Author's note: It occurs to me that this Harry is somewhat OOC - he's much more observant, and he actually has a sense of humour. I'll probably address the sense of humour in text, but for now at least I'm just leaving it implied that the shock of stepping away from his expected role has jolted Harry into thinking much more about the world around him (and hence paying more attention to it).

When Harry entered the common room the next morning, he was met by yet another raucous round of applause. He briefly considered telling them his decision from the previous night, but caution prevailed and he slipped through to the portrait hole as quickly and quietly as he could; behind him, only a handful of Gryffindors besides Ron and Hermione even seemed to notice that he wasn't lapping up the adulation. Ron and Hermione, incidentally, were talking quietly in a corner - they seemed to be trying, with limited success, to ignore the mindless celebrations around them.

As Harry had expected, he found much the same reception in the Great Hall - from the Gryffindor table, anyway. Hufflepuff, House of the loyal, had closed ranks around their champion Cedric - they were furious that he had been upstaged, and they were making their position perfectly clear. Slytherin, while not personally affected, had seized on the opportunity to tear down the Boy Who Lived - while the Hufflepuffs merely glared, the Slytherins jeered and catcalled as Harry entered. He could even hear them over the cheers of the Gryffindors. As he reached the Gryffindor table, he noticed a great many thoughtful faces at the silent Ravenclaw table - apparently they weren't yet sure what to think. The ghost of a smile flickered across Harry's face at the sheer delightful novelty of someone actually reserving judgement on something to do with him, rather than just jumping to conclusions as everyone else always seemed to.

No sooner had Harry sat down than the Weasley twins appeared out of nowhere and sat down on either side of him.

"Harry -" one of them said excitedly,

"- how'd you do it?" finished the other.

"Our Ageing Potion didn't work -"

"- the whole school knows that -"

"- so what do you know that we don't?"

Harry threw up his hands in mock despair, noting as he did so that quite a few people were paying close attention to his reply.

"You're right, guys - I do know something you don't know. For the last time, I did not put my name in that sodding goblet! The only way I know how to get past an Age Line is to wait a few years. Look, pass the word will you? I didn't bloody do it. I didn't ask anyone else to do it. I have no idea who did it or why, and if I did then I'd be torn between killing them myself or telling McGonagall and letting her do it. I don't want to be in this Tournament, I swear I don't. Cedric's the Hogwarts champion - I'm just trying not to die,and hoping I might hang onto some shred of dignity through all this."

One Weasley twin turned to the other.

"Tricksy little midget isn't he, brother mine?"

"Tricksy indeed, o brother, and a clever tongue to boot."

They carried on, and some others joined in, but Harry had given up for now. He concentrated on eating as fast as he could, doing his best to ignore the banter swirling around him. As soon as he finished, he slipped away without a word. Much to their surprise, though, he didn't head for the door. Instead he walked nervously towards the Hufflepuff table, eyes searching the lines of seated students. Target found, he then made a beeline for one particular handsome sixth-year.

"Cedric, do you have a moment? I really need to speak with you."

Cedric seemed utterly taken aback, but after a look at Harry's expression he allowed himself to be pulled away. The look he gave the younger boy, however, was anything but friendly.

"OK Potter, what's so important? I think we both know what you did and how I feel about it, so I hope you haven't dragged me across here to spin me another line about that."

Harry glared at him for a moment, then grinned.

"Well, I was telling the truth - I really didn't put my name in that Goblet, and I have no idea who did. But I know you're not going to believe me, so I wouldn't drag you here to tell you that. What I wanted to say is that as far as I'm concerned you're the Hogwarts champion, and I've just said the same thing to the whole Gryffindor table. Cedric, I'm scared of this tournament. I'm bloody terrified. I get good marks in Defence, but I'm an undersized fourth-year - there's no way I can compete with you. So I'm not going to. I'll show up at the tasks, because otherwise I lose my magic, but I don't actually have to try my hardest. Whatever the tasks are, I should be able to show up and make some token effort without getting myself hurt or looking too stupid. That's all I want, honestly."

Cedric was staring thoughtfully at Harry. "You really mean that, don't you?"

Harry nodded. "Definitely. I mean, I know this might be hard to believe after everything that's happened in the last three years, but I don't actually want to die."

As Harry walked towards the door, he found himself suddenly flanked by lanky redheads.

"Harry, we were thinking -"

"- we do that, you know -"

"-you should try it sometime -"

"- anyway, we were thinking -"

"- about your plan -"

"- to skive off the tasks."

"And we were thinking -"

"- you might like some help -"

"- potentially even our help -"

"- to make things more interesting when you do."

Harry glanced back and forth between them as the they walked with him up a staircase, and he wore a thoughtful frown. A few quiet seconds after they finished, however, his face broke into an enormous grin.

"Well... I've said I'm not actually going to be doing the tasks properly, so I suppose I'm going to have a bit of time to kill with a lot of people watching me. It'd really be rather a pity to waste that sort of an opportunity, wouldn't it?"

The Twins now wore identical manic grins. Turning to Harry, they gave exaggerated salutes before vanishing purposefully.