Think logically, for once in your life!

The words echoed around Harry's mind. Hermione had stormed off minutes ago and he was still sitting here, thinking about what she had said.

A week to go to the first task and Harry had been so frantic that he'd actually scared away his best friend.

Think logically…

Maybe if Hagrid hadn't brought him to see the dragons, Harry wouldn't be so freaked out, but in truth the giant lizards worried him more than he could say. He supposed if he hadn't stayed the extra ten minutes and watched one of the dragon keepers get fried, he wouldn't be this worried, but all he could think about was how they were professionals and they still got really badly injured.

Think logically…

He sat bolt upright. If the task was to somehow capture the dragon, then he didn't have a chance in hell, but if it was to procure something or get past it… all he wanted was to be able to get out of there alive. If the dragon didn't see him…

I love logic.

The day of the first task

Hermione was really worried; Harry hadn't said a word about the Tournament since their fight and she had to assume that he didn't have any ideas.

Back in the tent, Harry was grinning cheerfully while the rest of the champions were nervous. Fleur was hyperventilating, Cedric was pacing and Victor's left eye was twitching like mad.

"Calm down guys, it'll be fine," he told them, smiling. All he received were cast-iron glares.

At that point, Bagman entered the tent, along with the school masters and a large purple bag. "Your task is to capture the golden egg in the dragon's nest," he announced. "Whichever dragon you draw will determine the order of your task."

Cedric drew the Swedish Short-snout and went first. Fleur picked the Welsh Green and went second while Victor drew the Chinese Fireball and went third. Which left the Hungarian Horntail for Harry; he just smiled pleasantly and wished the other champions well.

Fleur resumed her hyperventilating and Victor sat down and began twitching again while Cedric went out to face the dragon. Harry pulled a deck of muggle cards from his bag and began playing solitaire.

"What eez dat?" asked Fleur, tilting her head to look.

"It's solitaire," Harry informed her. "Do you want me to show you how to play?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically and Harry began showing her how to set the cards up. She learned the rules swiftly, even winning a game herself before Cedric returned to the tent. "Oh, eez it my turn?" she inquired, anxiety forgotten. She went out to face the Welsh Green while Harry dealt the cards for a new game.

Time passed quickly after that as Harry played a few hands of gin with Cedric and Victor took his turn in the arena. Fleur returned singed but triumphant and duplicated Harry's cards to make a set for herself. "I will enjoy zis game very much, thank you Harry. Will you teach me others?"

"Sure, I'll teach you how to play gin. It's pretty fun; I was just playing it with Cedric actually," Harry indicated the boy on the bed. Victor walked back in. "Oh, it's my turn. Well, how about Cedric teaches you- I'll be back in a jiffy."

The boy strolled out of the tent and waved to the judges' panel. Dumbledore waved back.

The dragon was eyeing him warily, but hadn't made a move to attack. Harry grinned and began the complex wandwork required for a notice-me-not charm. When he was finished, the judges' eyes were watering with the effort of still looking at him and the dragon was ignoring him.

Harry wandered over to the nest and performed the same charm on the egg, easily picking it up and walking away from the dragon. Standing in front of the panel, he cancelled both charms and grinned at them.

Dumbledore blinked away his teary eyes. Less than a minute and he's got the egg. No damage, no injuries, no aggravating the dragon… The Hogwarts professor joyfully awarded his student ten points. Madam Maxine copied him, as did Crouch and Bagman. Karkaroff gave him a grudging six and Harry winked at him, and then casually walked back into the tent.

"Where was I? Oh yes, gin," he continued, settling back down in his chair.

Fleur leaned forward. "I understand zee collection of duplicate cards, but I do not understand the concept of a 'run'; why must they be in the same suit?"

Harry grinned and began to explain.

A week before the second task

Harry sat on the edge of the Prefect's bath, pondering. Well, they wouldn't actually let anybody die if they got put at the bottom of the lake; I bet there's a charm on them. I could go rescue the 'person I care most about'- or, and at this he grinned, I could do nothing. Nothing will happen to them and I don't want to win this stupid competition anyway.

The day of the second task

The champions were lined up along the deck. "Harry, as you've got the highest score, you get to go first," Bagman told him. Harry nodded and at Bagman's whistle, he stood up from his diving position, stretched and then dunked a hand in the water.

"That's freezing!" he exclaimed. "I'm not going in there!"

M,

With that, he conjured a deck chair and lay down on it, pulling a pair of sunglasses from his bag and stretching out comfortably. He placed his hands behind his head and, to all appearances, fell asleep.

"Er- Harry," interjected Dumbledore. Harry twitched the glasses up.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Don't you need to get into the lake?"

Harry blinked and sat up. The other champions had already dived in and he was the only one left. "I suppose you're right."

The boy stood, flexing impressively as he drew his wand.

Dumbledore sat back in satisfaction.

Harry, instead of going anywhere near the water, stood back a little as he twitched his wand.

"Accio extrico hostages," he cried, waving his wand in the pattern of an accio spell. He looked back when he was finished, though still holding the wand towards the lake. "It's a variant of the accio spell," Harry explained. "I was going to use it to get my broom out of my trunk in the first task, but I had a better idea instead. It frees the object from anything holding it back and then summons it."

At that moment, with a mighty splash, the four hostages burst from the water and Harry guided them to land softly on the deck. "Oh, I seem to have gotten all of them. Would you like me to put the others back?" he asked politely.

Dumbledore shook his head numbly while Bagman announced, "And Harry Potter has triumphed in the second task as well! He has brought back not one, not two, not three but four of the required objects!"

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were sitting up and blearily shaking their heads while some little French girl was cursing like a sailor. Cho Chang was whining about how she was wet and at that, Harry conjured towels for the lot of them. Dumbledore conjured some hot chocolate for the five of them and the judges numbly gave Harry all tens, apart from Karkaroff who awarded him five.

Ten minutes later, Fleur emerged, held up by mermen and terribly scratched. She gasped in pleasure as she saw her sister safe, but sighed as she noticed the other hostages. "Zis means zat I have come last?"

Harry shook his head and replied easily, "No, I'm the only one that's back. I think they're doing it by how long it takes them to get back now, since I took all the hostages."

"Ah," she replied with dignity. "Gin?"

"Indeed," Harry acquiesced. They sat on a dry part of the deck, Fleur with a towel around her shoulders.

Ron and Hermione were earnestly discussing their kidnapping and Gabrielle was chatting with Cho.

About fifteen minutes after that, Cedric emerged, looking furious. "I got to the bloody mermish city and all they did was point me back to the surface!"

Harry conjured him a towel and gestured for him to join their game, which he did as Harry explained. After a while, the Hufflepuff relented and the three enjoyed their card game for a while. Fleur was ridiculously good at it for a newbie, shaming Harry and Cedric into frustration.

Twenty minutes after Cedric, Victor struggled out of the water, still shaking off his shark self-transfiguration.

The final scores were 45 for Harry, 35 (for the difficult Transfiguration) for Victor, 25 for Cedric and 15 for Fleur (even though she was caught by Grindylows, she later claimed that she knew the hostages were gone and claimed points of the basis that she was returned the fastest). This left Harry firmly in the lead, despite not having even entered the water.

A week before the third task

Think logically…

Harry was sitting alone in a classroom, as had become his habit. Well, points-wise, I don't actually need this task. The only way that anybody else could win is if Victor gets to the trophy first, but I'm willing to take that chance. I'm not risking my life!

The day of the third task

As before, Harry was called first and conjured a deck chair to lie on.

"Er- Harry?" Dumbledore inquired.

Cedric entered the maze.

"Yes, Professor?"

Victor entered the maze.

"Harry, don't you need to go into the maze?"

Fleur entered the maze.

Harry drew a book from his bag titled 'Card tricks: becoming a true magician.'

"No, actually. Whatever goes on in there doesn't affect my points lead, so I'm not going in."

Harry flipped to the bookmark in the third chapter and began practicing the creative shuffling.

"Are you sure about this, Harry?" Dumbledore pressed.

"Absolutely," he replied, not looking up. "Look what I can do!"

He flipped the cards into an arch and then collapsed it, easily shuffling them. "I could never do that before," Harry admitted. "The pile would always flick out and go everywhere."

"Right."

Harry had time to master a vanishing card trick before Victor stumbled out of the maze with a glazed look in his eyes. The Durmstrang champion sent a dark curse at Harry, which Dumbledore deflected while Harry stunned the boy.

"Okay, that was a little weird. Why did he do that?"

Dumbledore stood thoughtfully over the stunned champion, pausing before he spoke. "By all appearances, Mr Krum was under the imperious curse. Once Mr Diggory has returned, we will check the wands of all staff members surrounding the maze for the Unforgivable curse. Is that acceptable to the other judges?"

They acquiesced uneasily, the spectators humming with nervous energy and gossip.

At that moment, Cedric appeared at the opening of the maze, clutching the trophy. "The trophy went to this weird graveyard at first, so I grabbed it again and portkeyed back here," he exclaimed, clearly disturbed. "Was it supposed to do that?"