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Now, onto this chapter!

Another reason why an age line is silly. This one is a little bit AU in terms of Harry's knowledge base.

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Confundo
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"For the last time, Ronald, an Age Line cannot be crossed!" Hermione rubbed the bridge of her nose, completely fed up.

"Fred and George reckon they've got a solution of their own." Ron countered, looking smug. "I've never met an obstacle those two couldn't go over."

Hermione rolled her eyes and didn't even dignify that.

Ron turned his attention to me.

"Come on, mate!" Ron pleaded. "Surely you have an idea or two?"

"I've never known Hermione to be wrong, Ron." I shrugged, keeping my own thoughts on the matter to myself. "Besides, it's an Age Line made by Dumbledore!"

"Exactly!" Hermione picked up on the hint and began to lecture Ron once again while I quietly made my out of the Gryffindor Common Room. My mind whirred with concepts and ideas as I put the Invisibility Cloak on, hiding me from prying eyes.

I found one of the lesser frequented halls and had a seat on the bare floor. I had no intention of entering the Tournament, but the thought of a challenge always excited me. I was this way from childhood, you see.

I was always seeking knowledge, always trying to understand the world around me.

My thoughts focused on the matter at hand. The Age Line and the Goblet of Fire. It was quite obvious that the two were interlinked. The Age Line was tethered to the Goblet, and therefore the Goblet decided its fate. Normally, an Age Line would simply keep anything under or over a certain age out of its bounded field.

A simple spell, most would call it. Primitive, but effective and powerful.

It is unbreakable— unless what it surrounds has a mind of its own.

This led my thoughts to the Goblet, itself. There were so many ways to confuse the thing. I played around with the idea of speaking to the Goblet and convincing it that the atoms comprising my body were over ten billion years old, thus allowing me to cross the Age Line tethered to it, but realized it could not work, as the Goblet simply did not have the ears.

It was an amusing, if a little disappointing thought.

Then it came to me.

I got to my feet, shed the dust off of my cloak and looked around. I must have sat there for a while, because the sun, which had been slowly dipping into the horizon, was completely gone, the orange sky almost completely black.

I stretched for a bit, working the kinks out with a sigh before making my way to the Great Hall.

There were a few Slytherin students making halfhearted attempts to throw pieces of paper into the Goblet of Fire, but the Age Line detected their imprints and rebuffed the offending pieces of paper away.

A few minutes passed as I waited until they all left in defeat, throwing an unseen smirk at their backs.

Draco was sadly not among them— it would have been great to watch him get lit on fire by the Goblet.

I shook the thoughts away and walked towards the Goblet of Fire, stopping just before the Age Line and taking my Invisibility Cloak off. The Cloak itself might be able to conceal my presence from the Goblet's judgment— I had discerned its secrets mere days after receiving it from Dumbledore in my first year of school.

However, for this, I needed no interference. A Hallow was a cheat, after all.

"The Age Line is tied to the Goblet's will. There is no need to even bother with it. The Goblet's will decides its actions, and if it can't judge properly, then..." I pulled my holly wand out and took careful aim, moving it in a reverse question mark. "Confundo."

The Goblet of Fire gave a great shudder, its flames flickering for a few moments before moving erratically.

I stepped past the Line's threshold.

Nothing happened.

I felt my face break into a wild grin, before stepping away, placing the Cloak back on and heading back to Gryffindor Tower.

I truly was a genius of the highest order.