Upon opening the door Harry sized up his competition. There was Cedric Diggory, known for his charms and transfiguration prowess, being an excellent seeker and captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team and most of all for being a great guy. Next there was the French champion, by all accounts God's gift to men, so long as those men were hoping to make fools of themselves. Aside from being Veela, Harry only knew that the name Delacour was one of importance in the French ministry. Blaise had mentioned it once after staring at her across the library for five minutes, her father was involved as a head of some department over there. Lastly Harry's eyes found Viktor Krum, Bulgarian seeker, quidditch and flying savant other than that he knew nothing about the boy.

Think about all of them Harry knew he was most definitely out matched as far as magic was concerned. While not known as overly powerful Diggory was rumored to have gotten the highest OWL results in transfiguration in the last decade at Hogwarts. Delacour, while quite something to look at, was likely to be extremely talented, it was an ill-kept and uncouth secret in Britain, but those of magical creature ancestry who could wield wizards magic were often powerful. Harry knew most signaled Hagrid as opposition to this, but he chalked that up to the half-giant never getting beyond his third year of education, despite living at the school for 50 plus years. However, given Hagrid could perform basic spells with a wand which had been snapped spoke to the power the man truly possessed. Finally, Krum was sure to be not only a superior Seeker but a wizard as well. Durmstrang was known for producing some of the most talented curse breakers, warders, duelists and creature-hunters in the magical world. So, the fact that Durmstrang's headmaster had treated him as the school's champion from the moment they set foot in Hogwarts was testament to what caliber of wizard he was.

Before the door could fully close behind him it burst open as Ludo Bagman proclaimed,

"Simply outstanding! A fourth champion!"

Behind him came Bartemius Crouch and a stream of other teachers; Snape, Mcgonagall, Moody, Headmaster Karkaroff, Madame Maxime of Beauxbatons, and finally a very worried looking Dumbledore.

Dumbledore immediately set eyes on "Harry my boy, did you place your name in the Goblet?"

"No, sir"

"And you didn't ask one of the older students to do it for you?"

Harry looked at him slightly alarmed. There was no way that was all it would have taken to get past the vaunted headmasters age line… "No sir, I did not"

Dumbledore's gaze seemed to pierce his soul as he stared intently into Harry's own eyes. After a few tense seconds for the Potter heir Dumbledore looked away seemingly satisfied.

"Does this mean I have to compete?" Harry asked.

Crouch spoke up from the back of the room, "Unfortunately yes, the rules of the tournament are quite clear. Should your name come forth from the Goblet a binding magical contract is created. Should you choose not to participate you will forfeit your magic."

"But of course 'e is lying!" The Beauxbatons champion contested, "'e is too leetle to compete"

Harry had to concede that she did have a point there. Not only were the other champions likely magically gifted, but they also had three years more experience to his own. He might be an advanced fourth year and in some cases, in his opinion, fifth year student for Hogwarts, but everyone else was likely to be advanced for a seventh-year student. Even Cedric whom Harry knew was only a sixth-year student was most likely beyond the material taught at Hogwarts in at least Transfiguration, and likely Charms as well.

"I must concur Dumbledore," Her head mistress interjected "it is most unfair that 'ogwarts be given two champions"

At this Karkaroff also joined in "Yes Albus, how come we were not told that your school would get extra champion? I would like extra champion for Durmstrang as well"

"Shove off Karkaroff, you know damn well you don't get an extra contestant in this." Moody's gruff voice came from near the door.

"And why should we not?"

"Because Karkaroff, its more than likely Potter's name was put into the goblet using a strong Confundus charm, one well beyond the skill of a fourth-year student."

Harry rather disagreed with his DADA professor, he was sure that had he wanted to he could have confounded the goblet, but to be honest he hadn't thought of it. Not to mention he had no idea how he would get around the age line. His best theory on that was to have simply thrown the paper with your name on it into the goblet from outside the line. However, having watched the Weasley in his year along with the other Gryffindor fourth years try to do just that for an hour without once even coming close, he had given up thinking about it entirely. But apparently, all he had needed to do was ask a student old enough and powerful enough to confound the goblet.

Karkaroff sneered at Moody "and how might you know that?"

Moody gave the man a wry smile back "remember it was once my job to think like a dark wizard, or have you forgotten Igor?"

With the room quickly falling into chaos Dumbledore took command of the room. He had Bagman tell them what they could expect for the first task, something to do with cunning and bravery, and that was all he would say before they were dismissed.

The next few weeks progressed rather how Harry assumed they would. The school and the Daily Profit had decided that he had undoubtedly put his name in the Goblet. For after all who wouldn't want everlasting glory. Even his allies were skeptical of his denials, though perhaps that was his own fault. One did not share their ambition of eclipsing their own fame through merit only to have that ignored.

Harry did however use the time and Hermione to do a little research into previous tournaments in an attempt to get a handle on what was to come.

"It looks like there are normally three main tasks" Hermione read "it seems that the first task is usually one that deals with some sort of Magical creature and will be a test of your magic, bravery and cunning"

"Do they normally tell you what you'll be up against?" Harry asked

"No, it appears they like to try and surprise you"

"Wonderful" Harry smiled ruefully, "with my luck they'll use Gorgons or a Chimera"

"Well I don't think they would use Gorgons, it looks like the last time they did that two of the contestants were turned to stone and the third only managed to survive because he blinded himself. And I would doubt they bring in a Cockatrice, they did that for the tournament in 1792, and it went on a rampage killing all the champions according to Hogwarts a History. That's why they shut down the tournament actually"

"Wonderful. In any case, it looks like I should spend a little time with our resident Gamekeeper, his fascination with creatures and inability to keep a secret ought to clue me into whatever it is I'll have to face"

"That's probably the best place to start" Hermione agreed

"What are the other tasks usually?"

"That's been less than clear. Sometimes there's a puzzle to figure out, a bit like raiding an ancient tomb from the descriptions they use. There have been dueling tournaments, though those seem to have taken place at Durmstrang mostly. Beauxbatons once had an enchanting task where a whole house was full of furniture that attacked you. And... No, they couldn't have done that... that's absolutely barbaric"

Harry had only been half listening to potential tasks as he read through a book on creachers, but now he was interested.

"What is it Hermione?"

"Durmstrang had a muggle hunt for a task. Contestants were put into a maze and the champion to come out with the most muggles, alive or dead was the champion. It says here the Durmstrang champion won by killing 113 muggles and reanimating their corpses to attack the other champions." the look of horror on her face was something that mirrored his own thoughts on the matter. Daphne took that moment to chime in.

"That not surprising really. That's from a tournament in the early 1700's right after the statute of secrecy went into effect. Muggle hating was at an all-time high, most of the students at the schools had probably lost family to witch hunts."

Hermione was looking at Daphne like she had grown two heads, she looked like she was about to say something about equality when Neville stepped in as well.

"Yeah Hermione it's really not all that surprising. I mean muggle hunts were fairly common here in Britain until the late 1800's when they were outlawed. And I think that they're still legal if frowned upon in most of Eastern Europe. The only reason they don't do them openly is because of the ICW."

Tracy also joined in "yeah they don't even allow muggle born students into Durmstrang. And as a half-blood you typically only get in if your magical parent has enough political clout, but even then, they don't exactly welcome you."

It had taken Harry about 5 minutes, a burnt tongue, and a chipped tooth (who knew rock cakes had actual rocks in them) to discover that it would be bloody dragons. That had been all Harry could get out of Hagrid as he had immediately ushered Harry to the door after his slip up, but it was a start. Bloody Dragons.

The next morning, he also received a most curious letter, brought to him by what appeared to be a school owl who had flown into a window several times, judging by the ruffled appearance.

Dear Harry,

I write to you in the hopes that this reaches you before it is too late to prepare. Your first task will be against a dragon.

P.S.

Apologize to the bird for me

And that was it, no information he hadn't already received from Hagrid. The fact that the letter was unsigned was a bit concerning, if it weren't for the fact he already knew about the dragons he would have thought someone was trying to prank him. In any case, someone thought it important to notify him, who it was Harry hadn't a clue.

Daphne after reading the note over his shoulder had politely informed him that dragons no longer lived in Britain but that was due largely to the fact that it took at least 5 fully grown, well trained wizards to deal with one and had been considered sport to hunt them. A confidence boost it was not.

His own research lead him to the conclusion that a dragon was a finely tuned killing machine. Dragons came with magically resistant hides, well-tuned senses of hearing, sight and smell, not to mention the claws wings and fire breathing. He decided his best course of action may very well be to just ask the Dragon not to make his death too painful. In the end, he decided that since he was in the tournament he would at least try to win, and came up with a strategy that best suited his skills.

The only other thing of note had been the weighing of the wands ceremony. Why it was called that Harry had no idea, they didn't weigh anyone's wand, and what purpose weighing a wand would serve was beyond him. But it was a necessary testing of all the champions wants to be sure they had properly functioning ones.

It did however give him yet another extremely odd experience with Britain's most eccentric wand maker. Ollivander's descriptions of his competitor's wands did give him a little bit of insight to their magics. Fleur Delacour's magic was inflexible and temperamental, if he were to guess Harry thought it best not to anger her, as it was likely any magic she backed with strong emotions was made even stronger. Cedric was described simply as springy which fit what Harry knew about his prowess with charms and transfiguration perfectly. Krum's wand was described as ridged, which to Harry meant power, Viktor Krum was likely not going to be capable of a vast array of magics, but what he could do would be spectacular.

Harry's wand when handed over to Ollivander elicited quite a curious reaction, one Harry had not been expecting at all. He had been prepared for another reminiscing about his wands brother, of expectations of greatness, what he was not prepared for was Ollivander to give him a long and rather inquiring look.

"Interesting Mr. Potter. Very interesting. It would seem that you are no longer well suited to this wand. It is not to say that it will no longer work for you but rather it seems the two of you have grown apart. Most interesting Mr. potter, most interesting indeed."

Harry did not miss the looks he was receiving from the other champions, nor did he miss the look of concern that adorned his headmasters face.

"It is still in perfect working condition Mr. Potter, but should you find the time I would suggest you visit me again soon, I would think in about a month you should be ready" He said with a smile handing Harry back his wand.

With that they were dismissed and Harry was left to his thoughts. There was only one reason why Ollivander would suggest he come in a month, and how he had discerned that was most concerning. The rituals Harry had looked up in his first year had taken meticulous planning, and more than a little patience on his part not to do them early. But as soon as he turned fourteen he had gone out into the backyard at number 4 Privet and done the rituals.

He thought he had done a good job covering his tracks this year, he had purchased fake glasses and had been so careful not to show the benefits of the other rituals. The strengthening ritual was one he had yet to notice much from, while at times he felt stronger physically and his connection to magic seemed deeper, it was nothing spectacular.

As for the ritual, he had performed for his mind, everything had seemed to be going well right up until his scar had exploded. The pain had been like nothing he had ever experienced before. Sure, his scar would prickle every now and again, but this had felt like someone had shoved a hot knife straight through his scar and into his head. The headaches had lasted a week after and his thoughts had been muddied considerably. He would say the entire ritual had been a failure other than since coming back to school learning any spell felt more like remembering it than learning it for the first time.

Harry decided that it would be best to go see Ollivander over the Yule holidays when the school and the tournament went on break.

He spent the rest of his time learning about the weaknesses of dragons and what spells were commonly used by dragon handlers. Harry figured if there was any way to get an advantage it would be to learn from the people who spent the most time around the creatures.