AN:
* book-extract-long/an-unexpected-champion was used for the quote from the book*
I am not, have not, and never will be the author or owner of anything Harry Potter, except of course, my own set of the books.
()-()
Chapter 1
The Goblet and Eyes of Fire
Harry sat with his friends, in his usual Halloween mood. He always felt depressed on the 31st, and didn't really enjoy the celebrations, of course no one really wants to spend the night of the anniversary of their parent's death celebrating.
His friends tried to cheer him up or distract him, but the only thing that was going on was the tournament, and he really wasn't all that interested, but it was fun watching Fred and George wrestle looking like Dumbledore fighting Gandalf.
As the feast disappeared, and the Goblet was brought out, Seamus spoke up from across from Harry, "Hey Harry," he started "Who d'you reckon 'll be the Hogwarts champion?" Turning back from looking at the Goblet, Harry replied "I don't really care mate, just so long as it's not me. I'm hoping for a fun year on the sidelines."
"But Harry!" Ron spoke up from next to him, "It's eternal glory and fame! Not to mention a thousand galleons!" Harry sighed
"Ron, I don't want or need the fame I already have, and I have more than enough money to support myself after school. Why would I need or want any more than I already have?" Ron's expression became jealous as he snapped back "Well some of us don't have everything we've ever wanted so rub it in why don't you!" and turned away.
Harry was shocked. Shocked and angry, and he could see the same emotions in his friends around him, especially Fred and George, who had seen the bars on his window when they had rescued him from Durskaban before his second year.
But before any of them could respond, the food in front of them disappeared and Dumbledore stood.
*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.'
He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them all into a state of semi-darkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting … a few people kept checking their watches ...
'Any second,' Lee Jordan whispered, two seats away from Harry.
The flames inside the Goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it the whole room gasped.
Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue white.
'The champion for Durmstrang,' he read, in a strong, clear voice, 'will be Viktor Krum.'
'No surprises there!' yelled Ron, as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Harry saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table, and slouch up towards Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.
'Bravo, Viktor!' boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. 'Knew you had it in you!'
The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the Goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.
'The champion for Beauxbatons,' said Dumbledore, 'is Fleur Delacour!'
'It's her, Ron!' Harry shouted, as the girl who so resembled a Veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.
'Oh, look, they're all disappointed,' Hermione said over the noise, nodding towards the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. 'Disappointed' was a bit of an understatement, Harry thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears, and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.
When Fleur Delacour, too, had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next...
And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.
'The Hogwarts champion,' he called, 'is Cedric Diggory!'
'No!' said Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except Harry; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off towards the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.
'Excellent!' Dumbledore called happily, as at last the tumult died down. 'Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real'
But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.
The fire in the Goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.
Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore.*
Clearly startled, Dumbledore read out the name on the slip, just barely loud enough to be heard, "Harry Potter"
As the room erupted into noise, people yelling and arguing, Harry sat in shock. Through his shock he realized that someone must have put his name in the Goblet and forced it out. His earlier anger at Ron disappeared from his mind and an all consuming rage flowed through him. He felt his magic build with his rage.
As the Headmaster tried to calm the room filled with upset students, he started to feel someone's magic build, and after working with Harry so much to reign it back in after the Basilisk, he would recognize it anywhere. He froze, fell silent along with all of the other powerful and magically sensitive in the room and his eyes found Harry as the magic built. Soon everyone in the room could feel the magic in the air and see shimmer and shake and sing a song of rage. They could all feel the anger building in the magic as they fell silent and looked to Harry.
Now, over the past year and summer of working on his magic, the illusion over Harry became quite strong and now wasn't in any danger of falling at just his anger and a little magic, now it required lots more effort or magic to shatter. And Shatter it did.
The whole room stood, transfixed, as Harry's illusion fell, causing the people nearest to gasp at his scars, burnt in buy the basilisk venom. The whole room however, took notice as his veins turned black, eyes turned a toxic yellow and then burst into killing curse green flame.
"Who" Harry growled out as he stood. "Put my name -MY NAME- into that infernal flaming piss pot?"
Silence. No one moved, no one spoke, and a people few weren't even breathing.
"Harry my boy," Dumbledore said softly "lets head back and talk with Mr. Bagman, Mr. Crouch, and Professor Moody. Between the five of us and the other headmasters we should be able to find out what happened."
"Fine." Harry growled, and walked back with the headmaster.
As Dumbledore entered the room where the champions were waiting, Cedric turned and asked "Do you need us back-" freezing in place with wide eyes as he saw Harry enter with black veins and blazing green eyes. The others had turned and frozen as well, as Harry entered after the headmaster. "It seems," Dumbledore started somberly "that someone has entered Mr. Potter here into the tournament and forced his name out of the Goblet. While he has to compete due to the magically binding nature of the cup, we need to find out how and who entered his name, and see that whomever is trying to have Mr. Potter harmed be stopped."
The other headmasters and champions, getting over their shock, protested. "How can Hogwarts have two champions?" Karkaroff shouted " 'Ow can 'e compete? 'E is just a leetle boy?" asked Fleur. At this, Harry, who was trying to calm down, rather successfully might he add, felt his anger resurge and his eyes reignite. "Oh I'm sorry Princess, did I ruin your moment by being forced into a deadly tournament that I want no part of? My bad." Causing Fleur to step back weather in fear or surprise, she couldn't tell.
"Harry, why don't you head down to The Chamber or The Room and blow off some steam, my boy? I'll bring any theories we can come up with to you tomorrow, after breakfast, along with the tournament rules."
His anger finally focusing enough for him to think straight, Harry nodded and spoke with barely contained anger "Alright...Thank you Headmaster." and walked out, intent on blowing something up.
LINEBREAK
The next morning saw Harry sitting alone at the Gryffindor table, poking at his breakfast. He had just gotten back from talking with Albus about what had happened and getting the rule book. Long story short, they knew how his name came out of the Goblet, but not who put it there, so he was stuck with anger that sat and festered with nowhere to go, and no one to direct it at. As for the student body, well, everyone either feared him, or hated him, and as such, gave him a wide berth. But that didn't stop people from staring, especially since he had decided that he didn't need the usual illusion since everyone had seen him last night without it last night.
Ron entered the great hall with Hermione, each with a different look on their face. Ron looked angry and jealous, and it only grew more apparent when his eyes landed on Harry. Hermione looked concerned and confused. She didn't really know what to think about Harry's name coming out of the Goblet, but she knew that Harry didn't return to the common room last night, or if he did, he returned very late and left very early. She rushed to him, with Ron stomping over behind her. "Oh, Harry! There you are! Where were you last night? You didn't return to the common room! Are you alright? Where did these scars come from? They look old. Why didn't you tell us about them, and where did the black veins come from? And your eyes! They were on fire! Since when did they do that? I think I would have remembered if if my best friend had more scars, black veins, and yellow eyes that lit up with green flames!"
"Yeah mate, what else are you keeping from us?" Ron interjected, words and eyes full of hate. "Why don't you let someone else have the glory and fame for once instead of butting in for once! I thought you didn't want or need more fame or money!" Ron yelled
Trying to control his anger Harry rasped out "I didn't put my name in the Goblet Ron, you of all people should know me better than that." His throat was still raw, and his body still sore from all the yelling and magic he did in The Room the night before.
"Yeah right!" Ron snapped. "You could have at least told your best mate how you got your name into the Goblet instead of being a glory hog attention seeker!"
"Ron!" Harry snapped, "I didn't put my name in the stupid goblet. I'm not trying to steal any glory, I just wanted a nice, quiet year of watching the tournament from the stands."
Ron scoffed, "C'mon Hermione, lets go sit with friends instead of some attention seeker." and pulled Hermione with him despite her protests.
Harry quickly left, wanting somewhere quiet to read through the rulebook Albus had given him. Deciding that he also wanted to find out more about the past tournaments, he headed towards the library. Intent on spending the whole day there or in the Room if he couldn't find what he needed, since he could skip classes as a Champion.
LINEBREAK
After spending most of the morning researching the Triwizard Tournament, and only finding that the first two tasks basically decided who got second place, with the third being a reach the goal first to win type challenge, but not finding anything to help him get out of the thing. As Harry was putting his books back, and gathering his things to head back to the RoR for some practice, Neville came over.
"Hey Harry," He started "I-I wanted to check to see if you we doing ok. Y-You weren't in any classes and with the whole thing with your name coming out of the Goblet and Ron, I wanted to know if you were doing ok."
"I'm alright Neville," came Harry's short reply "O-Oh, a-alright, well… I, uh, I wanted to tell you that if you need a friend I'm here for you… I guess. And that I don't think that you put your name in the Goblet, especially because of the way you reacted and how you were talking about a quiet year with nothing dangerous since school started."
"Thanks Nev, means a lot to still have friends." Harry smiled.
Neville started as two redheads suddenly appeared next to him.
"Good day Harry,-"
"We too have found that-"
"You didn't put your name-"
"In the Goblet,-"
"And therefore-"
"Would like to offer you-"
"Our most sincere of apologies-"
"For our prat of a brother-"
"And let you know that we-"
"Are with you."
Harry smiled at Fred and George "Thanks guys."