Chapter 2 – The First Task

Three things happened as Harry and Hermione were treading across the threshold exiting the Great hall. The first of these that the Goblet of Fire, strained beyond measure from transporting the ugliest version ever of Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew exploded!

The magical device disintegrated with the sound of giant mirror shattering. A wave of magical energy swept across the hall and passed through the poorly formed construct that was the Dark Lord and Dumbledore who had come over to take a good look at the mystery meat. It knocked Dumbledore over and then hit the walls and rebounded backwards toward its origin point making another pass through the swaddled figure that had grown a little taller with the exposure of magic.

The second thing that happened was that Harry Potter screamed suddenly and clutched at the scar on his forehead as he collapsed on the floor. Hermione fell to her knees trying to comfort her boyfriend as Ginny fought her way to them through the confused students. Harry's scar was pulsing to a beat that had nothing to do with his heartbeat; Hermione saw both blood and some sort of black mucus oozing from the lightning shaped scar. It smelled disgusting. Hermione used a part of Harry's sleeve to clean his face off and then 'Scourgified' it. (Harry's sleeve, not his face.)

The few people with their eyes not shut in fear saw the Goblet of Fire magically reform at the front of the hall. The Goblet however was not in its original form however. Everyone stared at the change. It now resembled a porcelain stein about four feet tall. If one could see through the multi-colored embers still flying out of its mouth, the Mug of Sparklers had a panoramic scene embossed around its middle. Some said it depicted flying monkeys spanking themselves but others swore they saw a school of sharks chasing a fishing boat named The Minnow. Whatever they initially saw, the scene around the Magical Mug finally settled down to a merry-go- round with 13 Dwarves and a Hobbit riding on Clydesdales. Ludo Bagman finally lurched to his feet and closed the lid to the mug. The music which had been playing for five minutes finally stopped. The echoing strains of 'I Love You, You Love Me' sung by a purple dinosaur were still making people cringe and cover their ears. A wild, maniacal laugh made everyone stare at the person most people had been terrified at since the day they had been born.

"You fools! You shall regret trifling with the most powerful wizard in the world. Lord Voldemort lives again."

Harry felt the pressure decrease in his scar and he was helped to his feet by Hermione and Ginny. He looked back to the front of the hall and grimaced. Holding his wand out in front of him, Harry made his way through the rapidly departing students.

"Hiya Tom" said Harry.

The red-skinned figure spun to see who had addressed him. "Who dares utter that name? You shall rue the day that you first drew breath."

Harry raised his hand and waved. "Me. Sure – like I've never heard that before. Oh, by the way, my name is Harry Potter. The boy that you unsuccessfully tried to kill as a baby. And almost every year since I've come to Hogwarts."

Voldemort waved his hand summoning his wand from Peter Pettigrew's back pocket. It unfortunately had the effect of tearing a long rip in the old worn pants of the servant and the remaining witches in the crowd covered their eyes at the sight of the very dirty underwear that Peter had worn that day. Harry almost gagged at the smell but summoned a carpet to drape over Wormtail's frozen form.

Meanwhile Voldemort had trouble handling his wand (Well, to be fair he had trouble with handling his other wand also but that's quite another story). It was twice the size that he thought it would be. "What madness is this? What have you done to my wand Potter? Or is this Dumbledore's doing? No matter; I will correct this now. Avada Ke…"

Harry plucked the wand out of Voldemort's grasp. "Sorry, I can't let you do that. You might lose your magic."

Voldemort looked up into Harry's eyes. And looked up. And looked up yet again. He couldn't figure out why Potter had gotten so big. As a matter of fact, the Dark Lord noticed that everyone was bigger than normal.

Harry resisted the urge to pat the person he knew as Tom Riddle on top of the head. After all, he only came up to Harry's waist.

Dumbledore conjured a full–length mirror to appear in front of Voldemort and he finally got a chance to take a good look at himself. Peeves, who was placing petroleum jelly on the door handles of every classroom up on the seventh floor, heard the howls of outrage.

"I don't know how you did this but you will turn me back this instant boy!"

Harry had hated being called boy ever since his blimp-sized Uncle had first stuffed him into the Closet-Under-The-Stairs. But he sat down on the floor and started explaining to the furious wizard why he was in the shape he was in. Professor McGonagall cast a spell that transformed Riddle's diaper and swaddling clothes into something more appropriate for someone of his stature – a Raggedy Andy outfit with wooden shoes. Tom (aka Lord Voldemort) was too distracted by Harry's explanations to not do anything more than throw the clogs away and wandlessly conjured himself a pair of comfortable slippers that had big floppy bat wings as a decoration.

It was at that second that the pair of trumpeters arrived at the doorway to the Great Hall and began blowing "Pomp and Circumstance". Everyone, including Voldemort, let out a deep sigh and hung their heads. They knew what was coming next. And they weren't disappointed. In reality however, they were terribly disappointed because Minister of Magic, Cornelius Waldo Chocolata Fudge, swept into the hall followed closely by Lucius Malfoy and a half dozen Aurors.

"What in the name of the Merlin's pointy hat is going on here Dumbledore? Enough alarms were set off at the Ministry to break the stained glass window in my office door."

Barty Crouch hurried to explain to his boss that Harry Potter had exercised his right as the last of a family line to name a replacement for himself as a competitor in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. When Fudge demanded to know who it was, Crouch became nervous and said "You-Know-Who".

"No I don't know who. That's why I asked. Who's the replacement?"

Crouch rolled his eyes. "It's YOU KNOW WHO!" He pointed to the person glaring at everyone in sight.

Fudge turned and saw the red figure. "Hello little boy. You seemed to have gotten a really bad, bad sunburn."

That did it for the Dark Wizard. He stomped his foot in anger. "I am not a little boy! I am Lord Voldemort!"

There was a sudden silence in the room and then everyone heard Minister Fudge whisper a comment to his chief advisor Lucius Malfoy. "And here I always thought he was much taller."

Lucius cringed and then Voldemort came up and kicked the Minister in the shins. Fudged hopped on one leg and ordered the Aurors to arrest the person who had so violently assaulted him. Harry didn't want to do it but he stepped between the Aurors and Voldemort. "He's a Champion. If he doesn't compete, the consequences will be on your heads… and magic."

That stopped everyone in their tracks but Voldemort got a sly look on his face. "I think I will name Cornelius Fudge as my replacement. After all, I am the last of the line of…"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Tom."

"Quit calling me that Potter!"

"Do you really want to publicly admit that your real background and name is …"

"Damn you Potter, I'm going to kill you."

"You can't do that."

"Why not?"

Harry winked at Hermione and Ginny who were anxiously watching the confrontation. "One, I have your wand Shorty. Two, the rules of the tournament say that you, and/or your associates cannot harm or cause harm to happen to the other Champions, anyone in any of the three schools or anyone associated with the tournament – that means the Ministry of Magic too."

"Well, that's a fine cauldron of poached potions you've put me in Potter."

"I think you'll do well in the competition. Did I mention there's a thousand galleons for the winner?"

Voldemort looked down at his bat slippers. "I guess I could buy some platform shoes with that money."

"See, there you go - a bright spot. I'll give you your wand back since you know the conditions now."

Harry handed the wand back to Voldemort and the little boiled-lobster-colored figure held it for a minute thinking. "I can't curse any student, teacher or any member of the ministry. That's the rules."

A braver sounding Ludo Bagman nodded and spoke out. "Yes, you understand it right Lord Voldemort."

"Good." Voldemort swept his wand around and pointed it at one person. "Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!"

Lucius Malfoy's screams rang out from the castle and echoed around Black Lake. Voldemort was surprised to hear a goodly amount of applause coming his way from the remaining students and Harry. "Thank you. We never liked him much anyway."

Dumbledore stepped forward. "I'm sorry sir, but all our spare rooms have been taking up by the press and officials. But I do have an idea. You can just room with one of our Professors. How about it Severus?"

Harry applauded again as his Potions Instructor's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor in a faint.

Xxxx xxxx

The day of the first task was November 24th. Just three weeks and a couple days from when the Champions were chosen. It seemed a long time for those waiting to see what the first of the fabled tasks would be. It was way too short of time to prepare in the estimation of Victor Krum, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory. They didn't have any clue about what sort of challenge they would be presented with.

That situation changed about a week before the anticipated date. The Gryffindors and about half of the fair young ladies from Beauxbatons were having a joint class in Herbology. (Yes, Seamus Finnegan and a young lady in blue named MaryJane Fumereax were discussing the various growth lights and supplements that they used for their own private 'potted' plants that they grew in their respective dorms – but that's immaterial to this story.) The two groups were in Greenhouse Number Two weeding out the vegetable plants that was one of their projects for the year. Suddenly everyone heard a bunch of yelling from outside and looked through the glass windows to see a dragon rising out over the Forbidden Forest and dragging a number of men with a large chain. It was hard to tell however if the men were trying to pull the dragon down or the dragon was trying to pull the men up.

Professor Sprout cancelled class and sent Dean Thomas off to fetch Dumbledore. She went outside to see where the dragon was headed and the twenty odd students followed her outside. By this time the dragon was headed directly toward the cluster of greenhouses and all of the men had fallen off the large chain save one. They could see that he had become tangled up in the large chain and was hanging head downwards. Despite the fact that the person was being dragged through brush and briar and occasionally dropped and bounced on his head, Ron thought he recognized his brother Charlie.

Dumbledore appeared just at that moment and shook his head when he saw the loose dragon. (Harry and a bunch of others thought it was a Romanian Longhorn but Hermione correctly identified the breed as a Chinese Fireball. She was a little disappointed when she didn't get points from anyone.) Dumbledore pulled his wand and waved it. "Appereo Chrismale!"

Dumbledore appeared thoroughly perplexed when a selection of white and pink folded bedding appeared on the lawn in front of the dragon's erratic path. "That's not right" he muttered.

"Did you really mean to call for sheets Headmaster?"

"Sheets? No Miss Granger."

Dumbledore thought for a moment and then waved his wand again. "Appereo Pecus." This worked a little better as there was a flash and a herd of black and white sheep appeared on the lawn. The Chinese Fireball attacked and killed four of the grazers and then settled down to eat.

Harry, Ron and a bunch of other students went over and untangled Ron's brother Charlie from the chain that had held him. "Are you okay?" Lavender Brown said as she intentionally brushed off a tangle of leaves from the front of the older Weasley's pants.

Charlie's eyes grew fuzzy momentarily and he pushed the flirt away from him. "You must be Lavender. My brother Ron told me you were quick to find a broom closet with anyone male."

Lavender grinned but the Dumbledore interrupted the gathering. "Mr. Weasley, what is going on here?"

"You requested a fourth dragon for the first task of the Tournament didn't you? Well, it just got here and the other dragons didn't take too kindly to having another female around the ….mmmmph" Charlie Weasley didn't get hit by just a silencing spell – his entire mouth disappeared!

Dumbledore looked around to see that the students that had come outside had mostly vanished back into the greenhouse they had come out of. It was too late to wipe the memories of everyone that had seen the dragon or heard what one of the handler's had said.

Harry had seen Fleur hightail it back when she heard that there were four dragons for the first task. She was on the way to tell Madame Maxine or Victor Krum or both. The two foreign champions had stuck together whenever they got away from their minders and Harry had inadvertently heard a not so private encounter between the two one evening in the library. The voices and the subject matter frankly sickened Harry but it seemed that those two Champions were very smitten with each other. (And were actively 'smiting' each other at every opportunity. (Ewww!))

Dumbledore turned his attention back to Charlie as the other handlers finally caught up to the large creature. Dumbledore cancelled the vanishing spell on Charlie's mouth and then received a refresher course of how colorful cursing was in Romanian. At the same time, Harry was pulling a reluctant Hermione back into the greenhouse so they could head out. "I'm going to see if I can go find Cedric and warn him."

Hermione nodded. "I think I'll go wait for Ginny to get out of Potions and tell her that the first task involves dragons. She will take great delight in telling Ron what you didn't sign him up for."

Harry smiled as he watched Hermione gather up her bookbag and walk away with a certain sway of her hips. She just loved to tease Harry, a trait she had picked up from the young Miss Weasley.

Harry had no doubts that Tom Riddle was already being informed that the Champions were challenging dragons. Slytherin House had lined up almost en mass to bow down and serve the Dark Lord. Of course they had to be sneaky about it; something that a few of the denser ones didn't quite comprehend. Wearing 'I Heart Voldie' buttons to Transfiguration class got Crabbe and Goyle enough demerits and time with Filch to actually receive paychecks and a P60 form by the end of the year.

Draco had a hard time deciding which direction to go in finding his father's master. There were two places he might be; one was the restricted section in the Hogwarts library where The Dark Lord was reading every banned book he could get his hands on; even Peyton Place and Green Eggs and Ham. (Tom's giggles were horrible, just horrible.)

The second place that Lord Voldemort could be found was the Hogwarts kitchen. Harry Potter, with the backing of Madame Pomfrey, suggested that Tom's status of being vertically challenged might be overcome with a few good meals. A few potions brewed by the Weasley twins were then secretly snuck into Lord Voldemort's meals by the house elves. After a few weeks, Lord Voldemort erroneously thought that the increase in meals was making him bigger. It was in a way. Lord Voldemort was now not only vertically challenged but he was getting more horizontally gifted. The Mirror of Erised was instrumental in really convincing Lord Voldemort that he was getting taller and looking better every day.

Lord Voldemort was snacking on a whole plum pudding and trying to decipher the hidden messages and spells in Slaughterhouse-Five when Draco approached him. Lord Voldemort watched the young man bow and grovel his way forward. It was enjoyable for him having this many followers again even if he couldn't punish them properly.

Voldemort smiled when Draco told him the first task involved dragons. He could control dragons; they were only a different variety of snakes and he had one of those at his beck and call underneath Hogwarts. All he had to do was summon the Basilisk and let it fight whatever dragon he was to fight.

Draco Malfoy delivered his message and watched as the most powerful wizard in the world laughed with his mouth open and full of plum pudding. It was alarming. Very alarming. Draco thought about going on a serious diet. Between Weasley in the Great Hall and Lord Voldemort who ate in the Slytherin common room most evenings, it was more than enough to put anyone off their feed. And complaining to his father did no good. Lucius Malfoy had been "volunteered" as Lord Voldemort's official aide so he was here at school most of the time. And being tortured at the Champion's whim.

Voldemort finished his plum pudding and stood up cautiously. He felt taller with a full stomach. Since he was stuck at this school until the Tournament ended he had decided to take the time and work on mastering his craft and adding to his coffers. Although there were few calls to torture people for fun and profit, Lord Voldemort quickly picked up on something that he thought was greatly needed by the young wizards and witches here at Hogwarts.

The Dark Lord's 'Style Nook, Tanning Salon and Bait Shop' had opened with little fanfare in a deserted corridor on the second sub-sub-sublevel of dungeons only a few days after the reappearance of Voldemort on the Night of the Champions Choosing. The fun of the place wasn't actually the contents and selection of goods in the shop but the very odd uniforms that the Slytherins students that worked the counters had to wear. The documented appearance of the sons and daughters of the pureblood Slytherins in see-thru hip waders, Parisian haberdashery and neon colored muscle shirts gave everyone who dared approach the "Little Shop of Horrorifics" enough blackmail material to keep them comfortable for a long number of years.

Lord Voldemort had plenty of things to occupy his time. The store inventory, the preparations for the Tournament and his new mail order course on Ballroom dancing kept him from interacting with the other contestants and, more importantly, Harry Potter.

Xxxx xxxx

Harry was confronted by a very, very upset Lord Voldemort the morning of the first task. In fact the 'Maroon Midget Maniac' was waiting for Harry outside the Gryffindor common room when he exited it with Hermione and Ginny.

Sending the two girls on to breakfast, Harry waited patiently as Voldemort vented for a good ten minutes before he actually said something that was recognizable as English. Harry held up his hand once he understood the complaint.

"Hold on; let me get this right. You had a date with Rita Skeeter last night and you wanted to end up in bed with her. I personally think that's a pretty bad choice to make but I can understand that you wanted to prove something to the press in a positive way. You said you took her to the Chamber of Secrets to show her the big surprise you were sure would guarantee you success in the first task against the dragons."

"Yes, I'm sure it was a big shock to find out that Salazar Slytherins pet guardian was dead. That's too bad Tom; did you forget to leave instructions with anyone to feed and water it when you sealed the Chamber up the last time you visited it? No? Well you have nobody to blame but yourself then."

"I'm sorry but all those rumors that you've heard about me killing the beast have to be made up. Little skinny me defeating a big scary thing that could kill you by just looking at you? Somebody must be lying to you. If I had somehow managed to kill that thing, wouldn't I have sold the skin and venom and all those other rare and expensive bits to make myself a pile of cash? It just doesn't make sense Tom."

"Oops, sorry. You don't like hearing that name – I forgot. I'll try to remember in the future. By the way, do you have a backup plan for dealing with those cranky female dragons? Hey, don't run away like that. No, I haven't seen Mr. Malfoy lately. Good luck later this morning then. I'll be there watching."

Harry watched as Tom Riddle practically ran (or waddled) away from him, calling out for Lucius Malfoy. It seemed the fourth Champion had this one plan to ensure his success but now had to think of something else. 'Life's tough' Harry thought as he hurried to breakfast. He wanted to get to the arena early and get a good seat to watch the fun.

Xxxx xxxx

Later he found out that he couldn't help himself; Harry had to know what the instructions to the Champions and what the task was going to be. He saw the arena set up with the rocky terrain and the bunch of dragon eggs setting in the middle of everything. He let go off Hermione's hand and showed her a corner of the Invisibility Cloak he had in his pocket.

"No, I'm not going to go under the bleachers and snog you now Harry. I want to watch the first task. I do hope nobody tries to hurt the dragons; they're supposed to get really fierce when they are provoked."

'Well, duh' Harry thought. What he said instead was that he was going to go sneak into the Champions tent and see what the specific task was. And to keep an eye on Tom.

"Okay Harry. If anybody asks about you, I'll just say your weak kidneys are acting up again and you had to run to the loo."

"Thanks Hermione." Harry walked away shaking his head and wondering if Clark Kent or Peter Parker ever got this kind of help for excuses and sneaking off.

Harry did go below the stands and checked around before throwing the invisibility cloak over himself. He vanished just split seconds before Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson came sneaking under the stands. He had no idea what they were doing there and didn't really want to find out about the two Slytherins. Harry left before he saw Draco demand that Pansy take off her dress. She did so and Harry then missed Draco Malfoy, the most evil insulting Death Eater wannabe in Hogwarts, put the dress on himself and conjure up a full–length mirror to see how he looked in the cute frock.

Harry was far away from that disturbing sight as he followed Viktor Krum and Karkaroff into the official tent. Harry stayed under his invisibility cloak near the tent flap but close enough to hear everything that was said. Harry saw that Viktor had rushed over to talk to Fleur despite the objections of Madame Maxine and Karkaroff who were arguing about whose student's behavior was the most inappropriate. Cedric Diggory was standing with Dumbledore and having some discussion that involved a lot of arm waving and pointing. Harry finally figured out that Dumbledore was trying to explain the complicated movement that went to a spell that Cedric wanted to use.

It wasn't too long before the last Champion entered the tent. Harry was almost run over first as Mr. Malfoy rushed through the tent flap first and held it open for Lord Voldemort to enter. Lord Voldemort looked especially bored at the sight of the other contestants and the Ministry officials.

Ludo Bagman stepped forward holding a little squirming bag. "Now that we're all here, it's time to tell you the first task. There are a bunch of dragon eggs out in the arena. In the midst of all those future monsters, there will be one golden egg. Each of you is tasked to retrieve that egg by whatever means are possible. Oh, I almost forgot. Each of you will have to get by a different dragon to do that. Now, the rules for this task. The golden egg cannot be summoned; you must claim it with your own hands. No outside help is allowed and you are only allowed to carry your wand into the arena."

"MANEF (Meddlers Against Nearly Everything Fun) are holding protest marches outside the school, so please try not to hurt the dragons too much or break any of the dragon eggs. You wouldn't believe the paperwork we had to go through to get all the special permits to move the eggs from their original nests. I promise you that you will be filling out paperwork until the next Tri-wizard Tournament if you mess this up."

"I've got a toy model of the each species in this bag. You will reach in and draw one out to determine your opponent and the order of the Champions. You first Miss Delacour."

Fleur reached carefully into the bad and pulled out a very cute miniature Welsh Green with the number one on its neck. Krum went next and picked out the scarlet Chinese Fireball that Harry had seen a week ago. It had the number three on its neck.

Cedric tried to let Voldemort pick next but the pudgy little wizard just shook his head. Cedric picked a blue Swedish Short-Snout with the number two. He went down and sat on the nearest cot and looked at the little model as if it could tell him something.

That left You-Know-Who. Voldemort had Bagman lower the sack until he could reach into it He-Who-Must-Not (etc.,etc.), pulled out the Hungarian Horntail and placed it on his palm. The model with the number four on its neck nipped at Voldemort's thumb and drew blood. Harry felt a little sick when the little model suddenly swayed and keeled over dead. That was Harry's cue to gather the invisibility cloak tighter about him and leave the tent.

Harry slipped into the seat that was saved for him between Ginny and Hermione with the invisibility cloak folded back up in his pocket. He told the girls quietly what had happened in the tent and they looked a little nervous. "Hey at least it's not me out there." Harry said.

Looking around at the crowd while the judges were getting into their special box Harry saw something interesting. Snape was leading both Draco and Ron away from the field, dragging them by their earlobes.

"What's that all about?'

"Ron opened his big mouth again as soon as he saw Malfoy. He said something pretty disparaging about Slytherins but I think he went over the line when he asked Draco why he was wearing earrings. They got into the biggest fight but Professor Snape broke it up and gave the two of them detentions. He's taking them up to Madame Pomfrey to heal the broken noses and such and then turn them over to Filch."

"You get the feeling that Professor Snape is trying to distance himself from the competition Harry?"

"I think so, Peeves said that our Potions teacher had had it up to here with his roommate. Voldemort never picks up after himself and he farts in his sleep. Badly."

"Harry!"

"I'm just repeating what I've heard."

The sound of trumpets blaring pulled everyone's attention back to the arena. A slightly nervous Fleur Delacour stepped out into sunlight and clamored down into the pit. The gate at the other end of the enclosure opened and the Welsh Green was prodded into the area. It saw the eggs at once and came over to stand guard over them. Harry saw that there was a big chain around the dragon's ankle to keep it from flying away or getting totally loose.

Harry and his friends turned his attention back to Fleur who had reached a slightly higher rock. Her movement finally attracted the Welsh Green and it growled in her direction. Fleur raised her wand and cast her first spell.

It vanished her clothes. Totally! The catcalls and gasps from the crowd and the judges didn't sway the French girl at all. Harry's eyes were quickly covered by both Ginny's and Hermione's hands. Harry tried not to sound too disappointed. "Why did she do that?"

"She's trying to work her Veela allure on the dragon" Hermione said. "Is she totally stupid? That's a FEMALE for Merlin's sake and the chances of it being… are really remote. Not that's there's anything wrong if you lean that way of course."

From the sounds Harry heard, Fleur quickly realized that her first shot wouldn't work. The girls took their hands away when Fleur re-clothed herself but it was too late for most of the male spectators in the stands. They were lying back with strange smiles on their faces for the most part or sleeping. More than a few of the older wizards were actually lighting up pipes or muggle cigarettes. Harry wondered if all the smoke drifting across the arena would make it possible for the girl to sneak in and get her egg.

Harry heard Fleur suddenly yell out another spell. "Appereo Pecus." Another flock of sheep appeared but began running as soon as they heard the Welsh Green roar. There wasn't a lot of room in the little arena and the dragon quickly killed a bunch and settled down to eat. Fleur flinched every time she heard bones crunching but did manage to get her egg and slip out of the arena.

Harry looked over to the judges table. Madame Maxine was smiling as she wrote down her score but Karkaroff, Crouch and Bagman had frowns on their faces. Harry could see a furious Dumbledore write down a big zero on his scorecard even from where he sat. 'The Headmaster must really hate copycats' he thought.

The students that were still awake watched as the dragon handlers dragged the Welsh Green out of the arena, cleaned up the sheep remains and put another golden egg in the middle of the dragon eggs. The second competitor, Cedric Diggory walked into the stadium to cheers as the Swedish Short-Snout was let into the area. Cedric did a brief bow to the judge's table and then turned and faced his dragon. The dragon and Cedric stared at each other for a minute or two sizing up the opposition.

Cedric raised his wand hand and then summoned something from the Champions tent. Everyone saw that he was holding the animated model of the huge beast. Without taking his eyes off the Short-Snout, Cedric waved his wand at the model and it took off on a line for the full-sized dragon. Harry saw that Cedric was using his wand like a conductor's baton as he directed the flight of the little animation. Harry thought that Cedric was going to use the obviously enhanced toy to distract the Short-Snout and lead it away from the clutch off eggs. Cedric obviously had another plan. Everyone watched as the little Short-Snout flew rapidly around the dragon's head annoying it as it tried to bat the thing out of the air. Harry thought it would be really cool if the dragon managed to knock itself out by hitting itself.

Cedric made one very complicated wave of his wand and then a dramatic lunge. Harry's seeker eyes were about the only pair that saw the hand-sized model fly right up one nostril of the dragon. Cedric lowered his arm and took a deep breath. Strangely enough, so did the Swedish Short-Snout.

It then sneezed. And sneezed again. The crowd started cheering as the Short-Snout continued to sneeze and fell over sideways pawing at its snout. The dragon continued to be racked by sneezes as Cedric made his way into the nest and held up his golden egg. When Cedric finally exited the pit he raised his arm and summoned the very disgustingly-covered-in-snot model to him. The dragon got back to its feet but continued to shake her head as she was dragged out of the arena.

Ginny was giggling next to Harry but she was clapping just as hard as everyone else for the Hogwarts Champion. "That was really cool Harry."

Harry agreed and Hermione thought that he should be getting extra points for his creative wand work.

The next Champion was Victor Krum. He marched into the arena but ducked down behind a big rock cropping when the Chinese Fireball blew large ball of fire over his head.

"And that's why it's called a Chinese Fireball Ginny."

"Thanks Hermione, I never would have guessed that."

While the Fireball was reloading for another attempt on his life, everyone saw Krum stand up and issue his first spell. "Athhssio Nimbuss."

Even the dragon paused and cocked his head sideways a little bit. It and everyone in the stands were trying to figure out what the wizard was trying to say.

"Athhssio Nimbuss."

"What?" came from a number of voices in the stands. Ginny turned to Harry and little excitedly and tugged on his sleeve. "I think he's trying to summon his broom."

"That's suicidal" Harry said. "What's he going to do with a broom – outfly a dragon? I'm a seeker to and I'd have to be drunk to even think about trying that."

"Maybe that explains his speech Harry. He's half snockered all the time."

Harry looked at Hermione wide-eyed and then swung his attention back to the Champion from Durmstrang. Now that it had been mentioned Harry could see that Krum swayed just a bit as he pointed his wand again. Hoping it really wasn't the effects of firewhiskey or something else, Harry held his breath as he called out again.

"Athhssio .. Ah, come'ere bwoomie, bwoomie."

There was a whoosh and Harry saw a Nimbus 2001, Krum's broom, come wobbling over the stands to his outstretched hands. Viktor mounted his broom and lept, make that… flew to the attack. The Chinese Fireball got a little dizzy as Krum made pass after pass around the beast's head, turning him around and making it spin in circles. Just when Harry thought the Fireball was tired from trying to blast the tiny figure and the broom out of the air, Viktor swooped down and picked up the golden egg out of the middle of the clutch of eggs.

Everyone cheered and Harry saw that Ron was already headed over to the twins to collect his bet on the world famous seeker. The dragon turned suddenly at the sound coming from the stands and the unfortunate happened.

Viktor was holding up the egg in triumph and looking toward the judge's box. He never saw the big wide tail of the Chinese Fireball come whipping around and demolish his broom. Viktor went sailing in a high arch toward the school, losing his hold on the egg which happened to fall into Harry's arms. Harry looked at it for a second and then dropped the prize like a too hot biscuit.

There was a sickening crunch from an area far in back of the stands and everybody flinched.

"Do you suppose…" Hermione asked a little worriedly.

"Yep" Harry said. "He went off toward The Whomping Willow; I bet he hit it dead on. I wonder how the judges are going to score that?"

There was a called timeout from the judges as they all hurried to check on the foreign Champion. Harry saw that Fleur was the first to flee toward the sentient tree and hoped she knew how to duck. He thought about following in the off chance that the female Champion would try using her allure on a tree. Deciding he'd rather have a girlfriend and a half at the end of the day Harry remained seated.

(Hermione and Ginny had finally explained their relationship to Harry the night after he surprisingly named Tom Riddle as his substitute. Because of the abuse Ginny had received from the diary version of Riddle, she was extremely scared of men and boys and didn't want to have anything to do with them at all. She trusted that her rescuer and Hermione wouldn't let anybody personally take advantage of her ever again. Hermione had provided a bunch of 'special' comfort to the distraught youngest Weasley in the summer after Ginny's first year and they became very close. So close in fact that Harry had to take a very cold shower after Hermione told him how close they got some nights in bed. 'Not that there's anything wrong with that type of relationship' Harry thought. Anyway, Hermione had agreed to 'share' Harry until or if Ginny wanted a relationship with another male. It was therapy of a kind for Ginny and Harry wouldn't begrudged helping her out any way he could. The sacrifices a wizard had to make for his friends were just unbelievable. Harry suffered soooo much from the kisses and hugs of two witches.)

Dumbledore came back with the rest of the judges after about twenty minutes and used a Sonorous charm. "Mr. Krum will be quite all right after his effort with the Chinese Fireball and his unfortunate collision with one of the school's Horticultural marvels. Madame Pomfrey and a number of healers from St. Mungo's are even now applying their vast skills in jigsaw solving and furniture repair to make sure that the Champion from Durmstrang Academy will be all healed up in time for the second task."

With that Dumbledore and the rest of the judge's returned to their special box and waited for the last Champion to appear. Almost everyone heard a discussion issuing from the tent which got louder and louder. The crowd heard a loud "NO Way" from inside and then there was silence.

Lord Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy exited the tent. Malfoy was floating as he was unconscious and Voldemort was guiding him with an upraised hand. It was quite shocking and Harry suddenly wished that the younger Malfoy was still present to see how his all-powerful father was doing.

Voldemort trotted his way to the front of the judge's table and summarily dropped Malfoy on the ground. "Let me wake up this fool and then we can proceed."

Casting a "Renervate" , Voldemort waited until Lucius woke up and slowly climbed to his feet. Voldemort pointed to the arena and the Hungarian Horntail and Harry started sniggering.

"What? Have I missed something?"

"No Ginny, Voldemort has a new plan of action. Since he couldn't kill or paralyze the dragon, he's just ordering Malfoy Sr. to go do the chore for him. I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore and the other judges aren't going to allow that."

Malfoy looked very relieved at the pronouncement that Lord Voldemort had to go into the arena himself and retrieve the egg. That expression didn't last very long as Voldemort "Crucioed" him quickly back into unconsciousness.

Harry saw that the judges were already discussing how much to take off Voldemort's score when he deigned to climb down into the rocky arena. The Hungarian Horntail, the biggest and most vicious of the female dragons present, stood protectively over the eggs. Voldemort wound up and sent a stunner right at the breastbone of the dragon. It staggered her back but really enraged her. Voldemort sent another stunner; now the big dragon was up against the side off the arena but flapping its wings. It was trying to break away from the chain around its leg and get to the last competitor.

With a loud snap one of the links in the chain finally broke and the Horntail was loose. Most people in the stands started running for cover but Harry held steadfast. He could see where the dragon was heading – right for Voldemort. Voldemort ducked under the massive bodyand sharp claws and turned to face the attacker.

Voldemort raised his wand one more time and called out another spell. "Tempus Gorganzona Imperitifva!"

Hermione reacted as she heard that spell. Harry was pushed to the ground and covered by both Hermione and Ginny without any explanation.

"Keep your eyes closed!" Hermione screamed.

Harry heard Dumbledore and the other judges swearing and glanced sideways to see that the walls of the arena had grown forty feet high to screen off the arena from anybody's sight.

"What just happened?" Harry said. He wasn't too concerned about getting up in any hurry. Hermione's chest was firmly planted against his chin and, if that wasn't distracting enough, Ginny had grabbed his bum and was holding onto it for dear life as she trembled against his stomach after taking him down.

There was panic for about five minutes until Dumbledore announced that the task was finished. Harry was let up by the two girls as Dumbledore cancelled the spell on the arena walls.

As the walls turned transparent and finally vanished, Harry and the remaining spectators saw the Voldemort had gained possession of the last golden egg. He was also sitting on the Hungarian Horntail's foot and Harry joined the others in gasping.

"That was very, very advanced and Dark Magic" Hermione said. "Riddle reached through time and brought back something that could stop the dragon in its tracks. He could only hold it here for a couple of seconds but it was enough time for it to do enough damage."

"I thought gorganzola was a type of cheese" Ginny said.

"It is Ginny. What Tom brought forward was a mythical creature; at least everyone thinks it was a mythical creature. I guess we'll have to think differently now. It was terribly real female that conquered the Hungarian Horntail."

Voldemort would argue for days about the extremely low score that he got for finishing the first task successfully. It did no good and Lucius Malfoy was otherwise occupied for the next 2 years filling out paperwork and appearing in court to explain his Master's action.

It was a gorgon that Lord Voldemort brought from the past to duel the Hungarian Horntail and it was very real.

And that my friends is how Hogwarts ended up with a life-sized stone statue of a Hungarian Horntail opposite the Quidditch pitch. Every so often, late at night, students suffering from restlessness or insomnia think they hear it roaring over the sound of the wind.

Xxxx xxxx

A. N. The second task will not be coming up soon. I have to figure out who Tom will 'dearly miss'. Lucius? Bellatrix? Dumbledore? Harry? His Starbucks barista? Only time and sleep will help me solve this Riddle.