33Harry Potter was angry.
Now, Harry was no stranger to rage. Plenty of events in his life made him furious- his treatment at the hands of the Dursleys, Voldemort murdering his parents, Peter fucking Pettigrew, to name but a few. However, he usually kept a leash on his rage on a tight leash when in public, letting it out only when he was alone.
This time was no different.
The collective population of Hogwarts had been demonstrating a distinct lack of intelligence lately. Ever since his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Harry had been belittled and ostracized even worse than second year when the whole school thought he was the Heir of Slytherin. Back then he'd had Ron and Hermione on his side. Now he did not.
Ron thought he was a cheating glory hound and refused to have anything to do with him.
Hermione couldn't believe he would so blatantly break the sacred rules like that and wouldn't speak to him until he apologized.
The teachers were also treating him coldly, despite being there and agreeing with Professor Moody when he explained how this was likely an assassination attempt on Harry's life. The rest of the student body took that as tacit approval to do whatever they wanted to him. Bunch of ungrateful arseholes.
So yes, Harry was quite angry.
As such, he was out on the grounds, stalking towards the edge of the forbidden forest, wand in hand.
"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" he cried, and a jet of light rushed from his wand towards the closest tree, which exploded into tiny little pieces that flew everywhere. Harry avoided the debris with a follow up shield charm. Liking the sound the explosion made, he cast again. And again. And again. And several more times after that, creating many tree stumps and a very messy section of forest.
Rage still present, Harry turned to the largest boulder he could find.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The boulder rose into the air, higher and higher it climbed. With a shout, Harry yanked his wand downwards, causing the boulder to crash into the ground at great speed. The impact generated a rather large boom, and when the dust settled there was a great big crater in the ground. Again, Harry lifted the boulder into the air and sent it crashing back down. More and more craters he made, sending debris flying left, right, and center.
By now, the noise he was making had generated a decently sized crowd. However, none of them approached Harry, too afraid of getting caught in the blast radius. Instead, they hung back, observing from afar as Harry performed some creative landscaping.
Now having thoroughly mangled the clearing and surrounding forest, Harry decided it wasn't on fire enough.
"INCENDIO!"
With a whoosh of displaced air, the boulder Harry and been using to pummel the poor Earth was now engulfed in flames. With a wry grin, Harry levitated the boulder back in the air and sent the fiery ball of death crashing back down to terra firma. This time, the flying debris this generated was also on fire.
As Harry admired his handiwork, he dimly heard a, "What the fuck?!" from behind him. Turning around, he saw a group of students standing slack jawed with pale faces. A few had some distinct wet patches in their robes around their nether regions. Smiling like a niffler that just found gold, Harry lifted the flaming boulder into the air once more then hovered it closer to the group of students. The assembled children screamed in abject terror and scrambled over each other as they raced back to the relative safety of the castle.
Harry smiled, a warm fuzzy feeling budding in his chest as they ran away. With a flick of his wrist, the boulder fell back to the ground. Harry took a moment to admire the beautiful destruction he had caused before setting about fixing the area back to the way it was so he wouldn't get in trouble with the staff.
Harry stared at the massive dragon in his way, face inscrutable. The dragon stared back. With a wave of his wand and a muttered "Engorgio" a nearby boulder swelled in size to about equal to the dragon. The dragon blinked in confusion. With another wave and another muttered spell, the massive rock burst into flames. The dragon blinked again. With another wave and another spell, the boulder hung in the air above the dragon. The dragon snarled, finally recognizing what Harry intended to do. The great mother's maw filled with flame, preparing to unleash an inferno on the tiny wizard, but she was just a smidge too slow. With a sharp downwards thrust, Harry sent the flaming mini-meteor crashing down onto the dragon's back.
The crowd gasped, feeling pity for the several tons of muscle and deadly spikes that was the Hungarian Horntail. Once the dust had settled, Harry calmly lifted the boulder back into the air.
Dragons are tough, mothers even more so. A dragon mother is just about as tough as you can get. Still, toughness has its limits. Getting hit in the back by a flaming meteor is a bit more than being tough can protect you from.
The dragon was groaning on the ground, several bones broken and its left wing bent at an unnatural angle. Still, the horntail would not give up. Her eggs were in danger from the tiny wizard and she would defend them. She snarled ferally, snout streaming as she filled her maw with fire.
Boom!
The mini-meteor smacked into her back again and she let out a roar of pain.
Boom!
Again, the meteor struck.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As Harry raised the boulder once more he saw the dragon lay crumpled on the floor of the rocky arena, blissfully unconscious. Letting the flaming rock drop to the ground with a mighty crash, Harry walked to his golden egg, retrieved it, then calmly made his way into the champions' tent, relishing in the crowd's utter silence.
Harry stared at the vast expanse of blue water that was the Hogwarts lake. Under it, he knew, lay his hostage. What he did not know was who said hostage was. It wasn't like he had any friends these days, most people choosing to flee at the sight of him after his takedown of the dragon in the first task. They couldn't use his date for the Yule Ball either for the simple reason that he hadn't gone to the ball.
Shrugging his shoulders, Harry flicked his wand and said, "Accio hostages!" After a few minutes with no bodies coming up from the surface, Harry realized the hostages must have had anti-summoning charms placed on them. Still not wanting to dive to the bottom of a freezing lake in the middle of February, Harry tried again in a different vein. "Accio hostages' clothes!" This time, he felt something take hold with his spell, and sure enough a few minutes later 4 bodies came flying out from the surface of the lake as though being dragged forward by their clothing. Harry's eyes widened, and he ducked before the 4 hostages could crash into him. This had the unfortunate side effect of sending the hostages through the medical tent, but what's a kidnapping without a little pain?
Harry was surprised to see both Ron and Hermione as hostages, but couldn't be bothered to figure out which was supposed to be his. Turning on his heel, his job done, Harry made his way back to the castle.
Harry stared at the leafy expanse of wild foliage at the entrance to the maze. Instead of moving forward, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny little pebble. He threw the pebble onto the ground then levitated it into the air. Then he cast an Engorgio spell. Then he cast another Engorgio spell. Then another. And another. After one more, the tiny little pebble was now about the size of a large football field. Not content with his creation, Harry gave a sharp jab with his wand and set the tiny little pebble on fire. Grinning madly, Harry slashed his wand downwards and sent the flaming tiny little pebble crashing down onto the maze at nearly mach speed (he'd been practicing) with an almighty boom that shook the whole arena. Chunks of Earth and flaming foliage were sent flying in all directions, and it was only thanks to Professor Dumbledore's quick reflexes and even quicker Bunker Shield Charm (designed by Japanese wizards in the aftermath of World War 2 to withstand a nuclear bombs) that none of the spectators were injured.
A good 10 minutes or so later, after the dust finally settled, Harry took in the sight of the maze. The previously massive sprawling jungle was just gone. All that remained was a colossal hole in the ground where the maze had been. His smile widening, Harry cried "Accio Triwizard Cup" and the mangled remains of a once glistening silver goblet came flying out from the epicenter of the crater, it's anti-summoning charm having been destroyed after its vessel was...well destroyed. As Harry grasped the melted remains of the cup's handle with his dragon hide gloved hands, Harry felt a jerk behind his navel as he was portkeyed out of Hogwarts. The crowd gasped as Harry vanished into thin air.
Harry hit the ground oddly, letting out an unmanly squeak as his legs buckled and he collapsed face first into the dirt. He quickly stood up and looked around to ensure nobody saw him. There was nobody nearby, but he was confused as to why he was suddenly in a graveyard. With a jolt, he remembered what Professor Moody said when his name had come out of the cup. Assassination attempt, you idiot! Crouching low, Harry snapped his wand out and scanned his surroundings more thoroughly. Sure enough, a hooded man holding a bundle of robes was approaching him from the top of the hill.
The man pointed his wand and fired a spell at Harry. The teen dodged and took out another pebble from his pocket. He threw the pebble forward, while hitting it with an Engorgio and an Incendio then taking control of its flight path with a Wingardium Leviosa as he had practiced. While the hooded man managed to dodge Harry's initial throw of the now dog-sized rock, he was unprepared for its sudden change in trajectory and it hit him squarely between his shoulders, causing him to cry out in pain and drop the bundle of robes, which let out a high pitched scream of indignation.
Harry, recognizing the man, snarled before directing the rock to crash down onto the man's right arm, crushing the appendage and the man's wand. Then he crushed the man's other arm, and both legs for good measure. He approached the now crying man and cauterized his wounds. Can't have him bleeding out and dying before he could be used to free Sirius.
"Hello Peter," Harry snarled before turning to the bundle of robes. "And Moldyshorts too, look at that! What an incompetant kidnapping attempt this was, I almost feel insulted at how little effort you put into this."
"Potter!" Voldemort squeaked, but he couldn't say more as Harry had quickly Silenced him, not wanting to hear him speak.
"I don't care, Tom. Tell it to Dumbledore."
Binding his two prisoners with Incarcerous spells, Harry threw the baby Voldemort onto Wormtail's groaning, nearly unconscious body, then stepped on his face and summoned the cup.
The events that followed Harry's return to Hogwarts would warm his heart for years to come. Always would he remember the power of creative landscaping and flaming boulders.