Harry downed the potion his godfather had sent him. Shortly after learning Sirius was safe, he had asked him where he could find the animagus potion.

Sirius had done better than send him the recipe, he had sent the actual potion!

It took a moment to take effect, and after seeing his two animal forms he blinked in disbelief.

'Huh...who knew my old hobby of reading paleontology books would turn out like this?'

Harry had two secrets his best friends had never found out.

One, he was deathly afraid of large bodies of water (due to an incident where he nearly drowned while on the only vacation the Dursleys had ever taken him on). And two, which would have Hermione in shock if she ever learned of it, he had a real interest in paleontology. Specifically marine animals that once went extinct.

His personal favorite animal happened to be one of his animagus forms.

Sirius would laugh himself sick if he had any idea what he had just unleashed on the poor unsuspecting school.

The twins read the missive, and had unholy smirks of pure evil on their faces the rest of the day. Harry had found the perfect cure for his hydrophobia and a way to scare the living hell out of everyone in the school.

One of his animal forms happened to be purely aquatic, but would scare anyone who saw it completely shitless. The fact that it had been extinct for less than two hundred thousand years was only a bonus, since it meant no one would be able to react fast enough.

Which was why Harry had gone the extra mile and bought the twins a state of the art camera for the both of them, complete with spells that would allow them to use the things in Hogwarts.

They couldn't wait to see how the teachers and students reacted!

Harry blackmailed his uncle into dropping him off at the nearest Marine Biology lab. It wasn't hard, particularly after Harry had caught the man wearing a dress and had been quick enough to take enough photos that he couldn't talk his way out of it.

Hedwig was more than happy to maim his uncle for trying to reach into her cage.

Vernon, when he realized that he could get rid of his freakish nephew, had given him enough muggle cash that he could live out his summer in a hotel if he wanted to.

Which Harry did, smirking the entire time.

Harry spent the rest of his summer (after assuring the twins that he really didn't feel like going to the world cup anyway, they took Neville instead) at the biology lab learning about great white sharks.

Surprised to find a boy with an actual love for the creatures, Harry's summer passed very enjoyably for him. Particularly when he proved he not only knew what he was saying, (despite any school records, which he covered up by claiming to be home schooled) but he fully intended to pursue a career in the field, provided he had proper backing once he went to college.

Luckily for him, there happened to be a few world renowned shark experts willing to help him out.

All in all, Harry actually enjoyed his summer vacation for a change. Even if his 'dog' (Sirius had shown up a week after Harry had told him about leaving Privet Drive, and in need of someone to help him with the transformation process) was extremely nervous around Harry's new...friends. Finding out one's godson had no problem getting into a tank with a live, and very cranky shark tended to give one gray hairs.

Well...so long as the water wasn't more than waist deep, and he had someone beside him the whole time anyway. Harry still had problems with his hydrophobia, but he was slowly getting over it.

Then it all went down the drain when he had to return to school.

"Harry! Where have you been all summer?" demanded Hermione.

"Learning about my favorite subject. And possibly a career choice once I'm finally free of Dumbledore."

Hermione tapped her foot impatiently.

"Hermione, I was perfectly safe. It's not like Death Eaters are going to be looking for me in a muggle setting full of technology and scary animals that can eat them."

"Harry..." she said in a warning tone.

"Fine. I was hanging around sharks all summer. Happy?"

She gave him a look.

"Nice try. Now where were you?"

Harry gave her an annoyed look.

"I was hanging around sharks all summer, learning about how they live in the ocean. I even got to go on a boat a few times, but I never managed to get off it."

'On the plus side, I can now manage to go into a large pool without any of my panic attacks...'

Hermione huffed, not believing for a moment Harry actually spent his summer with sharks.

Ron could honestly care less.

The twins threw their arms around Harry, grinning.

"By the way guys, I know someone who will not only give us that potion, but will walk us through the steps. He also loves pranks."

"Any specific target?"

"Snape...and Dumbledore."

The twins had devilish grins on their faces. Then Harry asked them innocently if they wanted a preview of his animal form before the real show started.

They smirked and agreed. Sirius had smoothed over a few things so Harry could get it right, but sometime during the middle of the summer when he was finally learning how to swim properly, he had pulled off the perfect transformation into his favorite animal form.

The other happened to be an aquatic basilisk, which was often mistaken for a sea dragon. He honestly had no idea there were two types of that beast.

Unlike the Greek basilisk (which was what Harry faced second year), the Scandinavian basilisk wasn't actually venomous at all. Where it lacked in toxin it made up with one of the strongest acids in the world. Capable of rendering steel into a pile of noxious goo in seconds.

The fact that Harry already had Greek basilisk venom from the creature in the Chamber meant he could use both types of venom. The only problem he had with the acid-type was the aim of his spray.

Sirius, when he had seen his godson's first animal form, had pissed himself in terror. Then when Harry turned back (it had taken him fifteen minutes to figure out how) he had laughed himself hoarse after Harry told him exactly what he planned to do with the new form.

He was going to literally scare the crap out of Dumbledore and the other teachers. And take plenty of photos for the event.

Needless to say the scientists were quite baffled as to why they never saw any more fish near the boat for the rest of the trip. Not even jellyfish came near them.

Harry, upon learning about the Tournament, cursed worse than Dr. Tanaka after he had managed to turn the man's hair pink through his food.

For a Japanese scientist, Tanaka swore worse than an American sailor when denied his beer at port.

(He later learned that the man was only Japanese by blood, and that he had been raised in Hawaii by a Naval family. His father apparently had some issues.)

Needless to say the twins were highly impressed, and gave him a standing ovation for stunning the teachers into total shocked silence.

Harry grinned, and took a bow.

"And for my next trick, I shall get everyone from Hogwarts to the foreign students to literally shit their pants in shock and horror. But not tonight."

The twins had taken one look at his animal form, and had been suitably impressed. After they had pranked Harry thoroughly for scaring the living shit out of them. Then again, few people would have managed to stay in control of their bowels when faced with that kind of monster coming at them with such huge teeth and a jaw a man could walk into without bending over too much.

Strangely enough, whenever he was in animal form Harry lost all of his fear of water. Which meant he could sit close to the lake and not have a severe panic attack that would land him with Madam Pomphrey. She was the only person aside from the twins who was aware of his phobia.

The twins had actually learned of it quite by accident. They had thought it funny to toss Harry into the lake second year, and found out rather quickly that A) Harry couldn't swim worth a damn, and B) he was absolutely terrified of the lake.

They had quickly apologized and had afterward given him swimming lessons in the closest thing to a pool the school had.

Which turned out to be the prefects bathroom. They got in courtesy of Percy, who had been oblivious to the twins watching him.

After that the three stole the password every year, because the twins knew that helping Harry get over his phobia was worth any detention they got if caught.

Which only happened once, but Cedric Diggory at least was sympathetic towards the fact that the twins were only trying to help Harry out. Well, that and the twins promised to leave the bathroom alone if they were pranking the prefects.

Harry was bored out of his mind. He didn't want to be waiting for some foreign students. Hermione had badgered him with the help of McGonagall, and now here he was.

The twins were at least standing beside him and keeping him from falling asleep in boredom.

When the new students arrived, it was clear they had no idea how to handle British weather. Either they were overdressed and sweating like pigs or they were under dressed and had to be rushed inside.

It was the Bulgarian's mode of transport that had him grinning. They had arrived in a ship, and not just any ship, but an old galleon that should have sunk over a hundred years ago.

Naturally he knew exactly what he could do to prank the Bulgarian students. After he learned about their ship of course.

Viktor Krum was surprised to find that the famous Boy-who-lived was interested in their ship. And knew what most of the things on it were. The reason why was even more amusing though.

Harry had plans to become a marine biologist, and there were several old ships that he had plans to find and study. Mostly because they were in shark infested waters.

Upon learning that Harry Potter was also a fan of large sharks, the two struck up a friendship, to the ire of Harry's friend Ron. Neither of them paid him any mind.

Instead of going to the big ceremony, which would have given him a monster headache on top of the migraine he already had, Harry decided to hide.

He made it very plain to his housemates that he thought the whole tournament was boring and he had no intention of joining in the nonsense.

Which was why he decided to do Snape a favor, and managed to land himself in detention. Snape seemed to be relieved not to have to go to the opening ceremony as Harry was.

When he learned why the boy had decided to ditch it, he had a strange look.

"Why?"

"Because I have a headache and I think this whole tournament is stupid. They could have found another way to foster relations between schools."

Snape paused in his grading, and actually looked at Harry.

"You mean to tell me the famous boy-who-lived wants nothing to do with a tournament for the seventh years?"

"I can't really use the fame I have, and I have no need for the prize money. What reason could I possibly have to take part in it?"

Snape thought about that, and realized he had a point. Harry had absolutely no reason to take part in the tournament. He had every reason not to take part though.

Without warning the door burst open, and the headmaster looked furious.

"Harry, did you enter your name in...?"

Harry blanched.

"Are you kidding me?! Who the bloody hell was stupid enough to enter my name in this stupid thing?!" said Harry in horror.

Snape realized that Harry wasn't acting. He really had no intention of joining the tournament.

"Harry, did you have an older student place your name in the goblet?"

"Are you insane?! I want nothing to do with this stupid thing! Why would I put my name in a tournament I want nothing to do with?!"

By morning the entire school was abuzz about Harry cursing out the Headmaster for not allowing him to drop out of the tournament.

Harry really wasn't happy when Ron decided to turn on him out of the misguided belief that Harry wanted to be in the tournament.

A few people wanted to know why, after being selected, Harry's owl Hedwig kept dropping books off.

When Dumbledore went to confiscate one, he found that he could barely read a word in three. It was a muggle book on animals, which included diagrams of the inside of the animal.

Naturally he was very confused as to why Harry was even reading it. And he was more than alarmed to find that the boy had no intention of remaining in the magical communities once he graduated school.

After that he tried to ban muggle books in the school...which met with more of a resistance than he had counted on.

Several muggleborn students (mostly Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs) had taken it upon themselves to do summer classes so they wouldn't be completely dependent on magic. Among these students was a certain bushy haired Gryffindor.

Upon learning the reason why Dumbledore felt the need to restrict the books, they had been infuriated. Then Harry pointed out something that would start a landslide.

Since it was unlikely that anyone who wasn't a champion (he refused to be grouped with the three chosen and had publicly given any points he earned to Cedric who had at least volunteered for this madness) was really going to make a difference in the point margins this year, why not boycott the teachers?

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw all considered his proposition. It was likely that Gryffindor or Hufflepuff would get the house cup, considering the Quidditch season had been dropped. So why were they caring about the point war?

And just like that, students began ditching classes and heading straight to the library instead. Teachers were baffled when students began using spells that were very out of date instead of the assigned coursework.

And they couldn't deduct points because the children were actually learning...even if they did get detentions that no one would go to.

Harry was horrified to learn that the first task was dragons, and immediately warned Cedric.

Cedric paled, but at least stood up for Harry when Draco started to mock him. Harry honestly had no idea Cedric was so good at turning people into animals. Though he had to admit, Draco made a passable ferret even without the spell.

McGonagall would have chastised him, but the sad fact was Draco deserved it.

Besides, the twins were already complaining that Cedric had beaten them to the spell.

Harry was pale. He really, really didn't want to deal with a dragon, even if he had managed to unlock his second animal form. Sirius had been surprised at that, but then again his godson could turn into a giant sea monster from over a million years ago. A modern day sea dragon should prove no problem after that transformation.

Harry even had a way to explain his transformation. He was going to say the scientific name of the beast, down to the family name in Latin. It wasn't like anyone aside from a muggleborn raised in a house with a biologist would realize what he had said.

When Harry's turn came, he walked out, ducked the flames, and then pretended to cast a spell.

Within seconds his transformation was done, and where an angry fourteen year old boy had been was now an enormous hundred foot serpent with a cranky attitude. The flames that licked it's hide didn't harm it one bit, since the Scandinavian Basilisk tended to thrive in volcanic waters.

Harry hissed at the dragon, who reared back in surprise. A tense stand off began, and when Harry scooped up the fake egg, the dragon snapped at him.

The audience had been horrified to see a basilisk, but when no one died meeting it's gaze they realized that it wasn't a normal basilisk at all.

Harry slithered away from the nest, and the dragon relaxed. Clearly the snake wasn't after the real eggs, only the one she had perceived as dead.

Harry turned back and walked into the tent.

The others stared at him in shock.

"What?"

"Harry, how the hell did you turn into a basilisk and not kill anyone?" asked Cedric.

"Easy. I turned into the Scandinavian Basilisk."

"Huh?"

"The Scandinavian Basilisk is the aquatic twin of the Greek Basilisk, which was what Salazar Slytherin had put in his Chamber. It doesn't have the ability to kill with a glance, and it's venom is more acidic than toxic."

Seeing their confusion and disbelief, Harry waited until dinner to retrieve a book he had picked up in Knockturn. Apparently the Ministry had labeled it Dark solely because it described the cousins and scientific names of the magical beasts. The author was of course, a muggleborn, so none of the pure bloods could complain about it.

Upon reading about the Scandinavian Basilisk, the Ministry officials let off him. Even if they didn't notice the fact that all Harry had said was the scientific name of the beast.