AN: Just a little something I've been working on when ever I got stuck on chapter for one of my other stories.
All mistakes are my own. No Beta. Please feel free to point anything out.
Chapter 01 Flames of Glory
The whole hall fell silent as the Goblet flared to life once more. The 3 champions for Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had already been selected and were awaiting further instructions in the hidden chamber behind the Great Hall. So how was it that one more piece of paper shot out of the fire?
Harry could feel his stomach sinking. If something was suppose to be impossible then it meant nothing good for him. Dumbledore plucked the parchment out of the air, turned it over and read the name to himself.
Harry began to shake. Was it his name? Would someone enter him? They couldn't forced to compete, could they? He didn't want to. Sure he had thought about entering when the tournament was first announced but he'd be crazy to enter as a 4th year. That was a death-
"Draco Malfoy." Dumbledore's voice called out sounding completed bewildered. The hall was still silent almost as if everyone was frozen with surprise.
Malfoy? Not Potter?
Harry let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. For once something strange was happening and he wasn't smack dab in the center of it. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved, happy or…or what?
"Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore called out again searching through the sea of Slytherin and Durmstrang student's.
Harry's eyes quickly traveled to where he knew Malfoy would be sitting; just in time to see Malfoy's scared expression before his mask was firmly back in place. A smug expression graced his face as he stood up and made his way to the chamber to wait with the other champions. Once he was inside the chamber all hell broke loose.
"Bet he got his slimy Death Earth father to put his name in." Ron grumbled from beside Harry.
"Don't be silly Ron. Why would his father sneak into Hogwarts just to slip his son's name into the goblet?" Hermione shook her head at that idea. "He probably asked an older student to drop his name in."
Harry watched his friends bicker back and forth, not willing to voice his opinion that Malfoy didn't enter and that someone else did it against his will. Ron would probably throw a fit. Not far from the trio sat the Weasley twins who already had their heads together whispering about possible potions he could have used.
Looking around the hall, Harry assumed that he was the only one not gossiping about how Malfoy's name came out of the goblet. Though the Slytherins weren't as loud as the rest of the hall. Neither the prefects or professors were even attempting to gain control over the enthusiastic students. In fact all the professors had surrounded Dumbledore, wanting to voice their opinion on the situation.
Some of the theories floating around the hall were so improbable that Harry wanted to laugh. From the Ravenclaw table he heard a girl say that Malfoy had gotten a hold of a time-turner in the future and come back in time to enter his younger self. Another popular one was that he brewed a dark potion that could age a person to fool any magic but there was price and he only 8 months to live. A 6th year Gryffindor had even suggested that Malfoy was actually of age but he had failed so many times and that's why he was only a 4th year. Any of those theories could be true if you ignored all the facts.
Finally Dumbledore, fellow headmasters, judges and Snape broke away from the huddle of professors and made their way into the chamber holding the 3, now 4, champions. The remaining heads of houses quickly took control of the hall and sent everyone off to their common room's without any explanation; where they knew no homework or sleep would be happening that night.
Harry was more than happy to escape the noisy warm hall, though the common room wasn't much better. The whole house seemed to have decided to stay in the common room in small little groups that the trio had a hard time making their way through it. Ron had wandered off to find Dean and Seamus leaving both Harry and Hermione to head up to their rooms. Hermione wanting to get a good night sleep so she can be first into the library to look up what happened before breakfast, while Harry just wanted to relax. Harry took advantage of the free dorm room and had extra long shower before getting ready for bed.
He closed the curtains around his bed and laid down but he couldn't sleep. Even though it wasn't Harry's name that came out of the goblet he felt like something was going to happen.
-X
Even with the early night, Harry was the last to awake. His sleep had been restless and he awoke tangled in his sheets. Breakfast was already over by the time he finished getting dressed and packed so Harry headed down to the kitchens to grab some toast before running to the other side of the dungeons where his potions classroom were.
As he rushed down the empty corridors, trying not to choke on a pieces of toast he heard arguing coming from behind a door. Who ever it was had left the door slightly ajar in their haste and Harry couldn't help sneaking up and have a listen.
"…my son! …death games." Harry heard as he step closer to the door. The the voice sounded agitated and angry.
"He must compete Lucius. The goblet is magically binding, you know this." The cool bored tone of Snape's was unmistakable meaning the owner of the other voice would be Lucius Malfoy's. "What you need to do is figure out who would want your son dead and how are we to prevent it."
"Has the Headmaster," Lucius sneered the titled. "Figure out who tampered with the goblet yet?"
"If he did you would have already been informed."
"I still don't understand how this happened! We, the governors, were promised that safety measures were going to be put in place to prevent something like his happening."
"There were." Snape replied, his voice laced annoyance. "But the Headmaster only thought it prudent to take precautions against the younger students trying to enter their own name and the goblet could have handled everything else. Which he was clearly wrong." Harry got the feeling that Snape took pleasure that Dumbledore was wrong even though something bad happened to one of his little snakes. If it had been Harry's name that came out of the goblet he probably had blamed Harry instead of try to help him.
"The governors will have a full enquire into this and Dumbledores lack of safety!" Lucius declared. Harry could hear him moving towards the door and took off towards the classroom, dropping his half eaten cold toast on the ground.
"Where have you been, Harry!" Hermione demanded as he came in sight.
"Over slept," he panted trying to catch his breath. His heart hammered in his chest, he was so close to getting caught.
Hermione pursed her lips together unimpressed. "Well you're in luck, Professor Snape seems to be running behind today as well." Harry nodded grateful but he already knew that.
Malfoy Sr. and Snape glided down the hall a few minutes later not stopping till they were in front of the group of Slytherins. Malfoy adjusted his posture to reflected his father's. It was strange seeing the two of them side by side they looked so similar with their white blond hair and pointy nose but Malfoy jr also had a softness to him…
"I am proud of you Draco, only a true slytherin would have figure out how to trick the goblet." Harry couldn't seem either Malfoys face knew something else was being conveyed. "I know you will do our family proud." Mr. Malfoys hand rested on Malfoys should for a few second before he turned to face Snape. "I must be off, inform me of any…developments." Then walked away gracefully.
Snape glared at the group of 4th years standing outside his classroom. "Well?" He demanded as the door clicked open and he stalked into the room with the Slytherins following right behind. "5 points each from Gryffindor for being late." He snapped as he began to write instructions on the board. The Gryffindors groaned at that but silently set up their stations, having long learned that arguing that the Slytherins were late too would just lose them more points.
As Harry worked he wasn't sure what he should do with the confirmation that someone entered Malfoy so he would die. There was nothing he really could do. He put all thoughts of the tournament out of his mind as he scrambled to save his bubbling potion. He didn't want to have to explain to Snape that his potion fail because he couldn't stop thinking about Malfoy.
-X
The days became busier as the teachers piled on the homework the weeks leading up to the first task. Harry hadn't had any time to spare worrying about Malfoy and what he might have to face during the first task.
The Gryffindor common room had turned into one big study session. Books piled high on every available surface, broken quills and scribbled on parchment littered the floor for even the house elves didn't want to brave the room with how everyone had be acting. No one wanted to be banned from watching Cedric complete in the tournament and Malfoy make a fool of himself, all because of unfinished homework. Even Hermione had even ditched all attempts to discover how the goblet could have been tricked in favour of the uncompleted work which had started to pile up.
The trio had successfully claimed one of the sofas by the fire as they worked individually on their assignment but having a prime spot couldn't motivate Harry to concentrate on his work for long.
Harry dropped his quill on to the the low table he had using as a desk for the last couple hours; the quill rolled all over his newly completed potion essay leaving behind a few drops of ink on the parchment not that he care. His back was aching from leaning over that he stretched to get the kinks out before hoping to his feet and clapped his hands together startling not only his best friend but those who were working near them. "That's finished, who's up for a walk?"
Ron was more than willing to slam his book shut and toss it onto the table. "I thought you'd never ask, mate." He sounded so relieved to be getting away from all the homework.
Hermione scowled at the pair. "You've finished all your homework have you?"
"Almost."
"Not even close." Ron said with a wide smile.
"I wish you luck finishing it all then. Alone." Hermione said dryly as she turned back to double checking her herbology essay.
Ron's face fell. "You won't help me 'Mione?" Hermione gave him a unimpressed look as Harry grabbed ahold of Ron's arm and pulled him out of the common room and towards the stairs.
"It'll be alright," Harry chuckled as he as he patted his dejected looking friend's back. "I'm no Hermione but I'll help you with your work when we get back."
"Really?" Ron perked up.
"Of course! Not that actually understand any of it either." Harry joked knowing that Ron would go groveling to Hermione for help as soon as they got back.
The pair made their way out of the castle and out into the brisk November air. The breezy ruffled their robes as they walked down towards the lake. Harry saw movement from the forest toward Hagrid's hut and squinted at the red headed figure trying to work out who it could be. They looked really familiar…
"Hey Ron, isn't that Charlie?" He said as he pointed to where the figure stopped to talk with Hagrid right outside the hut.
"Charlie? Why would he be here?" Ron frowned.
"Come on, let's go find out." Harry said as he picked up the pace towards their new goal. Ron following right behind.
As they made it closer to Hagrids hut they were able to confirm that it was Charlie Weasley who was talking with the half giant. What was Charlie doing in Britain instead of Romania with his beloved Dragons? And why would he be at Hogwarts visiting Hagrid?
Charlie turned back to the forest,having not noticed the pair heading towards him when Hagrid bellowed out. "'Ello 'arry! 'ello Ron! What are yeh two doin' out here so close ter supper?"
"Charlie!" Ron rushed right past the half giant and up to his brother, who had turned back around when he heard their names, and made to greet him with a big hug but decided on a manly slap on the arm instead. "Why didn't you tell me you'd be here? Wait, why are you here?" Ron's face filled with confusion.
"Hey Hagrid, " Harry said as he watched his best friend greet his brother. "We got bored of homework and fancied a walk." To which Hagrid chuckled.
"Trying to get rid of me, you big lug." Charlie answered as he pretended that Ron's slap hurt much more than it did. Even though 8 years separated them, Ron was almost the same height as Charlie and then there was Harry who was stuck at 5'4.
Ron rolled his eyes not fooled by his brothers acting. "No really, why are you here? Does mum know you back?"
"Yes she know. As to why I'm here, well, it's a secret." He spoke the last words looking right at Harry and gave a wink which caused his cheeks to pinken.
"Come on! We won't tell." Ron whined.
"Can't, sorry." Charlie said though his smile suggested he was anything but. "Don't worry Ronnie you'll know soon enough. Anyways, duty calls boys." With that he ruffed Ron's long red hair and walked into the forest.
"What good is having older brother if they won't share their secrets." Ron grumbled, scowling as he tried to fix his hair but it didn't do much good.
"Do you know why he's here Hagrid?"
"Sorry boys," Hagrid said looking uncomfortable. "TriWizard secrets an' all."
"He's here for the tournament?" Harry asked racking his brain as to what Charlie could do for a task. He was a good dueler…maybe the champions had to duel through a group of wizards.
"I should not have said that." Hagrid said panicking.
"Don't worry Hagrid!" Harry quickly said, trying to calm the bigger man down. "We promise not to tell anyone you told us, right Ron?"
"Right!" Ron agreed.
"Such good boy's yeh are." Hagrid looked at the proudly. "Now run along, yeh'd be wantin' ter wash up before supper."
The boys said their goodbyes to Hagrid as headed up to the castle but instead of going straight to the great hall to wait for supper, Harry dragged Ron back to Gryffindor tower.
"I'm hungry Harry! Let's just go to the great hall." Ron complained the whole way to the seventh floor.
"We'll go after we've talked with Hermione!" Harry replied as he pulled the reluctant Ron behind him. He was determined to figure out what Charlie could have to do with the tournament. "Besides, knowing Hermione she's stuck in a book and would miss supper if we don't get her. Who knows, maybe she'll be so grateful she'll help you with your homework."
"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Ron said as he used his longer legs to pass Harry and reach the Fat Lady's portrait first.
When the portrait swung open, Harry words were proven true. Hermione sat exactly where they left her, alone in the common room with her nose in a book, completely oblivious to the fact that everyone else had abandoned their homework in favour of searching for food.
"Hermione!" They both exclaimed as they rushed over to the sofa.
"What?" Hermione looked up at them startled, then she peered around the empty room. "Oh, is it supper time already?" She made to stand up but Harry's arm stopped her.
"Hermione, we just saw Charlie at the school! Down by the forbidden forest." Ron let out in in one breath.
"Yeah, but he wouldn't tell us what he was doing here. Hagrid said it has to do with the Tournament." Harry explained further. "Do you think the first task is dueling?"
"Charlie?" She frowned, "isn't he a dragon handler?"
Ron gasped, "You don't think they'd make them fight against dragons do you?"
"Don't be silly Ronald!" Hermione huffed. "It takes a group of highly trained handlers just to take down one dragon, a student couldn't be expected ro by themselves. They probably just have to get past the dragons or something."
"It can't be would they keep them? Surely someone would have noticed dragons around the castle." Ron pointed out.
"Don't be daft! There's plenty of room in the forbidden forest and you yourself said you saw Charlie by there."
"True…" He agreed grudgingly.
They continued to discuss what possible things could be involved with the task while Harry sat there silently biting his lip.
A dragon…how was Malfoy going to take that on.
- X
By the time the trio made it down to the great hall supper was already in full swing. They managed to find a spot together towards the end of the long table, right in between a group of first years and third years.
Harry piled his plate full of food alongside Ron, but he didn't feel hungry at all. In the pit of his stomach was a small ball of dread. Who had come up with such crazy tasks involving dragons? That person must not have much though for human life. Maybe there were special dragon classes that only sixth year and above got? No, that couldn't be. How often did someone come across a dragon in day to day life unless it was their profession.
Harry looked up at the head table and observed Hagrid and Madame Maxime cuddling up close together. Did he tell her there were dragons in the forest? Hagrid wasn't the greatest at keeping secrets -like he shown earlier- and he's always been fascinated by the creatures. If she found out well, there was no way she wouldn't tell her champion. Anything to get a better advantage.
His eyes traveled over to Karkaroff's spot, the man looked agitated and shifty. Could he have found out? Harry wouldn't put it past the Headmaster of a dark arts school to cheat to help his champion win.
Would that mean the Hogwarts Champions were possibly the only ones who didn't know about the dragons? He couldn't see Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall cheating by informing the champions of the first task, though Snape probably would tell Malfoy if he knew.
Harry searched the halls for both Cedric and Malfoy but found neither. The other two champions were sitting among the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables looking ill and worried. They knew, they must!
"So what do you think of the pointy gits chances are of getting past the, you know," Ron leaned closer to Harry and Hermione and whispered the last word, "dragons."
"Ron!" Hermione glared at him then shussed away a first who was looking at the curiously. "We're not supposed to know." She hissed.
"I know," he shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. "I'm just curious is all."
"I'm not as hungry as I though." Harry said before Hermione could reply, pushing away his uneaten food.
"You're a little pale." Hermione said giving him a good once over. "Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey."
"I'm fine. Really." He brushed off her concern. "I'm just going to head up to the common room and finish up that essay."
"Alright, we'll be up soon." She promised.
Ron grabbed his wrist as Harry went to stand. "You're not planning on telling the git are you?" Ron asked, while giving him a strange look, like Harry was insane.
"Of course not," He denied, hoping neither of them could see through his lie. "I'm just not hungry." He slid his wrist out of Ron's grasp and walked out of the hall, waving goodbye to the friends he pasted.
His feet didn't take him back to the tower, instead it lead his straight to the practically empty library. A few Ravenclaws and Slytherin dotted the library but there was one specific slytherin Harry was looking for. For all Harry knew Malfoy wasn't even at the library; he could be studying in his common room. He hope that wasn't the case or else might be able to work up the nerve to inform Malfoy about what he knew.
He spotted his target surrounded by piles of books, it looked like he was trying to memorize every charm, hex and curse that was available. As Harry got closer he could see just how horrible Malfoy looked. His skin was paler than normal which made the bags under his eyes look that much darker, his signature Malfoy white blond hair laid limply on his head. It look like Malfoy hadn't been sleeping or eating in a while.
"I highly doubt all these textbooks will help you against dragons." Harry said dismissively as he casually walked up to the blonds table.
"What are you on about." Malfoy raised his head from the book and tried to muster up his best sneer. His eyes looked strained and his normally perfectly manicured nails were bitten down to almost nothing.
Harry picked up one of the nearest books, licking his finger before flipping through it. Pretending that the book was more interesting than Malfoy but it was just a cover for how nervous he really was.
"Nothing really, just that I hardly think any of the spells in these books will help you when you're face to face with a dragon." He stressed the word dragon, hoping Malfoy would realize that he was giving him a blatant clue to the first task.
"That's nothing new, Potty. I've never know you to think before, so why start now." Malfoy jeered, his face contorting to an ugly expression.
With a sigh, Harry closed the book with a 'thump' and placed it back in it's original place. "Whatever Malfoy." Harry turned and walked away. Getting Cedric Diggory to listen was going to be so much easier.
Just as he was about to walked down one of the stacks he glanced back as saw Malfoy pull out a red book from the bottom of one of the piles. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' embossed on the cover. Maybe Malfoy did know how to listen.
- X
It took a couple of day for Harry to track down Cedric. He looked stressed and concerned but not as bad as Malfoy. That was all about to change with the information Harry was about to give him. He was surrounded by what Harry assumed was his friends and they were all joking and having a good time.
"Hey Cedric!" Harry called as he ran towards the cluster of Hufflepuff and a few Ravenclaws.
Cedric did a double take when he saw that it was Harry calling him instead of a normal scruffy 4th year. "Potter?" He asked, clearly not expecting the famous Harry Potter to want to talk with him let alone track him down. "What can I do for you?"
"Can we…erm…can I talk to you privately?" Harry felt uncomfortable with the looks some of the giggling girls were giving him.
"Yeah sure," Cedric said giving him a charming smile then turned back to his friends. "Give us a sec?" The two of them broke away and walked down the empty hall a bit so no one would over hear them.
"You're not going to confess your undying love to, are you Potter?" Cedric joked trying to lighten the mood. "I've already had two of those today and I don't want to deal with another broken heart."
"What?" Harry wasn't expecting that. "No-no, not a love confession."
"That's good then." Cedric said, though he seemed to look a little disappointed. "What is it then?"
"Erm…well I know what the first task is."
"Really? What is- no," He shook his head, "we're not supposed to get help from others."
"But all the other Champions already know!" Harry protested.
"Even Malfoy? How do you know?"
"Madame Maxime's been flirting with Hagrid for information and I wouldn't put it past Karkaroff to sneak out into the forest and take a peek?"
"And I wouldn't put it past Snape to inform Malfoy…wait forest? Why the forest?"
"Yeah that's where they're keeping the Dragon's."
"Dragons? Fuck me." Cedric ran a hand through his hair and started at the wall.
Something about the way Cedric was standing and those words had Harry's pants feeling just a little too tight. Did they shrink when the house elves washed them? They felt fine earlier…
"You sure?" Cedric his full attention back on Harry. He smirked when he noticed Harry fidgeting.
"Yeah," he tried not to blush. "Ron's brother Charlie is here, and he works at the Dragon preserve in Romania. He told us he was here for the first task." Ok that was a lie but he didn't want to stand there explaining how he knew where anyone could walk up and hear them.
"That's just great, are they trying to kill us?"
"Probably," Harry shrugged. To him it seemed that most things -or people- in the wizarding world were trying to kill them, why not the Ministry?
"Well thanks Potter." Cedric said as he walked closer. Leaning forward he asked quietly, "will you cheer for me during the first task?"
"Uh- yeah, sure." Harry shuttered.
Cedric leaned back and gave him a smirk. "I'll look forward to it. See you around little lion."
Harry stood there dumbfounded as the Hufflepuff walked away to rejoin his friends.
What just happened?
- X
The piles of homework the professors liked to assign began to taper off the days leading up to the first task. They were finding it a difficult task just to keep their attention during class let alone to assign anything new. So they ignored all the whispered conversations and reviewed past lessons.
Fred and George had started a betting pool for who will complete the first task with the highest score and who will fail miserably, Malfoy with the most bets for the later.
Harry never joined in the betting or gossiping but Malfoy and the dragons was never far from his mind. He tried to imagine if he was in Malfoy's place, how would he take on a dragon? He always drew a blank for they hadn't learnt enough and the few times he picked up a book it was more than useless.
"…Krum will just swoop in and take out the uh, task, with one spell!" Ron gushed to an amused looking Hermione as the walked into the boys dorm.
"Ron still sprouting his love for Krum, Hermione?" Harry teased the red head from his bed. He sat against the headboard with 'Quidditch Through the Ages' resting on his outstretched legs.
"Bugger off Harry." Ron grumbled as he flopped face first onto his own bed.
"I think it's sweet." Hermione said joining in on the teasing. She stood between their two beds try to decided where to sit before claiming the edge of Harry's bed. "Even though he doesn't stand a chance with Krum."
"Ugh!" Ron blindly reached for his pillow, his finger snagged the edge and he pulled it over his head to block out their laughing.
"How do you…do you think the champions will deal with the dragons tomorrow Hermione" Harry asked as he watched her get up and try to save Ron from becoming one with his bed.
She paused in her little game of tug-of-war with Ron over the pillow. "Well there must be a couple different ways or else it would get boring for the audience. Are you worried about Cedric? I'm sure he's figured something out," Hermione gave him a look that said 'I know you told him even though they're not supposed to have help' which had Harry squirming.
"Unless…it's Malfoy isn't it." Harry looked down to his lap, ashamed that he was so worried about the Slytherin bully. Hermione moved back over to his bed and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Oh Harry. The ministry wouldn't allow the tournament to be brought back unless the lives of the champions was assured."
Ron rolled over, quickly sat up and threw the pillow at the pair. "Why are you worried about him for? He asked for this when he put his name in the goblet!" He said pissed the his expression changed and he started to giggle. "I bet- I bet he'll end up yelling at the dragon-" Ron straighten his back, put on a haughty expression and said in his best high pitched Malfoy voice."'My father will hear about this!'" He laughed so hard he fell backwards onto the bed.
"Ronald!" Hermione scowled at him. "This is serious. Even with safety precautions in place he still could get hurt!" Ron stopped laughing but didn't look repentive.
"Hermione you're smart. Has there been anything we've learnt this the last 3 years that could be used against a dragon?" Harry asked as his teeth worry his bottom lip.
"Well I've only read a few-" Ron snorted and Hermione sent his a glare, "-books on dragons and truthfully I can't see how anything we've been taught so far could be used against one. It's why the tournament is supposed to be for seventeen and older."
"Not that Snape's favoritism and Potions would be much help." Ron snickered. "The only things he's good at."
"You do know that Malfoy and I compete for first place in every class, right?" She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe if you paid attention in lessons you'd know that. Even without Professor Snape favouring the Slytherins he gets better marks than me in Potions."
"If you know him so well name one thing, besides homework, that he's good at!"
"Well let's see politics, foreign languages, chess-"
Harry turned them out and went back to flipping through his 'Quidditch Through the Ages'. He was really upset that the season had been cancelled this year. Last year had been such a mess with his godfather escaping from Azkaban and the dementors coming to stay at Hogwarts that he never got to play a round without it being interrupted. He even missed flying against Malfoy; when he wasn't cheating Malfoy was his only competition- "Flying!" Harry cried out.
Hermione and Ron stopped arguing at stared at him. "What?"
"Erm..Malfoy's great at flying." He explained lamely.
"I wouldn't say great, mate. He's no you."
"Right," He readily agreed but an idea was firmly planted in his head. Malfoy could was a broom to out fly a dragon! Sure, Harry admitted to himself, it wasn't a foolproof plan but it was something. He was getting excited about his idea as he weighed the pro's and con's until he realized that there was no guarantee that Malfoy would want his help or he could have a plan already…but Malfoy had listened to him when he informed him about the dragon's, so maybe he'd be willing to do it again. It wouldn't hurt to find out if he knew what he was going to do.
It wasn't until Hermione yelled out his name that he realized that he had slid off his bed and was heading towards the door. Quite possibly to search Malfoy out.
"Where are you going, mate?" Ron asked, content to just lay there.
"I left my-..potions text in the library earlier! Gonna go grab it," and he slipped out of the room before either of the could point out that they hadn't even been to the library that day. Harry flew down the stairs and out of the common room ignoring everyone who tried to talk with him. He knew if he stopped then his brain would have time to tell him why this was a bad idea and how it was only going to get him hexed.
His feet lead his straight to the library. It was one of the only places he could think the blond would be that he could reach. He was in luck. As he entered the library he spotted Malfoy at the exact same table surround by even more books. If Harry had thought he looked terrible last time but somehow even worse. His skin was almost translucent and his eyes completely shot. How had no one noticed? Did he wear a glamour during class and meals?
"Malfoy you look like shit." Harry hissed and he stalked over.
Malfoy looked up startled and the scowled at him and sneered, "Piss off Pothead." He then reached into his book bag which was hidden by the mountain and pulled out a little handheld mirror. With a curse he grabbed his wand and with a wave he looked like his normal pointy self.
"Do you have a plan to deal with the dragon?" Harry asked as Malfoy went back to his books. The fact that he looked like crap and set up camp in the library didn't make him feel comfortable that he did.
"Of course I do, Potter. Only at idiot wouldn't have one at this point." Malfoy drawled.
"You shouldn't call yourself an idiot Malfoy."
"What did you say!" Draco stood up so quickly that the chair slammed against the floor making both boys wince.
"I know when you spurting shit and that is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard." Harry seethed. "Admit it Malfoy, you have no clue what you're going to do and then I'll tell you my idea."
"I could…transfigure something to distract it."
"You really think you could? What if it doesn't go for it. Then what?"
"I'd-" Malfoy faltered. With a resigned sigh he picked back up the chair and slumped into it. Harry knew it Malfoy had been fully rested then there was no way he would have one so easily. "I have no clue what I'm going to do, is that what you wanted to hear?"
"No it's not." Harry pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. "But it's what I expected."
When Malfoy didn't give any sign of acknowledgement, Harry continued on, "I was thinking of how I might handle the task and flying came to mind. As much as I hate to say it, in the air you're my only competition."
Malfoy did the one thing he'd never thought he would and snorted. "Only the great Harry Bloody Potter would think that flying against a dragon would be great fun." Malfoy said mockingly. "Even if I was suicidal enough to attempt it, we can't bring anything into the arena beside our wand."
Harry was stumped. Only their wands? How was that fair…"Wait! We've been leaning summoning charms the last week. You could summon your broom to you!"
Malfoy seem to mulled over the idea. It was always an option if everything else failed. Out if the whole class only Malfoy and Hermione had been able to successfully able to summon their pillows from across the room. With Malfoy being lost in his thought Harry decided it was time to leave. Chances were that his friends would get curious and come looking for him so he stood up and turned to walk back to the tower when he heard Malfoy call out to him.
"Why are you helping me Potter?" Malfoy's expression was unsure and he looked so lost and vulnerable.
"Whoever put your name in the goblet wants you to be killed Malfoy. And even though you're a spoiled arrogant git, you don't deserve to die," having nothing more to say to his rival he walked away feeling much lighter.
To be Continued