Training was going smoothly. Harry had channeled his feeling of betrayal, and his horns had begun growing long. They did not grow curved down his head like Alex's, but that would simply give him a more imposing figure.
They spiraled around slightly, spiraled tighter than an antelope but not as tightly as a unicorn. Harry loved them, the way they caught the sunlight along with his teeth. Harry liked his teeth too.
Large, descending fangs that he refused to retract glowed a polished white that was only a result of Harry's toothbrush technique.
The first task was today, and Alex had taught him the secret to win.
Asking politely.
Fleur looked down her nose as she passed Harry and left the Champion's then for her challenge. Harry heard her siren verse, but knew she was performing in the wrong language. He laughed loudly.
Dragons dislike mind magicks. They find them disgusting.
Famously wise creatures to those who they choose to communicate to, Dragons are mentally exceptional and could carry a conversation well.
Viktor Krum went soon after Fleur's smoking form was carried into the tent.
Harry was up next, and Viktor was back in record time for this task.
Harry steeled his nerves as Viktor returned, and strode from the tent confidently as the cannon rung out his cue.
"Drem Yol Lok, greetings Dovah." Harry said, a sonorous carrying his voice to the beast. Many of the crowd laughed loudly at the boy, thinking him mad.
"Drem Yol Lok, Joor. I believe you are here for the egg, yes?" The dragon asked, her voice drawing gasps from the crowd.
"Yes. Krosis for the interruption to your nesting, but these 'Tor' Joorre believe your wishes do not matter." Harry snarled out, glaring up at the judges.
"It is good to see proper manners on a Joor." She turned around and shuffled slightly, gathering the fake egg in her mouth and plopping it into his hands.
"I trust you shall get revenge for Viktor's dragon, Dovahkiin?" She asked.
"What happened?" Harry asked, pausing in admiring the egg.
"The Bulgarian rat made my friend crush her eggs." She snarled. A small plume of smoke flashed out of her nostrils. Harry nodded solemnly.
"He shall taste my reckoning. I did have one question." Harry said.
"What is it, Dovahkiin?" She asked.
"Would you be willing to donate a scale? I wish to know if we can use willingly given scales for our wands instead of slaughtering innocent dragons for heartstrings?" Harry asked. The dragon hummed in understanding, and bent her serpentine neck backward to pry a scale from her back with her tooth. She gathered it in her mouth and plopped it at Harry's feet.
"Thank you." Harry intoned, bowing low.
"Thank you as well, Dovahkiin. I rather like having a soul." She said. Harry grinned and left. Rita Skeeter was on the opposite side of the tent wall, and she accosted him. Harry smirked.
"Under the instructions of my trainer, I have given exclusive rights to my image and any interviews to the Quibbler. Maybe for once, you can actually quote me on that." Harry said, before politely pushing her away on her shoulder with two fingers.
Harry strode from the tent, smiling up at Alex. Alex smiled warmly back, his fangs flashing in the sun.
"What happens next?" Harry asked.
"You have a conversation with hidden animosity towards the other members of the Golden Trio who are coming to apologize to you right now." Alex replied drily, his smile turning into a sneer as the two approached.
"I'm sorry about all this mate. I wanted to keep you away from the tasks, and I figured the best way was for everyone else to realise you don't have the magical power to survive the tasks. It's not like this wasn't just pure intervention on Dumbledore's part, and I think we all know that." Ron said. Harry looked at him in disbelief.
Harry turned to Hermione.
"And your apology?" Harry prompted.
"No words will cover this. I will prove, via actions, that I am sorry." Hermione said simply. Harry nodded, his glee at seeing her changing hidden behind the mask Alex had taught him to use.
"Friends again?" Ron asked, oblivious.
"No. We are not friends again. We shall never be friends again, until you change your behaviour from the jealous prat before me to a man like Arthur Weasley. If you keep doing this kind of shit, I will kill you out of rage before I can stop myself." Harry snapped, before turning and marching off. Ron growled and stormed away, leaving Hermione alone with Alex.
"You said exactly the correct thing. Follow it up, and he'll forgive you." Alex said.
"How can you be sure?" Hermione asked sadly.
"He's really not all that hard to figure out. He hates his fame, because he's only the Boy-Who-Lived because of the Parents-Who-Were-Murdered. He hates attention, but he gets it anyway. If anyone else had been the youngest seeker in a century, it would have been second page news.
Because he did it, it was front page for three days straight. All he wants to do is live his life." Alex said simply.
"I'll let him live it then. I can only hope the boy I knew to emerge again, even if he will be even more jaded than before. I can only hope he forgive me for not pushing against the other's opinions." Hermione murmured. Alex nodded and left.
Alex found Harry sitting on a small boulder on the edge of the Black Lake, skipping rocks. Alex summoned a table and placed a bottle of Ogden's upon it.
"Drink?" Alex offered. Harry nodded once. Alex poured out a finger of the whiskey into a conjured glass and handed it wordlessly to Harry. The younger man nodded once more gratefully and drained the firewhiskey. He belched out a column of flame and sighed once.
"I still can't believe he said it." Alex said with a smile.
"Said what?" Harry inquired, turning to his mentor with a bemused expression.
"He said 'Friends again?'. You should have seen your face." Alex said with a loud laugh.
"I suppose it was somewhat funny." Harry replied.
"If it was only somewhat funny, you need more whiskey." Alex replied with a grin, belching out some fire.
Harry awoke from his catnap with a start as the portrait door slammed shut. A fuming Hermione stormed inside, bushy hair flying and eyes glowing with rage. She paced in front of the fire, letting loose with a stream of curses in five different languages that Harry could only smirk at.
She ignored the stares of her peers, wondering what had incensed their bookish friend so deeply.
"Are you done wearing a hole in that rug?" Harry asked with a small smile.
"No. The rug is charmed to not tear or fray, I wish to prove all charms are breakable." Hermione snarled at the open air, disregarding the presence of the small group entirely.
Alex let out a loud, booming laugh that broke Hermione from her trance and sent her hair flying.
"Even in a blood-rage she still showcases her knowledge." Alex remarked.
"I suppose so. I can only guess as to who has caused this." Harry agreed. Hermione, forgetting both herself and her circumstances, flung herself upon Harry and cried into his shoulder. Harry's eyelid twitched repeatedly in rage and confused emotions, but one stern gaze from Alex had him wrapping his arms around Hermione.
He whispered small nothings into her ear and kissed the top of her bushy hair once.
Alex smirked. Hermione disentangled herself from his arms and blushed hotly, bolting from the room and into her dormitory.
"I wanted to ask your advice on something." Harry said after a beat, turning to Alex.
"Shoot." Alex prompted.
"I met a girl while I was walking the hallways, she spoke in a very dreamy way as if she was sleepwalking. She had no shoes and only a thin nightie on, and she said something about how her clothes always disappear. I suspect that she is being bullied. What should I do?" Harry asked.
Alex leaned back into his armchair and hummed in thought.
"This girl, did she have thin, pale blonde hair and a willowy frame?" Alex inquired. Harry gave a resolute nod.
"The young Seer, Luna Lovegood. It would not surprise me if she was being bullied. Faeries bring out the deepest emotions within someone, and her grandmother was a Big Faery, the kind easy to pass off as humans. Aside from the tail.
Ravenclaw is full of conceited bitches, so they just become worse and worse as time goes on while exposed to a Faery's aura. I suspect all she needs is a steady regimen of unconditional friendship, ignoring anything most people regard as 'Weird'." Alex suggested.
The two sat in contemplative silence before heading for their bedchambers for the night.
