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French. Thoughts. Other random stuff. Italics.

CHAPTER 7

Harry glanced at his watch. It's almost time and he didn't want to be late for the wand weighing ceremony. Whatever it was. He nervously put his hand up and stared at Snape while sighing inwardly, cursing his luck for having to ask Snape for permission to be excused from the lesson.

Snape took almost five whole minutes to notice him. By now the whole class was looking at him curiously. He finally looked up from the book that he was focused on at his desk in the front of the class and fixed Harry with the usual loathing look that was reserved just for him.

"Yes Potter?"

"I need to go for the wand weighing ceremony." He said, repaying Snape's look with interest.

"Ah yes…I forgot you are a champion." Snape sneered at him while Malfoy and some of the Slytherins sniggered audibly. "I expect you back here to complete your draught of living death. Champion or not you still have to complete the lessons."

He smirked and opened an empty flask and filled it with the colorless potion in his cauldron. Walking up to the table where Snape was watching him with a growing expression of distaste he set it down in front of him.

"It's done." He turned away quickly, hiding his grin because of the look on Snape's face. Determinedly avoiding the gazes of everyone else, he packed up his things and after clearing his cauldron with a silent vanishing spell, proceeded out of the classroom.

Glancing at his watch again he broke into a run, bolting up the stairs and out of the dungeons. Finally reaching the door to the unused classroom opposite the Great Hall he stopped, catching his breath and glancing at the time. He had about two minutes to spare. Breathing a sigh of relief he pushed the door open and walked inside.

The classroom was huge. Much bigger than any of the other classrooms he had ever been in. The usual desks and chairs were gone and in the middle of the room sat Ollivander who smiled, nodding his head at Harry when he walked in. The headmasters and headmistress were all present with the addition of a rather viscous looking woman with dirty blonde hair who fixed him with a hungry look when his gaze met hers making his skin crawl.

Dumbledore nodded kindly at him and gestured towards the side of the room where Cedric, Krum and Fleur were seated. He noticed that Fleur was scowling at a bald headed man with a camera who couldn't seem to stop looking at her. She turned away from the man and caught sight of him and her expression brightened up considerably as he took his seat beside her. She smiled and slipped her hand in his, pinching it slightly.

"You're late." She said in an accusing voice.

"Sorry, Snape was a pain." He caught Cedric's eye who was looking at him curiously. He looked like he was going to say something but shook his head and turned away with a grin leaving him with a bewildered look. He didn't have time to dwell on it though; Dumbledore cleared his throat at that moment.

"Now that the fourth champion is here, we can get started. Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore turned and took his seat with Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the opposite side of the room with the two remaining people in the room. Ollivander stood up from his place and turned with a warm smile on his face.

"There's nothing to worry about. We're just going to inspect your wands to see if they are in perfect condition. Ladies first…Miss Delacour, if you please?"

She walked up to Ollivander and placed her wand in his outstretched hand. He examined it closely, murmuring under his breath while twirling the wand between his fingers.

"Hmm…nine and a half inches. Rosewood. And the core is…dear me…a single hair from a Veela?" Fleur grinned.

"From my grandmuzzer." Ollivander looked at the wand in reverence.

"I have never used Veela hair for a core in my wands. Veela hair can only be used as a core for a wand if the wand's master shares a special connection with the Veela, it isn't the most reliable core we could use for our wands." He muttered, more to himself than others. "This is a truly exceptional wand. Especially good for charms."

He took a few more minutes with the wand and finally he murmured, "Orchideous" causing a bouquet of flowers to appear from the end of her wand.

"It's in perfect condition, thank you for allowing me to assess your wand Miss Delacour." He said, bowing to her and handing her the wand and the flowers. "Mr. Krum then…"

Krum got up and walked over to Ollivander, with his ever present scowl more pronounced than ever and gave his wand to him. Harry noticed that unlike most normal wands, Krum's was almost black in color and a little thicker than most. Ollivander took a moment with his wand as with Fleur's before speaking.

"Ten and a quarter inches. Hornbeam. Dragon heartstring core?" He asked and Krum nodded silently. "This is a Gregorovitch creation is it not?" He asked again to which Krum nodded again. "Inflexible, suited more for power."

He spent a little bit more time and made a flock of birds burst out from the end of his wand with a bang like a gunshot. Then he handed the wand back to Krum with a satisfied expression, announcing that it was in the best condition again. Cedric went next.

"Ah, now this is one of my own." Ollivander said happily. "It's in fine condition too"

"Polished it last night." Cedric said, grinning sheepishly. Harry glanced down at his wand and noticed that it was covered with fingerprints and small scratches and hastily rubbed it using a handful of his robes causing a brilliant shower of red and green sparks to shoot out from its end. Fleur giggled while the others in the room looked at him in amusement.

"Sorry." Harry said in a small voice. Ollivander returned to examining Cedric's wand, chuckling slightly.

"I remember this clearly, twelve and a half inches. Ash. Containing a single tail hair from a fine male unicorn. Best suited for transfiguration." Cedric nodded in response and Ollivander returned to examining it. He finished his examination faster than the others and gave it back to him after making a fountain of wine shoot from its end, announcing that it was in perfect condition.

Harry got up next and walked towards the ageing man trying to hide his embarrassment from earlier. Ollivander smiled and took his wand from him, his expression transforming instantly.

"How well I remember this wand." Harry nodded, remembering the words Ollivander had spoken to him when he first bought his wand. It so happens that the phoenix who gave the feather for this wand, gave one other. Just one other. What's curious is that the other feather went to the wand which left you with your scar…

"Eleven inches. Holly. Containing a single tail feather of a phoenix. Nice and supple…" Ollivander suddenly stopped, looking at his wand curiously. He spent a much longer time with his wand than the others and murmured a spell that surrounded his wand with a sapphire blue glow, a color that Harry found strangely familiar. "Curious…Your wand is in good condition Mr. Potter, but I would like to speak with you if you have time after this?" Harry was slightly taken aback, but nodded all the same.

"Well then I believe we are done here?" Dumbledore asked, looking questioningly at Ollivander who nodded. "Then you are all free to go." He said with a smile towards the champions.

"Not yet Dumbledore! We still haven't gotten pictures of the champions or a back story on them. The Daily Prophet is doing a feature on the Triwizard tournament." The blonde haired witch called. Harry noticed that for a second, he thought he saw a frown on Dumbledore's face before it vanished almost immediately.

"Very well. However, the champions may only be interviewed if they give their consent. Is that clear?" Dumbledore asked sternly. The witch looked like she had been slapped in her face and didn't speak for a few moments. Recomposing herself she smiled coolly.

"Of course." Her sugary sweet voice made a shiver run down his spine, deciding that if he could help it, he was going to stay as far as possible from the witch. The witch immediately fixed her gaze on Harry as soon as Dumbledore turned away from her.

They were all made to stand in the center of the room while the cameraman snapped photo after photo. Harry kept his nails dug deep in his palm, trying hard to keep a smile which was proving difficult as the minutes flew by. He noticed that Fleur, Cedric and even Krum had the same pained looks on their faces. What surprised him the most was that Krum's expression mirrored the others. He'd thought that being an international standard Quidditch player, Krum would be more used to this sort of thing.

After the group photos were over they insisted on taking individual photos of the champions. Fleur was especially displeased by this. The cameraman seemed intent on taking more photos than needed of her, something that Madame Maxime noticed and unceremoniously removed an extremely grateful Fleur from under the scope of the camera. Madame Maxime and Fleur left soon after that. After they were done with the others, the witch walked up to Harry who was waiting for Ollivander who was deep in conversation with Dumbledore.

"Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily Prophet. I was wondering if I could get a small interview with you? Nothing much…just a few questions?" She had latched onto his arm by the time she had finished speaking and was pulling him little by little away from the others. He instinctively wrenched his hand free from her grip, none too gently. Something about the woman unnerved him.

"No…I mean. Sorry, I have to speak to Mr. Ollivander." Her smile faltered, however it switched back on so fast that it was scary.

"How about afterwards? We will still be here."

"I have a class afterwards. Sorry." He lied easily, turning away from her before she could speak to him again. He saw that Ollivander and Dumbledore were now waiting for him by the door and thankfully walked up to them.

"We'll continue this discussion in my study if it's alright with you Mr. Ollivander? And Harry of course." Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling at Harry who nodded and followed him and Ollivander up the stairs to Dumbledore's study. They reached the stone gargoyles who leapt aside to grant them entrance when Dumbledore said clearly, "Fizzing Whizbee."

Once inside, Dumbledore waved his wand and caused three chairs to appear at the middle of the room where he gestured to Harry and Ollivander to take their seats. Once Harry sat down he heard a soft musical cry and seconds later, a slight weight on his shoulder. He looked at his side to find Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix perched on his shoulder. Fawkes proceeded to rub its head affectionately against Harry's cheek which brought a smile to his lips.

"Hey Fawkes." He murmured, stroking his beautiful red and gold feathers. The phoenix trilled happily and closed its eyes. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Seems like you're going to have to be the one to take care of Fawkes once I'm gone Harry." Dumbledore said cheerfully.

"I don't know sir, Hedwig might get a little jealous." He said grinning slightly. Then he looked at Ollivander, "Is there anything wrong with my wand or something Mr. Ollivander?"

"Yes, well…it's nothing serious. Some rather interesting things came up while I was examining your wand Mr. Potter. If I may?" He asked, leaning forward and stretching out his hand. Harry understood and gave him his wand. He murmured a few strange words and once again the wand was surrounded with a beautiful blue glow before it changed to a fiery red color. Ollivander nodded absentmindedly while Harry and Dumbledore looked on curiously.

"As I always say to everyone that first comes to my shop to purchase their wands, it is not the witch or wizard that chooses the wand, it is the wand that chooses its master. The wand mirrors its master's growth. When the master's potential increases, so does the wand. In other words, the wand is only as powerful as the wizard who uses it." Ollivander flicked Harry's wand making the glow fade away and gave it back to him.

"Even for those of us who have devoted our lives to studying and researching wand lore, there are still many questions which we aren't even close to answering. What does the wand look for in its master? What makes it different? Wands have many different traits as you would have noticed when I was examining the other champion's wands. Miss Delacour's wand makes any charms she casts much more potent that only a few others can hope to match. Mr. Krum's wand has a bit more power behind it, just like many of Gregorovitch's creations. Mr. Diggory's wand makes for easier transfigurations. The wand…mirrors its owner's strong points in other words" Harry nodded, although he still didn't have the faintest clue where this discussion was headed.

"Now your wand Mr. Potter, is one of the most unique wands I had ever forged. Unusual combination, I remember thinking to myself on the day I finished it that I would be lucky to see its master in my lifetime. There are a few problems that rose when I examined it though." Ollivander paused for a little and seemed to be deep in thought.

"The core of the wand. Whether it be a Dragon heartstring, hair from a unicorn or the feather from a phoenix determines the strength of the connection between you and your wand. It also plays a major role in the results you can achieve with your wand. When I examined your wand Mr. Potter, it seems that the connection you have with your wand is somewhat lacking. There is room for improvement. A lot of room actually." Harry tilted his head sideways in confusion.

"What do you mean sir?"

"It means that with the current pace, your wand will not be able to keep up with your development. It's like how you will never receive the best results with someone else's wand. Your wand will eventually fall behind you. The connection you have with your wand is already fully developed and yet it feels…inadequate."

"What do you propose then Garrick?" Dumbledore asked. Harry wondered for a second who he was speaking to, then realized that he was using Ollivander's first name.

"While this is an extremely rare situation, it is not unheard of. Throughout the history of wand lore, there have been many recordings of such things happening. The problem can be solved by finding a second core to function hand in hand with the original. However, this can be quite difficult to find as it is extremely difficult to find another core for a wizard. There are still certain clues that can show us what to look for though. Mr. Potter, if I could have your wand back again?" Harry gave Ollivander back his wand.

Ollivander once again murmured something and Harry's wand glowed a fiery red. "This is your…affinity if you will. This shows your current bond the phoenix feather core. Which incidentally came from the very same phoenix on your shoulder." He added, nodding towards Fawkes who was still perched on Harry's shoulder.

"My wand's core came from Fawkes?" Harry asked in amazement.

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded, smiling while Fawkes trilled happily.

"And this…" The wand glowed blue. "Is your second affinity. I do have certain ideas as to what the core might be, but it is only an assumption so I need to do more research before I can give you an answer Mr. Potter. It is also only going to get harder to find your second core if my assumptions are correct. Your wand will serve you well for the time being. However I must ask that you come back to my shop after this tournament ends. We will have to figure out some way to solve this problem." Harry nodded and took his wand back. Dumbledore and Ollivander both stood up and Harry followed suit.

"I was right when I said we should expect great things from you Mr. Potter." Ollivander said with a smile.


Later that evening after an early supper found Harry, Fleur and the others sitting in what was now their favorite spot in the Hogwarts grounds, next to the lake where he usually practiced at night. The girls were amusing themselves by throwing the remnants of their food towards the lake which kept vanishing within seconds under a large tentacle.

"So, what do you think the first task is going be?" Caroline asked, sitting down in front of Harry and Fleur who were propped up against the tree, talking quietly.

"It can't be anyzing too dangerous right? I mean, zey 'ave to consider zat 'Arry is competing too now." Aurélie said anxiously, joining them with Amy. Harry grinned at the blue haired witch. She had been a lot more protective of him ever since the day his name came out of the goblet.

"All I have to do is survive whatever it is right?" He said, earning him a painful knock on his head from Aurélie and a hard jab from Fleur's elbow at his side simultaneously. He winced, rubbing his head with one hand and crouching low to minimize the pain at his side. "Forget the tasks, you two are going to force me out of them if you carry on like this."

"Don't go giving us ideas now. It actually sounds pretty good to me." Caroline said with a sinister smile on her face.

"Serves you right, don't go around saying zings like zat 'Arry." Fleur said reproachfully. While Aurélie glared at him. Harry gulped under their gazes and nodded.

"What? Are we that scary?" Caroline asked with a smile.

"You have no idea" He muttered making them laugh.

"But seriously, I can't believe zey're not giving any information about ze first task. I zink zis is ze first time zey're doing something like zis, considering ze past tournaments." Amy said thoughtfully.

"It can't be anything too bad then. They don't really expect you to face off against something you've never seen before." Caroline's voice carried a strain of doubt though. Everyone fell silent, watching the Giant Squid float lazily across the lake while Fleur leaned against his shoulder. They spent the next hour talking about whatever that came to mind, occasionally laughing as the witches recounted some of their experiences in Beauxbatons. Harry closed his eyes, enjoying the sense of peace that had settled over them, wishing they could stay like this for as long as they wanted.

"'Arry?"

"Hm?" He opened one eye lazily to look at Fleur. Looking around he grinned when he saw that Aurélie had fallen asleep beside him. Caroline and Amy were already standing up, stretching their arms and from the tired looks on their faces, they looked like they were only just waking up too.

"'We're going back to ze carriage, I need to send a letter to my parents." Fleur said, getting to her feet.

"Yeah, and we're going to take a shower before dinner." Caroline added, stifling a yawn. Harry nodded and looked at Aurélie who still hadn't woken up.

"What about her?" He asked.

"Let her sleep, she's been a little too busy with school work. Besides, you will be here till we get back right?" Caroline asked. Harry nodded. He had no wish to stay in the castle unless absolutely necessary. Sirius and Lupin weren't going to be able to have their usual lessons with him today either, they both apparently had something to do.

"Oh and Harry? Try to control yourself, I know she's sleeping but it might make her unhappy if you try anything." Caroline said playfully. It took Harry a few seconds to get what she was talking about and blushed crimson.

"W…what? I'd never do something like that!" He yelped while the three of them burst out laughing.

"Calm down." Caroline choked out in between her laughter. "Aww look at you, you look so cute when you start blushing like that." Making him squirm uncomfortably.

"Come on" Fleur said, dragging Caroline by the arm although she too had a hard time controlling her laughter at his expression. "We'll be back soon 'Arry!"

He watched them go, sighing in relief and leaning comfortably against the tree. They always brightened him up one way or the other and he was really thankful for that. He still had no idea what he was going to do when they all left at the end of the year. They had gotten so close together that he felt like he'd known them for years.

He couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when he remembered the feel of Fleur's lips on his just a few days ago and how their behavior towards each other had changed after that. The contact had been far too short for his liking and more than once he wished they could repeat it. He had no idea where they stood now, but he didn't care. The closeness they shared was more than enough for him. For now at least.

Nothing that went on in Hogwarts bothered him the slightest. Malfoy and by now, more than half of the school were sporting badges which kept changing between 'Support Cedric Diggory, the real Hogwarts Champion!' and 'Potter Stinks'. Dumbledore hadn't made an announcement about the reason why he was competing but he didn't care. Besides, he highly doubted that the people would take Dumbledore's word anyway. Most of them felt that he was trying to take away the Hufflepuff's glory and they were also angry that he was now a champion.

Harry had once seen Cedric angrily asking some of the students to stop wearing the badges, something which made him a little happy. Most of the Hufflepuff's had since stopped wearing the badges afterwards but they were still acting coldly towards him.

He chuckled softly when he remembered the twins replacing a box of badges that Malfoy was giving out with a batch of their own which gave the people who started wearing the badges a nasty surprise when they found that the previous words vanished, replaced by "I am an ass kisser" and to add to the hilarity, a permanent sticking charm placed on them.

Fleur and the others had been furious when they had first seen the badges. It had taken a lot of convincing from Harry to calm them down. Although just a day after Malfoy had started giving out the badges, he turned up in the Hospital Wing with warts growing all over his body. Something that he suspected Caroline or the twins had a hand in, although they never confirmed it.

"What are you grinning about?" A soft voice broke the silence. He turned to see Aurélie opening her eyes and stifling a yawn.

"Nothing" Harry replied, grinning at her. She looked around, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Where are ze others?"

"They'll be back; it's almost time for dinner." He said, glancing at his watch.

"They could 'ave woken me up!" She said indignantly. He looked at her with a mock hurt expression.

"Am I really that bad company?" She smiled warmly at him.

"No." The two lapsed into comfortable silence. "'Arry? Can I ask you somezing?" She asked after a few moments. He looked at her curiously.

"Sure."

"Is zere anyzing going on wiz you and Fleur?" His heart raced at her question and he looked away. He knew that they had noticed the change in their behavior over the past few days, but he had no idea how to respond to the question. He remained silent for a long time, thinking how best to answer her question.

"I don't really know." He said truthfully. Neither he, nor Fleur had talked to each other about what had happened after all. She seemed satisfied with his answer though.

"Do you like 'er?" She asked. Harry knew there was no point denying it now. Looking away from under her gaze he nodded, feeling the color rise in his cheeks.

"Yes" Harry said quietly. Aurélie suddenly laughed and he looked up at her with a mixture of embarrassment and curiosity.

She smirked, shaking her head at his questioning gaze. "Come wiz me." She said, getting to her feet and holding out her hand.

"Where are we going?"

"Back to ze carriage, I need to get changed before we go for dinner. You're not going to let me walk back zere alone are you?" She asked playfully. He smirked before taking the offered hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet. She looked expectantly at him with her arms crossed before he laughed and offered her his arm around which she looped her own and together they made their way back towards the carriage.

Along the way he caught sight of a massive figure next to Hagrid's hut.

"Hagrid!" He shouted, waving at him.

"Harry! Good to see yeh.." Hagrid said with a smile as they drew nearer. "An' who migh' this be?" Harry had already introduced Hagrid to Fleur when they had run into him a week ago.

"This is Aurélie Belcourt, and Aurélie, this is Hagrid. He's the Care of Magical Creatures teacher." Hagrid seemed to swell with pride at being introduced as a teacher.

"A pleazure to meet you Monsieur 'Agrid" She said, shaking Hagrid's enormous hand. "I'll come with ze ozzers 'Arry." She added to Harry, and after exchanging a few words with Hagrid, she went up to the carriage a few feet away from them and disappeared inside it.

"Another one huh? Yeh have come a long way from the little firs' year back then." Hagrid remarked with a grin making Harry groan.

"She's only a friend." He mumbled.

"Yeh sure?" Hagrid had a slight twinkle in his eye. "No need ter look like tha'!" He added when Harry glared at him. "An' before I forget, come down around eleven at night, got something to show yeh." Harry stopped glaring at him and instead looked on apprehensively.

"Why so late?"

"I'll explain when we get there. Make sure yeh bring your cloak with yeh a'righ?" He frowned. Hagrid usually wouldn't be asking him to come out of the castle, breaking the curfew unless it was something important.

"Alright, I'll be there."

"An' there's another thing too. Where are Ron an' Hermione? I haven't seen the three of yeh together at all. Even when I put yeh three to work in groups yeh hardly speak with each other anymore." Harry sighed, he honestly didn't want to talk about them anymore.

"We kind of fell apart." He said after a few moments. Hagrid stared at him.

"What happened?" He asked curiously. After debating for a moment whether or not to tell him, he decided to just get it out. He didn't go into too much detail but gave Hagrid a brief rundown of everything that happened between them.

"They didn'" Hagrid growled, by the time he had finished explaining.

"It doesn't matter." He said with a slight note of sadness in his voice.

"Hermione, I always thought she had her heart in the righ' place." Hagrid muttered, shaking his head. "They will realize how wrong they were Harry, I've seen yeh down there by the lake sometimes at night, working yerself to death. We're all proud of yeh, Dumbledore an' the other professors speak most highly of yeh Harry. Don' let them get yeh down." Harry managed a small smile at his words.

The carriage door opened and Fleur and the others stepped out. Once they reached Harry he introduced Amy and Caroline to Hagrid too. Afterwards the five of them walked back into the castle for dinner. Hagrid said that he wanted to feed the horses before he came. Inside the Great Hall they were greeted by the twins and the French wizards along with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and the rest of dinner was spent in laughter and general speculation about the tournament.

None of the Beauxbatons students resented Harry for being a champion which made him happy. They were however, stealing glances at him and Fleur with smirks on their faces. He had a slight suspicion that someone had tipped them off about the recent changes. Now though, they looked like they had received confirmation to their musings. Not that they should be surprised though.

After more than half of the people in the hall had emptied out they decided to call it a night to get an early rest. Once the others had stepped outside Fleur gave him a quick good night kiss on his cheek before following after the other Beauxbatons students leaving him frozen on the spot. Unfortunately for him though, one of the twins had spotted the little exchange while they were waiting for him. They teased him all the way up to the Gryffindor tower resulting in him blushing furiously enough to make some of the others look at him in concern, thinking that he was feverish while the twins were roaring in laughter.

Eager to get away from the twins he went straight up to dormitories and stuffed his cloak in his bag before heading outside again, saying that he had to go see Professor Dumbledore for something. Once outside he threw on his cloak and walked down the familiar pathway to the secret passageway which led to the grounds. Once outside he decided to take a walk along the edge of the lake, seeing as it was still about an hour before he was supposed to meet with Hagrid.

When it was time, he walked up to Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door. After a few seconds it opened, revealing his massive form.

"Harry?" He pulled off his cloak and Hagrid smiled in relief.

"Good, now throw yer cloak back on, we've got someone else comin'. An' make sure yeh stay hidden. Follow me now." He sounded excited for some reason and Harry couldn't help but feel nervous. The only times he had ever seen Hagrid this excited was when talking about some extremely rare or dangerous magical creature. Nevertheless, he nodded and threw his cloak back on after petting Fang who bounded up to him whining slightly.

Hagrid stepped outside with his crossbow and a lantern in one hand. Harry felt his heart sink as he realized that they were going to be heading into the Forbidden Forest. He had ventured in there in both his first and second year and if he had a choice, had no wish to do so again.

He watched curiously while Hagrid strode up to the Beauxbatons carriage and softly knocked on the door which opened after a while to reveal Madame Maxime.

"Bonsoir Madame" Hagrid said, bowing and offering his arm.

"Monsieur 'Agrid. You said you 'ave somezing to show me?" She asked, taking his hand.

"O' course. Shall we?" She smiled in response and together they set off towards the forest leaving a slightly annoyed Harry trailing behind them.

As they walked in deeper through the forest Harry was beginning to feel irritated. Hagrid and Madame Maxime were talking in quietly in front of him and so far he had received no indication of where they were heading. Everything was pitch black around him, the only light coming from Hagrid's lantern.

They had been walking for about half an hour and he was wondering why they hadn't run into any centaurs yet, or even some Aragog's (the monstrous spider that resided in the forest) children. Hagrid hadn't so much as looked behind him and was instead focused on Madame Maxime and he was just thinking about turning around and heading back to the castle when a distant roar sounded. In his past excursions into the forest he had never heard anything like it before and intrigued, picked up his pace and followed Hagrid who seemed to be walking in the direction of the sound.

A small light came into his sight in the distance which grew larger and larger with every step he took. The roars were getting louder and finally they reached a well-lit, huge enclosed area where he saw hundreds of wizards with their wands out and groups of them tending to four large cages. What was inside them froze Harry in place. Hagrid laughed and tugged Madame Maxime closer who had her hands on her mouth.

Dragons. Four full grown vicious Dragons. There was a red, almost twenty five feet tall that had scarlet flames spewing out of its maw. A green, slightly shorter Dragon that was growling at the fifty or so wizards that were surrounding its cage. Another silvery-blue Dragon that was almost as huge as the red one that was slumped forward in its cage, with its eyes closed. From the looks of it, the wizards that were around the cage had stunned it.

The Dragon in the cage nearest to them made Harry take an involuntary step backwards even though he knew they were nowhere near it. It was an inky black and was far larger than any of the rest. It was snarling and even as he watched about fifty stunning spells slammed into it. It got further enraged and roared, bright orange flames erupting from its maw.

"Over here! We need help with this one!" A wizard near it shouted and the group nearest to them moved to their aid.

"Together!" Another one shouted and Harry watched as nearly double the number of stunning spells shot towards it. It roared again however that seemed to do the trick as it slumped forward, growling softly.

Hagrid seemed almost transfixed by it and edged closer to it as Madame Maxime followed, wide eyed. One of the wizards noticed him and came up to him. Harry almost greeted him stupidly before realizing he wasn't supposed to be here. It didn't take long for him to realize that he had just found what they were going to be facing for the first task. Why else would they be keeping Dragons in the forests?

"Hagrid…I knew we wouldn't be able to keep you away from you." Charlie Weasley said with a small grin as he walked up to him.

"Which one is it you've got here?" Hagrid asked, nodding towards the black Dragon that was still growling.

"Hungarian Horntail." Charlie grimaced. "I have no idea what they were thinking when they shipped this one here. It's the most vicious Dragon we got back in the reserve. My prayers go out to the champion that ends up having to face this one." Hagrid moved closer to it while Madame Maxime stood back.

"Wha' other breeds you got there?" Hagrid asked reverently looking at the other Dragons.

"The red one is the Chinese Fireball, green is the Common Welsh Green and the blue is the Swedish Short Snout." Charlie explained, gesturing at each of the Dragons in turn. He broke off and stared at Madame Maxime who was watching each of the Dragons transfixed.

"Hagrid…why did you bring her?" Charlie asked quietly.

"Eh?" He was too busy staring at the Dragon.

"Won't she be telling her champion now?" Hagrid didn't seem to be able to register the question. Charlie sighed. "How's Harry?"

"He's fine." Hagrid replied. Charlie ran his hand over his hair.

"Mom doesn't know what they're going to have to face for the first task. She's already worrying herself hoarse over him. I already wrote to Ron telling him about the Dragons, hopefully he would have told Harry about it. He's going to need all the help he can get if he is to survive this." Charlie shook his head. "And they said they were making it safer…"

Harry clenched his fists in anger at the mention of Ron and turned around. Hagrid probably wouldn't notice his absence. As he made his way back out to the castle he caught sight of Karkaroff heading in the opposite direction. This confirmed it, now Krum and Fleur would know what they were going to be facing too. He needed to find Cedric and let him know about the Dragons. He wasn't going to let him walk in there unprepared.

His mind was panicked as he walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, how was he going to get past a Dragon? He had witnessed firsthand how many people it took to stun a Dragon. After quietly muttering the password to the Fat Lady who looked in surprise at him but swung forwards, admitting him in. He slumped onto one of the armchairs next to the dying fire and tried to calm his mind. There had to be a way to best a Dragon, they wouldn't give them a task that was impossible to do would they?

He was far too jumpy to sleep now. Getting up again he went up to the dormitories and stuffed his books inside his bag before heading outside again, ignoring the Fat Lady's protests. Once again covering himself with his cloak and after carefully studying the Marauder's map, he went down to the library. Walking to the aisle entitled 'Magical Creatures', he walked up to the part with Dragons and pulled out all the books he could find on them. Settling himself on the floor and lighting his wand while checking constantly on the Marauder's map to see if anyone was approaching, he carefully went through the books, hoping to find something...anything that would give him a way to face a dragon.


"Harry, you look terrible." Katie said worriedly when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. Nothing in the books he read gave any clue for a possible weak point on a Dragon. Indeed, none of the books gave specific directions as to how a single wizard could face off against a Dragon.

"It's nothing." Harry mumbled, painfully aware of how low his voice sounded. She glanced at him in concern as did the others. If he wasn't feeling so nervous, he would have laughed at the worried looks the twins were giving him. It was so out of character for them.

He ate silently, occasionally joining in on the other's conversations to ease their worries. Once he had finished eating he was just thinking about going back to the library as he had a free period to do some more research when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked around to find Fleur, her face etched with worry.

"'Arry, come wiz me." She said quietly. There were bags under her eyes and for once she looked more sleep deprived than he usually did in the mornings. Once he got up she gripped his hand tightly, pulling him with her urgently. Only when they came to their spot by the lake did she stop.

"'Madame Maxime told me last night...'Arry, for ze first task we…"

"Dragons." Harry interrupted quietly. She looked at him in shock. "I know Fleur, Hagrid showed them to me last night when he asked your headmistress to go with him."

"Oh...okay, i zought you wouldn't know" He smiled at her and squeezed her hand gently.

"Thanks for telling me anyway."

"You would 'ave done ze same for me." They gazed at the lake for a few minutes. She looked worried and he noticed that she made several attempts to speak. Finally after a few minutes had passed he leaned onto her, gently nudging her side. They had by now seated themselves in front of the tree as they always did.

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly. She turned to look at him, half her silvery white hair covering her face.

"A Dragon 'Arry. Even I don't know 'ow to do this. Madame Maxime is going to 'elp me prepare but even she is worried." She fell silent and Harry waited patiently for her to go on. "I'm worried about you." She added in a voice barely above a whisper.

He felt an odd feeling of happiness spread through him at her words.

"We'll find a way past this. I'll also have some help too, so don't worry." He did after all have Sirius and Lupin to ask for advice. She sighed before nodding.

"If you need 'elp wiz anyzing you will ask me right?"

"'Course I will. And if you need anything too...I will do my best to help." She nodded and gave him a small smile. The two spent the rest of their time together in silence, taking comfort in each other's presence.


Harry had no idea how he got through his lessons that day. He wasn't able to concentrate on any of the classes properly although none of the professors commented on it. Some of the professors, even McGonagall with the sole exception of Snape excused him from all his homework for the upcoming week as the first task was only ten days away, counting the weekend.

When his final lesson for the morning ended, he quickly made his way towards the school courtyard. He didn't think that Cedric had any idea about the Dragons yet. Spotting him at a corner with Cho Chang and some of his friends Harry walked swiftly towards them.

"Hey Cedric? Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked, ignoring the glares from the Hufflepuff's that were accompanying him.

"Sure Harry." He replied and walked with him to the side with a curious expression. As soon as they were out of earshot of the others, Harry spoke.

"Dragons. That's the first task." Cedric's eyes widened in surprise.

"What?"

"Dragons." He repeated. "They've got one for each of us."

"You sure?"

"Positive. I've seen them. Fleur and Krum know about them too." Cedric nodded absentmindedly.

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry stared at him in shock. "We're competing aren't we?"

"Do you think I care about this competition at all?" He hissed angrily. He could feel his temper rising. His head was filled with worry about the first task and how they were going to get past it and here Cedric was asking stupid questions.

"Right." He said sheepishly. He nodded and turned to leave when Cedric grabbed his shoulder.

"Thanks a lot." He managed a small smile at this.

"Anytime." Cedric turned and made his way back to his friends and he turned away, intending to return to the castle. He didn't get very far when a voice he recognized only too well called out to him.

"Hey! Champion Potter!" Harry stifled a groan and turned a wary eye on Malfoy, fighting the impulse to curse him on the spot. He had caught the attention of everyone in the courtyard and they were all looking eagerly at Harry and Malfoy, waiting for something to happen.

"My father told me about what's going to be on the first task." He said proudly. "Perhaps if you ask me nicely I might consider telling you what it is."

"Not interested." Harry muttered and made to continue walking back to the castle when Malfoy's voice rang out again.

"My father made a bet with me you see. He thinks you wouldn't last more than five minutes in the first task. I said you wouldn't last longer than a minute."

"And I should care because?" Harry asked, turning towards Malfoy. "I'm not interested in the pathetic methods you and your father use to amuse yourselves. Didn't you two have enough fun in the World Cup with those people?" It didn't take long for most of the students around them to guess what Harry was talking about and he heard many of them gasp.

"Exactly what are you insinuating Potter?" Malfoy snarled while Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles with menacing looks on their faces.

"Exactly what I said." He replied wryly and turned away. All it took was the look of surprise on the people in front of him to tell him what was coming when he nimbly sidestepped, narrowly missing the jet of orange light that flew past his side, while some of the students shrieked and jumped out of the way. Harry had his wand the next second and with a silent binding spell, had Malfoy bound and gagged in ropes.

Faster than the students could even see, jets of red light flew out of Harry's wand, slamming into both Crabbe and Goyle, knocking them out instantly. Harry turned and walked up to the three unmoving figures on the ground, with Malfoy staring up at him. Fear evident in his eyes.

"Didn't anybody tell you its bad manners to attack someone who has their back turned?" He asked quietly, although his voice carried to everyone in the courtyard in the silence. With a wave of his wand the gag fell off, letting him breathe. No matter how much Harry hated him, he wasn't going to let him suffocate. Malfoy's eyes widened as he stared past Harry at someone behind him.

"Professor! Potter attacked me sir I…"

"I was watching Mr. Malfoy." A voice growled. Harry looked around to see it was Professor Moody. "I will be reporting your actions to your head of house about the cowardly way you attempted to attack Mr. Potter."

"A job well done on the other hand Mr. Potter." He said to Harry and he could have sworn he saw a smile forming on his scarred face. "Run along now, I'll take care of these three."

"Yes sir." Harry said quickly, placing his wand back inside his pocket and moving back up to the castle. Most of the students cleared the way for him, staring at him in amazement. Harry sighed, making a mental note to avoid giving such displays in the future. After dueling with Sirius for so long, everyone else seemed to be pathetically weak.

Seeing that it was almost time for lunch Harry went to the Great Hall where he was pleased to find Fleur and the others were already seated. After slipping into the seat beside Fleur they began to eat.

"That was brilliant Harry!" Fred said loudly, coming up from behind them.

"Seriously, we saw the whole thing! Malfoy never knew what hit him." George agreed. Harry laughed in response.

"Oh? This seems interesting. What happened?" Caroline asked, looking from the twins to Harry.

Before Harry could explain, the twins told them exactly what happened, recounting everything that had happened, not leaving anything out. Neither of them bothered to keep their voices low, resulting in them attracting quite a few glares from the Slytherin table. Harry caught sight of Daphne though who grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

"Wish I could have seen that." Angelina said with a broad grin. By now the Gryffindor chasers and Jean and Basile had joined them too.

"Zat pig, you should 'ave done somezing more than just leave 'im like zat 'Arry." Aurélie remarked. Once they had finished eating, the group dispersed. Harry had a free period again before History of Magic, which he was planning on skipping anyway. Harry and Fleur decided to use the time to search around in the library. Although they were going to be competing, despite Harry's protests, Fleur and the others were adamant about helping him.

After spending more than three hours in the library which proved utterly fruitless, the French witches had to leave for their lessons. Harry too left for Charms, which was to be his final lesson for the day. After the lesson, Harry met with the others and they once again spent as much time as they could in the library before dinner, hoping to find something.

After an early dinner, Harry rushed upstairs to the Room of Requirement.

"Harry!" Sirius greeted him as soon as he stepped inside. From the worried looks on his and Lupin's faces Harry deduced that they probably knew.

"You know about the first task?" He asked. Lupin nodded.

"Yes. Dumbledore let us know yesterday."

"Dragons, what is the old fool thinking? Letting Harry into something like this." Sirius growled. Harry sat down in the arm chair next to the fire and looked helplessly at his godfather and Lupin.

"What am I going to do? I've probably read up on all the books in the library about Dragons. There's no clue on how to beat them." He asked quietly.

"It's not impossible. There are a few ways." Lupin said gently.

"The simplest way is the Conjunctivitus curse. It's a little difficult to pull off since you have to aim right at the Dragon's eye. The eye is the weakest point on a Dragon Harry." Sirius added at Harry's questioning look. "We will practice that curse in addition to a few others that I have in mind. Don't put too much faith in just one spell though. We have no idea exactly what you're going to have to do against it and its better to have a few methods to try in case one fails."

"Not to mention that you will have to be careful while approaching it. Its sheer lunacy to go head to head against a Dragon." Lupin added.

"Do you think I could do it?" Harry asked.

"We have seen how much you have accomplished since we began training you. Right now you are the most threatening to the Dragon you will face than the others. The years of education doesn't matter. You yourself are proof of that." Sirius said proudly making him smile in embarrassment. "We still have ten days until the task. We will use all the time we have for you to learn everything you need. I had been planning on teaching you this stuff anyway." Sirius added as an afterthought.


Lupin stopped teaching him Occlumency as the week wore on. Sirius also broke away from the teaching him the usual things which disappointed Harry slightly because he had been looking forward to learning how to do what Sirius had shown him the week before with the stunning spell. It was only a small part of him that was disappointed though, the new spells and the advice he was getting from Sirius and Lupin proved to be valuable for the upcoming task, reducing his earlier panic somewhat.

He mastered the Conjunctivitus curse within three days, a feat which impressed both Sirius and Lupin greatly. It seemed that Harry's nerves were a great motivator. Apart from it, Harry spent a lot of time with various other spells designed to distract. Something which he knew would prove useful in order for him to get a clear shot at the Dragon's eye. A part of him was a little reluctant about using the curse on the Dragon's eye though. With the description given of the spell, it would surely blind the Dragon and cause it great pain.

Another spell that caught Harry's eye was the shackling curse. It was one of the more advanced spells like the shield breaking charm. As far as the book's descriptions went, that curse had the capabilities of immobilizing virtually anything it landed on. As a side note it was mentioned that it was used to great effect during the past war between the wizards and the giants.

Harry tried it once a few days later while practicing at night, the drain it caused him rendered him immobile for hours and he had to drag himself up to the hospital wing where he was reprimanded by Poppy. Both Sirius and Lupin had been furious with him when they found out that he had spent a few hours in the hospital wing due to core draining again. Thankfully this time around though, Harry hadn't unknowingly poured everything he had into the spell like the last time so he managed to recover within a day.

Both his godfather and Lupin's anger paled in comparison with Fleur's. He truly believed he wasn't going to make it out alive once she had started advancing on him while he was lying helplessly on the bed in the hospital wing. After yelling at him for almost the whole floor to hear for being reckless, she had proceeded to stay with him for the entire time, disregarding everything else and making sure he stayed in bed. He wasn't allowed to move an inch under her gaze and had no choice but to squirm helplessly under the combined glares of her and the others.

As the date of the first task drew nearer, Fleur, Krum and Cedric were beginning to show their strain too. Krum looked surlier than usual and all four of the champions showed signs of spending multiple sleepless nights. Fleur had been pleased to find out that Harry had a plan on what he was going to do. Harry on the other hand couldn't stop worrying about her. She looked like she was having a little trouble with whatever she was working on although she always smiled and declined his offers to help her, saying that everything was going well.

One the day before the first task, the last day of the weekend, the others cornered both Harry and Fleur at breakfast and marched them straight out of Hogwarts, along the familiar path to Hogsmeade, ignoring their protests.

"You both have prepared enough." Caroline said firmly.

"Yeah, use this time to relax." Fred added. What they said was true enough. Neither Harry nor Fleur had anything more to work on other than brooding over tomorrow. Neither of them had taken more than a few minutes to relax over the past week. Smiling resignedly at each other they trailed after the others, forcing themselves to relax, putting the upcoming task out of their minds for this one day.

Sirius and Lupin both promised him that night that they will be watching and cheering him on, although Sirius would have to be there in his Animagus form. Nevertheless, he was grateful that they would be there.


Harry forced himself to sleep that night, succeeding in getting only a few hours of sleep in. The rest of the time he kept going over what he had learnt and imagining situations on how best he could use it while staring up at the roof of his bed. At the crack of dawn he silently got up and dressed in his school robes and made his way out of the portrait hole.

"Good luck!" The Fat Lady called and he managed a pained smile at her. His nerves were almost stretched to the breaking point.

He sat down alone in the Great Hall, after a while he was joined by Fleur and the others. The terrified looks on the witches did nothing to calm Harry or Fleur, even Caroline who normally had a smile on her face looked worried. Soon the other students started coming in. After the Great Hall was filled, the food appeared on the plates in front of them. None of them seemed to have an appetite although the others kept trying to force them to eat. When it was almost time, Dumbledore stood up.

"It is time. Best of luck to the four champions." The four of them rose from their seats to loud cheers and filed out into the Entrance Hall where they were joined by Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, Madame Maxime and Kakaroff.

"This way." Dumbledore smiled at them. Harry and the others followed after them outside to the grounds. In the distance there was a large enclosed structure which looked like a smaller version of the stadium in the World Cup. Once they reached it, they were directed into a changing room where they had to change into the robes provided for them.

They were almost the same as the normal robes they wore for Quidditch although they had protective gloves which matched the color of their robes. Krum's robes was fully red, Fleur's was a mixture of blue and silver, Cedric's was black and yellow and Harry's was full black. The robes carried the insignia of the wearer's school although Harry's didn't have one. Once they were dressed they ducked into a tent which had four bunk beds. After a while the tent flap opened and Bagman, Crouch, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff and Dumbledore strode in. Bagman was carrying a small pouch which was smoking slightly.

"Are we all here? Excellent." Bagman cried happily. "On to business then, Ladies first." He said, offering the pouch to Fleur who looked at it apprehensively before putting her hand in. She drew out a tiny model of a green Dragon with the number '2' tied around its neck which squeaked and a bit of fire escaped its maw. It was the Common Welsh Green. She just stared at it while Madame Maxime placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

Krum went next, he drew out the Chinese Fireball. The fiery red Dragon snarled softly at him, it had the number '3' tied on it. He made no visible change in expressions and just glared stonily at it.

Cedric drew out the Swedish Short Snout which had the number '1' on it. He paled slightly as he was going first but other than that he maintained his stony look.

Harry groaned inwardly, cursing his luck. There was only 1 Dragon remaining. Putting his hand in the still smoking bag he felt a sharp pain on his finger. He grabbed the small black Dragon which bared its minuscule fangs at him and spread out its wings. It had the number '4' tied around it.

"Now that all the champions know which Dragon they're going to face…your task it to collect the golden egg!" Bagman exclaimed dramatically. "Each of the Dragons have a single golden egg in their nests along with some other eggs. It will be doing its best to protect them and your task is to get the golden egg by using any means necessary. Any questions?" No one spoke and he nodded in satisfaction.

"Now, when the cannon sounds Mr. Diggory, you will walk through that door over there which will take you to your Dragon. Next is Miss Delacour, followed by Mr. Krum and Mr. Potter. The task will begin in a couple of minutes so prepare yourself as best you can. Best of luck to you all." Bagman said before exiting the tent. After a few words with their respective champions, the headmasters and headmistress too left the tent. Harry thought that Dumbledore looked worried for a second when he wished him luck but thought that he had only imagined it.

They waited in silence while sounds of students laughing and talking became apparent as they took their seats in the stadium. After quietly wishing Cedric good luck he moved next to Fleur and took her hand.

"'Arry" She murmured, gripping his hand tightly. He tried and failed to smile at her.

"We'll be fine. Do your best and be careful" He whispered. She put her hand on his cheek, gently stroking it with her thumb.

"You too." She whispered back, her face was so much more closer to his than he had remembered and for a moment his eyes fixed on hers. He knew Krum and Cedric were in the room but all that seemed to have faded away.

He wanted to say something. He couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her. This all just felt too real. This was not a school tournament...the moment they brought dragons in they made this a fight for survival.

Before he could force his voice to work her lips touched his for a moment before she pulled away. He was still trying to register what she'd done when he felt her hands wrap around his neck, drawing him closer and her lips were on his again although this time it was far more than a simple peck.

He'd never felt anything like it. It was like he was walking on air, the feeling of her soft lips...there were no words to describe the feeling. All he knew was the wanted more. He wrapped his arms around her while her hand came up to his hair, tugging him closer.

He had no idea how long they stayed, neither willing to part from the other. Finally she pulled away before hugging him tightly which he returned, burying his face in her hair partly to hide his face from the others.

Cedric grinned from behind her and gave him a thumbs up, causing him to blush. He thought he saw Krum smile for a moment before he turned away. Remaining in Fleur's embrace had a calming effect on him and he didn't want to let go of her.

Soon afterwards, the canon sounded and Cedric got up shakily. As he disappeared through the door a loud roar followed by screams and wild cheering sounded. Bagman kept up a steady stream of comments, his voice augmented magically. He didn't know which was worse, Bagman's comments such as, "Clever move! Pity it didn't work…" or the gasps, groans, screams and cheers from the crowd as they waited for Cedric to complete his task. After about eight minutes the crowd was cheering itself hoarse. "Give it up for the Hogwarts champion!" Bagman yelled. Cedric had completed his task.

After a few minutes the canon sounded again. Harry leaned his head against hers for a moment before letting her go outside.

"Give it hell." He said softly. She managed a small smile and moved determinedly to the door and disappeared through it.

The next few minutes were the most agonizing minutes Harry had ever gone through in his life. He was worried to death about her and Bagman's commentary wasn't helping; "Oh my god! That was close one." Harry was having terrifying visions running through his mind as the crowd screamed over the roar of the Dragon.

"NICE MOVE!" Bagman suddenly yelled. "Is this it? YES! Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for Miss Delacour of Beauxbatons!" The crowd's cheering drowned out the angry roars of the Dragon and Harry heaved a sigh of relief. She had gotten through.

Soon, the third canon blast sounded and Krum got up.

"Good luck." Harry called out to him as he walked towards the door.

"You too." He grunted in his heavily accented voice. Soon the agonizing routine started.

"A daring move! YES, A DIRECT HIT!" The Dragon was roaring in agony and the ground shook from the force of it moving around. A few minutes later Bagman shouted his final word. Krum too had completed his task. Harry got to his feet, waiting for the canon blast. After what felt like ages it sounded and after closing his eyes for a brief moment, he walked outside.

The sound of the crowd's cheering was became muffled as he walked on. In front of him was the huge black Dragon, crouched protectively over the eggs. The entire area looked like a rocky landscape. He felt hundreds of eyes stare at him from all directions but he blocked them all out, focusing only on the beast in front of him.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, causing a jet of red light to strike the Dragon just above its left foreleg. It did nothing other than to irritate the Horntail which growled menacingly at him. He heard Bagman shouting something incomprehensible in the background as he began circling the Horntail which was watching him unblinkingly, its yellow eyes fixed on him. His breath quickened when he caught sight of the golden egg which was lying with some other greyish eggs under the Horntail's wing. She didn't seem to want to leave her eggs for anything.

Quickly he fired off three Reductor curses at the ground in front of her. She roared as the boulders blew up, throwing dust up into the air, temporarily blinding her. Harry took careful aim and pointing his wand at elevated area near the Horntail was perched on yelled, "Confringo"

She roared as she lost balance and the eggs rolled out from underneath. Then suddenly, without warning and abandoning the eggs, she rushed straight at nim. He was given only a split second to react as a jet of flames came right at him, forcing him to conjure up a wide shield. He crouched behind it, waiting for the flames to die out. As soon as the heat diminished he scrambled out of the way, throwing himself out of the Horntail's way. Taking careful aim he tried firing the Conjunctivitus curse and succeeded in scoring a direct hit on the eye.

This enraged the Horntail as she roared in agony. Harry made a beeline for the golden egg and almost reached it when a spiked tail entered his field of vision, forcing him to dodge it by leaping to the side. She was snarling, one of her eyes were closed and yet she was intent on getting to her prey.

Harry had barely managed to dodge another spurt of flames when the Horntail appeared out of nowhere above him, placing him directly underneath its belly. As he scrambled out of its way it suddenly took off, taking flight. He pushed himself to his feet and immediately jumped to the side as the Horntail crashed onto the ground, however he was too late to react to the tail which sped towards him, burying itself deep on his right shoulder.

He gritted his teeth at the pain and wasting no more time he took aim again and fired a second Conjunctivitus curse at the remaining eye, making her roar and trample around, almost damaging the other eggs. The Horntail was fully blinded. This unfortunately meant that the spiked tail which was buried in his shoulder was wrenched away, making him scream in pain. Refusing to let this hinder his movement he dashed at the golden egg and safely tucked it under his arm.

Even as he did so he saw Charlie running through the door at the opposite end with a group of about fifty or so wizards, waving his hands. Harry felt his head spin from exhaustion and the loss of blood as he staggered towards them, a scream from the crowd told him that something had gone horribly wrong.

The entrance from which Charlie came and caved in, trapping him, Harry and about three other wizards who had followed after Charlie. Even before anyone knew what was happening, a massive shape hurtled past him and smashed into the opposite end, next to the entrance as Charlie jumped out of the way. It was the Horntail. She roared angrily and advanced on Charlie and the other three wizards, one of them lying on the floor as Harry watched in horror.

The Horntail seemed to be advancing on the wizards, relying only on her sense of smell. They all fired stunning spells at the Horntail to no effect. Harry quickly grabbed his wand, praying that this would buy them some time, he shouted "Tenebris Compede!"

His knees buckled from the sudden drain. Four dark purple chains flew out from the end of his wand, wrapping themselves around the Horntail. It was immediately stopped in its tracks and it roared angrily. But he could feel his sight going blurry. A fraction of a second later a brilliant, jagged white light slammed into the Horntail from somewhere behind him as his chains disappeared. The Horntail slumped forward and didn't move.

He lost his balance and the last thing he remembered was a hand that wrapped around his waist, catching him.


Harry slowly opened his eyes. He could here low voices around him although he couldn't figure out what they were saying. As his eyes adjusted to the light he became aware of a stinging pain on his shoulder and bit his tongue, screwing his eyes shut. Stopping himself from crying out.

After getting used to the sensation he slowly opened his eyes again. At the foot of the bed he was lying on were two tall figures and he turned sideways to see a familiar silver haired figure sitting on the chair next to him. He slowly became aware of the hand intertwined around his left hand.

"Hey" He murmured. He heard a startled gasp before his vision was blinded by a mass of silver hair, the flowery scent threatening to overpower his senses as Fleur threw her arms around him, avoiding his injured shoulder and burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Idiot…" She whispered "Don't ever do somezing like zat again.". After a while she drew back. She had tears streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy, although it did nothing to lessen her beauty.

"I won't." He said quietly.

"Harry, how are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked, Harry turned to him who was standing in front of him next to Lupin. A loud bark announced that Sirius was also present and Harry grinned slightly when Sirius put his paws up onto the bed, allowing him to get a better look at him.

"Alright I guess. What happened?" Harry asked.

"One of the wizards were under the Imperius curse. He destroyed the entrance from where you're supposed to go through after collecting the egg." Lupin answered in a tired voice.

"Who cast it?"

"We don't know." Dumbledore said quietly. At that moment Poppy came bustling in with a steaming towel.

"You can talk to him later headmaster." She said in an irritated voice. Dumbledore chuckled softly and stepped back.

"Of course, and Harry? All things considered, you were placed in first place. You did a very nice job I must say." He added before he stepped outside.

"We'll see you again soon Harry." Lupin said with a small smile. "There are a few more people waiting for you outside."

"Well you can tell them to wait there! At least until I am finished with him." Poppy said crossly to Lupin before he nodded and left with Sirius. Without warning she pressed the warm towel on his shoulder making him hiss in pain and Fleur glared at her. "It's necessary Harry so bear with it." After repeating it for a few times she stepped back in satisfaction. "Alright, now just sit for a few minutes or I won't let anyone else in or for you to go out. Got it?" Harry nodded with a grin.

He glanced at Fleur and was relieved to see that she had stopped crying although her eyes were still red.

"How'd you do?" He asked.

"I'm tying for second place wiz Krum." She replied, grinning.

"Nice one!" He exclaimed, grinning broadly. She gently traced her finger along his bandaged shoulder lightly.

"Does it 'urt?" She asked softly.

"No, it's alright now." Harry felt his cheeks coloring slightly as he realized that they were the only two in the tent now. He hadn't been able to think about it much, but now he was remembering their kiss before they had faced the Dragons.

She seemed to know exactly what was going on in his mind as she smiled shyly at him.

"You're blushing again 'Arry." She whispered. He tried to say something but none of the words were coming out. He could only watch transfixed while she drew closer.

Before he knew it, she was kissing him gently. After getting over his initial surprise he responded by wrapping his uninjured arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him while he returned his ministrations as best he could. She broke away for a moment as she slowly hoisted herself up onto the bed, her lithe body coming to rest atop his as she straddled his lap. There was a rather...hungry...look in her eyes as she leaned forward, her arms circling around his neck as she kissed him again, harder and more fiercely than ever before...as if she was afraid that he was going to vanish into thin air at any second. For his part his mind was wiped blissfully blank, all that was left..was her.

Much too soon for either of their liking however, they were forced apart by a chorus of wolf whistles and cheers. Both of them turned, blushing furiously towards the entrance where the twins, Aurélie, Caroline and Amy who were grinning widely at them.

"About time!" George exclaimed while the others laughed at the blushing faces of the two champions.

"They're waiting for you two in the tent over there. Should I go tell them to carry on seeing as you two are busy?" Fred said with a smirk. He glared at him before pushing himself up right as they disappeared outside again.

With a sigh he turned back towards Fleur, noting how her face was still as pink as ever. Judging by the stinging in his cheeks he knew he wasn't any better. With a beautiful smile she extended her hand towards him which he took without a second thought and as their fingers intertwined.

As the two stepped outside the crowd's cheering increased dramatically.

"Harry!" He turned to see Charlie jogging up to him. "I…no we owe you our lives. If you hadn't stopped the Horntail I don't think we could have survived long enough for Dumbledore to intervene." He shrugged in embarrassment. "Besides, you were outstanding! You were against the Horntail too! And you too Ms. Delacour..." he added with a small bow towards Fleur. "Anyways, later Harry. I promised I would write to mom and let her know everything that happened. Well...they're waiting for you two over there."

Harry and Fleur made their way to the tent where they were before facing the Dragons while the others left to join the crowds in the stands to get outside.

"A job well done, all four of you." Bagman said, smiling at each of them. Cedric had half of his face covered in bandages and Krum had his usual scowl back in his face, other than that he looked unhurt. "Now then, please pick up your golden eggs?"

He noticed his egg lying on the bunk bed next to which the tiny model of the Horntail was sleeping and picked it up.

"Right, these eggs are really important for they contain the clue that will tell you what you need to know for the second task which takes place on February without which you cannot hope to succeed." Bagman said cheerfully. "Any questions?" They shook their heads. "Off you go then. Get some rest, you've all more than earned it."

Harry tucked his egg safely under his arm and picked up his model of the Dragon before walking outside with Fleur. The others were waiting patiently for them and once they reached them, Fred and George grabbed hold of both Harry and Fleur's eggs and started shaking them and tapping it with their knuckles eliciting laughs from the people around them. Harry felt his hand brush Fleur's as they started making their way back to the castle and after grinning shyly at each other, gripped each other's hands tightly. They were walking for a short while only before they were interrupted by the reporter woman and her cameraman who were waiting by the sidelines.

"Harry! Oh? And what's this?! Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion too?!" It seemed like the woman was going to burst in excitement from the way she was eyeing their intertwined hands. "Congratulations on your performances for the first task. May we have a couple of words about your experience? And what about you two? Could we get the when? The how? And th-"

"You can have one word." He growled, cutting her off. "Goodbye." Fleur hid her laughter at the expression on the witch's face but the others were not so successful Together they headed back to the castle in happiness; feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

The two were unable to keep their eyes off each other, something which their friends were quick to comment on. But both of them knew one thing.

Everything had changed.


AN: Gonna keep this short, I'm sleepy lol. Hope I made Harry's face off against the Dragon good. I kept only a few things the same as canon throughout this whole chapter, hope I didn't bore everyone with those but I felt I needed to keep them there.

Please review and let know your thoughts about this. Anything I did wrong, what you liked/didn't etc. I'm really, really, really happy with the amount of reviews I've been getting for this. While I know I'm not good enough in comparison with most of the other writers on this site, you guys all make me feel like a million bucks.

Thanks for reading

Gotta sleep now

Edit - Updated as of Christmas 2013