Hermione's fourth year at Hogwarts started off differently than her previous years. The castle seemed so busy - the house elves were desperately cleaning every corner of Hogwarts until the floors gleamed and everywhere she looked seemed to shine. Hogwarts was going to host something, or someone important enough to need to impress. She did what she always did when there was something she didn't understand and went to the library.
She didn't find anything in the first few books she read through and decided to look back at events Hogwarts had previously hosted. Surely Hogwarts: A History would have an answer. There was a small passage about the Triwizard Tournament, noting the last time it had taken place was hundreds of years ago. Why the staff and the ministry thought it was a good idea to restart the Tournament was beyond her, people had died taking place in it! Worse, she could not figure out why they had decided to host it in a society that was still recovering from civil war and that some sections were gearing up for another one!
One thing that was a relief was that Harry surely wouldn't be involved. For all the fame and fortune he had from being the Boy Who Lived, he really didn't enjoy it. Harry just wanted to be a normal kid, so taking part in a tournament that was so dangerous that even taking part came with such prestige was sure not to be on his to-do list.
As was typical in Hogwarts, the Triwizard Tournament soon became its worst-kept secret. Almost no one was surprised when it was officially announced, but there was a lot of excitement among the students. The excitement was only exacerbated after hearing how much the prize money was. Some of the richer students scoffed at other students' excitement and plans about how they would spend it. Some students were smart enough to see it as money that didn't come with strings attached from their families, even if they didn't need the money.
Hermione was less enthused at the prospect of taking part, or of winning. Without being arrogant, she knew that she was at least a year ahead in her understanding of the coursework and that her knowledge of spells and casting them was advanced for her age. She may have had a chance to win if she chose to enter, but she didn't want that. It was a relief when Dumbledore drew an age line around the goblet - there was no chance that Harry would enter, although she didn't think he would even if he had the chance.
Dumbledore was clever, but Hermione knew the danger he had put Harry in before and decided that she would keep an eye on the goblet, anyway. There was no need for Harry to be in danger by being entered by someone else.
She decided to borrow Harry's cloak and settle down in the great hall to watch the Goblet. She wasn't the only one who had hunkered down to watch potential competitors enter over the few days before the champions would be announced. The others who watched left for classes or to spend time with friends or more importantly, sleep. Hermione knew sleep was important but Harry's safety was more important. She could always catch up on sleep after the champions had been announced. It was easy enough for her to keep shifts, anyway.
Hermione knew that she wasn't supposed to. She knew lying was morally wrong, but she said that Pettigrew had stolen the time turner and hidden it. Dumbledore hadn't believed her but he had let her lie slide; no doubt thinking about what an advantage it could be for Harry when he needed it.
There were too many Hermione's scattered around Hogwarts. One to go to classes (like she'd ever skip!), one to watch the Goblet and take careful note of who entered, and one to catch up on sleep. It wasn't quite enough sleep, considering that she was living two days in one but it would have to do for now. She'd survived worse things and likely would again to keep Harry safe.
When the champions were picked, Hermione felt that her efforts had been worth it. Harry's name had not come out of the Goblet and one person from each school was picked. She had succeeded in her task - Harry would not be involved in the Tournament. And then the Goblet flared up and spat out another name, and she just knew that it was going to be Harry's. Because when is it not?
Harry looked shocked when Dumbledore read his name off the parchment. He was shocked - he knew that he had not entered the tournament. Didn't even want to compete. He didn't have a choice and Hermione first thought this was another challenge from Dumbledore that he had to complete as training to kill Voldemort.
Not that she thought Dumbledore had put Harry's name in the Goblet himself, that was much too direct of him. He preferred meddling from a distance where he wouldn't be blamed for anything if it went wrong. No, this was someone else. It had to be someone over 17, in order to pass the age line. Fred and George had proved in their own innovative way that the line couldn't easily be tricked. In order to get the Goblet to accept a fourth school was competing, it had to be an accomplished witch or wizard. Probably an adult, most likely a teacher. It was an extraordinary magical feat to mess around with an artefact that had some level of sentience.
Her eyes gazed over the teachers that she knew from her years at Hogwarts, reasoning how likely it was that they had put Harry's name in. She could discount a few without even thinking about it; Trelawney, Sprout and McGonagall. Trelawney was, more often than not, at the bottom of a sherry bottle; Sprout looked devastated that someone so young could potentially lose their life in the tournament; McGonagall just looked fuming. She had a reputation for being protective over the Gryffindors and she knew McGonagall saw Harry as someone that needed to be protected.
Flitwick was easy to dismiss, though he was a skilled wizard. Vector and Babbling had probably never even met Harry so had no reason to hold a grudge. Binns didn't attend feasts and likely didn't know that the Triwizard Tournament was being hosted at Hogwarts. The only teachers from Hogwarts that were worth considering as suspects were Snape and Moody.
It couldn't have been Snape. Although he was surly and gave the impression that he hated Harry, he would do anything to protect him. Would for any student, and as a Death Eater, he likely understood that Harry needed to be alive to fight the Dark Lord. He was so obviously a spy for Dumbledore, too. That did make him a little more likely to have entered Harry, though. Going along that line of thought, Hermione knew that he was a skilled wizard in both Light and Dark magic, so he was more likely than capable of convincing the Goblet to accept a fourth school.
The real wildcard on the Hogwarts teaching staff was Moody. All Hermione knew about him was that he was an ex-Auror and apparently hated Dark magic and Death Eaters. He was known now for being paranoid and seeing threats everywhere. His apparent hatred of the Dark Arts didn't line up with his lesson plan, where he had demonstrated the Unforgivables. However, that in itself didn't mean that he had entered Harry into the Tournament but it did mean that he was someone to be suspicious of.
The other teachers that Hermione had to consider were Madame Maxine and Igor Karkaroff. Karkaroff was a known Death Eater in the first war who had ratted out his so-called brothers to save his own hide during his trial. Logically, he wouldn't want those he turned on and a master he betrayed to be brought back to power or freed from Azkaban. Hermione imagined that his comrades wouldn't have been happy about the betrayal of someone they trusted.
The two foreign headmasters had immediately called Dumbledore out for Hogwarts having two champions while their schools only had one each. It likely wasn't them - the both of them had brought their best and brightest and had likely preened over their appearance as much as the House Elves had over Hogwarts'. They both wanted their champion to win, so they could have bragging rights.
With every other adult in the school eliminated from suspicion, Moody was becoming more of a suspect. Adding to his likelihood of being able to pull off entering Harry while Hermione wasn't watching (which had been always) was his eye. It was able to see through materials and Hermione had an inkling that it could see through the cloak. She had drifted off in the Great Hall on the very last night before the Goblet was to announce the champions. She couldn't help it - she was just so tired.
Harry's name must have been entered then. Whoever had done either had incredibly lucky timing or they had known she was there and had known that she was asleep.
Hermione's mind whirled as she tried desperately to figure out how whoever it was could have known to enter Harry then. It could have been a plan - she knew several ways that a person could be forced to sleep and be unaware of it. If it had been a plan and they had known she was there, there were very few ways that could have been possible. Apart from a magical eye, Hermione could only think of using the Marauders Map, which she knew was safe in Harry's trunk in Gryffindor Tower.
Everything pointed towards Moody, but that couldn't be right. He could have been working for Dumbledore, but even he had appeared shocked at Harry's new status as a champion. Hermione needed time to sit and think, to be able to go through and analyse everything that she had seen, everything that she knew. She used to use a meditation technique when she was younger - it kept all her knowledge in assigned mental boxes. She hadn't used it in a while and wasn't sure why she'd stopped. Hermione didn't even really know where she'd learnt it.
There was no harm in trying an old technique. It was guaranteed to be easier than learning a new one. She remembered when she was younger that she could walk around in her mind and there were pinboards that covered whole walls with her observations and what they meant on them. Hermione needed something like that now.
Even if it didn't work to figure out who had entered Harry it could be helpful for clearing up her mind - surely she had so much useless information cluttering her brain.
Hermione had always strived to be organised anyway.