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The Treasure Hunter.

As soon as he had heard of the Tournament, and his concerns he would be forced into it, Harry decided to sneak off to the library to find out more about the Tournament from the library. He doubted it would be too difficult to find something like that; he had been at the school long enough to know just how proudly the school prided on its history. The history section was easily one of the largest sections of the entire Hogwarts library, and that was because of the number of books devoted to Hogwarts itself. There were tonnes and tonnes of books and references to the Founders, and there were bounded diaries from students over the centuries.

With that collection, finding some references to the Triwzard Tournament should not be difficult.

Unfortunately, there was the problem of finding the right opportunity. It had surprised Harry when he had learnt from the map Dumbledore met with the spies, considering it being the 1st September; he would have expected the old fool to have been going over last-minute changes of plan in the school year, and in this case with the Tournament on, it would have been more logical for him to focus on the last-minute preparations before the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrived to take part. But no. It seemed that Dumbledore would let the world end rather than let any information about his favourite pawn - Harry himself - slip through his fingers.

Harry had watched their signatures on the Map for an hour - he wished there was a way to use the Map his father and his juvenile friends had made to eavesdrop on the spies, rather than rely on using legilimency - while he waited for them to return to the Tower so he could leave; he could have left earlier and headed for the library, however, he had decided against it. Weasley had never bothered to draw open the curtains to Harry's bed in the past to make sure he was sleeping, but that didn't mean the dumb twat couldn't throw the curtains open on impulse, but most times Weasley was too tired to care if the walking bank account Harry represented was there or not.

In any case, Harry wanted to wait for the right opportunity to leave the dorm and head for the library, the best time would be when the rest of the school was asleep. While Harry was watching the Map, he downed two potions taken from his trunk. To the school, Harry had one basic trunk, the same one he had gotten when he had gone with Hagrid to Diagon Alley for the first time; Harry knew Dumbledore had told the large oaf to make sure he got one of the more basic trunk models, one with no magical addition, such as a multi-compartment model where he could store large amounts of items and possessions in different dimensional pockets in order to keep the Boy-Who-Lived at a specific level.

However, he had two trunks.

The first was the basic one where he kept his school things and a few of his possessions - he hated having to keep his broom and his invisibility cloak inside that one, but if he wanted to maintain this ridiculous charade with Dumbledore and his idiot minions, then he would have no choice. The first trunk was easy to deal with, and he usually shrunk it down whenever he travelled in the muggle world. At the same time, he used the trunk as bait for Dumbledore, so the old wizard would cast various tracking charms.

The second trunk was a more advanced and more versatile model. It possessed over sixteen different dimensional pockets, allowing Harry to carry the growing collection of books and potions, and he had also begun using the trunk to carry his burglary and treasure hunting tools. There was a small library inside which he used to store his collection of books, muggle and non-muggle. However, his regular school trunk contained a few muggle novels; he knew Dumbledore would leave them alone since they didn't contain anything about the magical world in their pages, and he wouldn't frown on fiction the way Hermione irrationally did.

The dimensional trunk contained a compartment he used to store potions. He had taken to stealing potions from apothecaries as well as buying them up in bulk, figuring correctly they'd come in handy while he used the potions laboratory included in the design of the trunk to experiment with potion brewing. Between his mothers' knowledge and the quality of the potions manufactured in the apothecaries in Britain, Harry had some physical proof of just how Snape's presence was causing more harm than good.

His mother remembered Snape very well, so as a result, Harry had an inkling in the man's personality to have some ideas of why he was a nasty bastard. He knew Snape had loved Lily, but closer examination proved without a shadow of a doubt what Snape had felt for Lily was an obsession, not love. The bastard treated the son of the love of his life like dirt, rather than with neutrality. In any case, Lily had never forgiven or forgotten how Snape had referred to her as a Mudblood when she was merely trying to help him, and she had not forgiven the fucker for his actions during the war. Lily had encountered Snape several times while the former was fighting for Voldemort as a Death Eater. He had been enjoying it, the pain, the destruction, the torture.

The misery. Snape loved it all. Dumbledore could preach about forgiveness and all that holier than thou crap until he was blue in the face, but the fact was Snape was a Death Eater, and he was unrepentant.

Lily had wanted nothing to do with him then, and right now Harry didn't want to know the man himself. He didn't care about Snape's pathetic two-dimensional grudge against James. Harry considered his father to be a fool, a typical Gryffindor; he was so blinded by the foolish righteous attitude common to students from this fucked up House, believing he was a Light wizard and therefore he must bully anyone from Slytherin, including First Years with those pranks which Lily remembered with disgust since many of those students had started out wide-eyed, but very soon became the epitome of dark while Dumbledore looked on with twinkling eyes like it was a great joke to him.

But the fact Dumbledore allowed Snape so much leeway when it came to how he taught potions was horrifying. Snape didn't teach. Hell, he didn't even inspire people into doing well in potions. All he did was ridicule and bully the students - Harry actually found it horrifyingly ironic the slimy bastard had become exactly what James Potter and his friends had been to him, a bullying coward - until they dropped the class around their fifth year. He knew Snape demanded students of high calibre for his potion classes following fifth year. The fact wasn't difficult for anyone to find if you were where to look.

Potions was an important magical field; it was needed for Healing and for Aurors to have knowledge for potions and antidotes, not to mention being able to identify poisons… Harry wondered what the hell Dumbledore was thinking allowing someone like Snape, who was causing terrible amounts of damage to magical society with what he was doing with potions, taking away the dreams of children who wanted to help people as either Aurors or as Healers which were vital to magical society on the whole. If Dumbledore had allowed the greasy piece of shit to do that out of some foolish belief the man was truly sorry for his acts, then Harry hoped Dumbledore checked in for a lobotomy.

But the state of potions today wasn't just visible in the lack of new Aurors or Healers.

Apothecaries fulfilled the same basic niche in society pharmacies did in the muggle world. Only in the magical world, potions were usually made behind the scenes. They were forever looking out for new potion brewers to keep their businesses going. Granted, many potion brewers who went to work for apothecaries didn't stay there long, it was basically a long-standing summer job, but they offered apprenticeships which were like gold dust to trainee Healers, giving them experience in techniques not usually taught at a school like Hogwarts.

But thanks to Snape, the number of those apprenticeships being offered and taken were going down with each year. If it continued, then potions would likely become a forgotten subject. What he couldn't understand was how the Ministry didn't do anything, but knowing Fudge who likely wanted students at Hogwarts to possess a lower magical education, especially since he himself wasn't too bright, he doubted no-one would do anything unless the issue was pushed.

Harry only hoped he was there to see it. The longer Snape was allowed to 'teach' the way he did, the more damage he would cause.

Harry downed some of the pepper up potion in his hand. Instantly he could feel his fatigue fade away, and his tired eyes became as sharp as they were during the day. Harry sighed as he studied the map, relieved to see Weasley and Granger returning to the Tower. He checked his watch. They had been in Dumbledore's office for three hours, and although he didn't know what they had talked about, Harry guessed it was regular stuff; Dumbledore paid them to keep watch on him, to make sure he stayed at an average level while making sure he knew precisely enough to survive the regular end of year 'tests.'

Harry had seen it in their minds dozens of times, however, he would look into Weasley's brain and see if there had been any change. He was certain there had been some change to their orders, and it concerned the Triwizard Tournament. He went very still when he heard the door bang open, and he shook his head at Weasley's lack of manners or tact; for a spy, he wasn't very good at working out the best times to keep quiet.

He heard the sound of distant curtains being dragged across its rail before he heard the sound of a body throwing itself onto a bed, and when he heard the chainsaw massacre sound that was Weasley snoring, he knew it was time to go. Harry blew out a breath through his mouth, and he gently slipped out of his bed and he flicked his wand around the dorm. It was a simple sleeping spell, designed to keep everyone the caster had placed the spell on fast asleep. He used it frequently for nights like this.

Creeping down to the Common Room after he was satisfied the other guys were asleep, and waving his wand around himself to detect any tracking or monitoring spells on his person so he could dispel them, Harry went to a corner and he went to one of the Lion figureheads which decorated the room, as they were symbols of the Founder of the House. However, no-one knew the Founders, all of them, had a secret. Well, two of them.

Slytherin and Ravenclaw were geniuses. Ravenclaw was a researcher who went to magical sites where she was positive there would be ancient knowledge, and she would study it carefully, knowing how dangerous ancient knowledge could be, and if she was satisfied with its safety then she would introduce it into the modern world (at the time), but at the same time, she used what she knew to develop magical knowledge. She had been forever coming up with theories into virtually every magical field.

Likewise, Slytherin had been a scholar who had a thirst for knowledge, and he had a devious mind. Together, they came up with many ideas which were seen at Hogwarts even to this day; the moving staircases, for example. But they were also responsible for many of the other defences. All of the Founders knew the school could be in danger. In those days, it hadn't been unusual for muggles to harm witches and wizards, and at the ages between 11 and 17, the students were vulnerable. But there were also witches and wizards who were sick in the head, and they could invade Hogwarts.

All of the Founders had been aware of the danger, and so they had come up with a number of defences; the secret tunnels, the underground maze, which would magically transport enemies or attackers into a large network of caves and hewn tunnels which possessed similar spells to the moving staircases in the school itself, which were designed to cut off attackers from one another. The means for controlling this defence system where attackers would starve and die from thirst was long lost, but it was still there.

At the same time, Slytherin included the basilisk which he used for the ultimate defence. Harry supposed it made sense the Founder would use a basilisk, given his parseltongue ability, but also for the deadly powers of the basilisk itself. Harry might have killed the giant serpent two years back, but he had performed further research, and he discovered a copy of the defence plans in Slytherins' chamber, and the story of the basilisk's presence changed from a weapon designed to purge the school of muggleborns to a defence mechanism. A bit more research had made it clear a basilisk was essentially a weapon of destruction. With its powerful, sinewy body which would allow it to crush the primitive war machines used by the Romans, or allow it to speed slither to an army about to attack the castle, its death glare and its venomous fangs, the basilisk was capable of destroying an entire enemy without any trouble.

But Ravenclaw and Slytherin were also more inventive than that. All of the Founders were brilliant in their own way, however, Harry felt more respect for the two Founders of the so-called 'darkest' Houses in Hogwarts. They were incredibly inventive, more so than their colleagues. They might have been satisfied with the way their new school possessed tunnels and catacombs for the students to escape with, but they were aware there was a chance of ambush, so they had needed to come up with another way.

Their answer, a series of portals allowing them to cross one part of the castle, even to positions outside of the grounds, and even to a spot on the other side of the Black Lake where any invaders wouldn't be waiting for them. Harry had no idea where Ravenclaw or Slytherin got their ideas from, but it was the best one ever. Even better, Harry was able to come and go from wherever he happened to be since the portals were in every section. It was child's play for him to leave the Common Room, and slip to the portal in the library.

As far as Harry knew, nobody knew about the portals, not even Dumbledore. The portals had been in off mode when he had arrived in the school, and he had only learnt about them thanks to examining Slytherins' notes after entering the Chamber of Secrets in Second year, only he had been using the portals for a year after managing to sneak past his minders in the final days of second year, and getting the means of using them.

Harry was a treasure hunter. The Chamber of Secrets represented a treasure trove he simply could not resist plundering. He had known from the instant he had entered the place the first time, there was a lot more to it than there appeared.

He was right. He had found a library where there was a massive collection of magical knowledge Slytherin had discovered over his travels and brought with him to Hogwarts; much of it was relating to parseltongue, and from there he could develop his own theories on parseltongue and other magical fields, a laboratory and a workshop.

As soon as he arrived in the library, Harry flicked his wand to cancel out any monitoring spells cast to detect him, but he kept flicking his wand to detect any ward on the place. Aside from the normal wards, there was one designed to pick out one single student. Fortunately, it was on the door; he wondered if it was designed to focus on him, but since he hadn't gone over the threshold, they wouldn't have detected him.

He cast another spell, to detect if someone or something alive other than him was there.

Fortunately, the reading came back no. All there was was the ward.

Harry snorted; it was likely Dumbledore had put the ward up deliberately, likely guessing he would sneak about the castle following the mention of the Tournament or something. Dumbledore, thanks to Granger and Weasley, would have known and encouraged the hunt for knowledge concerning the Philosopher's Stone (another strike against Granger, he thought to himself, remembering that tombstone of a book she'd brought; there was no way Granger could have found that as coincidence, so Dumbledore had likely given it to her or pointed it her way), and he would have guessed the curiosity would have gotten to Harry.

Well, he was right; but Harry wasn't going to give the old fool the satisfaction of knowing it, and he had no intention of giving the old man another jolly another of his plans were coming to be fulfilled. Harry walked around the library towards the History section. He held up his custom wand, and he silently cast the summoning charm, focusing on the Triwizard Tournament.

Only five books flew off the shelves.

Harry deftly waved his wand, magically controlling the books so they glided to a nearby study desk, mentally holding his surprise only five books had come off of the shelves. As soon as they landed on the study desk, Harry waved his wand again, and the books opened to the relevant pages concerning the Tournament. He sat down at the desk, and he began to read.

Very quickly he pushed the books away in annoyance and disgust. There was nothing. All the information in the books relating to the Tournament, the really gritty stuff wasn't there. All there was in the books were a few references, and some basic details about the tasks, but Harry couldn't find anything else to work on. He sighed and looked at the references again, and he felt his frustration grow. There was nothing, only a few lines relating to the Tournament at different points in time, but there was nothing about how the students were chosen for it, nor was there anything about the challenges themselves.

While the books had some details, it was like somebody had purposefully waved a wand and torn out the really important stuff. Actually, now he thought about it, that seemed the most likely explanation. Harry closed his eyes and read through the references in each of the books, it didn't take long. Just under five minutes, but in those five minutes he didn't learn anything about the Tournament. One of the books was simply a diary, belonging to a pureblood witch six hundred years ago, but the entries concerning the Tournament just seemed to be a few words. Nothing about the Tasks.

Very quickly Harry stood up, waving his wand and banishing the books back to where they'd come from before he had summoned them off in the first place and he left the Library before entering the portal and returning to the dorm. After returning to the dorm, Harry got changed quickly and he took out the vial which would give him a few hours sleep but would leave him completely rested for the next morning. Once he had settled himself down for the night, he flicked his wand at the rest of the dorm to cancel the spell he had earlier placed on the place.

Once he was finished, he settled back down in his bed and he downed the potion he was holding. Instantly he felt himself getting drowsy, and he went to sleep within moments.