The day of the first task had finally arrived. It started like most others, with Harry rising early in order to avoid his roommates. After completing his morning grooming rituals, Harry sat for almost ten minutes staring at the athletic robes he had been given to wear during the first challenge. They were a lot like his Quidditch robes, prompting him to remember that in any normal year he would be preparing to play Seeker for Gryffindor and only worrying about catching the snitch before the other team's seeker could. But this year, instead of facing rival seekers and incoming bludgers, he would be facing a fully grown dragon. All things considered, he'd much rather be playing Quidditch. Deciding he didn't have time to day dream, Harry pulled on his robes and walked to the Great Hall for breakfast. He knew that even more attention than usual would be on him today, but he hoped he could make it through the meal without any major distractions.
As Harry walked in the hall all conversation seemed to cease, and every head turned to look at him. 'I guess I should have known this was coming' he thought with a sigh. Seeing Neville already seated and eating a stack of pancakes, Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down across from him.
"Hey Neville."
"Morning. You ready for this, Harry?" his friend asked.
"As ready as I will ever be I suppose. I've got a plan A and a plan B, so I am more prepared for this than I have been for just about all of my previous adventures. I think I will make it through the day in one piece." Harry added with laugh.
"Huh? What's this plan B?"
"You'll see, I've got to keep a few surprises to myself. I wonder if the others know what is coming like I do."
"You said Professor Moody warned you, so obviously it isn't a very well kept secret. I am sure Karkaroff and Maxine found out and told their champions, and Moody probably would have said something to Cedric if he said something to you."
"You are probably right. There would almost have to be a system in place to make sure we are prepared, otherwise most of the champions would die."
"Plenty of people have died in this tournament before, Harry." Neville reminded him.
"Is that really what you want to be telling me right now?" Harry asked with a sarcastic grin.
"Oh man! I'm sorry, I didn't even think about how that sounded before I said it. I'm sure you will do great."
"Don't worry about it, I was only kidding around with you anyway. You know what this feels like to me? The morning of the first Quidditch match of the year. It's just about always against Slytherin, and so everyone is paying attention. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Every time I know that if we're going to win I have to catch the snitch, because our teams are usually close enough for it to come down to that. When I was younger that kind of pressure almost made me want to curl up into a ball and go back to bed, but something in me must have changed since then. Now I just feel excited, and I know that I won't calm down until they call my name and I go out there to compete. Does that make any sense to you?"
"Sure it does. I've heard lots or professional athletes talk like that. Did you ever think of playing Quidditch after you graduate? I bet you're good enough."
"We'll see." Harry answered, but he personally doubted that would happen. Quidditch was fun and challenging, but that alone would not be enough to keep him interested. His thoughts on the subject were completely interrupted when he felt a pair of arms swing around his body and pull him into a tight hug. He turned to see who it was and quickly decided he wasn't in any danger.
"Good morning, Hermione. It's nice to see you, too."
"Oh Harry, you're going to be careful aren't you? I should have been there with you, helping you get ready!" she sobbed as she hugged him tighter and cried into his shoulder.
"Hey, Hermione. It's OK, I'm going to be just fine." Harry said, trying to comfort her. He turned his head towards Neville and looked at his friend with a confused look on his face. Neville responded by shrugging and mouthing the words 'I have no idea' to him. "Come on, why don't we sit down and you can tell me what's on your mind." Hermione nodded in agreement and finally let go of her hold on him. As they sat down she tried wipe the tears out of her eyes with her sleeves.
"I had no right to doubt you, Harry. I've just been so scared of losing the only friendships I've ever had. But if I have to choose, I choose you Harry. Ron has been a real git, but I guess so have I."
"Just a little, Hermione." Harry said with a small smile.
"I know you said things can't be like they were before, but I hope you will be able to forgive me."
"Not today, maybe not even soon. But probably one day, yes." Harry assured her, which resulted in another hug.
"I'm worried about you, Harry. This tournament is so dangerous, you could get hurt!"
"Don't worry about it. I know exactly what I am doing. Just because I didn't have you around doesn't mean I haven't been preparing for this. That's just about all I have been doing since my name came out of that bloody cup. In fact, I even have a plan A and a plan B." Harry said proudly.
"You have a plan B? Who are you and what have you done with Harry Potter?" Hermione asked sarcastically. "Wait a minute, if you have a plan that means... you know what the first task is going to be!"
"Of course I do, but keep quiet about it. I don't want everyone to know."
"Well, what is it?" she asked excitedly.
"You can find out in a couple of hours along with the rest of Hogwarts." Hermione did not look happy with his decision, but knew better than to badger him about it. The rift in their friendship could not be healed in one sitting, and she decided she would much rather have her friend back than know what the first task was a few hours early.
"That's fine, Harry. I will still be there cheering for you."
"Did you hear that Neville, my cheering section just doubled in size!" Harry said with a laugh.
"Then I guess we will just have to be really loud." Neville responded.
"Good! I better go, I have to meet with guys in charge of the tournament before everything starts. I'll see you both after I finish up, OK?" His friends both nodded as he walked towards the exit. His eyes drifted over to the Slytherin table where he saw Daphne send a smile his way. Harry smiled back, and both of them thought of how annoying it was to have to hide the friendship that was quickly becoming the most important one they had. Daphne was glad that Hermione had decided to try and repair her broken friendship with Harry. She knew Harry would have been sad if that friendship had died. After all, she had seen him once before when he thought he had lost her...
Two years earlier...
Daphne walked into the hospital wing hoping to get some headache potion. She had just been cornered by Draco Malfoy who, after telling her that he had chosen her to be his girlfriend and that she should feel honored, had tried to kiss her. Daphne acted on instinct and headbutted the arrogant fool as he leaned his head towards her. He fell to the ground in shock, giving Daphne the opportunity to pull out her wand and stun him. She had left him laying unconscious on the cold stone floor near the entrance to the Slytherin dorms. Someone would eventually find him and wake him up, at which point he was going to be pissed. Daphne didn't worry too much about that, she was not afraid of him and if he tried anything else she was going to show him why. Painfully.
Her thoughts of revenge were interrupted when she noticed that she was not alone in the room. Harry Potter was sitting in a chair at the foot of a hospital bed towards the other end of the room. Hermione Granger lay petrified in the bed, the latest addition to Hogwart's odd collection of petrified students. Harry had not noticed her coming in and she considered leaving before he did notice her, but he looked like he needed someone to talk to.
"Are you OK, Potter?" she asked as his head jerked up in surprise. Eventually he shrugged and motioned for her to sit down.
"I'm fine, but Hermione isn't. Neither are all of the other kids who have been attacked. I wish I knew what to do."
"What is there for you to do? It's not your responsibility to be everyone's hero."
"Maybe not everyone, but I think I owe it to her."
"Ah, I see. I didn't know you two were together."
"What? No, it's nothing like that. Hermione is my best friend. I never had any friends before I came to Hogwarts, my stupid whale of a cousin made sure of that, so when I got here and met her and Ron it was just really nice to have people who cared about you. They are both like the family I never got to have. Seeing Hermione like this makes me feel bad, like I had let my sister get hurt or something." Harry said as he looked up at Daphne. She had reacted to his statement much stronger than he thought she would, to the point where he thought he saw tears welling up in her eyes. "Are you OK?"
"Fine, I just know exactly what you mean." she answered while wiping her eyes with her hand. "They are all going to be OK, Potter. As soon as the mandrakes have been harvested the potion to wake them up will be ready and you will have your friend back."
"You don't like Hermione very much, do you?" Daphne was surprised by his question, but decided to answer it anyway.
"I wouldn't say that I care enough to even dislike her, but no not really."
"Why not?" Harry asked, interested in how others saw his friend.
"It has nothing to do with her being a muggleborn, if that is what you are asking. It's more in her attitude. She tries so hard to prove that she is good little witch that sometimes she ends up putting down others who don't deserve it. I bet she treats you and Weasley like you would be incapable of studying or passing your classes without her."
"I wouldn't be that harsh on her... and she does try to get us to study when we would rather do other things." he said in defense of his friend.
"I thought so. It doesn't really matter anyway, who is going to notice if a Slytherin isn't the best of friends with a Gryffindor?"
"True. So what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Headache potion. Malfoy was being a prick so I headbutted him. I'm not bruising am I?" she asked as she pulled her hair away from her forehead. Harry grinned when he saw the red spot where their heads had connected. He also noticed, not for the first time, how pretty she was.
"It's a little red, but I think you are going to live." he pronounced.
"Well thank you, Healer Potter."
"Actually, I prefer Doctor Potter."
"You might as well be a muggle." she laughed with a small shake of her head. Harry had even broken out of his bad mood long enough to smile back at her. "I really do hope your friend gets better, Potter. Try not to worry so much." As she said this she stood up and began walking out of the room, completely forgetting the headache potion she had come for.
Harry was the first of the champions to make it to the tent next to the dragon's nest. Professor McGonagall had wished him luck and told him to wait for everyone else to arrive before leaving him to sit and review his plans. He felt confident that he would be able to grab the golden egg, but he was starting to have doubts about Daphne's plan. Even if it did work, the wizarding world might not look too kindly on a public display of his parselmouth talents. 'On the other hand, why should I care? It's not like they have been treating me well to begin with' he thought with a frown. Deciding it wasn't worth worrying about at the moment, he decided to go through the exercises Oliver Wood had the Gryffindor Quidditch team do before every match. Harry had no idea if they actually helped physically, but it did help him mentally prepare. A few minutes later Harry looked up to see Cedric Diggory walk in.
"Hey Harry." the Hufflepuff champion said, seemingly quite nervous.
"Hi, Cedric. Are you OK?"
"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just a little excited is all." Harry nodded and didn't press any further. Cedric began to pace back and forth, softly muttering something to himself.
Soon Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour had also arrived. The four champions spent several minutes looking at their competition, trying to determine who would be the biggest threat. They all knew that Krum was considered the favorite to win the competition, with Cedric a close second. Each of them seemed to handle the stress differently, Harry noted. Once the other champions had arrived, Cedric had adopted and confident face and a small grin. Krum, on the other hand, never seemed to stop scowling at his competition while Fleur seemed just seemed bored.
"Excellent, you're all here!" a booming voice came from the opening of the tent. Harry turned to see Ludo Bagman walking in with two assistants. "Now, gather around and I will explain the first task to you." Harry calmly walked over to Bagman, much like Krum and Fleur. Cedric, however, seemed the most eager to hear what Bagman had to say.
"Today you must recover a golden egg, within which is a clue for your next task. In order to obtain the egg, however, you must make your way past a dragon. You will have thirty minutes to complete the task." Only Cedric reacted to the news, paling significantly. "There are four dragons, and in order to determine which one you will face you must reach into this bag and pull out a representation of that dragon. Ladies first, Ms. Delacour." He said as he offered her the bag. Fleur reach in and pulled out a small green dragon with a number 2 on a chain around its neck.
"Ah, the common Welsh green. Very good, you will go second. Mr. Diggory?" Cedric reluctantly put his hand in the bag and withdrew his dragon, which had a number 1 on it. "The Swedish Short-Snout! Excellent." Cedric gulped and held the tiny dragon up to his face, inspecting it.
"You're next, Mr. Krum." Viktor Krum scowled and pulled out his dragon, which had a 3 on it. "The Chinese Fireball. Which means you, Mr. Potter, will be facing the Hungarian Horntail." Harry pulled his dragon out of the bag, and recognized it from his studies as one of the most aggressive dragons in the world.
"You have twenty minutes to prepare yourself, Mr. Diggory. Good luck to all of you." Bagman said as he waved at them and left. Once he was gone Cedric walked over to a bench and sat down, deep in thought. Every so often he would glance at the miniature dragon, looking for inspiration.
'He has no idea what to expect.' Harry realized. 'But Krum and Delacour do. So do I, for that matter. Why would Moody tell me and not Cedric? I can't just let him die out there…' Harry sighed and walked over to the bench where Cedric was sitting. The older boy looked up at him suspiciously, wondering what he wanted.
"Cedric, did you know that wolves and dogs are natural enemies of dragons? Or that the flame freezing charm will provide a few moments of protection against dragon fire? Just some things to think about, I suppose." Harry started to walk away when Cedric's voice stopped him.
"Why are you helping me?"
"I still want to win, but I would rather not see you get burnt to a crisp out there either. Good luck, Cedric." Harry walked back over to where he had been sitting, wondering if it was smart to have given up a few key points to his backup plan. 'Oh well, I did only mention one spell and he probably would never consider summoning a broom.' Harry sat back down and listened to the noise from the growing crowd outside the tent. Another voice, this one much louder, was explaining the rules of the task to them and announcing the order in which they would face the dragons. Time seemed to drag on for him as his anticipation built. Finally, one of Bagman's assistants came into the tent and motioned for Cedric to follow him.
"You're up, Mr. Diggory." Cedric nodded and gave a brief thumbs up to Harry before walking out of the tent to the roar of an approving crowd. The other champions were not allowed to watch as that would give them an unfair advantage, but there was nothing stopping them from listening.
The crowd alternately gasped and cheered, but clearly Cedric had not yet been able to get the golden egg. Eventually the announcer declared that Cedric only had 15, then 10, and then 5 minutes left to successfully complete the task. When the one minute warning was given the crowd cheered louder than ever, Cedric was making a desperate last minute attempt to get the egg. The cheering continued until it was announced that his time had run out, and then a huge groan of disappointment was heard. Harry noticed a door on the tent fly open and Cedric walked in. He was covered in dirt and small scratches while part of his robes seemed to have been burned off, but other than that he looked fine. Cedric looked his way and shrugged. Harry guessed he was happy to get out of there in one piece.
"Ms. Delacour, your dragon is ready." the assistant said a few minutes later. At this the bored expression finally dropped from her face. She nodded nervously, took a deep breath, and walked out of the tent to face her dragon. The fans were not quite as loud for her as they had been for Cedric, but when she was able to put the dragon to sleep and take the egg fifteen minutes later a huge cheer rose from the crowd to congratulate her. Fleur slowly made it back to the tent, careful not to put much wait one of her ankles which she had sprained trying to avoid her dragon's tail.
Viktor Krum was the next to go, and as he left the tent Harry did not wonder if he would get the egg but how long it would take him. Krum, besides being an excellent Seeker, was supposedly very magically powerful. From the sounds of the crowd, Krum seemed to be fighting the dragon head on. There was a moment when the crowd screamed and went completely silent. Harry's head shot up, wondering what had happened to the other champion, when an enormous cheer signaled to him that Krum must have made it past whatever danger he was in. A similar roar of approval was heard minutes later when Krum was finally able to reach the golden egg. He had taken nearly three minutes less to get it than Delacour did. Harry now knew that if he wanted to place first in this part of the tournament he would have to get his egg in less than twelve minutes. Krum did not look good when he came back in the tent. He had a long gash down his left arm and much of his right side had apparently received burns that, though they were not life threatening, appeared to be quite painful.
'Should be doable, I hope.' Harry thought. His nervousness faded into anticipation as he waited for the dragon handlers to remove Krum's dragon and bring in the Hungarian Horntail. It was taking longer this time than it had after the other two competitors. The assistant finally came back in the tent and Harry leapt to his feet.
"Sorry, Mr. Potter. It will be just a few more minutes. Your dragon does not seem to want to cooperate." he explained. Harry groaned, cursing his luck. "OK, our apologies about the delay. You can go now, good luck." Harry thanked the man and walked out of the tent. The crowd cheered for him louder than he had expected, and a large smile spread across his face. His moment of happiness was interrupted by the Earth shaking roar of the Hungarian Horntail. The dragon was simply enormous. Its black hide was covered in ridges and spikes that made its lizard-like form appear even more deadly. As Harry continued to walk towards the dragon it raised its head and let loose a blast of fire that he thought must have been forty feet long. When he finally reached the starting area a cannon fired signaling that his time had started.
"OK, Harry, here we go." he said to himself. "Remember, don't show fear. Hagrid says many animals can sense it." At this point to dragon finally noticed his approach and turned to face him, roaring so loud that the crowd could not even be heard. Harry took out his wand, placed it to his throat, and called out "Sonorus!"
"Greetings, great and noble dragon." Harry hissed in Parseltongue with his magically amplified voice. The dragons roar lowered to a vicious sounding growl which Harry hoped was a good sign. The crowd, meanwhile, had stopped cheering completely. A few screams and gasps could be heard, but for the most part the spectators were oddly quiet. "I mean you no harm." Harry continued. The dragon glared at him, her growl had not lowered any and smoke was starting to come out of her nostrils. 'Perhaps this wasn't my best idea,' Harry thought 'but on the bright side she hasn't killed me yet. Although I am still not convinced she understands me. I know I don't understand her.'
"I have come to warn you. One of the eggs you guard is not your own." Harry seemed to have finally caught the dragon's attention with this statement. The dragon turned back towards her egg and sniffed them, eventually finding the golden egg. Enraged, the horntail let out and roar so loud that most of the audience was forced to clap their hands around their ears. "That egg was placed there by the same men who even now keep you in chains." This angered the dragon even more, and Harry started to worry that maybe he should not have said that. He and Daphne had discussed what he would say to the dragon the previous night, and had ended up with a small script designed to gain the dragon's favor. 'It was a lot easier reciting the script to Daphne than to a fully grown Hungarian Horntail.' Harry realized nervously. Meanwhile, fear was beginning to spread in the audience. They could not understand what was being said, but every time Harry spoke the dragon seemed to get angrier. And in the middle of it all was Harry Potter, still standing tall and proud in front of the dragon with no fear at all showing on his face. They couldn't know that on the inside all he wanted to do was turn and run. A few people had already decided that now was a good time to leave. Harry had come out of the tent less than five minutes ago, but in that short amount of time he had managed to spread panic throughout the crowd.
"Please, my friend, allow me to take that false egg far away from here so that you can protect your young." The dragon stopped growling at Harry's request and seemed to look closely at him, as if trying to judge his reliability. After a few moments the dragon turned back to the pile of eggs and using her long, forked tongue grabbed the golden egg and put it in her mouth. 'Uh oh...' Harry thought 'I wonder if I will lose points because my dragon ate my egg.' Harry was considering what to do next when the dragon lowered her head to the ground so that she could stare directly at Harry. He had thought the horntail was big before, but he realized that he had vastly underestimated her size. The dragons head was almost twice as tall as he was. Her mouth, which was close enough to him that Harry could feel her hot breath on him, was filled with teeth the size of his legs. With one small snort of flame, Harry knew, he would be dead. But he remained standing still and looking confident, fully aware that any mistake now could be fatal. Slowly the dragon began to open her mouth as the screams in the audience grew louder. Even some of the professors could be heard yelling for the dragon handlers to come to Harry's rescue.
Suddenly the dragon's dark tongue was forced out of her mouth. And to the shock of those brave souls still watching, it was wrapped around Harry's golden egg. The Horntail gently placed the egg on the ground in front of Harry and unwrapped her tongue from around it. "Thank you." Harry hissed sincerely. Nobody, not even Harry, was expecting the dragon's response. Her tongue, which had never made it back to her mouth, whipped out and gave Harry a full body lick starting at his ankles and ending at the top of his head. His black hair, which was always a mess anyway, was now covered in dragon spit and pointing in every direction imaginable. Harry, who had retained full control of himself until that moment, completely lost that control. He started laughing, not just giggles but huge laughs that made him double over and tears come to his eyes. When he finally managed to stop he looked up at the dragon who he would swear from that day forward had a smile on her face. With that he picked up his egg, waved good-bye to the dragon, and started walking back to the tent. On his way he looked up to the section where the Slytherins were sitting, hoping to be able to find Daphne, and was surprised at how easy it was to spot her. Apparently a large chunk of the Slytherin student population had decided to leave when Harry started talking to the dragon. He smiled and briefly gave thumbs up, resolving to find her later and thank her for her brilliant idea.
The crowd was completely silent and remained that way for several minutes, except for two Gryffindors who were clapping and cheering as loud as they could. When the judges eventually got around to scoring Harry's performance they quickly awarded him first place.
An hour later Harry, still clutching his golden egg, walked up to the painting of the Fat Lady guarding the Gryffindor dorms. He briefly wondered what he would find inside before saying the password and walking in. Most of Gryffindor was in the common room, talking animatedly about the day's events. When Harry came in most heads turned to look at him with the most common expressions being of awe, confusion, or worry.
"Great job, Harry!" he heard Neville call out and start clapping. Others slowly joined in, but reluctantly and not nearly as enthusiastic. Harry briefly noticed that Ron wasn't clapping, only standing by Ginny and looking at him with a look of suspicion. Fred and George Weasley, who didn't seem to care whether Harry had put his name in the Goblet of Fire or not, quickly rushed over to him and fell on their knees with their heads to the ground.
"All hail Dark Lord Potter!" they shouted, snickering at the gasps their outburst provoked. Harry simply laughed; knowing that they at least had the humor to make fun of what he guessed had been said about him.
"Rise, minions." Harry commanded. "Now, go prank the masses!" Still laughing, he walked over to where Neville and Hermione were standing.
"You probably shouldn't have done that, Harry." Hermione said, "It will probably end up in the Daily Prophet tomorrow." Harry could not tell whether she was being serious or not, but he had long stopped caring what was printed about him in the tabloids.'
"So what's the egg do, Harry?" Neville asked.
"I'm not sure, think I should open it?" They both nodded, and several curious people who were nearby turned their attention to Harry.
"Here goes nothing…" he said as he opened the egg. Immediately a loud shrieking noise filled the room, prompting groans and calls to "shut it up!" Once he had closed the egg the noise stopped, leaving Harry to wonder what the clue was.
"I think I will worry about this tomorrow. And maybe outside, with ear muffs on." Harry stated. "You guys have fun celebrating my victory, I've got to go get a shower. I'm still covered in dragon spit and am pretty sure I smell awful." No one chose to argue with Harry's statement. Once he had left, the talk turned back to him as people tried to figure out what it meant that Harry could command dragons.