Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter.

My sincerest thanks to Kourtney Uzu Yato, whose amazing One injustice Too Many, which also features a femHarry character going through hell during the Tri-wizard tournament has inspired me with this new fic, with kind permission, so many thanks. Before anyone says anything, this story and that one is completely different, although there are similarities.

Please let me know what you think.

Charlotte Potter: The Cat Burglar.

The Hell of Fourth Year.

The Goblet of Fire was about to spew out the names of the three champions who would represent the magical schools of Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts. The Great Hall itself was decorated with the usual Halloween fare, and all of the tables serving the houses of the school were groaning under the weight of the food for the feast, including the cuisine of the two foreign schools.

The night was a double celebration.

Not only was the Tri-Wizard tournament about to begin, but the usual celebrations over the defeat of Lord Voldemort went on, and all of them from the teachers to the students were insensitive about how the topic sounded to the one student in the room who had suffered more on that night than anyone, but since the magical world had celebrated this occasion for as long as they could remember since the First Voldemort war had very nearly destroyed their world, and almost revealed the existence of magic to the muggles, they felt they had the right to celebrate.

Charlotte Lillian Potter was in two minds about the celebrations and the deaths of her parents; on the one hand, she could very well understand where the magical world was coming from, especially since everything she had learnt about what Voldemort and his band of terrorists had done had nearly brought magical society to its knees, and from what she could learn from the history books on the subject as well as the second-hand accounts she had picked up over the years she had felt they deserved the celebrations.

The Ministry had been close to surrendering, although Barty Crouch Senior had managed to cause tremendous harm to the Death Eaters. But Crouch's efforts were too late, Voldemort had still been a threat; Charlotte wasn't surprised to find the incompetence of the Ministry of Magic had been bad at that point, and she could see ways in how it had benefited Voldemort and the higher-ranked Death Eaters.

And the so-called secret society of vigilantes Dumbledore had set up had been ineffectual as well, although one or two members had been smart enough to see they were fighting a war.

But the war had devastated families. Children, who the magical world revered as the next generation, were slaughtered for no reason other than the fact they were termed "children of blood traitors" or some pureblood shit like that. Families dreaded going home, frightened they would find Voldemort's dark mark hovering over their home. People were going missing…

Under those conditions, Charlotte could understand where the magical world was coming from with their need to celebrate the defeat of Voldemort, although she wished Dumbledore would provide them with proof Voldemort was still out there somewhere, especially since she knew he was planning on returning.

But on the other hand…. Charlotte did feel it was insensitive the magical world were celebrating in the first place given how her parents had been murdered, but truthfully she didn't really care or give any thought about her parents. Lily and James Potter had both died a long time ago, and nothing would bring them back, not even the stories of her godfather could bring them back, although that was what he seemed to be doing.

Charlotte spooned some more apple pie into her mouth - she had a tremendous loathing towards pumpkin, and she truly did not understand how anyone could eat the stuff; one bite and she had to spit it out - letting the spiced, hot pudding drowned in creamy custard melt in her mouth while she did her best to drown out the sounds of her 'friends.' Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were sitting near her with Charlotte sitting next to Hermione, although Charlotte was doing her best not to look at the redhead, whom Hermione was scolding for his lack of manners when it came to eating; Charlotte didn't know why she bothered. Ron didn't listen, that or his absolute lack of restraint made him forget everything Hermione was saying to him, and she was thankful she had learnt how to tune out the petty squabbling between the pair of them a long time ago, savouring every bite.

Growing up on the scraps that wouldn't even sate a dog at the Dursleys before she murdered them after the way they had killed a defenceless kitten whose only crime was being with her, and those years she had lived out on the streets of London and then in Brighton had resulted in her body always being thin, but until she had learnt how to steal food from supermarkets and wholesalers for her own consumption, Charlotte had managed to put on some weight to mitigate the damage the Dursleys had caused, but her body was still super thin by medical standards although it was athletic enough to not be too worrying.

She wasn't surprised the teachers at Hogwarts hadn't noticed how her Hogwarts uniform hung off of her body, but since the teachers at primary school hadn't cared neither did the witches and wizards who were the teachers at Hogwarts.

"Who do you think is going to be the champion of Hogwarts?" Ron asked, making some of the people sitting near and opposite him look away from the bits of half-chewed food being launched from his mouth like bullets from a machine gun.

Hermione grimaced at the bad manners. "Honestly Ron, how many times do I need to tell you to swallow your food before you eat?" she snapped.

Charlotte sighed and shook her head when she saw the redheaded idiot glower at Hermione angrily, and she switched off her ears before she could hear the predictable rant. While she personally felt Hermione had a point about Ron's eating habits since they were gross, she didn't know how many times Hermione could remind him of it before she gave up when she realised it was a lost cause. But then again, Hermione was stubborn and would probably keep at it until either she or Ron were both dead, or one of them tried to top the other so they wouldn't have to put up with one another year after weary year. They might be spies, but that didn't mean they had to like one another.

She inwardly shook her head. Why had Hermione agreed to spy on her? Dumbledore's talk about her, Charlotte, being in danger might have been a large part of it, but there had to be more to it than that. Weasley, however, was predictable - he just wanted her and money. Nothing more.

Still, she had to think about Ron's question, although she was dismissive about it; she didn't care about the Tri-wizard tournament, not one little bit. She could understand the idea of school competitions, particularly those with other schools, but to her, they weren't anything special since it would only take place this one year, and then it was gone. Still, Charlotte would be interested in what happened during the tournament since it would give her the time she wanted to attend to the matter of the Ponzi schemes she had drawn up in different countries from Hogwarts, which made an ideal base of operations.

How many people would suspect a con was being planned and carried out from one of the magical schools of the world?

Also, while she was at Hogwarts, she could hear from Dobby and Winky how many more people had heard about the Mona Lisa theft, and were interested in acquiring it for a private collection. She had nearly fifty copies at one of the properties she owned, but three more people had expressed interest, so she had used her Time-Turner to nip back in time so no-one would know she was gone, and she would then create new copies out of the original.

Charlotte's ears pricked up when she heard Dumbledore's voice call out the name of "Cedric Diggory" and she lifted her head, and watched as the tall dashing Hufflepuff stand up, smiling modestly as his name was called out of the Goblet of Fire, waving at his house before Professor Sprout shut them all up. She smiled genuinely when she saw him stand up; although she didn't really know the older boy that well, she liked what she had seen so far. The fact he was drop-dead gorgeous had its appeal as well.

Still, that didn't mean she wasn't nervous. This was Halloween. Charlotte hated the day with a passion; not only had her parents been murdered on this particular day, but the Dursleys had made sure to never let her forget it. Every Halloween she'd lived with them, she had lived in terror. On the streets, she'd often gotten into fights, or she had been bitterly cold. She had nearly died once.

It was just as bad in Hogwarts, and so Charlotte was remaining alert for any sign of an impending disaster, and as she watched the Goblet of Fire, she felt dread at the thought of her name coming out of the Goblet, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Charlotte listened as Dumbledore called out another name. "Viktor Krum, from Durmstrang Academy."

Cheers rang out throughout the hall as the legendary and very young Quidditch player stood up. Ron tried to whistle and cheer his approval, only to spit out bits of food again. Charlotte grimaced as she waved her wand and cleaned away the debris, and she sent a mild stinging curse his way. His squeal was music to her ears.

Another name came out of the cup. "Fleur Delacour, from Beauxbatons Academy," Dumbledore called.

Charlotte winced as the male population seemed to bellow to the heavens, which was an achievement in Charlotte's book since the boys she had seen in the presence of the French girl had been reduced to drooling, braindead puppies. but now they seemed to be united and conscious in their yells as the tall, blonde beauty rose from her seat and walked gracefully to the side room door.

Charlotte closed her eyes. Please, she begged. Please let that be the end of it. I just want a nice, peaceful year.

Silence gradually fell over the hall while Dumbledore tried valiantly to silence everyone from their cheering before the Goblet lit up again, silencing everyone in the hall.

Charlotte's heart plummeted into her stomach. No. Please, no…

Dumbledore snatched the note and looked at it closely before he said, "Charlotte Lilian Potter."

Charlotte felt as if every drop of blood within her body was just vanished while she noticed everyone turning to look at her startled face. She didn't breathe, she was stunned by what had happened. She had known Halloween was cursed, but she wished she lived as far from the British magical world as possible.

Anything for a bit of peace.

She gasped when she felt Hermione giving her a shove which jumpstarted her brain, making her take in a deep breathe while she tried valiantly to rein in her emotions with her occlumency skills, and she stood up and made her way forward. Charlotte felt as though she were marching to her death, and she didn't need to look behind her to see Ron was fuming while he glared at her. The emotional state of the school was becoming a sinkhole rapidly, everyone was claiming she was a cheat. Charlotte wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. It was ironic; here she was, the master thief who had stolen the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, the one who with the help of two House-elves had stolen the crown jewels from the Tower of London, and was orchestrating a number of Ponzi schemes while the ignorant magicals didn't know what was happening, and yet all of her confidence was being bled away from her with this bombshell.

Marvellous.

Charlotte walked into the anteroom the other champions were clustered in. When she came in, they turned to look at her.

"Do they want us back?" Fleur Delacour asked, and Charlotte could understand the reasons behind the question, but she shook her head.

"No," she replied, inwardly wondering why she would think she was a messenger girl and why she would have been chosen when there were dozens of other students in the hall.

"Then why are you in here?" Krum's accented voice asked next, looking at her without any emotion in his face.

Charlotte took a deep breathe, wondering what they'd do if she told them, although she could guess they wouldn't like it, before she could say a word, the door burst open. Before Dumbledore could say a word, someone got there first.

"Ho-Ho, I knew this was going to be good!" Ludo Bagman cried while his paunch jiggled with the motion (Charlotte was amazed the man could still even fit into that old Quidditch uniform, and she guessed he had used magic; there was simply no other way they could fit) while he bounced around the room with an enthusiasm Charlotte genuinely did not understand. "We now have four champions."

Charlotte cursed under her breath when she caught the reactions of anger and disbelief from the other champions while she cursed Bagman's excitable manner; while it certainly answered the questions about what she was doing here, she wished she could have told the older champions herself so hopefully they would see she wasn't interested in this mess.

"What?" Fleur spat, looking at the tiny dark-haired girl with contempt. "This little girl?"

Charlotte glared at the older girl angrily for that remark, glaring back at Fleur with equal contempt, but before she could say anything Dumbledore came rushing in. She gasped in shock when she felt his hands swing her around.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" the old wizard practically yelled in her face.

Delighted to have someone whom she could use to vent her spleen on, especially since he had invaded her personal space and yelled which brought back memories of the Dursleys (if he hadn't done it deliberately with her deceased, unlamented relatives in mind, she would really be surprised), Charlotte shoved the old wizard off of her.

"Of course I didn't!" she snapped knowing full well she would appear to be a petulant teenager, thinking momentarily of using one of those magical oaths to prove her innocence, but Hermione had called her away just as lessons had been resuming when they had been in the library and she had pushed it out of her mind. She wished she hadn't now since it would prove to these morons she was telling the truth.

"Liar!"

"Tell the truth!"

Charlotte ground her teeth together. "Why would I put my name in the Goblet in the first place? Oh, come on - use your brains. I have more than enough fame and fortune to last anybody in this fucking room. All I wanted was to be left alone this term."

She may as well have not bothered speaking Krum's headmaster snapped, "It is not fair for Hogwarts to have two champions."

Charlotte closed her eyes. For god's sake, what will it take before the magical world wakes up?

"He's right," the booming voice of Madame Maxime who seemed to be the female version of Hagrid voiced her agreement of Karkaroff's statement. "Two champions gives Hogwarts an unfair advantage."

"I didn't put my name in the Goblet," Charlotte spat, glaring at the massive woman with growing rage, hearing the scoffs around her, and with her trained peripheral vision she could see Krum glaring at her although there was a dismissive expression in his face. He didn't think much of her as a competitor. Cedric looked shellshocked, but he wasn't judgemental. Fleur was looking at her with a contempt that would have put Petunia and Marge Dursley's own brands to shame.

"Liar, of course you did!" Maxime shouted, looking down at Charlotte in the same manner as Aunt Marge, at least before the fat bitch had her throat slashed. "Eternal glory, who wouldn't want that?"

"Didn't you hear what I said before?" Charlotte increased the power of her glare, letting loose some of her magical aura and noticing out of the corner of her eye some of the people in the room shuffling uncomfortably as they felt her magic surging; she knew it wasn't a good idea, especially with Dumbledore there since it would give the old wizard ideas about her control over her powers but she didn't care. "I already have that, and I can tell you, it tastes as bitter as ash."

XXX

"Dobby, Winky," Charlotte said in a corridor close to Gryffindor tower without any signs of any portraits, although by this point she didn't care if she let loose a few of her secrets. In the moment before the House-elves appeared, looking at her excitedly, Charlotte had time to think. They hadn't believed her, none of them did, although Moody had managed to convince them she couldn't have placed her name in the Goblet. But while they had listened to him, they hadn't believed him that much either.

she was in the tournament, and if she didn't compete she would lose her magic.

The sound of popping signified the arrival of her House-elves. "Missy Char!" Dobby and Winky squealed, and they hugged her tight. Charlotte closed her eyes, happy she had someone in the school willing to listen to her.

"My name has come out of the Goblet of Fire. I'm now a school champion," she said when she had pulled back and looked seriously at the two eager elves. "I also didn't like the way everyone was being. Winky, I want you to go back to the mill. It might look like I've got no other place to stay. Dobby, I want you to stay with me; if the Gryffindors turn hostile, get me and Nightstar out of the house. Okay."

The two House-elves looked at each other, shocked by what their mistress had told them, but they obeyed.

Charlotte sighed inwardly when she caught sight of the scowl on the painting of the Fat Lady as she approached. "Fortuna Major," she said the password, ignoring the distasteful tutting she got back from the portrait in return; she knew how quickly gossip spread throughout the castle, but if she needed any more proof of what she was going to get, she had it in spades now.

The door swung open - and Charlotte heard the terrified yowls of a cat. She stopped, her blood-chilling in her veins.

"NIGHTSTAR!" she screamed, whipping her wand out and blasting Ron Weasley and half a dozen other Gryffindors away from her terrified cat, summoning their wands away from them so they couldn't retaliate, but that didn't stop Ron from growling and yanking her cat up off of the ground and he attempted to grab the thrashing and frightened cat's head and actually tried to break her neck. He didn't get too far because Charlotte blasted the redhead off of her cat, and she summoned Nightstar to her chest.

After cuddling and reassuring the frightened cat it was okay, though she swore to get her checked out at the vets to make sure there was no lasting damage, Charlotte lifted her eyes and glared at the redhead. She felt such corrosive hatred towards Ron Weasley, towards the Gryffindors, and towards the bastards responsible for this mess in the first place. "You fucking animal!" she hissed, gazing at the bastard with hatred. "I knew you hated my cat, hell you hate all cats, you miserable fuck, but I didn't know you'd go this far."

"You're a cheat!" Weasley shouted as if that justified everything he had done and had tried to do. One look at the other Gryffindors, however, made Charlotte see he had made a mistake there with them since she wasn't the only cat lover in the tower, even if they were looking at her with outright contempt.

"How did you get past the age line?" a prefect demanded.

"I didn't," Charlotte stood up, still holding onto her familiar protectively. The cat was now no longer thrashing around in a panic, accepting its mistress' ministrations.

"You are a cheat!" a first-year cried.

"Shut your face, you little bastard!" Charlotte snapped. "I don't even care about the tournament."

"Then did you get someone to put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Hermione asked, looking at Charlotte with the same stare the bushy-haired girl always got whenever there was a new mystery she just had to solve.

"No," Charlotte replied, thinking to herself if this was one of Dumbledore's little spies, then she would need to really get better at it but then again the bushy-haired cow wasn't really as smart as she'd like to brag about.

"Oh, come on, Hermione," she went on, holding back the urge to call the girl by her surname, but since her plan meant all of Dumbledore's lackeys needed to be kept off guard until the time was right, she would need to still make the idiots think they were on friendly terms, even though she didn't really want to.

"Think! Start thinking with your brain, don't let these idiots tell you otherwise; I was with you practically the whole time; when would I have had the chance to put my name into the Goblet? Why would I want fame and fortune when I've got it already? Tell me why I'd want to get into this tournament, an event where people have willingly walked into only to get themselves killed?"

Hermione looked down. There was nothing she could say, especially since Charlotte was telling the truth.

One of the Gryffindors made a dash for their wand, but Charlotte banished him away, not really regretting once more showing off her abilities. She knew Dumbledore would be informed, but that could not be helped. She banished them all into the wall, and she flicked her wand and a cloud of smoke appeared and enveloped the room. The smoke was so thick it was impossible to tell where the walls were, never mind where everyone else was, but what made it worse was they walked into each others way, and they either accused each other of being Charlotte, or they just went down hard with a yell.

By the time the Gryffindors had cleared the smoke, they found the Common Room clear of any sign of Charlotte Potter.

XXX

Charlotte sighed with relief when she found herself back in the windmill, and she smiled as she took in the familiar and cosy living room of the mill. Instantly she walked over to the wood burner and turned it on before she turned to Dobby. "Thanks, Dobby," she smiled. "Will Dumbledore figure out how I managed to get away?"

It hadn't been difficult to escape. Once she had used that smoke which was a parlour trick by magical standards, she had whispered for Dobby to come and get her away. At the same time, she had learnt a bit of her stuff was destroyed by the Gryffindor rampage, but it had been saved. Charlotte wasn't too bothered about some of it since it wasn't really important to her, but the map, the invisibility cloak, and her broomsticks were vital to her.

The House elf shook his head, his ears flapping like two sails in a wind. "No Missy Char," he replied. "Old Headmaster Whiskers won't know how I managed to get you out and away from the nasty lions."

Charlotte grimaced at the thought of the house, but before she could say anything she looked down at her familiar. Nightstar was looking around, and she meowed happily when she saw they were back home. Charlotte sighed and hugged the cat close to her. "I'm sorry, baby," she whispered, trying valiantly to push her rage down.

What kind of sick mind would try to do such a thing to a cat? First Vernon and Dudley, and now Ron Weasley, the fucking pig. Well, first thing tomorrow, she was getting Nightstar booked in to see the vet, to hell with Hogwarts. She closed her eyes tightly, trying hard to control her emotions so she could think - the biggest downside to occlumency was it was incredibly hard to keep focused when she just wanted to blast something to bits.

Charlotte sighed and she cuddled her cat to her chest, gaining strength just by holding her cat. Nightstar, Dobby, and Winky were the only ones whom Charlotte truly and deeply loved, and she hated the thought of being without them, but tonight had just driven it home for her that this was the only safe place for her.

But seeing what Weasley had tried to do….

Never again, I'm done with them.

She had no idea who had put her name into the Goblet of Fire, but now she was a champion, she had no idea what she could do about this mess, but she intended to find out; she had not come so far only to be brought down by something like this. She would need time to research it, discover the loopholes so she could find a way out which didn't involve her death.

But she had no idea what she was going to do about Hogwarts. The students were turning against her, it was so much like a carbon copy of the mess second year had become, only she hoped it wouldn't be as bad. Charlotte shook her head while she felt the temperature of the room rise. She would sleep on the problems at hand, but first she wanted to have a bath and then she would get some sleep.