A/N: Thank you once again for tuning into another chapter. I know a lot of the story so far has just been fluff, but the story will divert a bit farther very shortly, especially this chapter. This one is much longer than the last and isn't as fluffy. This is where the story really starts to take a turn. I just had to get the introductory stuff out of the way first. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 5: Pedagogy for Ponces

Over a month had passed since Hermione's fourth year at Hogwarts had officially commenced, and she could not be any more thrilled. Not much had actually occurred so far in comparison to the adventures of her first three years; there were no mysterious incidents, no secret monster roaming the corridors in pursuit of students, no alleged mass murder stalking about for her best friend. Everything had been completely and utterly ordinary.

But part of her felt that wasn't going to last. Hermione couldn't stand feeling that way. There was just this piece of her mind that believed the more she convinced herself that everything would be alright, the less it actually would be. She didn't want to jinx anything.

Hermione was currently seated in the library studying her astronomy charts, which mainly provided the importance of the stars in that made of Cygnus, the northern constellation. She had been keeping herself busy here for quite the myriad of time, for times like these made it irrelevant. Her mind and body were wholly divided at the moment. It was a unique skill Hermione prided herself for- the way she could remove herself from her current environment through mere focus. Time seemed to move faster at these moments and became a phenomenon that she treasured and loathed equally. For example, her time in the library, Hermione felt, had been rather extensive today, and would probably need to make haste to the Great Hall soon if she wanted to make it for dinner in time.

Mumbling in frustration, Hermione neatly- although rather forcefully- packed and shoved her things into her leather canvas bag. Slinging it over her shoulder and tucking a book in her arm, she took off for the corridors, giving a small "Goodbye" to Madam Pince, although she had not appeared to have heard her.

Before she could even get a few steps out of the library, Hermione had managed to collide directly into one of the only people she loathed (other than Malfoy, of course) at Hogwarts: Professor Snape.

Falling directly onto her bottom and losing her book to the floor, Hermione gave out a surprised and painful yelp. Snape, in contrast, had barely even swayed from the sudden impact and was just staring down at Hermione with irritation.

"What are you doing on the floor, Granger?" Snape sneered. Hermione launched back up to her feet. She could feel her blood begin to boil from the embarrassment and anger beginning to brew inside her. It was more directed toward herself at the moment, rather than the Professor who was watching the disaster of an incident unfold. Quickly readjusting her bag strap on her shoulder and mumbling a feeble apology to Snape, who obviously didn't reply, Hermione began to speed-walk away. However, the Potions Master yelled out once more, forcing Hermione to slowly and fearfully turn back around.

Snape simply withdrew his wand- almost making Hermione instinctively pull out her own- and began to levitate her book, which was still sitting face down and open where she had lost it after falling. Realizing her error, Hermione froze, while the book slowly floated into her hands. Muttering a quick thank you and desperate as ever to escape this perturbation of a moment, Hermione made to turn and leave, before Snape stopped her once again.

"And I believe you belong in the Great Hall for dinner, Granger… which is in the opposite direction," he scorned, somehow managing to turn Hermione into an even brighter shade of magenta. She practically ran past the Professor, this time without a word, cursing herself in her head after hearing him utter, "Idiot girl," as she left. It only added to her list of self-deprecating expressions.

'Honestly, Hermione, everyone claims you to be so smart, and yet you walk around acting like an absolute dunce!" Hermione had a bad habit of belittling herself in embarrassing situations such as this recent accident after running into- or, well, after getting run over- by her Potions Professor.

As she took stride down the castle halls, Hermione accomplished to let off some of the steam that had been building up inside. She noticed that she had been particularly moody to begin with, even waking up that morning with some deep frustration in her veins. The only time it seemed to disappear was when she was knee-deep in her school work, or when she was reading a book. Hermione wasn't entirely sure why she kept seeing red but eventually resorted to the typical teenage quandary of hormones and such, and let the task of finding the source slip away.

'It's just one of those days," she concluded, before resuming her march.

About a minute or two later, Hermione arrived at the grand gateway of the Great Hall and strode into the rowdiness, no one paying her any mind. She caught sight of Ron's hair first, naturally, and began to approach from the opposite side of the table. She discovered a while ago that it was surprisingly higher of risk to sit next to Ron while he was eating rather than in front of him, for reasons Hermione couldn't even fathom. And on the plus side, she knew Harry had probably figured this one out a while ago as well, judging by his usual choice of seating.

Just as she expected (and possibly hoped) to see, Harry was sitting opposite of Ron who was consuming his food rather heinously, with an unoccupied spot just on his right. As though sensing her presence, Harry craned his neck to see Hermione walking up, flashing her one of his signature sideways smiles. These were the same smiles that always managed to make her stomach feel like she was back in the Tower of Terror, which Hermione was fortunate enough to ride after its opening in the States this past summer. The feeling she was experiencing right now, however, was far more pleasant than that of the Disney attraction.

"Where have you been?" Harry questioned as Hermione sat down, causing her to give a sly grin.

"Hey, yourself." Harry rolled his eyes but continued to smile.

"Hi… I was about to go looking for you-" Ron gave a clear of his throat at this, his mouth still stuffed with food. Hermione tried not to grimace.

"Sorry, we were about to go looking for you," Harry corrected, supplying Ron with a quick unsure glare to the side, which caused the redhead to roll his own eyes.

"Nof-" Ron gasped, still trying to shovel bits of food into his mouth, "I guarahnteef 'ee fwas at the librrrrareeh' Arry." Harry didn't respond while Hermione just groaned, particularly after the moment Ron accidentally spat pieces of food across the table when he tried to say 'library.'

"Thanks for the concern, Ronald," Hermione monotoned, although causing Ron to innocently shrug his shoulders. "Remarkably, Ron here was actually correct for once," she motioned to Harry, ignoring her other friend's groans of disagreement. "I was only at the library. I've just had a busy day. I guess I just got caught up in all the work."

Harry creased his lips and provided a small nod of his head. "Well, just be glad you made it before the other schools were introduced." Hermione's eyes seemed to pop out of her skull at this, a dumbfounded expression forming on her face.

"That's today? Already? Merlin…" Hermione guffawed. The students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were recently announced to have been coming to Hogwarts. For what reason, no one was entirely sure, but Hermione had immediately made an ultimate suspicion, which was practically confirmed by the large jewel casket that had been residing in the front of the Great Hall for a week. She had read about the particular item not that long ago, and if her suspicions were correct, then Hogwarts was in for an exciting year.

Thinking back, the sign that had been posted declared the students would be arriving the upcoming Friday, but Hermione had no clue that it was that close already.

Harry had been watching her think for a brief minute with concern. She had seen something like this happen before. "Hermione, you're doing it again." The witch seemed to snap out of her thought process then and was immediately followed by a curious fold of her eyebrows. Harry sighed, "Remember last year? Remember how overworked you were becoming?" Hermione showed recognition at this and turned slightly sheepish, darting her eyes to the ground.

"Sorry, you know how I get: I love learning."

Harry chuckled and scratched behind his ear. "Oh, and trust me, I wouldn't ever want that to change." He paused, running his hand through his hair once again, "I just don't want you at the point where you need to go… er… all 'Back to the Future' on us again." Harry seemed to be trying to hide Hermione's little time travel situation from Third Year, obviously not seeing the downside of referencing the one muggle movie in which the title literally describes what he's trying to be secretive about. But Hermione let it slide, finding his efforts a bit cute and endearing.

"You're right," Hermione said, hopefully sounding as serious as she intended, "But I promise you, I won't be letting that happen ever again." Harry seemed to believe her, for he snatched her hand underneath the table and gave it a soft squeeze, however turning his head toward the staff table. Hermione gave a delicate squeeze of her own in return, but did not move to let go afterward, nor did Harry. The two just sat in silence, unmoving, as they tried their hardest not to watch Ron consume his dessert like a barbarian.

It was only about five minutes later when a loud slam of the stone floor echoed from the entrance of the Great Hall, causing Harry and Hermione to untangle their hands and whip around to the source. An outpour of people had flooded swiftly into the chamber, each donning blood-red robes that covered them entirely. The students of Durmstrang had arrived.

Another ten minutes went by since both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons had settled into their designated areas before Dumbledore walked to his podium to speak. Hermione had irritatingly noticed how almost all the males had practically been nonexistent since the girls of Beauxbatons had entered, drooling like hungry wolves in their direction. She'd read once that there'd been a large population of Veelas in the Academy, and they had a powerful charm that drew in men. Hermione had not expected, however, that the effects of the Veelas were really that extreme. Although, it would make sense in the situation that the men being charmed were actually just hormonal teenagers.

Something that had been very pleasing to Hermione, however, was the fact that Harry appeared to be unaffected by the Veela charm. She saw him give a quick look once or twice but had otherwise remained attentive towards Dumbledore in the front, who had been busy conversing with the two heads of the other schools. He had eventually picked up on the vast majority of boys who had been just staring at the Beauxbatons table like she had, focusing mainly on Ron, who couldn't seem to pick his jaw up off the floor.

"I didn't seem to think the French were all that special," Harry confessed, an expression of mirth dancing in his eyes at the sight of his best friend's ogling. Hermione had to provide a giggle at this and proceeded to explain the Veela and their charm of seduction.

"Well, I don't seem to have any lusty desires towards them… should I?" Harry asked, a bit self-consciously. Hermione was simply shocked for a moment that one could be insecure about not falling for the power of magical seduction, and therefore taking her a second to respond.

"Well, there are really only two reasons I can think of that a Veela's charm wouldn't have an effect on someone," Hermione recounted, closing her eyes to try and bring back the memory of when she read this, "Either the individual being charmed is just naturally resistant to a Veela's power, which is very rare, or…" Hermione stopped and opened her eyes, really wanting to examine Harry's reaction to this.

"Or… more commonly… the individual being charmed is in love with somebody." Harry, who Hermione had anticipated would immediately reject the former explanation, actually did nothing. He seemed to just stare forward and think for a while, his mouth opening and closing every few seconds. Before he could get another word out, however, Dumbledore had begun to speak.

"Welcome! Welcome, all!" he bellowed, his wand pressed softly on the base of his throat. The commotion had immediately died, suggesting the other schools were already aware to not underestimate nor disrespect Dumbledore. "I want to wish a warm welcome to our guests, the students and delegations of the Durmstrang Institute and those of Beauxbatons Academy. Professor Karkaroff of Durmstrang and the lovely Madame Maxine, of course, Hogwarts welcomes you!" At this, all the students in the Hall had cheered, which Karkaroff seemed to show no reaction to.

"Now, our guests are already aware of why they are here, but my students are unfortunately not. However, before I go any further, I would like to give a few important words to our guests" Dumbledore declared, the chamber going completely silent once more. Some of the Hogwarts students could be heard chortling, probably aware of the gist of what was to come, but that quickly died out as well.

"Collywobbles, denim, grapefruit, hoshposh, adoration, moon. Thank you."

The Hogwarts students all joined in a riotous applause at this, while the visiting students gave each other puzzled looks, before slowly following in response, although nowhere near as ecstatically.

"Now! I will get straight to the point... if I can!" A bunch of the Hogwarts students laughed, while all others started to look nervous. Dumbledore, with his wand suddenly in hand, walked over to the jeweled casket. "Many centuries ago, the three largest schools in all of magical Europe would gather to host one large traditional event: The Triwizard Tournament!" With the wave of his wand, the casket seemed to turn a hot red and melt out of existence, revealing a large stone cup behind it, which suddenly inflamed a bright blue.

"This," Dumbledore boomed, "is the Goblet of Fire! If anyone of you seeks the eternal glory- yes, eternal glory- of being a Champion, one would simply write their full name on a piece of parchment, and deposit it into the Goblet! But heed my warning now: this Tournament is not for the faint-hearted, for if the Goblet chooses you as a Champion, then you are entirely and ultimately on your own." Dumbledore gave a pause, letting that sink in.

"The Tournament will feature three unique and hazardous challenges; three challenges that you must figure out the details of on your own!"

"I, unfortunately, must announce, however, that due to how the Tournament had last unfolded, there will be a few rules implemented. The death of our students is not a subject we take lightly." The electric buzz that had been building throughout the room the past few minutes suddenly ceased, faces all around beginning to droop.

"One of the most important rules, I must detest, is the age restriction. If you are under the age of 17, the Goblet will not accept your name." Not even halfway through this statement, students had started to get slightly riled up, clearly unhappy with the circumstances. Dumbledore efficiently managed to stop this.

"Silence!" It took but a few seconds for his demand to take action. "I know that this is greatly disappointing to many of you, but I'm afraid this is necessary. Although not my decision, I do believe that this is the best course of action."

The mood had been effectively killed at this point. Harry, however, couldn't be happier. Even if he was tempted, for whatever reason, to enter this Tournament, he physically couldn't. Not only that, but there were less chances of someone dying this year! He wasn't quite in the mood to have his or anybody else's life in mortal danger again any time soon. Harry quickly noticed that most of his Gryffindors were very upset with the age restriction, especially Ron.

Part of Harry felt sympathy towards him. This Tournament probably had come with a ton of money, and Harry knew that Ron would have been ecstatic over the chance to help him and his family. Turning back to Hermione, he could tell she was probably thinking somewhere along the same lines if her solemn look towards Ron's pouty form was anything to go by.

Nudging her with his elbow, Harry whispered, "I know, this was a chance for him. But let's be honest, the prize for winning cannot be worth the risk." Hermione gave a hesitant nod in agreement, hopefully indicating that his words made her feel a tad bit better. Suddenly, a smile played on her lips as she looked down the table. Harry tried to follow her line of sight, finding them falling on the Twins, who appeared to be conversing meticulously while looking at the Goblet.

Harry laughed and gave a hearty groan, "That's not gonna end well."

"You're telling me? That's a disaster waiting to happen." Harry and Hermione shared a jovial laugh before Dumbledore made to finish his speech.

"Now, I will leave you for the night with this: all of you who wish to become a Champion must place their name in the Goblet by tomorrow night, for the selection will be made then. Only one lucky student from each school will be chosen, and those three Champions will compete until one comes out on top. With that said, you are dismissed."

'This might be more interesting of a year than I hoped!' Harry thought ecstatically.

Dear Sirius,

Sorry for the delay, but not all that much has happened recently. Well, not until last night anyway. Do you know anything about the Triwizard Tournament? Two other schools have come to Hogwarts to have one student compete from each, and will apparently take up the entirety of the year. It sounds wicked if you ask me. Fortunately, there is an age restriction against who's allowed to enter for the chance to be selected, so hopefully, no one will die this year. They're supposed to be revealing the Champions tonight- actually about an hour from now- and I'm really hoping the Hogwarts Champion will be a Gryffindor. I'm not exactly familiar with any of the 7 Years from any of the other Houses.

Anyway, I wanted to quickly mention something that's been on my mind recently. You remember Hermione, right? My friend, who helped rescue you from damnation? Yeah, I'm sure you do. Look, it's kinda complicated, but I think I'm starting to have feelings for her. Like, feelings feelings. You know what I mean. But look, the point is, I'm bloody terrified! I don't know how girls work! And I don't know if I can risk the friendship I already have with her! She means too much to me, Sirius. I'm just confused, and you were the first person I thought to go to when it came to this.

Sincerely,

Harry

Sighing, Harry gently placed his quill on his desk and proceeded to fold the piece of parchment. Desperate to get rid of it as fast as magically possible, Harry ran to Hedwig and, with her permission, tied it to her legs.

"You think you could give this to Sirius, girl?" She gave a soothing hoot in return and immediately took flight out of Gryffindor Tower.

Harry, quickly checking his desk to make sure he hadn't left anything private out for view first, then made his descent into the Common Room. Many people were already making their leave to the Great Hall and took sight of Ron and Hermione sitting at their regular table.

At the exact moment Ron caught sight of Harry making his way, he called out, "Bloody hell! What took you so long?" Hermione turned and gave Harry a warm smile, which he had to admit was far better than Ron's idea of a greeting.

"I was busy writing a letter." Harry offered, which apparently wasn't good enough.

"And just who could you possibly be writing to?" Although Harry couldn't see, Hermione shot Ron a dirty look, which the redhead didn't precisely seem to pick up on.

"We should get to the Great Hall. We're going to want to eat before the Champions are selected." That seemed good enough of an answer for Ron, who practically shouted in agreement, and took off without the other two. Hermione, amused, stood up and joined Harry out of the Common Room.

"Sirius?" she whispered once they were alone. Harry wasn't even the least surprised that Hermione was able to figure him out like that. She had been doing it for years now.

Harry could feel himself get a bit heated as he thought back to the contents of the letter he wrote, offering a feeble, "Yeah," in return.

"Is everything ok?"

Harry brushed his hand through his locks a few times. "Oh, yeah. I just told him about the Triwizard Tournament and… stuff." It felt like a petty response, but luckily Hermione had not bothered with prying any longer. They simply continued their stroll to what would unknowingly become one of the most miserable days of Harry's life.

The instant Harry and Hermione walked into the Great Hall, they were greeted with the site of a white-haired, long-bearded pair of Weasley twins dashing past them, both arguing back and forth about who was at fault for their current predicament. Hermione had summed the situation up pretty nicely.

"Aging potion. Honestly, they're fools for even trying!"

That was nearly forty-five minutes ago. They had now finished their dinner, and Hermione was somehow coerced, mainly by Ronald, into detailing her humiliating encounter with Snape the previous day after the library when Dumbledore had begun to speak.

"Good evening! As I'm sure you're all aware, tonight, the Triwizard Champions will be selected!" There was tremendous applause. And that's when the warning sign came. Instinctively, a hand went to rub his forehead, where a sharp pain had come and gone in the matter of a second. It was rather intense. It was enough to make him physically flinch and recoil.

Hermione seemed to notice, as she had to look over Harry's shoulder to see Dumbledore. "Harry? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." Harry didn't believe his own words for a second, no matter how much he wanted to. Hermione hadn't seemed to either, for she was no longer listening to Dumbledore, who was about to call the Durmstrang Champion.

Harry watched as the Goblet spat out the first sheet of paper, and he suddenly could begin to hear his heart beating. All the external sound around him had ceased, and could only pick up the sound of his own blood flowing and his eyes crunching when he blinked. Harry watched as a Durmstrang student, who he noticed had to be Viktor Krum, suddenly stood up while everyone clapped. He simply walked up to Dumbledore, shook his hand, and left through a door behind the staff table.

Harry could faintly hear the next champion be called. Fleur DeLacour had graciously stood up and followed the same procedure as Viktor had. The time for the Hogwarts Champion was now, and Harry suddenly felt as though he couldn't breathe. The Goblet had spat the piece of paper out, and Dumbledore had caught it with a swish of his hand. He read it out:

"Cedric Diggory!" Harry breathed in, then out. He visibly eased, almost ready to faint from the anxiety. The pain in his scar had been so brief, but it managed to scare him to no end. 'It must have been my head playing bloody tricks on me,' he thought. But it no longer mattered, for the Hogwarts Champion was currently shaking hands with Dumbledore, and was about to leave the room in a few short seconds. This would all be over. Everything was fine.

"Well, the Goblet has chosen. Your-"

Like a switch, the Goblet's blue flames had transformed into a red and was erupting almost violently, cutting Dumbledore off completely. Harry could feel his heart stop. He already knew where this was going to lead. He knew it was too good to be true. Everyone watched as Dumbledore caught the fourth piece of paper out of the Goblet of Fire, his face turning skeletal as he read the name out loud.

"Harry Potter."

"What the bloody fu-"

A/N: Now, the Triwizard Tournament is not gonna change in regards to Harry being the second Hogwarts Champion. That much is clear. I will tell you, however, that the challenges he must accomplish will be far different than the original.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will do my best to get the next one out soon.

Thank you for reading,

A fellow reader and writer :)