AN: I don't own Harry Potter! I would love to own Emma Watson. And by 'own', I mean date. Seriously. She's attractive and smart! On with the story!
All with Accio
The Triwizard Tournament.
A contest that reigned for almost 500 years before being shut down due to the damage and deaths it caused. One would think that it would remain in the past. Of course, one would also expect the leaders of the country to have intelligence.
The smart people who wrote out all the papers that would eventually lead the governments tried to account for the future. They knew populations would grow, and people would change. They knew that goals would be redirected and people with different motives would take power. They were not able to take politics into account though. It didn't exist at the time.
The tournament was brought back. While the tournament was created to promote international cooperation, it was not brought back for that. It was not brought back to promote the people's spirit, nor was it brought to bolster the economy. It returned because of one simple reason.
Voldemort is vain.
Yes, that is quite a jump in topic, but the reasoning is sound. Voldemort didn't want to just become a dark lord who killed people. He wanted to become THE Dark Lord. He wanted people to fear his name itself. Voldemort knew politics. He knew that the way to win wasn't about power. It was about showmanship. Appearing to be invincible is better than actually being invincible. If he were to proclaim in the paper that he could not be killed, ever assassin in the world would try to find a way to kill him.
If on the other hand, he made elaborate plans to look masterful and invincible, everyone would try to stay on his good side. Voldemort wanted to look powerful. What better way to have a show of power, than to have his agents bring back the renowned TriWizard Tournament? The news would be broadcasted across all of Europe. It would reach tens of thousands of wizards. Everyone would celebrate its return!
And while everyone celebrated, Voldemort would then crash the party. He would put in a champion of his choosing. He would make a mockery of the rules and regulations the ministry would put in place. He would then steal the overall champion and use his blood to return to life.
That is showmanship.
Hermione Granger grew up fairly isolated. With both of her parents being dentists with their own self-run business, both would be constantly busy. It didn't bother Hermione that much though. While she loved her parents, she learned early how to entertain herself. While other girls her age would play with dolls and other toys, Hermione taught herself how to read. Her parents had a fairly large library full of medical texts and old college texts. Once her mom saw her picking out books to read, she took Hermione to the local bookstore and let her select two dozen books of her own.
From that day forward, Hermione got a very generous allowance. While most parents would be weary of their child using said money for cigarettes or alcohol, Hermione's parents respected her to make smart decisions. They also knew that Hermione loved her books too much. Her favorite activity didn't change once she learned about magic. She did change what type of books she would read though.
Magical History was more interesting to Hermione. While reading muggle stories about unicorns and dragons could be entertaining, every author would have their own version of what a creature was and what it could do. The books of the magical world did not ever have the problem. It would talk about the wizarding wars, the goblin rebellions, the extinction of the Fae and every other historical event with great accuracy. Being able to use to back through someone's memories tended to create very accurate history books.
She was 13 when she first read the past about the TriWizard Tournament. While the number of tasks and champions would vary in the earliest tournaments, it became an unofficial standard to have only one champion from each school who would complete in a total of three tasks. The tasks would also have a common theme. The would represent one of the four basic elements: Air, Earth, Fire, or Water. Since there is usually only three tasks, the element not chosen would be random.
When Harry was chosen as the 4th contestant of the 1994 Tournament, Hermione threw herself back into the research with gusto. She listed out every task presented and was able to find a common theme between every task in every tournament. She mentally noted it down on her list of the complete lack of logic of wizards.
Every single task was always about retrieving an object.
The object would change, the challenge around the task would change, even the time limit would change. The basic premise of each champion retrieving an object did not change however. That left a glaring flaw. If you knew what object the champion had to retrieve, a single spell could conceivably allow a champion through the entire tournament.
Hermione's hand shook as she put down her quill. She had researched everything she could about the tournament, and it had produced spectacular results. Almost too good really. Could the logic of wizards be so poor that a single 4th-year level spell let one finish the entire tournament? There was only one way to find out.
Harry was sitting at his favorite spot near the lake, deep in thought. Just last week, Ron had stopped talking to him. While Harry was upset with Ron, he also understood why Ron acted in that manner. When Harry was young, he wanted to be special. He didn't like being called a freak and living in a cupboard. He wanted to be better than that. He understood where Ron's jealousy came from even if he didn't agree with it.
"Harry?" called Hermione who stood just a few feet away.
"Oh, hey Hermione. Sorry, I was a little lost in thought." Hermione gave him a knowing look. Since first year, Harry and Hermione had realized they had a special connection. They were able to understand each other far more than anyone else they knew.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she inquired.
"It won't change anything. He'll continue to be jealous and no one will be able to change his mind. I just hope he comes around eventually." Hermione studied Harry's posture as he said this. It was obvious he missed his friend. The only thing she could do was take his mind off the matter.
"I was in the library." She saw a mischievous smile on his face.
"Really? How fascination! I mean, I thought you would have been in the Slytherin dorm room!" he replied while raising an eyebrow. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Boys! I was researching the tournament Harry. I might have found something." a sober expression took over his face.
"Did you discover a way out of the tournament?"
"If only. The earliest tournaments didn't have the goblet. After a year where one champion refused to compete in the last task after a humiliating defeat in the second task, the goblet was created. As Mr. Crouch said, it creates a binding magical contract using your signature as acceptance."
"How would have they gotten that? I don't I've signed any magical forms." Hermione shrugged.
"Any essay? You write your name down there, and we never see those parchments again. Who knows what each teacher does with them?". At Harry's reluctant acknowledgement, Hermione continued. "You remember back in first year, how I told you that most wizards do not have an ounce of logic?" Harry smiled at the memory.
"Leave it you Hermione to remember everything you said from three years ago!" She hit his shoulder at the jib, but smiled at the compliment.
"It seems to still hold true. There might be a single spell you can learn that will allow you to complete all the tasks." Harry's eyes light up.
"What? A single spell? A lack of logic indeed! How's that possible?"
"Every task in every previous tournament required the champions to obtain an object. As long as we can figure out what you need to get, all you need to know is the summoning spell."
"I've heard about that spell. It seems incredibly useful. Is it difficult to master?" Hermione giggled at the question.
"Harry, you learned how to cast a Patronus last year. How could learning a summoning charm be difficult compared to that?"
"Oh. Right. Good point." Harry stood up and stretched his legs. "Do you want to start practicing now?"
"If you are willing to, of course!" With a small smile, Hermione looped her arm around Harry's and started to drag him back to the castle.
They quickly made their way to their favorite classroom. Hermione had discovered a hallway that seemed to have an a strange version of a notice-me-not-charm on it. The hallway lead to a wing of abandoned classrooms. It was a great place to study when she didn't want to be disturbed since it seemed that no one knew about it. It was also a great place to practice magic as all the classrooms were furnished. Hermione believed the elves knew about the wing as well since every week any desk or chair out of place would be moved back.
Hermione set her stuff down on a desk before turning to look at Harry. "The summoning charm, incantation of Accio, isn't a very magic-intensive spell, but the initial concept is the challenging part. You must be able to see what are you summoning clearly and focus on just that object. By see, I'm not referring to what you can physically see either. Every book I've read said you must know that object."
"So I need a mental picture then?"
"Something like that I believe. I haven't yet tried it myself." Harry gasped at her in mock horror.
"Hermione has read about a spell but not tried it? What is the world coming to!" She huffed at him in response.
"Hey, this world seems to be putting you in situations you don't like and I'm trying to help you here!" She attempted to look stern, but a slight grin broke out as she finished. "Anyway, let's start with something small and work out way up from there." With that, she drew out a single piece of parchment and placed it on a desk a few feet away. "Now, focus on just that parchment. Not the classroom, not even the desk." Hermione then moved behind Harry so that she would distract him.
With a look of concentration upon his face, Harry slowly raised his wand and intoned "Accio!" The parchment twitched. Harry's head dropped a little.
"Honestly Harry, did you expect it to work the first time?"
"A man can hope, can't he?" Harry looked back at the paper. "Accio!"
Harry stormed into the tent. A furious scowl adorned his face. He had just run into Ron who was willing to 'forgive' Harry for not sharing his secret method of entering the tournament. He took Charlie's advice and with a quick punch, no longer had any obstructions.
After the night out at Hagrid's, Harry had run into Charlie when he was leaving Dumbledore's office. They had talked for a bit when Harry had mentioned Ron's new attitude. "Ron's always had some jealousy issues with all of us. Just give him a good punch to knock the stupid out of his head." At Harry's disbelief, he continued "Seriously! In a family with 7 kids, many disagreements would lead to some physical violence. Once we get it out of our system, everything becomes alright again." While Harry personally didn't think it would work, it didn't hurt him to try.
His fellow champions had each claimed a chair in each of the corners. He sat down in the final chair while glancing around the tent. He noticed that even the tent followed the theme Hermione had mentioned. There were stripes of four different colors: red, blue, white, and green for Fire, Water, Air and Earth respectively. He glanced at each of his competitors while wondering how much each knew about the history of the Tournament.
Judging from the pads that Krum and Cedric were wearing, Harry realized their methods of stealing the egg would involve getting in close and risking a chance of getting burned. Those pads had built in cooling-charms and were very resistant to fire. He half-expected Fleur to have similar attire before realizing that she wouldn't need it. Any Veela would have a natural affinity to fire, and thus wouldn't need to worry as much.
After the respective champions had each chosen their dragon, Harry went back to his chair and sat down. He closed his eyes and attempted to clear his mind. He knew that he would have to summon an egg, but he wasn't able to find out what the egg looked like beforehand. The first time he saw the egg would be as he stepped into the stadium. With a clear mind, he would be able to focus on the egg faster, and thus summon it.
He heard the crowd roar as Bagman screamed, "HARRY POTTER!" When the cannon sounded, Harry stood up and walked out of the tent. He shielded his eyes from the bright sun before immediately darting forward into the stadium to hide behind some rocks. He pulled a small mirror from his pocket and angled it to see around the rock. He could see the nest behind the dragon, with the golden egg clearly on top. He focused clearly on every detail he could see before taking a deep breath.
Diving to his right in a roll, Harry waved his wand before yelling, "Accio egg!" The egg flew into his hands as Harry continued to roll behind another rock. With a triumphant grin, Harry ran out the stadium to the cheers of the crowd.
"Unbelievable! Our youngest champion has just shattered all records! None of the judges warded the egg with anti-summoning charms? Unbelievable! This will give Potter a huge advantage!" Ludo's booming voice echoed well into the tent. He walked out with a spring in his step to meet Hermione near the judge's table for his scores.
46. Not bad. Every judge but Karkaroff gave him a 10, with the latter giving him a 6. Considering he only cast one spell, he couldn't complain. Wrapping an arm around Hermione's waist, He lead her back towards the castle.
Harry paced the deck restlessly. He knew that this would happen, but he didn't like it in any manner. His thoughts kept revolving around Hermione. He was worried. He knew that Dumbledore wouldn't allow anything to happen to the hostages. There were numerous charms and wards all around the Merman's enclosure, cast by Flitwick and Dumbledore.
Harry still couldn't wait for Hermione to be back on the surface in his arms. Knowing that she would be taken beforehand didn't have the same impact as her actually being gone. In a way, he was thankful for the task. If he didn't find out the clue from his egg so early on, he probably wouldn't have gotten together with Hermione so early, nor have taken her to the ball.
Hearing a haunting poem about the 'what you'll surely miss' made Harry spend some time thinking. At first, he had focused on his Marauder's Map, Firebolt, or Invisibility Cloak. The map and cloak were some of the few items he had of his parents, and were very dear to him. The broom from Sirius was also another link to his parents, but also his love of flying. After much deliberation, he realized that it couldn't be an object, and had to be a person. How would the judges know what each contestant would miss? Not to mention, after Harry's humiliating triumph in the first task, there would have to be anti-summoning charms on what was taken. Personal effects being charmed could lead to a lawsuit for theft and illegal magic.
Therefore, they had to be talking about a person. It would certainly make each contestant feel more worried about a person than an object. It also helped explain the huge time frame gap between the two tasks. With the Yule Ball in the middle, each champion would have to bring a date to the dance. Since every champion was quite popular, they wouldn't just take any random person, they would have to take someone close to them to the dance. Who would Harry take?
The more he thought about it, the more he knew, there was no alternative. He would ask Hermione. He remembered the fear he had built up as he asked her in the library. Thankfully, she had agreed and they had spent a wonderful evening together.
Harry glanced over at his fellow champions. He could see the worry on each of their faces. Cedric had taken his girlfriend, Cho to the ball. Fleur had been originally escorted by a 7th year slytherin, but spent the majority of the ball dancing with her little sister. Krum had taken a 3rd year ravenclaw, Luna. Harry had quietly pointed out to Hermione how there was a member of every Hogwarts house seated at the champion's table.
It wasn't quite as amusing now. While he was worried for Hermione, he also knew she had voluntarily agreed to help out knowing what would happen. He could only imagine how panicked Fleur or Krum could be.
*Ahem* Harry looked up to see Ludo Bagman smiling at all the champions. "Everyone ready and excited?" He continued to smile despite the lack of response. "Excellent! We'll be starting in 15 minutes or so. Let's give the crowd something exciting, eh?"
Harry just nodded before looking at the gathering crowd. The minutes seem to crawl by, but eventually everyone was seated and Bagman started to announce the task. Harry ignored him while staring at the lake. After he and Hermione had figured out the clue, they had mail-ordered some water breathing potions and explored the bottom together. He had a very clear image of Hermione already waiting.
He looked over at the judges. More than a few were looking at him appraisingly. They probably expected him to attempt to summon Hermione and fail. They had to have put anti-summoning charms on all the champions. Too bad Harry is good at thinking outside-the-box.
The cannon went off with a large explosion. Fleur, Cedric, and Krum all jumped in the water. Bubbles appeared around Fleur's and Cedric's heads. Krum seemed to have some sort of self-transfiguration before disappearing beneath the murky water. Harry pulled out his wand and aimed it at the water with an image in mind.
"Accio Hermione's clothes!" Harry grinned as he heard the gasps of surprise behind him. Within a few seconds, Hermione came rocketing out into his waiting hands. Grabbing a warm towel, he immediately wrapped it around her before kissing her awake.
"Everyone work out to plan, Harry?"
"Well since the plan was to have you in my arms again, I would say so, yes." He felt her chuckle against him as he turned to grin at the judges. He was met with many faces of dismay. Logic really was a lacking point for wizards.
Harry had spent hours practicing this particular spell with Hermione. Hermione had discovered that when a person was warded with an anti-summoning charm, it didn't apply to anything they wore or carried with them. The trick with summoning their clothes is to not summon them off the person, rather, to summon them with the person. Hermione had owled her parents to get a skin-tight diving suit, which she wore under her robes. It would keep her warm in the water, and made it easier to summon her.
Harry scored 49 points this round. After the first task, all the judges had to sign a contract to grade every champion impartially or be replaced. As such, Karkaroff had no choice but give Harry a 9. Even if he had no originality, he finished the task in under the first minute of the 60 alloted.
"Is logic that hard to grasp?"
"While I want to say it's just you Hermione, even I saw the glaring flaw in this."
"I mean, telling the champions about the third task having a maze is one thing. Having it grown on the ground of Hogwarts also is okay. But then not having anyone guarding it, and no magic obscuring it?"
"Why are you complaining, love? If they had logic, we couldn't be mapping out the entire maze like we are!" Hermione just sighed in response.
"I know, it just gets on my nerves."
Harry just chuckled while he continued his sketch. It was only an hour ago when Bagman had revealed the maze to the champions. Harry immediately went back to the castle to grab Hermione when everyone dispersed. They both knew there would be more traps put into the maze before the actual event, but it wouldn't make a difference to Harry's plan.
Finishing his sketch, he turned to Hermione. "What do you say we explore the Prefect's Bath a little more?"
"That sounds like a splendid idea!" She grabbed his hand and dragged a very willing Harry back to the castle.
A very invisible Harry flew through the maze as fast as he could manage. He had tried flying over it, but the judges had finally grown smarter and warded the the maze from being flown over. They didn't ward it from being flow through however. While the traps and various creatures would prevent that during the real task, none of that was there the night before the task. Reaching the clearing that held the pedestal, Harry dismounted his broom.
He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small disc which he then proceeded to unshrink. He had fred and George to thank for this special piece. As soon as he placed it top of the pedestal, its color changed to match as it infused itself to the top. The disc was very thin and didn't make any noticable difference. It disc was enchanted to blend in to the first object it touched, and then attach sticking charms to anything else that touched it. Harry figured by this point, the pedestal and cup would be warded against summoning. This disc was not however.
With his mission accomplished, Harry flew back out of the maze and met Hermione for dinner. She raised his eyebrow in question and he nodded in response. Happy that her boyfriend wouldn't be in danger for the next task, Hermione dragged Harry to a broom closet after dinner to reward him.
The next day started slow. There were no classes, so most students slept in or goofed off. Harry spent the day relaxing with Hermione. In the afternoon, he meet up with the other champions. A door opened all the families of the champions walked in. Harry got to formally introduce Hermione as his girlfriend to Remus. Snuffles just wagged ran around in a circle while barking at the couple.
Everyone eventually made their way out to the Quidditch pitch. The stands began to fill up and the champions were requested in front of the maze. Harry's score surpassed all his competitors by far. As such, he had a 2 minute lead for the task. He wouldn't need 10 seconds.
Harry watched his fellow champions prepare themselves. He chuckled internally. They wouldn't get a chance to step into the maze before the task was over. As Bagman rattled on about the task, Harry tuned him out again. That man did love his own voice.
Dumbledore stood up from his spot at the judge's table. "I realize that our previous tasks have not been … as entertaining as originally hoped." With that, his eyes glanced at Harry. "As such, we've taken some precautionary measure to prevent that, and hopefully have an outstanding finale!" The crowd cheered in response.
Harry just pulled his wand out of its holster and turned towards the maze. As Filch set the cannon off, Harry took a deep breath.
"Accio Pedestal!"
His competitors just started at him. A soft whoosing sound was heard. Everyone turned towards the maze. Several small thumps could be heard as if branches were being pushed out of the way. The wall in front of the champions exploded as the pedestal with the cup came zooming out at Harry. Harry dived to the side as the pedestal came to a stop right where he was previously standing before falling over. Harry stood up, put his arms around the pedestal and set it up right. Leaning against it, he turned towards the judges.
"So how did I do?"
AN: Wow, I certainly didn't expect this story to be as long as it did. I had a small one shot in mind about just using 'accio' for every day, and then this sprung up out of nowhere. I was debating to myself to cut it off where I did or continue on with one of the judges grabbing the cup and getting transported to the graveyard. In the end, I felt that it wasn't necessary to the story.
To clarify, I wrote this just to show a major flaw that we see in the tournament. Sure, there could be 'anti-summoning' charms, but there's so many ways to get around that. While I could continue the story into the graveyard or further, it's unnecessary for the idea I started with.