Chapter 10: The First Task
Summary:
The Triwizard Tournament officially begins as the Champions compete in the First Task.
Harry had honestly thought that his good fortune would turn after the Weighing of the Wands Ceremony. That wasn't to say he was worried but that he'd assumed that his freak out in front of Rita Skeeter of all people would have for sure had consequences. The girls had for the most part simply let him be as thanks to the bond all of them knew about his history with the Dursleys. In the immediate aftermath Fleur had taken him to one of the abandoned classrooms on the third floor where he found his tent set up and all of the girls already inside, giving him a chance to relax in relative privacy.
Best of all there had been no character assassinating article about him in the Daily Prophet nor in any other publication the next day, only the small interview he did during the Weighing of the Wands. That had been a special edition of the prophet concerning only the tournament and its participants. The front page had been dominated by a picture of the three of them with Krum on the left, Fleur in the center and Harry on the right, each of them standing tall with wands in hand.
There had certainly been other pictures as well, each of them had an individual picture with an accompanying article about them with their interview questions and answers printed verbatim. The only major changes to it had involved him, firstly the description of his wand only mentioned that it was 13 inches with tri-blend wood and dual cores, there had been no mention of what his wand cores actually were. The second thing he noticed was that the final question Skeeter had asked him was completely absent and he honestly didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Still the articles had drummed up a surprising amount of support for all three of them.
At the moment that wasn't anything he was concerned with, instead he was concerned with the naked witch kneeling between his legs. This witch was Sofia Fletcher, a 7th year Gryffindor and the older sister of one of Katie's dormmates. They were currently in the Lion's Den; an area that had quickly become a favorite destination within Gryffindor Tower. Though meant to be a room strictly for sex it wasn't odd to find people simply hanging out or even doing homework inside. After only a few weeks the witches had let their amorous sides loose, not even waiting for a wizard to approach them and instead approaching wizards themselves.
While plenty of people had more intimate private encounters in the various beds, some were more public with their actions. It wasn't just the unbonded people that frequented the room either as bonded people were just as interested. Some of the bonded witches and wizards came in just to watch while others enjoyed being watched. Some of the bonded people were also open in their relationships, the Weasley Twins, Alicia, and Angelina were definitely in this group as he'd seen them not only switching amongst each other but giving other people turns as well.
Neville by contrast didn't spend much time in the Den, in fact he'd elected to move out of the dorm altogether. Instead, he and his girls had moved to the Gryffindor bonded quarters, formerly known as the Lord's quarters, which were multi-bedroom suites. Each house had its own version of them, and bonded couples were given the option to move into those rooms, as were students who'd taken up their family titles. According to Neville he and his girls each had their own separate bedchamber within the suite. While the entrances were hidden Harry knew that the Gryffindor version had a hall that led to a door into the Gryffindor common room.
Ron unlike Neville spent plenty of time within the Lion's Den. Lavender was one of the witches who enjoyed being watched either while she was with Ron or openly playing with herself, though no other wizard could touch her. Pansy by contrast didn't spend a lot of time in the Den, and if she did show up preferred her intimacy within one of the beds where she wouldn't be seen. Ron, when given the offer hadn't hesitated to move into the bonded quarters, the idea of having his own room again instead of sharing had been too much for him to resist. He'd told Harry his room was bigger than the boy's dorm was, which consequently meant it was also bigger than his room at the Burrow which was rather small even for just him. Regardless Ron now shared a suite with Lavender and Pansy something he'd heard no complaints about at this point.
Harry had opted out of moving into the bonded quarters reasoning that with both Ron and Neville gone it would give him, Dean and Seamus more room which it had. Furthermore, none of his girls were particularly interested in leaving their own dorms at the moment either. Daphne was adamant that she wasn't leaving Astoria alone within the snake pit and while she didn't say why the fact that Pansy had moved into the Gryffindor bonded quarters so quickly was telling. Hermione and Parvati were fine staying in the dorms and the same was true for Katie, Padma, and Susan.
As for Harry himself, he had taken to visiting the Den a bit more frequently without his bonded since they'd decided on allowing the mistresses. Sofia had been the first person he had sex with while in the room that wasn't already bonded to him and even though they hadn't bonded when they first had sex it hadn't stopped her from offering to help him relax when she saw him in the common room. Already her cunt was leaking with the essence of his release, one he hadn't even had to work for as she'd simply sat him on the couch and rode him until he erupted inside of her though that had not stopped her from getting on her knees to coax another load out of him. Finally, he grunted out a warning and she pulled back and directed him so that he ended up covering her chest.
"I told you I could get you to relax." Said Sofia grinning.
"Well, it would be hard not to after that." Said Harry
Currently the room wasn't really that crowded as it was still quite early so the two of them were alone in the room, which was actually a rare thing. This meant that the two of them were allowed to get dressed in peace, as normally Sofia would be snatched up by another wizard when it looked like they were done. She was a very beautiful girl with caramel brown skin and green eyes and stood at 5'7" which meant she wasn't actually that much taller than him. She had long honey blonde hair, which included her eyebrows and even her pelvic region that would make you believe she was a natural blonde. She wasn't it was just a bit of cosmetic magic that used water as a medium, very low-level Alchemy according to Daphne who was a natural blonde.
Once dressed he wished her a good day and left, going up the steps and out of the door that led into the Gryffindor common room. Much like the Den the common room was practically empty with only a few people inside scattered about. He passed through the common room without anyone paying him much attention and proceeded to make his way though the halls of the castle to get to his destination, using several short cuts as he went to cut down the time.
When he arrived, he found the Great Hall already had people seated though nowhere near enough to fill even a single table. As it was Saturday he wasn't surprised as the breakfast hours were extended allowing people to get an extra hour or two of sleep. The Gryffindor table had only a few people sitting at it, two of whom were Hermione and Sue Li both of whom greeted him with short kisses. There wasn't much verbal communication while they ate and when they finished the girls took the time to fill him in on the list of spells they found that might help him with the tournament. Harry appreciated the dedication especially as he knew the spells were more for after the 3rd task than for the tournament itself as they all fully expected him to wind up in the graveyard.
Once he'd eaten his fill the three of them stood and left towards the doors just as people began to trickle into the Great Hall. Outside the doors Sue and Hermione took the turn to start making their way to the library Harry headed outside into the main courtyard. His destination was an unused classroom on the fourth floor of the Training Grounds Tower, directly above the Charms classroom which was on the third floor. Inside he found only Padma who was standing in front of a large cauldron checking its contents. Rather than having her hair down as she tended to do it was currently up in a bun behind her head, he could see she was wearing a pair of goggles and a tight white robe covering her body, the magical equivalent to a lab coat.
The outfit was the safety equipment that Professor Drake had gotten them to wear for potions, though Padma, Sue Li, Hermione and Daphne had all purchased their own set to use outside of class. Of the four of them Padma was the best in Potions, in fact she was the best in their year. Thanks to the mental component of the bond, he didn't bother verbally speaking when he entered, not wanting to distract her, and instead simply moved to the side of the room and took a seat in one of the many empty chairs.
The room had been split into sections with a bunch of chairs on one side, the potions station in the center and a bunch of cushioned meditation mats on the other side. Padma only continued focusing on the potion for a few more minutes before moving away from the station and taking one of the empty seats next to him. Nearly an hour later the room started to slowly fill up as people began arriving with Hermione and Sue being the first to arrive and the Weasley Twins being the last.
"Right then since everyone is here let's get started." Said Daphne positioned, once more in her natural blonde state, at the front of the room with Hermione.
The three girls oversaw this entire project. While it had been his idea to become an Animagus the three of them had been the ones with the idea of making it into a group experience. As such it was up to them to implement everything since all three of them wanted to take on the challenge. As such they handled all the research, acquired the potion ingredients, brewed the potion and led the meetings. Outside of his girls, McGonagall and the portraits of the Founders no one even knew he was involved as more than a participant.
"So since today is day 30 we'll be moving on to the next step in the Animagus training." Said Daphne.
"I thought we weren't using the potion method though." Said Alicia frowning.
"We're not, at least not the one you're thinking of." Said Hermione bringing attention to herself.
"The current version of the Animagus Potion is more complicated than the one we are using, involves several more steps and when done successfully will force your body into an Animagus form allowing you to assume that form whenever you want after that." Said Hermione.
"This potion doesn't do that. This potion only helps to reveal your Animagus form or forms to you after which point you must work to achieve the transformation. It's a longer process but the bonus is this allows people to take more forms instead of forcing you into just one." Said Hermione getting nods from a few people.
"So how does this work then?" questioned Lavender.
"It's really simple. Now that the mandrake leaf has soaked in and absorbed your magic you can place it in the cauldron. When the leaf dissolves the smoke the potion releases will help induce a meditative vision that will reveal your Animagus form or forms. Thankfully we can all place our leaves into this single cauldron as the magic in the leaves will target us individually." Said Padma.
"Which explains why we've had to do the meditation exercises all this time." Said Pansy.
"Any other questions?" asked Hermione.
"Do we have to do all of this for each form?" questioned Ron.
"No, only the first time. According to the Founders Portraits the potion only needs to be used once, though you'll need to achieve each form individually." Said Daphne.
"Remember we're not trying to transform today. We just want to discover our Animagus forms. We don't want to try transforming without Professor McGonagall or another Transfiguration master in the room since we could accidently get stuck between forms." Said Hermione.
"What if we don't have a form?" questioned Astoria quietly.
"According to Professor McGonagall that's actually impossible unless you are a werewolf." Said Hermione.
"Veela do naht hahve ahneemahgus fahrms. Howevair ahs I'm naht full Veela I'm hahpeeng ziss will let me ahccess ze ahvian fahrm full Veela hahve." Said Fleur purposely making her accent thicker if he was reading her right.
"Can forms be magical? I want to be a unicorn!" Said Astoria.
"If we were using the Animagus potion than it would only be a non-magical animal. According to Professor Hufflepuff the other founders received their names because of their Animagus forms, Godric was a griffin, Salazar was a Horned Serpent and Rowena was a Raven." Said Hermione.
"Alright that's enough questions. Here's how this goes one by one we will drop the mandrake leaves into the potion and go into the meditation. From there if you haven't cheated then after a bit you should get a result." Said Daphne.
With that the three girls removed the mandrake leaves from their mouths and dropped them into the cauldron before moving to claim a mat for themselves. Harry was the last one to drop the leaf in, mostly because someone had to make sure that the Weasley Twins didn't try and pull a last-minute prank and ruin everything. The thing about meditation was that it was rather easy to lose track of time if done correctly and as such he had no idea how long he was meditating before the effect hit as one moment there was nothing and in the next he found himself standing in front of a large stream with lush green grass all around him with rolling hills and mountains in the distance in the center of what he was guessing to be a huge forest.
The sun was shining clearly allowing him to see that the water was crystal clear and before he even realized it he found himself sitting and taking it all in. As he sat figures slowly began to emerge from the forest the first to do so being a large black bird that he knew instinctively was a raven. It emerged from the trees to his right and did a slow circle above him before settling on the ground and dipping his beak into the water. His attention was pulled as another figure emerged, this one was a massive wolf much bigger than he'd ever imagined one could be about half the size of a full-grown horse with long legs, a larger head and muzzle than any wolf he knew of with black fur dark enough to match padfoot and green eyes.
Despite the fearsome appearance he could tell this wolf was rather friendly as the raven didn't even twitch at its appearance. As the wolf drank from the stream the raven took flight and landed on his knee. Rather than regard him though it turned its head and following its gaze his eyes widened as in the distance coming from the mountains, he could spot another figure. The figure in question soon landed in front of him revealing itself to be a giant jet black dragon with four limbs and a pair of massive wings.
"Holy shit!" said Harry in shock.
The Ministry of Magic was back to full functionality, and no one was happier about it than Amelia. While she'd been offered the job of Minister she'd turned it down, she couldn't in good conscious take such a position with the risk of Voldemort popping back up soon. She had, however, thrown a name into the running and had been pleased when it was the person that she nominated that received the job. The new Minister of Magic, William Silverthorne, had officially taken up the position, after finally being voted in by the Wizengamont and taking his oath of office. As a retired auror Amelia knew that they were in good hands as his reputation had been extremely solid before the war, and many remembered him. This left Amelia free to concentrate her attention on the threats she was already dealing with and her normal duties.
Currently she was sitting in a meeting with the heads of the other major departments. Sylvia Cassowary, Head of the Department of Magical Transportation (D.M.T), Rufus Scrimgeour, formerly Head of the Auror Department and now Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation (D.I.M.C), Booker Knotts the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures (D.R.C.M.C), Haskell Cassowary the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports (D.M.G.S) and of course the Minister of Magic himself. While there were other department heads that were not in attendance they weren't needed for this meeting as this one was covering only the Tri-Wizard Tournament and with the First Task set to kick off there was not anything else of immediate importance to be covered. Already there have been a few changes such as pushing the event back to Saturday instead of holding it on a Tuesday.
"Honestly what were those idiots thinking reviving this damned tournament." Said Minister Silverthorne pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Honestly I've been wondering the same thing, especially right after the World Cup was held here." Said Sylvia.
"Haskell tell me you've found something." Said Silverthorne.
Haskell Cassowary was a new appointment, previously he'd been the commissioner of the British Quidditch League and that was after a career as a coach of the National team. His appointment had thus been a major coup and a massive improvement over his predecessor who used the position more to advance his personal connections than do the job.
"Nothing that helps. Now that the Goblet of Fire has been lit the tasks have all been locked in, we can't change anything." Started the man.
"Honestly things could have been worse. According to Madam Maxine the original tasks were much worse, and it took the combined efforts of all three Headmasters to reign Umbridge in for more reasonable tasks." Finished the man.
"Well, we thought that may be the case, thanks for checking anyway. Does anyone have anything else with regards to the Tournament?" questioned Silverthorne receiving negative responses before closing the meeting.
Amelia took her time as the others began packing away their things to leave the meeting. As she did, she shot a quick look at Scrimgeour who recognized it and slowed himself as did Silverthorne and as such it was the three of them who remained behind as everyone else began leaving.
"What's going on?" questioned the Minister as soon as the room had emptied, and the door closed.
"I haven't been entirely forthcoming. There was a reason I turned down the Minister job and why I recommended you take the D.I.M.C position." Said Amelia causing both men to frown.
"We believe the Tournament serves a second purpose. I've already shared this with the D.O.M but there is a belief that some rogue Death Eaters are trying to use the circumstances of the Tournament as part of a resurrection ritual. I'm sure you can both guess who they would be trying to resurrect." Said Amelia.
"Shit." Muttered Scrimgeour as a scowl formed on his face.
"Any idea who is behind this?" questioned Silverthorne frowning.
"From what we know Pettigrew and Crouch Junior. Unfortunately, several of them escaped the raids so they could have either flocked to them or fled to other territories." Said Amelia
"So we need to have feelers put out. I'll reach out to the Ministries of the most likely areas." Said Scrimgeour.
"What about Pettigrew and Crouch?" questioned the Minister.
"I have teams working to track them. The current belief is they are behind a Fidelis now though." Said Amelia.
Saturday morning and thus the morning of the First Task, found Harry lying in bed staring up at the roof of his bed. Beside him Parvati was still sleeping, and Harry knew there was still a bit of time until he would be forced to wake her. As for himself he was oddly calm even with the knowledge that within a few short hours he would be facing off against a fully grown nesting mother dragon. Just as he remembered Hagrid had sent him a letter inviting him to come visit making special mention to bring his cloak. Unlike last time when he'd taken Ron and Hermione as well he'd gone on his own and helped make Hagrid a bit more presentable for Madam Maxine before following after the two hidden beneath the cloak as he led them to the enclosure where the dragons were being kept.
This time there had only been three dragons on site a Chinese Fireball, Hungarian Horntail and a Ukrainian Ironbelly. He and the girls had already been developing strategies to get through the First Task without doing something as incredibly reckless as trying to out fly the dragon. None of the nerves or fear he'd felt last time he'd done this were there nor anything stupid like anticipation. Instead, he was just calm, which as previously mentioned was odd considering the situation. Regardless he was taking the time to relax since he'd woken so early and couldn't get back to sleep.
Eventually Parvati woke, thanks in large part to the alarm he'd set with his wand, one of the first things he'd learned as a first year, which made a bed vibrate enough to wake even the heaviest sleepers. Roused from her slumber Parvati gave him a kiss on the cheek before opening the curtain surrounding the bed enough for her to turn and slip her feet into her slippers. By this point he knew that she would head directly to her own bed and sleep for another 10-15 minutes before getting up to start her day. Still, he climbed out of the bed himself and walked her to the door where she gave him another kiss on the cheek before walking out, allowing him to close the door behind her. Seamus and Dean wouldn't be up for another 10 minutes and by that time he would already be in the shower. Moving back over to his part of the room he grabbed his bathroom supplies and headed to do just that.
Nearly an hour later found the Great Hall nearly completely full. Usually Saturdays didn't see this much traffic within the Great Hall as the breakfast hours were extended but thanks to the Tournament the schedule was a bit different today. Looking around however it would be clear to see that the dynamics of the Great Hall had changed since the beginning of the school year. Rather than strictly staying to their House tables the students now tended to move about, which had started with bonded couples moving to sit together. Harry's group was of course the largest and one that tended to change where they sat regularly. Gryffindor was the table hosting them that morning and was in truth amongst the most accommodating.
Hufflepuff was also a good place as they were generally a very accepting lot whereas Ravenclaw tolerated it but it was due to them being more sticklers for rules and traditions. Slytherin of course was the table he liked the least, he hated dealing with the mental chess match and maneuvering that sitting at that table required. That isn't to say that the Slytherins gave them trouble, outside of the bigger blood purists snobs, but in his opinion breakfast and dinner was no time for using that much brain power that was required when dealing with people who thought politics was fun.
His thoughts on that matter were halted as a large flock of owls entered from the upper levels for the morning mail delivery. Hedwig of course led them all and made a beeline to him landing in a clear spot on the table just in front of him. From her he retrieved a pair of letters and in exchange she took a couple strips of bacon before taking flight. He could see several of his girls had also received letters as well as copies of the Prophet and knew that they would fill him in on anything of importance that they came across.
Looking to his own letters he was pleasantly surprised to see one came from Remus while the other oddly enough came from Dudley of all people. He honestly hadn't thought about Dudley at all since he'd received word of Privet Drive going up in flames and surprised that he'd reached out to him at all. Tucking both letters away for later he turned his attention back to the table as the food finally made its appearance thanks to the House Elves. Standing from the table nearly 30 minutes later and now fully awake he was not surprised to see Professor Marigold making her way over with several eyes following in her wake.
"Mr. Potter, ladies, a moment please." Said the woman.
"Good morning professor," greeted the group as they gathered around her.
"As you are all aware the First Task of the tournament will be held today. The families of our Champions have all been invited to spend the day here and as you are all bonded to Mr. Potter your families have been invited as well. If you will all follow me I will lead you to them." Said the woman.
"Professor when you said all of our families were here does that include my parents as well?" questioned Hermione.
"It does. Muggle parents used to be able to visit the school in times past, something that was changed by one of the previous Headmasters. Our current Headmistress has restored those visitation rights." Said the Professor.
With that she turned and led the group from the Great Hall and down the corridor to the right before opening the door to one of the abandoned classrooms. Once inside they found that true enough all of their parents were inside the room including Fleur's parents and sister. Also, inside were the Longbottoms and the Tonks family with Dora and Penny included, which hadn't been a surprise as they'd all sensed them arrive. Before he could observe much Sirius was there greeting him with exuberance as if they hadn't seen each other just a few days before. As he was pulled into a hug by his godfather Harry would admit this was better than when it had been Molly and Arthur waiting for him the first time.
A few hours later after spending time relaxing and getting to better know the families of his bonded found Harry within the Champions tent with Fleur and Viktor. Harry had changed his outfit for the tournament and now wore a set of hooded battle robes that he'd sent Dobby to retrieve from the House Potter vault. Made from dragonhide they were black with red trim around the front of the hood, piping and cuffs. The robe was held closed by a matching red sash while he wore a pair of black pants and dragonhide combat boots.
Fleur hadn't changed her outfit from what he remembered she wore during the tournament last time, still wearing the dark blue sweatpants, a gold sweater cut like a jersey along with her blue and white Beauxbatons jacket.
Viktor also hadn't changed still in the red and black colors of his school and was standing stoically a bit away from where Harry was currently seated with Fleur sitting across his lap with his left arm wrapped around her back and his hand resting on her stomach.
This was how they were found when the judges for the tournament entered the tent with Ludo Bagman leading the way. The other judges were of course the Heads of the three schools and the Head of D.I.M.C Rufus Scrimgeour for a total of 5 judges.
"Champions gather around, this is the moment we've all been waiting for." Said Bagman his jubilant expression at odds with the serious faces of everyone else even as the three of them moved closer to the judges.
"Before we explain the Task each of you must reach within this bag and remove a token." Said Scrimgeour.
He stepped to Fleur first who reached inside and withdrew a miniature dragon with scarlet scales and golden spikes around its face and a medallion around its neck with the number one on it.
"The Chinese Fireball." Said Bagman
Krum was next and withdrew a metallic grey dragon with large wings and what looked like long talons, with a medallion with the number 3 around its neck that Bagman revealed to be the Ukrainian Ironbelly. Finally, it was Harry's turn and sure enough he withdrew his hand to reveal the Hungarian Horntail. While Krum had a bigger dragon he knew for a fact that the Horntail was the most vicious of the lot, and in fact amongst the most vicious dragons in the world.
"These miniatures represent real dragons, each of which has been possesses your objective a golden egg. Within the egg is a clue for the next task without which you will be at a distinct disadvantage." Said Scrimgeour his expression grim.
"As you may have noticed each dragon possesses a number which represents the order of which you will complete the First Task. As Ms. Delacour's dragon shows the number 1 she will begin first whereas Mr. Krum will go last as his dragon has the number 3." Said McGonagall finally speaking up.
Before any more could be said the sound of a cannon blast hit them causing the judges to share a look before stating it was time to begin. In moments they began clearing out with Fleur being escorted out by Madam Maxine so that they could begin.
The stands within the stadium constructed for the purposes of the First Task was packed. The Potter Coven sat together with their families seated around them along with the Weasleys and Longbottoms. They were further surrounded by contingents made by Gryffindor and Beauxbatons students and alumni. The other houses were just as united in their seating though Astoria and Luna were in their section instead of their house sections sitting with Ginny while Pansy sat with Ron and Lavender and Hannah and Lily sat with Neville and Sakura with Alice, Frank and Augusta. The members of the Potter Coven took their seats on the front row of one section of the stands with Sirius, Amelia and Narcissa on the left of them and Professors Drake and Marigold on the right boxing them in. Behind the girls sat the Grangers and the Bells with the parents of the other girls sitting beside and around the two muggle couples.
The red robed forms of Aurors could be seen scattered around the stands serving as security and Hermione was willing to bet they were also there to keep people from being engaging in any overt sexual activity considering the number of younger students attending. The sound of the people in the arena was also deafening and Hermione was happy the bond came with a mental connection, so she didn't have to yell to be heard by any of the other girls. As it was she was doing her best to let none of her nervousness show externally as she had not just Harry but Fleur to worry about being hurt thanks to this stupid tournament. Dora and Daphne sat on her left and right respectively, the latter of whom had reverted to her natural blonde hair.
The sound of the cannon blast not only brought a halt to the noise of the stadium but caused several people, including Hermione to jump in their seats. Attention was soon called to the judges box by the voice of Ludo Bagman.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, students, teachers, alumni and citizens welcome to Hogwarts for the First Task of the 1994-1995 Triwizard Tournament!" the exclamation caused the crowd to cheer loudly for nearly a minute before it died down once more.
"For those of you who do not know me, my name is Ludo Bagman and I serve today as not just one of the judges for this tournament but also the Announcer for the tournament. Joining me as judges for this event are the Heads of our three competing schools. From Hogwarts is Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, Beauxbatons is represented by Headmistress Madam Olympe Maxine and Durmstrang is represented by Headmaster Igor Karkaroff. The final judge for this event joins us from Britain's Ministry of Magic and is the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Rufus Scrimgeour.
Now before we began I'd like to inform you all that in order to ensure that these events are judged fairly and without bias we judges much like the Champions are bound by the Goblet of Fire to do our jobs fairly and honorably or risk penalties by the Goblet which could even include losing our magic."
A heavy silence came over the arena at that. Hermione had been in the magical world for only four years but she understood this was a unfathomable price that any pureblood witch or wizard would be willing to take. Many of the bonded practically shivered in fear including Dora who as a Metamorphmagus was intrinsically linked with her magic, it was part of her very identity.
"Now with that in mind let's get things started. Participating in this years tournament as Champions and representing the three schools are Ms. Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, Mr. Victor Krum of Durmstrang and Mr. Harry Potter of Hogwarts. The Champions have already drawn for the order of appearance for this task and Ms. Delacour will start us off, followed by Mr. Potter who drew second and Mr. Krum who will be the final competitor for the day.
As for today's task the goal of our Champions will be to retrieve a golden egg from within the arena. This is no simple task, as they will need to each contend with the eggs guardian which in this case are dragons. These are no mere dragons however as to make things more difficult these are all nesting mother dragons with the golden egg mixed in with their clutch of eggs!"
As if this was a signal one of the sections of the wall parted and a team of what could only be dragon handlers entered the arena with a large scarlet dragon within the cage. In seemingly no time at all they had the dragon situated and after getting a fair distance one of them sent a spell towards the cage which hit causing it to unfold with the metal hitting the ground with a loud thud and thus freeing the dragon which let out a roar while flaring its wings outward. Despite knowing about the dragons both from Hagrid's invitation and from Harry's memories of the tournament Hermione still gasped at the sight of the dragon along with the many others who had no warning about them until now.
"Jesus, they are actually pitting kids against those things!" exclaimed a voice behind her that she recognized quickly as Mrs. Bell.
Not long later another entrance opened into the arena allowing Fleur to make her entrance to a mix of reactions though applause and encouragement were the most apparent.
"It's fine. Fleur's got this."
The words came both over the bond and verbally, which was one of only two clues that gave away the fact that Daphne was nervous. The other clue was the fact that the grip on her hand tightened in Daphne's hold. Fleur was barely in the arena before she rather hastily had to dodge a large fireball that headed right for her.
Within the waiting tent Harry did his best not to give off any signs of his current nervousness. Unlike last time he couldn't even hear the sounds coming from the arena now that the flap on the tent was closed. Even worse, even though none of them wanted him to compete in the tournament and he had been all too willing to help her Fleur had instead demanded that he compete to win. She had not liked her results in the tournament in his memories and was determined to do much better.
Even worse she had managed to convince the rest of the girls to see things her way and they'd even gone so far as to suggest that Harry and Fleur put up mental walls for the duration of each Task so they couldn't talk and as such couldn't help or distract each other. His thoughts on the matter were rather abruptly cut off as he could suddenly hear the crowd once more and he was just in time to hear his name announced. Taking a deep breath, he stood and seeing Krum looking in his direction gave a short nod before making his way out of the tent.
As he entered the arena Harry found that the Horntail was already in the arena. The dragon was clearly irritated but unlike his memories it didn't immediately attack him. As it spotted him the dragon stopped and titled its head as if it was confused about something. Harry himself paused halfway through the motion of drawing his wand as his eyes locked with those of the dragons. Without any conscious decision on his part his hands came up and removed his hood thus revealing his face before dropping to his side. Eyes still locked with those of the dragon he began walking forward until he stood only about ten yards away thus leaving plenty of room between himself and the eggs.
Removing the glove of his right hand he held the hand up and outwards. Yellow eyes narrowed on him as the dragon lowered her head and he did his best not to move as she sniffed him. For several long moments he forced down his nervousness as his instincts screamed at him to remain still until finally the dragon lowered its head enough so that his hand was touching the side of its snout. Stepping forward he raised his other hand so that he was touching both sides of its snout.
"Hey girl, I'm sorry you got roped into this stupid tournament too." Said Harry softly.
The dragon purred a sound that echoed in the silence of the arena. Harry continued speaking quietly with the dragon for what seemed like forever before the Horntail moved its head back from his touch and dipped down until it was practically lying on the ground. Surprised Harry once more locked eyes with the dragon before slowly making his way to its side and after taking a breath reached up to one of the spikes along its spine and used it as a handle as climbed up onto the dragons back.
Once he was settled the dragon stood to its full height before taking off into a run and with powerful flaps of its wings taking to the air. They cleared the wall of the stadium easily before the dragon began to take them on an aerial tour of the castle grounds. Harry felt a level of exhilaration that he'd never experienced before one that made his short flight on Buckbeak pale in comparison. Before long they came to a landing back in the arena and Harry found himself grinning so hard that he could feel it in his cheeks.
Climbing down from the dragons back he walked over to the next and picked up the golden egg. Tucking it under his arm he turned back to the dragon and bowed deeply an action that the dragon returned with an incline of her head. After promising to visit her before she returned home, he ran out of the arena still grinning.
Despite the fact that he'd suffered not a single injury he was immediately hustled into the medical tent as soon as he cleared the door of the arena. He was both pleased and disappointed to find Fleur wasn't there but before he could dwell on that he was hustled over to one of the beds where his name plate from the hospital wing was placed. Turning a dry look on the Mediwizard who guided him to the bed he had no time to say a word before he was moving away and a brunette Mediwitch was in his place wasting no time in getting to work.
"Well Mr. Potter it seems for once you've managed to see me without so much as a scratch." Said the woman causing his eyes to widen.
"Madam Pomfrey?!" questioned Harry in shock.
Of course he had a right to be shocked. He hadn't actually seen the hospital wings matron since this year started. The last time he'd seen the woman she'd looked to be in her 70's with her hair almost fully grey and covered from the neck down in a matron's robe. Now she looked at most 30 with vibrant brunette hair wearing a rather tantalizing nurse outfit which consisted of a white robe with red accents that went down her mid-thigh with a pair of sheer black stockings and a pair of black heels while round her neck was a choker with the number 5.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!!"
The exclamation of his name had him jumping in place and had him looking over to see Daphne, Susan and Dora coming over led by Hermione. One of the mediwizards moved to intercept only to find himself frozen in place mid-step.
"Ms. Granger how many times have I told you to control yourself in my ward?" questioned Madam Pomfrey.
"But…"
"No but's this is still my ward. Mr. Potter is perfectly fine. As it is you're lucky I don't have any other patients here to be disturbed otherwise you'd be serving detention tonight instead of attending a celebration." Said Madam Pomfrey.
"Sorry about that Madam Pomfrey, I kind of went away from the plan." Said Harry causing the matron to frown at him before looking back to Hermione.
"He's all yours ladies." Said the matron before leaving turning and walking to another part of the tent, unfreezing the mediwizard and pulling him along as she did.
Harry barely had time to register the abandonment before Hermione slammed into him pulling him into a tight hug. Once she pulled away Susan took her place then Dora. Daphne, however, didn't move to hug him instead simply stared at him with her arms crossed, emotionless mask in place and her blue eyes looking like chips of ice.
'Fuck she's turned into the Ice Queen.' Thought Harry worriedly.
"Ice Queen huh, I like it." Said Daphne causing him to pale remembering she could hear his thoughts.
"Harry dear, would you mind explaining what happened out there." Said Dora.
"I for one am very interested in what you were thinking." Said Daphne causing Harry to gulp.