Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

Chapter 1: Preparation is the Key

Harry Potter was a young man who had began to see a pattern. Ever since his parents were killed, he had been thrown from one disaster to another. A decade of Dursleys might have crushed his spirit entirely if he had let it. Starting school he had hoped for friends only to find Dudley chase away anyone that he might have shared a few words with. Being abandoned by the Dursleys to the care of the old cat-lady of Privet Drive every time his family went on a vacation, he was used to not being valued.

The letter addressed to him in the cupboard under the stairs had been a turning point in a sense. He had thought things would get better when he learned he was a wizard, but while he actually got to eat more and make friends, things had soon began to look more grim. The childish excitement of learning magic was replaced by the revelation how much rot there was in the magical world. Things were hardly fun, care-free and joyful on several past days.

The first year's challenges with the stone, and a murderous teacher, had taught him to watch out for plots. He doubted Dumbledore's word about having destroyed the stone and had indeed snuck into the headmaster's office by watching vice headmistress McGonagall take some paperwork up there with the password spoken to the gargoyle. Slipping in after her under the cloak of invisibility, he had stayed long enough to steal back the stone, and then address it in a package to Gringotts to be put into a vault along with permission for only himself or the Flamels to retrieve it, asking them to take the cost out of his vault. Sending a letter to the Flamels, he had escaped the headmaster's office for another summer in Durzkaban.

The second year had got off to a bad start with Lucius Malfoy's interfering with the shopping trip, setting the tone for the year. The pompous poet and poor excuse for a teacher they had in defense that year made him want to hit his head in the wall. He suffered through his classes however, up until the now infamous duel where his talent in parseltongue was revealed. The shunning he received darkened his opinion about the wizarding world.

He could partly understand them, the chamber of secret was rumored to have been opened and parseltongue was an ability that Slytherin founder was known to have had. They saw two facts and put them together to assume Harry was behind the attacks. In the end, his dear Hermione had been caught up in the mess, and he knew he had to solve it. Ultimately it had turned out well, but even so, it was a year of trials and misery, and though most accepted the Headmaster's word the matter had been solved, there were no true apologies for their suspicions and shunning.

His summer that year had involved a trip to the London and to the Gringotts, where he negotiated about a deal about the dead Basilisk's sale. The goblins had confirmed he had the right as its slayer, and after he agreed to join them, the group had made its way through Hogwarts into the chamber. Most of the teachers were away at the time, and Hagrid hadn't minded helping Goblins out, not paying too much attention to the cloaked figure among them as he was compensated for his help by a nice hogshead of Ogden's finest. As far as the man was concerned, they had sworn they meant no harm to the school or people in it, and that had been enough for him to let them in. Harvesting the Basilisk had not taken long with magic, and after packing all they could into the shrinkable trunks with them, they had left the grounds a lot richer than they had entered.

The end of the summer with Sirius Black scare was not a pleasant one, but the Goblins had already informed him about the man being his godfather so he had made quiet inquiries about the matter through the goblins to the ministry and the state of Sirius' trial. He had also made sure that any access to his vaults was blocked for the headmaster, who's guardianship he was questioning with a fair share of harsh words that the goblins seemed to find extremely amusing. Who knew they thought creative cussing was an art form?

Having blocked withdrawals or even information about his trust vault or the newly set up vault that housed his share of the money from the Basilisk's fall, he had learned about the Family vault holding mostly relics of the family and asked to have it frozen entirely till he came of age, to prevent Dumbledore's long fingers, and asking the goblins to make sure nothing had been removed since his parents death. A checking was made, and several angry letters sent to Dumbledore to return goods he had taken, including a pensieve the old man had claimed as his own. The investment vault was untouchable to Dumbledore thankfully, and even he would have to be thirty to access it, though the proceeds mostly went to the main vault, which did not hold the deeds or the galleons used for investing, but merely the wealth currently at hand for spending.

Learning that Dumbledore had been dipping into that vault regularly and cancelled the policy of returning three quarters of its contents to the investment vault to add to the family investments at the end of the year, Harry was about ready to blow. He had immediately asked the goblins as the sole heir to withdraw all that stolen money from the Dumbledore accounts and a few other accounts he had paid to from Harry's funds, and returning the policy of three-quarters returned to investments at the end of each year to effect, as well as banning anyone but himself from accessing that vault anymore. He went as far as to appeal to the Goblin council for fraud after pointing out Dumbledore had not been named as his Guardian by his parents on any accepted document and the will that would have pointed out the true guardian had been sealed on Dumbledore's orders.

This lead to a lot of legal mess that Dumbledore was facing that summer while Harry did his shopping and stayed at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the vacation after his escape from Durzkaban. The goblins hadn't been happy, and went after Dumbledore's accounts with vengeance. Though they could claim back a lot, including close and transfer all the money back from a vault opened for 'Phoenix Foundation' that had apparently been funded solely on Potter money, the goblins had practically crushed the Dumbledore family other than what belonged to Albus' brother, whom they left alone after confirming his finances had been his own. Albus, however, would find himself with only his petty cash vault intact and saddled with a debt to pay back the money taken, even though the losses from abandoning the investment policy were far beyond the sum actually taken from the vaults.

That year had shown Dumbledore a lot more surly, and a lot more aggravated, but as far as he was concerned, Harry hadn't had anything to do with it, the goblins had caught up with his scheme and even threatened him that they wanted to speak to the Potter heir soon about his accounts if Dumbledore kept insisting on having access to the vaults again. The old man had growled and nearly thrown a tantrum, but eventually left. Harry had been learning a bit of occlumency already though, courtesy of the Goblins, and thus managed to resist the legilimency probe long enough to avert his gaze and break the connection.

Still, Dumbledore tried to manipulate things in his favor. He needed a money-bin, and with Potter vaults sealed to him and Sirius Black returning, he sought to help them out at the end to let Sirius escape, hoping to get his hands on the Black family fortune instead. A bit of advice to Hermione Granger, and a time-turner trip to the past, and the golden duo managed to save his godfather. By that point, he pretended to be clueless about Ron's true loyalties, having seen the Weasleys on the list of recipients on the account transfers done illegally, including Ron's own personal vault that was held in stasis till he would turn seventeen. Not that it would contain more than thirty sickles after the Goblins learned about the truth.

The third year's end had seen Harry slipping Sirius a letter about all he had found out over the years before they parted ways, and Albus was dumbfounded to not have Sirius contact him after his escape, but leave the country and start the proceedings to get a trial abroad, too far away from Dumbledore's influence for the trial to be delayed until the wise old man could get there to manipulate things to his own advantage.

Time and time again, Dumbledore had tried to screw him over, and Harry's opinion of the man could not have been any lower. In fact, he wanted the old man dead for all he had done, from abandoning him as a child to carefully setting things in motion to have him tested like a good little puppet year after year. He was not keen on seeing what the fourth year's challenge would be, so when the announcement about the return of a dangerous, often lethal tournament came, he knew he would not submit to this any longer.

Champions Selection

The crowd had gathered at the great hall, watching the fabled Goblet of Flame practically glow with power, the magic running through it rushing through every piece of parchment that had been thrown into it, evaluating them and setting them ready to complete its task. A little bit of outside magic disrupted the usually clear-cut selection, but the goblet carried on with the selection, the first piece of parchment flying in the air.

Snatching it from the air, the headmaster Dumbledore read the first piece of parchment loudly. "The Champion for Durmstrang is... Victor Krum!"

Raising his hand to catch the next piece of parchment with a little bit of more grace having seen how high the goblet threw them, the headmaster continued after clearing his throat. "The Champion for Beauxbatons is... Fleur Delacour!"

As the third piece of parchment trailed around in the air, there was a short jump in its flight as it seemed to twirl in the air a moment before landing to the headmaster's out-stretched hand. "The Champion for ... what's this... Cheaters Prosper Academy is... Draco Malfoy!?" He sounded shocked.

Shocked silence remained in the room, nobody had expected that after being told no underage contestants were allowed. More than a few outraged glances were cast at Draco's direction, but before a pandemonium could truly begin the goblet sparked with angry flames and spat one more parchment out. Floating in the air, it too seemed to swirl and jump a little bit just before landing in the headmaster's hand, who held it up and read it. "The Champion for Hogwarts is..." He took a pause, looking over at the Hufflepuff table.

"Cedric Diggory!" This confused the group of people even more. As the four champions were being guided to the back room, both Dumbledore and Professor Moody looked puzzled and angry at how things had gone, but the glares that Madame Maxime was casting on Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy were evident, as were the looks from Karkaroff. Obviously neither of them was happy with the turn of events, but held their tongue till they were in the back room.

"That slimy snake, I should have known he'd pull something like this, ohh that ponsy ferret is going to love all the attention and all that gold and the fame, and the praise and... it just makes me... oooohh I'm so mad right now!" Ron was trying to keep from cursing as Hermione was staring at both Ron and Harry a bit worriedly. Harry, though, was simply shaking his head slightly.

"I don't know what Draco's trying to do, but the tournament is dangerous don't you think? They cancelled it originally because people lost their lives in it. They wanted only seventh-years because they're adults and should be able to take care of themselves. I think Draco's in an awful lot of trouble." Harry's words were met with a nod of approval from Hermione, but Ron looked outraged. "YOU DEFEND THAT SLIMY SNAKE!?" He shouted loudly, drawing people's attention.

Raising his voice slightly, Harry spoke in reply knowing they were now being listened in on by the people in the other tables too. "No, Ron, I'm just saying that the tournament is not going to be an easy one and Draco's so much younger that I don't see how he could manage to do more than forfeit at the beginning of each task, a shame that will not go away no matter how much he might cry about his daddy hearing about it."

This earned a few chuckles from Gryffindors who were quite familiar with Draco's parting words after losing an argument, but it had also set up a lot of conversation. Harry rested a hand on Hermione's hand at that time, looking at her in the eyes and speaking seriously. "You know, Hermione, the tournament usually also involved a ball of some sort, and we were asked to bring dress-robes this year. I may be a bit hasty but um, would you do me the honor of being my companion for the ball?" He saw her eyes widen and then felt the bushy hair tickling his nose as she slammed into his chest hugging him tightly and almost knocking him off his seat.

"Uh, I'll take that as a yes?" He smiled while wrapping his own arms around her as well, watching Ron staring mouth open food dropping onto his lap at the other side of the bench. "You better believe it mister!" Hermione chuckled and smiled, before blushing as she pulled back a bit noticing the people at the table staring at the two of them and more than a few clapping. Fred and George were handing some galleons over to Alicia and Katie from the looks of it, but receiving several others in turn, smirking amusedly.

"About time!" Katie shouted and then proceeded to congratulate the two, the two youths blushed up and embarrassed but smiling at their friends celebrating for them. It seemed an opinion was clear cut, Harry asking her out was taken as meaning they were dating now, and though they were embarrassed, they were also grateful for the support, even as Fred and George mentioned they thought Hermione was like a sister, and thus needed to give him the 'big brother' talk before Hermione's dad was around to give his own intimidation speech.

All of it was laughter and joy that evening, and as Harry slipped away to visit the loo a little later, people playfully pestered Hermione about her reaction but careful to not push it too far. Harry, meanwhile, made his way to the nearest boys bathroom and quietly dropped a piece of parchment in his hand to a sink, before casting a candle-lighting charm causing a spark of flame to set the parchment on fire before Harry went to a stall.

As the bit of parchment burnt away, the name 'Harry Potter' turned to ashes. Thank Merlin for switching charm, he thought to himself while finally relaxing. This had been the last straw, and the last year for him at Hogwarts. As soon as Sirius' case was clear, he'd leave with his Godfather to another country. He'd have to ask Hermione and her family to come along, but even if they were reluctant he'd at least make sure to stay in touch and visit during the Summers, but he was reasonably sure after he'd explain the reasons she'd join him even if they'd only go as far as Beauxbatons in France. It wasn't ideal, too close to Dumbledore still, but the French and the British didn't exactly get along so they'd be a lot safer there.

End Chapter

A/N: Not sure if this would be a one-shot, or if I should write a bit of follow-up for the individual tasks. I thought of it as a bit of loose idea about what would happen if Harry Potter had seen a pattern in things and began to take action years ago. Yes, I'd wager it is on the side of crack by the way things go Harry's way but I did this for my own amusement not as too serious bit of writing.

Besides, the thought of Harry accidentally replacing Cedric at first with Draco, paranoid in thinking it was certain to be his name, and then having the chance to 'redeem' himself by returning Cedric's parchment to the air when Harry's name actually came out seemed like a good way to go about it. Switching charm has been mentioned in various other stories before, but I am not sure if it's been used for -this-.