A/N 11/16/2017

I came across a post on Tumblr about what if Cassius Warrington was chosen as the Hogwarts champion instead of Cedric. And thus, this was born.

I got the title from one of my favorite songs, "I Was Born a Dreamer" by SHEL.

The cover is just something I threw together with images from google.

And now, I hope you enjoy. This is my first fanfiction that I've posted on FFN, though it's not my first fanfiction and not the first one I've written for Harry Potter. I might post my others on here after this.

Note that anything in italics is a direct quote from the book. Well, after this.

We May Change the World

(If Only We Believe)

Part One, The Goblet of Fire

Chapter One

Cassius Warrington

-Written by R.B. Lynn-

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

― Sirius Black; J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The feast was over. The plates were spotless, cleared of the magically conjured food. The entire hall was brimming with anticipation as they awaited the announcement of the three Triwizard champions.

The loud chatter died away as Dumbledore stood to his feet. From their places on either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxine looked almost as tense and excited as the students did.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" — he indicated the door behind the staff table — "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

There was an eruption of cheers and applause when the goblet turned red and Viktor Krum's name, and wails of disappointment from the Beauxbatons girls when Fleur Delacour was chosen as a champion.

And finally, it was the moment that all of Hogwarts had been waiting for - it was time to announce the Hogwarts champion.

The goblet sparked red, and from it Dumbledore procured the third parchment. "The Hogwarts champion," he said, "is Cassius Warrington."

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone processed what had just happened. But the moment did not last, and soon the entire hall had erupted into protest.

"No!" Ron cried out, though nobody heard him except for Harry. The outcry from the rest of the hall was too great. "It was supposed to be Cedric!" some of the Hufflepuff students shouted. "We can't have a Slytherin champion!" "This is a mistake!" "I demand a retry!" Similar protests rang throughout the hall. These combined with loud shouting from the Slytherin table. Some Slytherins were cheering, others were shouting at those screaming protests to shut their mouths.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's strong voice rang out. The hall fell to silence. "We now have our three champions. I expect you to treat them all," he viewed the students with a sharp eye, "with the respect of such a champion."

Harry looked to the Slytherin table and saw that Warrington himself looked a bit shocked as if even he himself didn't expect to be chosen. But the shock quickly disappeared from his expression and he tightened his jaw. He stood and joined the other champions with his head held high, jeers and insults following him the whole way.

"Now," Dumbledore spoke to the students, "we have our three champions. I am certain that I can count on all of you to give each champion every ounce of support that you can muster. By cheering them on you will contribute -" Dumbledore stopped speaking, a very rare look of surprise on his face. Everyone soon saw what had drawn his attention.

The goblet was sparking red once more. Still stunned, Dumbledore reached out and grabbed a slip of parchment from the sparks. There was a long pause as Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hand and whatever was written on it.

He cleared his throat and finally spoke, "Harry Potter."

Harry froze as all eyes in the hall turned on him.

Cassius was surprised when Harry Potter entered the room. He was even more surprised when it was confirmed that yes, there are four champions.

He supposed that he really shouldn't have been that surprised. After all, in the past three years strange and even unbelievable circumstances seemed to cling to Potter. The Philosopher's stone, the Chamber of Secrets, and nobody at Hogwarts was dumb enough to believe that he had nothing to do with the Sirius Black situation last year, even those who didn't know of his connection as Harry's godfather.(1)

So why should anybody be surprised when Harry Potter was declared as the fourth Triwizard champion?

He watched as the teachers and government officials argued about what was to be done.

"Mr. Crouch . . . Mr. Bagman," said Karkaroff, his voice unctuous, "you are our — er — objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"...

..."We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."...

..."I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," … "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," said Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out — it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament —"

"— in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" exploded Karkaroff. "After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave now!"...

..."They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?...Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing he'd have to compete if it came out."...

..."Why should 'e complain?" burst out Fleur Delacour, stamping her foot. … "Zis is a chance many would die for!"

"Maybe someone's hoping Potter is going to die for it,"
Cassius narrowed his eyes. He wondered if his father would know anything of this. But how would the Triwizard tournament fit into any of the Dark Lord's plans? Sure, in such a dangerous competition it would be easy for Potter to get hurt without suspicions raised, but the teachers were sure to be watching closer than usual to make sure nobody got seriously hurt. What on earth could he be planning?

Or maybe the Dark Lord had nothing to do with this and he was just overthinking things.

He mentally scoffed. Something strange and dangerous happens to Potter and it has nothing to do with the Dark Lord? Yeah, right.

When Cassius finally made it to the Slytherin common room he was hit with a wall of noise. Everywhere people were scrambling towards him, shouting either praises to him or curses to Potter.

"Finally, glory for Slytherin!"

"How dare that Potter brat try and steal our moment?"

"It's just like him to want even more fame for himself, that attention seeking little-"

He felt someone slap his back and say, "Congratulations, Warrington, we can finally show those Gryffindors who rule, eh?"

"Er, yes, of course," Cassius stammered. He wasn't used to being in the spotlight. Sure, he was on the quidditch team, but he was a chaser and the attention was usually focused on Flint and Malfoy.

"You know, it's a big day tomorrow, I think there's an interview or something. So I'll just go up to bed," he excused himself, leaving the rest of his house to their party.

It seemed he would have to get used to attention fast. But for now, he would enjoy some peace and quiet. He could deal with all this tomorrow.

End Chapter One

TO BE CONTINUED…

(1) Sirius' connection to Harry seems like one of those unspoken secrets that most people know but don't talk about. After all, the betrayal and death of the Potters have been the talk of the wizarding world since it happened. So it makes sense that Cassius would know of it, especially since his parents are Death Eaters (at least in my story) and they would probably have been told by Voldemort, or know from that juicy Death Eater gossip.

(I have this idea that occasionally the Death Eaters just get together outside of their usual 'dark and evil stuff' meetings with Voldemort just to gossip. "You know that guy Sirius that took the fall for Pettigrew? Did you know he's Harry Potter's godfather?" "Of course I knew that, that's old news. But OMG, Bellatrix totally has a thing going on with the Dark Lord!")

Okay, so here's the first chapter, It feels kind of short, but I promise it will get better. I'll try to get chapter two up soon.