Harry let the classes wash over him that day, everywhere he turned he was met with "Potter Stinks!" and the jeers from the other Houses. Hermione just told him to ignore it and Ron threatened to hex the ones that were too over the top.

It was good to have friends.

"Honestly Harry, we need to hurry!" Hermione had practically dragged them to the Library.

"First thing we need to do is see if there's way out for you. One that doesn't involve you losing your magic." She said as they walked in.

"Ron, go find us a table, I'm going to pull all the History books, Harry see if there's any reference materials you can find in the Legal section." Hermione's voice trailed off as she walked down the stacks looking for any relevant books.

Ron took off to secure a table.

Harry walked to the back of the Legal section of the Library, he gathered a few of the relevant books on Magical Contracts and took them back to the table Ron had secured.

Hermione had already stacked her selection and had just opened the first book.

Ron was looking at the stack and Harry watched with amusement as he picked the smallest book and started reading.

Harry set his books down near the pile and cracked open, "Fundamentals of Magical Contracts"

He started taking down notes and let himself get lost in the work. Nothing here looked like it would help, but there was some information about how these contracts were structured.

Students poured into the Library, some just took up spots and watched the trio and gossiped among themselves, the rest were doing classwork and studying.

Daphne walked in with Tracey, "we're never going to find a spot, are we?"

Tracey looked around, "I don't think so, maybe we can kick some of the Potter fans out and actually get some work done. Looks like those three have taken half the History section to themselves over there, think they even realize other people may want to use those books?"

Daphne laughed a little, "Probably not, but I think I see a spot by Nott over there," she pulled Tracey along. As they walked by, she noticed that Potter had contract law books chosen, why would he need those for the Tournament? Moving on from the curiosity she sat down and started doing classwork. Nott was staring at her, finally she looked up, "Either tell me what you're thinking or stop staring."

He leaned in and looked around before saying, "I thought it was clear, all of us were to wear the badges. Is there a reason you're not wearing one?" the tone was light for such a loaded question.

Harry looked up from the book and flexed his wrist, how did Hermione write so much without her wrist cramping up? He saw a table of Slytherins, one thing that caught his eye was that a blonde girl wasn't wearing one of the badges. He couldn't place her name. Why wasn't she wearing a badge?

He looked back down at the notes, if the Ministry said he had to compete, what was the point of all this?

Hermione looked up at him, "What's wrong?"

"If the Ministry is saying I have to compete, why are w-," he found himself cut off by his bushy haired friend.

"Because Harry, they may just be taking an easy way out, we can make a hard argument that you shouldn't compete based on the complete lack of consent."

Ron closed his book, "Magic doesn't work that way Hermione, if his name came out of the Goblet, he's bound to the terms of whatever the Goblet says, if it was as easy as an argument, I think Dumbledore would have happily made it. I'm just hoping we find some small benefit here, but..." his voice trailed off as the futility of their task set in.

"No. No there must be a way, there has to be a way to keep Harry out of this, this is..." Hermione's voice had a hysterical edge to it that Harry hadn't heard before. He looked at her, "Hermione, just how dangerous is this thing?"

She wouldn't meet his eye as she replied, "Harry, people kept dying, it wasn't just a few Champions, it was often one survivor a tournament. The last ten that were held had two of the participants die, the only reason they finally canceled it was that all three of them died in the first task of the last one." Her voice hitched, "Harry, this thing kills people."

With that the silence fell at the trio's table.

Daphne looked at Nott and pinned him with a cold glare, "This childish badge holds no interest to me, I refuse to wear an insult that any self-respecting five-year-old would have moved on from, what's next? "Potter is a meanie?" Tracey giggled at her sarcasm, Daphne continued, "If you want me to wear the badge, make it worth wearing."

Nott shrugged, "Like I told you Greengrass, this is what Malfoy wants, your decision if you want to defy him. It could have an impact, especially over something as "childish" as this. Now isn't the time nor the place for this conversation." Nott turned back to his books and started writing notes.

Daphne shook her head, "Malfoy takes himself too seriously."

She ignored Tracey sharing a curious look with Nott.

With that she looked back down at her parchment and started writing, she looked at the question and paused, "I need to get a book, I'll be right back."

Walking past Potter's table, she heard Granger say, "That's why we need to find a way for you to get out of this Harry," why would Granger be trying to help Potter get out of the contest? She slipped behind one of the stacks to try and listen.

"Maybe if we find a way to force the Goblet t-" Granger was cut off by Weasley, "Not going to work Hermione, his name came out. You don't think that Dumbledore would have validated that Harry's magical signature was tied to it?"

Potter took a breath, "Okay Dumbledore and Moody said that whoever entered me wants to do me in using the tournament as cover right? Let's focus on my survival, not legal trickery, we'll need to learn spells. Useful ones."

Daphne left her spot and grabbed the book she was looking for, she went back to her table and sat down.

Someone entered Potter into the Tournament to kill him?

Who would go through such a bizarre process?

She gave a mental shrug and got back to her homework, if she freed up some time, it would let her pursue her own projects more.

A few hours the trio started packing up the books, they didn't want to miss dinner. Harry went back to the legal section on his way there he passed the blonde Slytherin, he almost wanted to ask why she wasn't wearing a badge. She looked at him as he walked by, there wasn't the usual contempt in her eyes that he'd gotten used to over the day, he put her out of his mind as he reshelved the books and went back to Ron and Hermione.

Dinner was unbearable, the castle seemed to have little to do other than stare or talk about his entry into the Tournament. Everywhere he looked he was greeted by a sea of, "Potter Stinks!"

"You know mate, I think that we should have a talk with the snakes." Ron said through a mouthful of chicken.

"What?"

"I mean, if the best they can do is, "Potter Stinks!" maybe we should take pity on them, ask if they can use some help or something." Ron's joke broke the tension and Harry laughed a little, "Thanks Ron."

Hermione was staring at the list of spells she'd written down after their time in the Library, "We're going to need to study a lot over the next few days, some of these are complicated."

Harry looked at her, "I wonder if we can get a classroom set aside for us? Say it's for Triwizard practice?"

"Oh, good idea! By the way…" Her voice trailed off nervously before hardening in determination. "Do you think we can recruit more people into S.P.E.W? I want to talk with the rest of the Houses soon."

Ron looked over at her, "Don't you think we have enough to worry about instead of focusing on the House Elves? Also I don't think you've noticed, but I doubt they're too inclined to listen to anything either of us say at the moment."

"It's slavery! They're slaves! People will see the truth if we just make them understand!"

Harry spotted McGonagall and walked over to her, tuning out Hermione's rant as he did.

"Professor, my friends and I were wondering if we could borrow an unused classroom for practice?"

"I'll talk with the Headmaster and see what we can arrange Mr. Potter."

Harry looked around, "Where is he? I haven't seen him all day, I was hoping he had an update on who put my name in the cup."

She looked down at him, "The Headmaster is a very busy man, but I know this is one of his priorities, I'm sure he'll let you know when he has some answers. Go finish dinner."

"Yes Professor."

Dumbledore sighed as he read the letter from the Department of Mysteries, two specialists in artifacts would be arriving to investigate the Goblet hopefully they would find something he hadn't.

Harry depended on them doing so.

Daphne was reading in her Common Room when Malfoy's voice interrupted. "Greengrass, I hear you don't like my badges. I believe you find them to be childish," the derision in his voice as he addressed her was palpable.

"You're right, I don't. They're making a mockery of us. Not Potter."

"Really? Because from what I can tell, you're one of the few who feel that way. Greengrass this is our chance to forever show the school what a cheat Potter is. Everyone believes us, Hufflepuffs are wearing something that Slytherins made."

She huffed as she closed her book, taking care to mark her spot.

"Malfoy, its..." her words failed her, she took a moment, why wouldn't she just put on the badge?

Harry's words echoed in her head for some reason, he was so worried all he wanted to do was focus on survival. Was he even bothered by anything Malfoy could do?

She started talking again, "It's beneath me, I'm not doing it."

Malfoy stared at her, "Suit yourself, but I'm warning you, you should."

Tracey sat down next to her, "You know that was a mistake, he's just going to try to make your life miserable."

She leaned back, "So be it."