I prefer my 2nd and 3rd chapter over this first one (yes, I wrote them already). It'll be out in the next two days or so.

...please at least read those ones before judging too harshly?

"- And the champion for Hogwarts: Cedric Diggory!"

As the teen stood up to make his way up to the front, cheers from his school followed behind him. Cedric's housemates rose and whistled as he walked by.

"Now, if –" Headmaster Dumbledore stopped as the Goblet of fire, the one to choose the contestants, spat out yet another name. "Harry Potter … ?"

For a second there was silence, and then the whole Hall erupted. Accusations and insults were thrown as Harry ascended the stage. His denials were thrown aside, despite having his professor's word that 'Harry wouldn't do that'.

Even as he stepped down the stage and through the Grand Doors to join the rest of the champions, his words refused to penetrate through the minds of the students. They were just too angry to listen to his innocent pleads.

o-o

"I'm sorry, Harry, but you're bound to participate in this Tournament," Dumbledore said solemnly as the other professors argued amongst each other. "Otherwise, you will loose your magic."

"WHAT?" Harry cried, jolting in shock, "There has to be a way!" There was no way he was going to loose his magic.

The old man gave a nod thoughtfully. "Ludo, you know the rules in-side-out. Is there really no way to let the poor boy out of it? Any loopholes?"

Ludo Bagman, a fifth judge and announcer in the Triwizard Tournament, furrowed his brow in thought. "There is," he admitted slowly. He paused, recollecting the exact words, "'In a case where one competitor is greatly voted against by spectators, said wizard or witch is exempted from the games for disputing the general appreciation of Tournament. None of the votes are allowed from schools participating, and/or family of unchosen students. Likewise, unforeseen events rendering competitor unable to fully participate in Tournament may or may not excuse them, based on a general voting from spectators in an unbiased manner for said wizard or witch's consequence,'" he quoted.

It was a hopeless suggestion, it seemed. Not only the Headmaster, but even the other champions realised how futile it was for Harry to be voted off by the audience. He was, after all, The-Boy-Who-Lived, the most recognized of all celebrities in existent.

Harry himself realized it as well. "Tell them I cheated!" he yelled.

"So you admit it now," a greasy voice called out from the professor's end.

Harry didn't even need to look to see who it was. Snape. As much as he wanted to get angry, he couldn't - not before sorting out this mess. Harry shook his head, "No," he said in a controlled voice, "but as long as it gets people to hate me and vote me off from participating, I'll do whatever it takes."

In the end, with a good luck pat from Cedric and jealous glares from the other two (Victor Krum and Fleur Delacour), Harry wandered off, dreading his cursed luck of having to join in the Tournament after all.

Was it ever going to be possible to live through a school year without potential putting himself in danger? No? He didn't think so either.

Oh, to dream the impossible dream...

o-o

Dragons.

Dragons, of all things, was the First Task.

Professor Moody's not-so-subtle hint of summoning his Firebolt was quickly discarded after his first failed attempt at the accio spell. Seriously, why did he have to work hard on something he didn't even want to enter in the first place?

Harry shook his head to clear to nagging voice in his head (which surprisingly sounded like Hermione – maybe it was her) telling him to suck it up and learn it because it was the only thing they could come up with after days and days of research.

Harry was on the verge of sucking it up and giving in like a good boy like Hermione wanted, when Luna wandered by.

"Hello Harold," she greeted dreamily.

If only he was like Luna, Harry supposed, she didn't have a single care in the world. In fact, even better, if he was Luna, people might immediately kick him out of the tournament because, frankly, he would be loony.

"No, I think outside the box," she corrected his thoughts.

-wait, what? How did she correct something she didn't even hear?

"It showed on your face," she answered yet again.

"Right." He drawled unbelievingly. She was one odd girl. "Anyways, since you 'think outside the box' what ways can you think of to win?" No, wait, that's not what he wanted, "What do you think I can do to not participate in the tournament and not lose my magic?" he correct himself.

Luna smiled, "Plenty."

That didn't help.

She continued, "Just stop thinking like normal wizards." At Harry's beg for a hint, she added, "A spell may be a spell, but doesn't need to be a spell." And then she turned to leave, hopping around as if trying to grab something invisible in the air.

Harry didn't bother calling her back (because honestly, would it even help if he did?). What was she trying to say? When I cast a spell, it doesn't have to be a spell?

Waving his hand idly in the air as he walked over to Hagrid's Hut for tea, he replayed Luna's words. Harry froze suddenly, mid-step. If possible, he was certain there was a 'click' above his head the moment he finally understood. A spell that wasn't a spell. Of course!

o-o

Harry sat in the tent, listening to the audience cheer for Krum, poking his miniature Hungarian Horntail occasionally.

His turn was any moment now.

When he was ushered into the arena, Harry turned towards the crowd.

"Listen up!" he yelled. The Horntail looked over before sticking her head back under her wing uninterested. If the boy got any closer to her egg, then she would react. "I don't want to be in this tournament, and I need your vote to get off it!"

Immediately 'no's and 'no way's and 'Harry Potter stays' were shouted back.

Despite telling them he cheated, and they were stupid, and he was going to die here, no one changed their opinions. It was like they wanted their precious Boy-Who-Lived to take unnecessary risks and die or something.

Fine, if Plan A didn't work, he would go with Plan B.

"I'm allergic to dragons."

There was a silence of disbelief.

"Mr Potter," Ludo Bagman yelled over by the judges' stand, "That is the most pathetic excuse ever."

"But I am!" he insisted.

"You're standing close to one right now and I don't see you sneezing!"

"Not close enough."

"A little sneezing won't hinder you."

Damn, that was true. "I break out in hives!" Harry cried. "You don't want to see me all hivey, do you?"

"Take the allergy potion."

And this was why being a wizard was so inconvenient. He couldn't get away with his excuses. Oh well, Plan C it was, then.

"Actually, I'm not allergic to them; I'm scared of them." This might work, "I just said I was allergic 'cause I'm shameful to admit it. I have drakonophobia." Ha, beat this Harry thought as Bagman stared at him. Hopefully he knew it meant 'fear of dragons' and not 'fear of Draco (Malfoy)'.

"You go to Gringotts?" The man asked.

"Yeah." Harry answered, before his brain caught up. Shoot, he just blew it for himself.

Bagman smirked at the boy, "Drakonophobia hasn't stopped you from going to your vault."

So close to getting away with it! Harry cleared his mind from to panic. I can do this, "Yeah, what does this have to do with anything?"

Karkaroff, a rather impatient judge, snarled at the boy, "Potter, dragons guard the vaults, especially near old families like the Potters."

Damn it, his plans were being shown as a sham. Harry scampered to fix the problem. "Really?" He asked innocently, "I always thought they were just large lizards."

There was a sigh. "Mr Potter, that's what a dragon is."

Harry gave a 'oh' sound and widened his eyes. "Again, in my defence, I didn't know that."

"That enough, Potter; just pretend these are the big lizards in Gringotts."

"So I just ride a cart past them?"

At their stares, Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, I get it." Good thing he had a Plan D as well. His motto was 'Be Prepared' – no, no it wasn't; it was 'I'm always lucky'. "Alright, I'll begin."

In the stands, the audience cheered, tired from the long wait.

"Then, let us BEGIN!" Bagman yelled dramatically with a whip of his wand to shower them in red sparks. His shout was also dramatically official.

Harry waved to his friends (despite the fact Ron wasn't talking to him) standing in the front beside Hagrid's large form. "Hey guys!" he shouted from his place in the centre of the field. He pointed his wand at them.

"Accio Hagrid."

Hagrid tumbled– jumped, fell, splat, whatever – from the stands, quaking the floor as he landed. The Hungarian Horntail looked up at the noise. Immediately, the half-giant's eyes became starry, staring at the magnificent beast before him.

"Hagrid, can you distract her when I get the egg?" Harry asked sweetly.

"Sure," the man answered. He barely listened to a word, reaching out towards the dragon with a large had. She spat at him.

The half-giant, with tougher skin than wizards, was unharmed and too happy to realize the mother's apparent hatred of him there. "C'om 'ere my lovely. Don' be af'raid, girl."

The Hungarian Horntail snarled, saliva dripping down her fangs.

"You're a pre'ty un, aren'cha? Are ta boys treatin' you well? I wonder if they'll let me keep ya?" He went on for hours.

As soon as the dragon was lured quite far from the egg itself (it took forever with Hagrid's desire to just play with the dragon rather than help Harry), Harry rushed forward to grab it. He almost missed his cue too. Well, you couldn't blame him; he was bored, and he thought Hagrid forgot what he was doing there in the first place. That's why - and yes, that was the only reason! - he went onto plan E. ... which involved sitting on the ground leisurely reading a Playwizard magazine. The ONLY reason, dammit! Shh, don't listen to Hermione!

Anyways, Harry got the egg and ran back through the door he came from just in time. Skilled with years of running experience from 'Harry Hunting', and the fact Hagrid managed to keep the dragon really distracted, he was safe before the fireball shot at him made it. Barely.

The dragon trainers managed to get the Horntail calmed down before she could advance on Hagrid with her anger. Not that Hagrid minded of course, with his need to play with the beast still not satisfied yet. That singed beard of his was worth the price. And those missing eyebrows... who needs eyebrows anyways? And why did people need to panic so much just because his clothes were on fire?

He never understood wizards.

o-o

LATER THAT DAY

Harry sat on the ground, listening to Hermione's lecture of 'oh Merlin, how could you use Hagrid, a friend, as dragon bait', and Ron's rambling of 'I can't believe it, Bagman gave you a nine' and 'That damn Karkaroff gave you a zero because you were endangering a staff member?'.

He grinned, "Thanks Ron. And Hermione, did you see how happy Hagrid was? He hasn't been that close to a dragon since they took Norbert away. It was the least I could do for him."

She huffed, "At least tell me when you were able to cast an accio. That was a strong one, it pulled something as big as Hagrid so easily!"

"Never."

"What?"

Harry shrug, "I just planned it out with Hagrid – Luna's idea. Or at least what I think she meant. She probably had a safer plan, but this was the best I could think of with the hint she gave me."

Hermione might have muttered something about 'you listen to Luna but not me?' under her breath when Harry told her this, but Harry would be the first one to beg ignorance to this fact. After all, as long as Hermione didn't realise he heard, she couldn't actually make him feel guilty about it.

"Don't worry about it; I won't risk my life in the other tasks," Harry said, quickly moving on. At Hermione's skeptic stare, he added, "I promise. No matter what it takes."

She sighed, "Fine, just don't risk any more friends."

"Did you see Hagrid? He's practically bouncing off the walls being able to play with a dragon. You don't know how many times he's thanked me and bursted out in tears today."

"Just don't do that anymore."

Harry nodded, "Of course."

Today's plan was definitely more dangerous than he wanted anyways. It seemed he needed to take some 'thinking outside the box' classes with Luna, whatever those were. There was no way he would risk his life anymore in this Tournament. Once was enough to satisfy the whole annual-danger thing he had going on at Hogwarts. What's with that anyways?

Once was enough, even if he had to make up to a Plan Z to figure out how.

Harry smirked, gears in his brain already turning. Watch out Bagman, and all you judges, Harry's going to do the impossible and get out of participating whether you like it or not.