world? - Combat Magic..."

"Combat Magic?" Harry and Ron both straightened up.

"...Mathematics, Philosophy and Logic, Science..."

"Science doesn't work in the magical world," Ron protested.

"Muggle engineering doesn't always work," Kyoya said, "but science works everywhere or it isn't really science." Turning back to Hermione, he said in his most seductive voice, "aren't you curious what really happens in those transfigurations and how those charms really work?"

Hermione's eyes lit up. "But it's an expensive school, isn't it?"

Kyoya shrugged indifferently. "A little over eight thousand galleons a year."

All three of the Hogwarts students choked. Ron had to be pounded on the back.

"But that is why they offer scholarships to the uncommonly talented and intelligent." Seeing her waver, he added in a seductive tone, "At least consider summer school."

The horseless carriages trundled up to the castle, and a few Hogwarts students started to load their baggage. A horn sounded on the forecastle of the Durmstrang ship and the remaining Durmstrang students boarded the ship and pulled up the gangplank. Madame Maxine called to her students, and with a longing sigh in Tamaki's direction, they made their way to the carriage. Harry started towards his trunk when he was headed off by a pair of golden eyes in a bright red face.

"I am glad you did not get eaten," Trouble said sincerely.

"I am glad too," said Harry.

They looked at each other for a moment and nodded. Then Trouble scampered over to the floating Ouran palace and up the stairs. Kasaiana had curled up on top and her little ones were clinging to the roof tiles like scarlet gargoyles. The Quetzalcoatl lowered her neck to the ground and her babies crawled into her feathers and cheeped that they were ready to go. She nodded at Mori.

The other dragons were sitting with their excited offspring. Charlie came over to Harry and Mori. "It's been... educational."

"Hn," nodded Mori. He bowed to the other dragons and ascended the Ouran stairs.

The Short Snout grabbed Charlie in her claws. "Harry!"

"Can he at least ride on your neck?" Harry asked.

The dragons considered. "He cannot fly without a stick," said the Short Snout.

"He does not have a stick," the Green pointed out.

"If he fell off, he would die," agreed the Short Snout.

"Sorry," Harry said to Charlie.

Tamaki, the last Host up the stairs paused on the landing and waved his wand. Each of the regular clients found herself holding a single perfect white rose. He stepped inside and the Ouran staircase rolled up.

The Durmstrang ship weighed anchor and pulled away from the lakeshore. The great Araxan horses tossed their manes majestically and started to run, gaining speed for takeoff. The Ouran Palace began to dissolve into a flurry of sweet scented pink and white cherry blossoms. The Durmstrang ship reached the center of the lake. A whirlpool formed beneath it and it slipped down the swirling waters. Arianawel circled once around the castle and led her young to the southwest, towards the coast. The Quetzalcoatl soared high above the castle, twisted in a circle and opened a hole in the air. She flew into it and was gone. The Beauxbatons carriage turned in a smooth arc over the lake and headed south. The Horntail and Short Snout, leading Vs of their children crossed over the Beauxbatons carriage's path the flew to the southeast. The cloud of cherry blossoms fluttered due east into the morning sun.

Harry stood there watching until they were all out of sight. Somehow the world was both lighter and darker. But light or dark, good or bad, Harry knew that with friends, he would face it when it came.

~oOo~

A/N: Thank you for following this one all the way through. Thank you for all the comments, encouragement and feedback. It's kept me going.

It's done unless I come up with an omaki. I have a couple bouncing around in my head, unfortunately, they aren't occuring to me in chronological order, so it might be confusing. Also, I know there's not really summer scholl as such in Japan, but it's an entertaining notion. The ones that really suggest themselves to me are in the Deathly Hallows, but jumping right to the end cuts out so may other possibilities. We'll see where it goes.

Stay healthy everyone!

Storz