He won’t break the tract. That’s the decision Harry ultimately es to as he stands there, Bagman droning on about this and that. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to start listening. See, he might be bound to the Goblet of Fire for the duration of the tract, but he’s not bound to their silly made up rules. Hell, they ’t even kick him out of the Tour if he breaks them. All they do is give him shitty scores and wag their fingers and shake their heads at him. Eventually, Harry and his felloions are allowed to leave, which is how he finds himself making his way through the corridors of Hogwarts with Cedric Diggory walking alongside him. It feels strao be back here again. Especially sidering what happeo Hogwarts in his inal timeline. But he didly have time to spill tears over it. There was too much to do now that he was babsp;“So… I guess we’ll be peting with one ahis year.” Harry’s eyes dart over to Cedric as the Hufflepuff boy makes an attempt at being friendly. Sn in derisive amusement, Harry just shakes his head. “It would seem so.” The memories of this versation e ba just as Cedric leans over and gives him a nudge. Harry tenses up, very nearly drawing his wand then and there… but no, its not an attad he o adjust quickly if he wants to avoid any unfortunate acts. “Just between you and me… how’d you do it?” Heh, even now, even after he and the disguised Barty Crouch Jr. id it all out for them… Cedric still thought he’d somehow snuck his o the Goblet of Fire. Letting out a sigh, Harry just gives the other wizard a dark, amused look. “I didn’t. I was entered against my will. But that’s not something you’ll uand until after the First Task, Cedribsp;The expression on the handsome Hufflepuff’s face is holy quite gratifying. fusion and disbelief war across his features as he tries to decide how he wants to answer Harry’s words. He never gets the ce of course, because a momehey reach the end of the corridor where they part ways. Harry splits off tryffindor Tower without so much as a farewell, leaving Cedric staring after him. Still, the versation wasn’t a plete waste of his time. Talking with Cedric had been precisely what he o remember what else happeonight. Namely, the way he would be ambushed the moment he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. Needless to say, Harry didn’t have time to deal with the ey of his House all cm for his attention. Nor, from what he recalled, did any believe him if he tried to tell them he didn’t put his name in the damn cup. But their faith in him, one way or the other, wasn’t relevant at the moment. Harry was on a time table here, and he wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way. As such, he draws his wand while approag the Fat Lady’s portrait and turns it on himself. Wordlessly, he casts an incredibly powerful disillusio charm, rendering his form pletely invisible. Only then does he approach the Fat Lady in her portrait. She’s currently speaking with another painted figure, who’s telling her all about the otion in the Great Hall from earlier that evening. The otion he had teically caused. “Balderdash.” her painted figure actually seems tnize Harry’s voice, caught up in their own versation as they are. But the Fat Lady still does her job at least, her portrait swinging open to reveal the Gryffindor on Room beyond. … As well as the multitude of wizards and witches dressed in red and gold that are waiting within. Dozens if not hundreds of eyes stare out at where Harry is standing, but no one see him as he slips inside and the portrait door closes behind him. The tension breaks with Harry halfway to the stairs, and one of the Weasley Twins calls out to everyone. “False arm folks!” Groans fill the room, even as Harry asds the stairs two at a time, making his way to his dorm. There, he doesn’t hesitate to rip open his chest and pull out his Invisibility Cloak and Firebolt. Though, he does pause for a moment as his hands ruhe Firebolt. It’s an old broom by his time traveling standards, but he still remembered it fondly to this day. A smile flits across his invisible features for a moment as he begins thten up and- “Harry?” Stiffening, Harry curses under his breath. Seriously? He let his situational awareness pse for one sed and he finds himself being ambushed. Though, as he turns around and dispels the disillusio charm to properly face Ron Weasley, he has to admit… it could be worse than his best friend. Ron blinks, looking first at him and then to the invisibility cloak still in his arms. Harry’s vanishing and reappearing act have clearly thrown the boy for a loop, though he quickly recovers and psters a somewhat strained smile on his fabsp;“Is that how you did it then? Was that a disillusio charm? Had to be the stro I’ve ever seen.” … Now he remembers how this versation goes as well. More specifically, he remembers how it affects their retionship for the rest of their year. Truth be told… Ron Weasley was a man that Harry would trust with his life. He was a stalwart brainst the evils they’d faced together, and there was almost no ohat Harry would rather have at his babsp;It still hurt, even sidering Ron’s death. But at this moment, Harry didn’t have the time or the emotional capacity to deal with Ron at this age. “I know you’re jealous, Ron.” The red head’s eyes widen at that, but Harry is already making his way forward. He overrides the young wizard before Ron speak. “I know you think that I put my name in the Goblet of Fire. I know you’re angry that I didn’t help you put yours in as well. I won’t bother trying to vince you that it wasn’t me. I will ask you to recall what happened in our First, Sed, and Third Years though. First Year, you almost die getting me past the Chess Board and Professor Quirrell tries to kill me. Sed Year, Lockhart would have obliviated both of us if not for his poor choiagical implement. And I had to save your sister from possession. Third Year, the Dementors tried to suy soul not o multiple times.” Shaking his head, Harry sighs. “It shouldn’t be that hard for you to accept that someone is trying to kill me again, Ron. By now, its par for the course, isn’t it?” For a moment, Ron looks speechless. But… as Harry expected, he’s not ready to hear it id out in on seerms. His best friend’s face begins to tort in anger aarts to snarl. “You-!” But Harry cuts him off with a hand on his shoulder and a smile on his fabsp;“I five you for being a jealous pillock at this point in your life, Ron. I know that deep down, you’re my brother and you always will be. Now… I have to go. I’ll see you soon.” With that, he leaves a mystified Ron behind, slipping back out of the dormitory and dowairs with his Invisibility Cloak hiding both him and his broom now. Though, he doesn’t quite leave everything to ce. It’s a very minor fundus Charm that he casts on Ron. Nothing that will necessarily trol his mind or anything like that. All it does is dissuade Ron from telling ahat Harry left. The boy will go to bed and hopefully spend some time thinking about what Harry said, and he will not inform ahat he saw Harry walking away with his broom and cloak. Slipping past the party taking p the Gryffindor on Room, it takes Harry about ten mio get out of the castle, what with his knowledge of Hogwarts’ secret passages. Then, he mounts his Firebolt and flies off into the night. -x-X-x- The stagnant air of Azkaban Prison is silent, save for the occasional howl or scream. In one of the cells however, a certain prisoner refuses to give ahe satisfa… for now, anyways. Beltrix Lestrange’s broken mind is a strahing. Sometimes, she’ll howl with the best of them, or even just howl to be howling. Sometimes she’ll cackle madly, ughing her head off in wild insane amusement at seemingly nothing. … And sometimes, like tonight, she huddles against the back wall of her cell, legs pulled to her chest, and doesn’t make a single peep. Shivering violently there, she says not a word as not a sound pass between her cracked lips. Her shivering only grows worse as a Dementor makes its presenown, slowly drifting on by. She’s not uo the dark creatures after all these years. However, she feels a momentary flick of surprise and anger when this Dementor stops in its tracks right outside her cell. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t have any happy memories left for the creatures to take. Normally, they didn’t even bother with her at this point. Sometimes when her insanity was at its peak, she would develop happy memories randomly, but they would always be quick to strip those away from her. Right now though, she was as clear minded as she possibly could be. There was no enjoyment of her circumstao be had here, so why was this dementor scraping the bottom of the barrel? Slowly, as her shiveris worse and worse, Beltrix Lestrange lifts her head to see what the fuck is going on. Only to stiffen in wide-eyed shock at the sight of not one, but TWO cloaked figures standing outside of her cell. There’s the dementor of course, floating off the ground and looking dangerously at the other… the other who is not floating, the other who is not a dementor at all. A wizard in a hood stands there, his features hidden from her. But of course, Beltrix doesn’t o see his faediately know who it is! Scrambling off of the wall, she crawls forward, madness shining in her wide eyes as she giggles insanely. “M-Milord? T-Truly? Have you finally e for your most loyal servant after all this time?!” That proves to be a mistake. Her sudden surge of happiness causes the dementor to whip its head towards her, a hollow sug sound ing from its empty ‘face’ as Beltrix cries out ierror and renewed fear. Still, she does not pull away. In fact, despite her happiness being sucked out of her as fast as it be made, she crawls forward, her hands reag the bars of her cell. Suddenly, the hooded figure thrusts his wand into the face of the Dementor and calmly ints a spell. “Expecto Patronum.” Beltrix is expeg a silvery so burst out of the dementor’s mouth and send it running, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, the dementins to shake, violently. Almost as though it’s trying to get away… but it ’t. Underh its tattered bck cloaks, motes of light begin to shihrough. The silver glow looks a little bit like cracks to Beltrix’s blurry vision. Then, with a sudden whooshing sound that causes Beltrix Lestrao fall ba her ass, the dementor… implodes on itself. Sucked into a glittering bright point of light at the end of the hooded figure’s wand, the dementor seems to permaly expire, dying a quicker death than it deserved, but also a quicker death tharix would have thought possible. “… As to be expected of milord. Please, Dark Lord… please free your loyal servant so that I might once again do your bidding. I will-!” It’s then that the cloaked figure pulls back his hood and looks at her, shog Beltrix to her core. It’s not the Dark Lord that has e for her. Not her darling Lord Voldemort. No, instead it’s the eyes of that mudblood Lily Eva into the face of that blood traitor James Potter. She might never have eve Harry Potter before, but Beltrix knows her Lord’s greatest enemy on sight all the same. This… this is Harry James Potter. As the bars in front of her vanish like they were here, Beltrix hisses in e, scrambling back at the sight of her Lord’s Nemesis suddenly before her. For a moment, she tries to flee… but then she remembers herself. She is an instrument of her Dark Lord’s will… Flinging herself forward, Beltrix howls as she tries to attack the Potter boy with nothing but her bare hands. That goes about as well as be expected, with her suddenly frozen in midair by his surprisingly powerful magibsp;“Rex, Bel. This will only take a moment.” Beltrix shudders. His tone reminds her so much of Lord Voldemort that it hurts. Not only that, but he called her Bel. Could it be… could the Dark Lord have possessed his greatest enemy and then e for her? “M-Milord? Is it you after all?” But Harry Potter shakes his head in amusement as he steps closer, killing her hope in an instant. “No, Bel. Tom Riddle is far from here in too weak a form to possibly help you. I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for me.” At firmation that this IS her Master’s great enemy, Beltrix tries tle, truly she does. She fights against the magical hold to the best of her much diminished ability. In the end, without a wand and after over a decade of wasting away, she ’t do anything but watch as the Potter bs his own wand to his temple and slowly begins to extract a memory. No… not one memory. See, the way the memory extra spell worked, you pulled out a memory in the form of a silvery strand and then put it into a pensieve. But as Harry slowly pulls from his temple, it’s not a strand of memory he pulls forth, but an ever-growing blonde of silver. Beltrix watches in fusion and incredulity as the young wizard removes enough memories that he should be brain dead by the time he’s done. He’s pulled out enough from his temple to at for someone’s entire life. Beltrix’s incredulity turns into budding horror when he finally finishes, only to turn his wand tip and the massive blob of glowing silver towards HER instead. “W-What are you doing?! Get that away from me you foolish boy!” Emerald eyes fshing, he just chuckles at her misfortune, once again remindirix a little too much of her Lord. “Sorry Bel, but acc to you, this is going to hurt a lot. Still, you cim you deserve it so… here goes nothing.” Before she even begin to parse that statement, just as Beltrix Lestrange is starting to wonder if Harry might be just as mad as she is… he shoves the silvery glht into her forehead, f the memories into her mind. And thus, Beltrix Lestrange, eldest of the Bck Sisters… remembers everything.