The next day, a Sunday, Harry was sitting in an empty classroom in the abandoned part of the castle, hiding from the hateful glares of his schoolmates and reading some heavy tome on defensive spells.
It was a little more than two weeks before the first task. Without anyone willing to help him prepare, Harry was starting to panic at the thought of having to compete in the dangerous tasks without any adequate preparation. Despite his fear, he also felt a constant, slowly burning anger towards all his fair-weather friends, the professors, and the wizarding world at large. Not only had they forced him into this mess, but now they all seemed content to watch him die in the tournament.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the voices of two persons in the corridor outside. Annoyed by the broken silence, he perked up and realized that Snape and Dumbledore were standing in the corridor only a short distance away from the classroom door.
"Albus, I really don't know how you can allow the brat to compete in the tournament. As if he wasn't arrogant enough already, him being a champion will only further inflate his already overly large ego." Snape said in his usual drawl and Harry could vividly imagine the accompanying sneer.
"Having checked with legilimency, I can assure you that Harry really did not enter the tournament on his own accord." Albus answered calmly.
Harry was shocked by this. So, Dumbledore did know that he was innocent but still allowed the bullying to continue on. But why, Harry wondered. He also made a mental note to investigate what this 'legilimency' was as soon as possible.
"So, this is really some kind of plot by the Dark Lord?" Snape asked surprised.
"I have my suspicions. But as it is, this development is not entirely unwelcome." Dumbledore answered cryptically.
"You want to let it play out?" Snape inquired.
"It might be a good opportunity to lure out the Dark Lord and force the confrontation between him and the boy." Dumbledore answered, much to Harry's horror.
Snape chuckled. "Well, if this is what it takes to finally off the brat, I'm fine with it."
"Come, now, Severus my friend, such blood lust is unbecoming for a servant of the light. We should have nothing but regret for the sacrifices we make for the Greater Good." Albus said jovially.
"Of course, Albus." Snape said sarcastically "Well, I have some potions to tend to. You can cancel the privacy spells now, Albus, see you around."
Harry heard footsteps leaving, while Dumbledore mumbled "I thought you had cast the privacy spells, Severus. Well, what for it, no harm done."
Harry was shocked. Dumbledore did know that he hadn't put his name into the goblet after all. But for whatever reason, the old man had then lied to the school. Not only that, the old goatfucker was using him as bait to catch Voldemort! Apparently, he wanted to force Harry to directly fight Riddle once more.
All hope seemed lost to Harry. If the tournament wouldn't kill him, Voldemort would.
But then his fear and despair were replaced by anger.
'They can all go to hell, the entire wizarding world.' Harry thought. But he knew that with the tournament hanging over his head, he couldn't run away. Even if that issue was resolved, any attempt to escape not only Riddle, but also the Ministry and Dumbledore would probably be futile.
'Flight or fight.' Harry thought. 'If I can't get away, I will at least make sure to put up a good fight.'
First of all, he had to find out if he really had to compete in the tournament or if there was a way out. Then, if he had to compete, he would look for everything that might help him with the tasks and train. He would have to look into more offensive spells and battle magic, he decided.
He made his way to the library, where he first read through the tournament charter, which had been laid out in the library since the tournament was announced.
He discovered that champions and their assistants were allowed their own chambers to prepare undisturbed. Champions could name up to three assistants from the student body. He liked the idea of having an own room, even though it would alienate his house mates even further. He would have to ask McGonagall about that.
However, there was no exit clause for champions once selected, unless they so were so severely injured that they could no longer compete. Not fancying to deliberately injure himself, Harry decided that this would only be his last resort.
He then looked for a book on the Goblet of Fire and even asked Madame Pince for help, but no such book existed. Instead, he found an old book titled 'On Magical Bonds and Contracts', which discussed the many ways by which magical contracts could be formed. Harry went through the entire book, looking for a section on magical artifacts.
He didn't find any such information, but the last chapter spiked his interest. It was a chapter on life debts, which described that whenever a wizard risked his life to save another person's life, a life debt would be created. The size of the life debt would vary depending on the danger involved for both parties. On the upper end of the scale, a life debt could allow the owner of the life debt to force the debtor into eternal servitude, effectively making the debtor a slave. Such a binding would supersede all other magical contracts, that's why it was included in the book.
'Hm, I should try to find a way to somehow save the life of the greasy git, the Ferret, or the old goatfucker, then I could make them to finally leave me alone.' Harry mused. To his disappointment, the text then went on to specify that life debts could not be created deliberately.
Not finding what he was looking for originally, Harry resigned to accept that he would have to compete in the tournament and instead started to look for books on dangerous offensive spells and battle magic. As he was not allowed in the Restricted Section, he didn't find much, but he decided to return at night under his Invisibility Cloak.
That night at one in the morning, Harry snuck into the Restricted Section of the library under the Invisibility Cloak, just as he had done in his first year. He went through the books and collected many books he deemed potentially useful. Surprisingly, there were many books on the Dark Arts in the library. Tomes with titles such as 'On killing thy enemy', 'Mastering the Unforgivables', 'The Battle Magic Compendium' and 'Magicks moste dark" were among the books that he took with him.
He then left the library and made his way to the abandoned classroom he had used before. There, he hid the books in a cupboard, as he knew that he couldn't carry them around with him or hide them in his trunk. Exhausted and tired, he then returned to his dormitory, narrowly avoiding Mrs Norris thanks to the Marauders' Map.
The next day, Harry decided to skip his Divination class in the afternoon and instead headed towards his sanctuary classroom. He didn't expect that he would be missed. And even if it was discovered, there was really nothing the teachers could do about it. They could deduct points or give him detentions. But he would gladly lose Gryffindor some house points, and he didn't intend to serve any detentions that were given to him. He knew that Dumbledore would never expel him, not with whatever plans the headmaster had made for him.
Harry entered the classroom and sealed the door with a basic locking spell. He then started to sort through the books he had 'borrowed' from the Restricted Section. Of course, he still didn't know what dangers he would be facing, but he thought that he couldn't go wrong with spells that wrought huge damage and destruction.
Harry decided to start practising the Reductor Curse and the exploding charms 'Bombarda' and 'Bombarda Maxima'. The spells were above his year, but Harry was confident that he would be able to master them. He knew that his power level was way above average. Not everyone could produce a Patronus capable to drive away dozens of Dementors, much less as a third-year student.
Harry read the instructions and then aimed his wand at a chair in the far away corner of the classroom.
He flicked his wand. "Reducto."
Nothing happened.
Well, that was to be expected. He gave it another try, with the same results.
"Reducto." Nothing.
"Reducto!" Nothing.
"REDUCTO!" The chair was pushed a few inches back, without any damage done.
"Reducto!" Nothing again.
Harry stepped closer to the chair.
"Reducto!" A light, but no damage.
Harry stepped even closer.
"Reducto!"
The chair exploded in a thousand pieces. The air was filled with splinters of wood. A part of a chair leg flew towards Harry, and without any time to react, it hit him at the temple, knocking him unconscious. Other splinters hit him but luckily, they were too small to do more than damage his clothes.
Harry awoke with a severe headache. Groaning, he sat up, taking in the devastated classroom around him. Several chairs and desks had been destroyed, and the floor where his spell had hit was slightly singed.
It was dark outside, so he had been unconscious for several hours. At least he hoped it were only hours. He didn't know how long he had been out.
Harry stood up and walked over to the tomes. That could have gone better. Practicing dangerous spells alone was probably not a good idea. But not practicing at all would be even worse. And he didn't have anyone to help him train.
It was clear that he needed help to train for the tournament. And he also needed help with sorting out what Dumbledore was up to. He needed someone whom he could trust absolutely. Sirius sprang to mind, but he was on the run. No, he needed someone at the school, but all the Professors, even McGonagall, had made it clear that they would not assist him in any way. And they couldn't be trusted with his suspicions about Dumbledore anyway. The only other person who could have helped him was Hermione, but she wouldn't speak to him. If only he could make her listen to him.
'But I can make her listen to me!' it occurred to him. He remembered what he read in the library the day before on life debts, and Hermione owed him a life debt since Halloween first year. 'Ginny too, I suppose, but she wouldn't be of any use.' he thought.
Could he really resort to extreme actions like that? She had betrayed him, but it still seemed wrong. He decided to think it over before he did anything.
Suddenly, there was a crack behind him. "Oh no, what is happens to classroom!" a high pitched voice called out.
Harry whirled around and saw a house-elf standing within the destruction.
"Tobby wills be workings all night to clean this mess! What has young Master beens thinking?" the elf wailed.
"Ahem, I-I'm sorry, I've just been practicing some spells. I really didn't want to cause you any trouble." Harry stuttered confused.
"No more destroying classrooms!" the elf called. "Tobby will be showings young Master room for practicing."
The elf took Harry's hand and dragged the confused boy out of the classroom. The corridors were empty, so it was already past curfew. Harry was glad that he had his Invisibility Cloak with him. After a few minutes, the elf stopped in the seventh floor. He let go of Harry's hand and paced back and forth before an empty wall.
Just when Harry began to doubt the small guy's sanity, a door appeared in the wall out of nowhere.
"This bes Come and Go room. Wizards calls it Room of Requirement. It can not bes damaged from spells. Use this room for practices!" the elf explained to Harry, who had opened the door and looked into the big room behind it with amazement.
"How does it work?" Harry asked.
"Just thinks of what you needs, and walks before wall three times. Room can bes anything." the elf answered and disappeared with a crack.
Harry entered the room, which looked similar to a gym. A dozen training dummies were standing in one corner, and in one corner stood shelves filled with books on dueling. His heist in the Restricted Section the day before might have been entirely unnecessary. Thinking of that, Harry remembered that he had left his book bag in the classroom when the elf had dragged him away. A few moments later, he was startled when his book bag and his books appeared next to him with a crack. The house-elf clearly didn't want him to go back to the other classroom.
For the next hour, Harry explored the capabilities of the room. He was amazed that the room could take almost any form, whether it be a classroom, the Great Hall, the Dursley's living room or the Commons Chamber in the Palace of Westminster. After a while, Harry reverted the room back to the training room.
He wondered what the time was, and suddenly a grandfather clock appeared standing at the wall next to Harry. It was almost two in the morning. He would have to sneak back into his dormitory soon if he wanted to get any sleep tonight.
But first, Harry had to explore this newly discovered ability of the room. He discovered that the room could provide him with many items at a mere thought. For some reason Harry didn't understand, the room couldn't provide him with any food. And it wouldn't conjure him any Galleons either. But it would create furniture out of thin air, or additional books would appear on the shelves when he asked for information on a certain topic.
Getting an idea, Harry asked the room to provide a bed and an additional bathroom, and it did. Excited that for once he wouldn't have to endure Ron's snoring, Harry decided to stay in the room for the night. He undressed, climbed into the bed and fell asleep quickly.