Hey, so sorry for the long wait for this chapter but it's up now and I hope you all like it. I will try and not make the wait so long again but I have my exams in six weeks so I don't know when I will get to update again but I will try to do it as soon as possible so thank you for being so patient. Please be sure to review and tell me what you like, dislike and how I can improve, it would mean a lot.

Enjoy!

Today was the day Jiraiya was going back to Konoha and Naruto still hadn't told anyone about the dream he had containing a certain teammate of his. He didn't think anyone would understand. They would just say it was what his brain wanted him to think and that Sasuke would never turn back to their side after trying to kill him. He bit his lip; feeling guilty that he was hiding something that was obviously important to the people who cared about him and who he held close to his heart.

"Well Fox, I guess I'll be seeing you soon. Be careful and keep on training." Jiraiya told his student, concern seeping into his voice at the end, as he was getting ready to leave via portkey.

"I know Pervy Sage. You be careful as well. I don't want any letters from Baa-chan saying how you had an incident trying to peak on women in the bath house." Fox replied light-heartedly, earning him a punch on the arm by the Sage.

He turned to the other and gave them a look which they all understood, 'take care of him and keep training'. They all nodded their heads; showing their understanding of what he was asking of them.

"Goodbye Jiraiya-sama." Cat said as he took hold of the portkey.

"Bye Cat and all of you have fun." He said before there was a disturbance in the air and he disappeared from their sight in a swirl.

Cat and Fox slowly made their way back to the Gryffindor common room in silence. Fox was lost in thought and Cat silently watched him out of the corner of her eye – worry clawing at her gut.

They reached the portrait and Cat said the password before they walked in. They saw some of the students milling around in their normal clothes seeing as it was a Sunday. The two sat down and Cat finally worked up the courage to ask Fox what was wrong.

"Fox-kun, is there something bothering you?" She asked politely as she turned to look at him.

"N-No, it's nothing Cat-chan." He replied without looking her in the eye which worried her even more. She moved closer and took his hands in her own, moving her thumb up and down in a comforting gesture.

"You can tell me Fox-kun. I promise I'll listen and not judge you, no matter what it is. I just want to know if I can do anything to help." Cat replied, a blush creeping up her neck and flushing her cheeks bright red under her mask.

Fox looked down as he bit his lip; wondering whether he should tell her or not. He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and slowly looked up into her lavender eyes.

"I had a dream last night." He told her in a quiet voice, feeling as if it was only the two of them in the room at the moment.

"Oh, do you want to talk about it?" She asked him in an equally quiet voice, trying not to scare him into telling her.

"Sasuke was in it." He stated which caused the girl's eyes to widen as she unconsciously moved forwards.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Sasuke, what are you doing in my dream?" Naruto asked the raven haired boy.

"I don't particularly know. I fell asleep but I must have somehow crossed over to your dream. You must have been thinking about me a lot." The raven haired boy told him, a smirk forming on his lips at the last sentence.

"Wow. An actual sentence with more than a few syllables, I'm shocked and hey! I've been thinking about a lot of things lately but I never thought about what you are insinuating." Naruto replied, his voice raised at the end.

"I'm not the only one who has changed Dobe. You've actually extended your vocabulary." Sasuke replied, smirking again as the blonde huffed in anger and annoyance which only seemed to anger him more.

"What do you want Teme?" The blonde asked his old teammate.

"Well now that you mention it… Orochimaru is dead." Sasuke stated, watching the blonde's face for his reaction.

Naruto's eyes widened before he looked Sasuke in the eye.

"What are you going to do now that he's dead? Are you going to return?" Naruto asked, excitement seeping into his voice.

"No Dobe. I still need to kill my brother before I return. Even if I do decide to return after I've killed him, I'm not going to be accepted back into that pathetic village. Not after I tried to kill you. The Hokage will either kill me herself or send me to prison." Sasuke replied and Naruto took in the information, a pout forming on his lips.

"But Sasuke, I'll accept you. I'll make sure Baa-chan won't kill you or send you to prison. Just come back. Please." Naruto replied, almost begging towards the end.

"No Dobe, that's final. We'll be seeing each other soon." Sasuke replied before he faded away, leaving Naruto to stand by himself, still trying to process what actually happened.

"So do you know when you'll next see him?" Cat asked quietly whilst still holding Fox's hands in her own.

"No, I just hope it's not to fight again. I'm sick and tired of fighting and we just have to focus on the school and the Akatsuki at the moment." Naruto replied and he squeezed Cat's hands. Before he knew it Cat had flung herself at him, wrapping her slender arms around his neck. Fox automatically wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'm so sorry this had to happen Fox." She said into his neck and she hugged him, not realising of the stares that were being sent their way from the students.

"It's fine Cat. I guess it's just what we have to put up with but I'll do anything to keep you all out of this. Especially if it means I can keep you safe." Fox replied into her hair as he hugged her tightly, not wanting the moment to end.

They finally pulled away and then quickly moved away from each other when they realised they had become the centre of attention.

"So are you two going to become a couple already or not?" Lavender asked from her seat at a table and the two guards looked her way before Fox spoke up.

"Erm, we aren't a couple and I don't- I don't think it will happen." He said whilst looking anywhere but at Cat and he twiddled his thumbs, embarrassment taking over as he became self-conscious.

"Oh. Yeah. What Fox said." Cat replied, disappointment seeping into her voice and she quickly looked away from the blonde teen.

They both let out an awkward laugh before Fox muttered something and quickly walked out of the room, a hand rubbing his neck. Cat sighed before sinking into the couch.

Harry slowly made his way towards the Forbidden Forest - his cloak in hand and his wand in his pocket. He walked towards a small clearing just inside of the forest and waited for Hagrid to show up, wondering why he had asked him to meet him there in the first place.

"'Arry, there you are. Put yur cloak on an' follow me. Don' make a sound, don' want anyone to 'ear ya." Hagrid said once he appeared and Harry quickly followed the giant's instructions and silently followed him deeper into the forest. Eventually he heard a roar and the forest in front of him illuminated a deep yellow colour, making the boy jump in shock and slight fear.

He trusted Hagrid though and carried on following him but nothing could prepare him for what he saw next. He crouched down and he looked in front of him, his mouth agape as he took in the creatures that were there.

Giant, scaly creatures stood, roaring into the night – fire spurting from their mouths as they tried to keep their captors away from them. There were four altogether and Harry couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. 'Dragons!' he thought to himself, 'how stupid are the judges to think that anyone inexperienced could handle bloody dragons!' He thought he saw a glimpse of Ron's brother, Bill, but he wasn't really sure but it didn't really matter. All he could think about was getting out of there. 'Did the others know?' He didn't think so but he hoped they did so he planned on telling Cedric as soon as he could, it would only be fair if the others knew.

He slowly made his way to the castle and once he reached it he walked through the corridors, wanting to get back to his dorm room so he could sleep the night away.

"Harry is that you?" He heard a voice say behind him. He quickly turned around and came face to face with Dog.

"Yeah, sorry. I know I shouldn't be out at this time of night but Hagrid wanted to talk to me and I'm really glad I went considering it was about the First Task and it is nearly time for it." He replied, trying to explain himself seeing as he was out after curfew.

Dog sighed before replying.

"It's fine. Just tell one of us next time because if it was what I think it was about then you should have gone with one of us in case anything had happened." He said and Harry quickly nodded before the two of them walked up to the Gryffindor common room. Dog left him once he was inside and made his way back to where he was posted.

He made his way back up to the dorm room and once he fell onto his bed he was fast asleep - the day finally catching up on him.

The next day Harry told Cedric about the dragons and he almost felt like laughing at the disbelieving look on his face. However when he swore down that it was the truth he saw his facial expression change and he knew that Cedric believed him. With that done he made his way to the library considering he had a free period and he wanted to make the most of it with trying to find ways to defeat a dragon. He found Victor there and knew straight away that Victor knew; if the book on dragons was anything to go by. He looked around the shelves before finding a book himself and sat down at an empty table (which he would spend two hours at, almost missing his next class).

Considering a few of the classes had free period it left a few of the guards with nothing to do so Fox, Hawk, Dove, Bug and Dragon made their way down to the Quidditch pitch to do some training.

"Come on Fox, you just have to concentrate like Jiraiya said." Dove encouraged and Fox gave an exasperated look before huffing and closing his eyes again, desperate to try and control the Kyuubi's power.

"Come on you stupid fox, co-operate with me." Fox muttered before he felt a surge of power that almost felt as if it was burning his insides. He growled and his eyes flew open, the sea blue turning blood red as the fiery chakra coated his body. He felt someone quickly pull his mask up and a piece of paper was attached to his head. The power he felt disappeared instantly and he sagged in relief as he looked up at Hawk, thanking him.

"Well you had control a lot longer than usual so that's progress." Dragon said optimistically.

"Yeah but the Kyuubi's power was more forcefully once I lost control. It felt as if he was burning me from the inside just to punish me for trying to take control." Fox replied sadly as he stood up.

"I don't know how much more I can take of this. What if at one point I gain control for too long and he retaliates by forcing enough power out that I can't stop it and he takes over. It's too dangerous and I just can't do it." He carried on, his facial expressions on show as he hadn't put his mask back on.

"It will be fine Fox. You have us to help you control it and you're not a monster so you aren't going to hurt anyone. Maybe we just need to find another way to control the Kyuubi's power." Hawk replied as he tried to comfort his friend.

"At this rate I'm going to end up just like Gaara but this time we won't have anyone to bring me back to life." Fox replied before he stalked off, pulling his mask down as he walked towards the castle. The four remaining guards looked at each other, worry evident in their eyes.

"Maybe we can get Slug to knock some sense into him." Dove said and the three nodded in agreement.

Slug made her way to Fox who was sat at their table in the Great Hall by himself. She silently sat next to him, ignoring everyone else in the Hall; her only focus was on making him feel better.

"So I heard what happened." She said once she thought the silence between the two had stretched on for long enough. Fox sighed and put his head in his hands as he felt shame wash over him.

"What about it?" He replied, not daring to look at her.

"You gave up." She stated before carrying on. "The teammate I know wouldn't give up. No matter how difficult things get." She said before placing her head on his shoulder as he sighed again.

"Well maybe things got too difficult. I don't know what to do anymore Slug. Every time I try to take control he just retaliates and I lose control because he gives off too much power. How am I ever supposed to defeat the Akatsuki and keep everyone safe if I can't even keep myself safe from this stupid thing in my stomach? What if I lose control around people and I hurt them? I already hurt you before... I'm no better than the Kyuubi." He said in disdain, the last part almost a whisper as his self-hatred hit him full force.

Slug quickly sat up as she turned to face him, her eyes hardened as she prepared to scold him.

"Fox you are not a monster. Nothing is ever too difficult for you and what you are supposed to do is let us in and let us help you. You have so many of us who want to help and you should know by now that we aren't going to let you face the Akatsuki by yourself, it's too dangerous." She said before taking a breath and carrying on. "We can try and find another way to help you control the power but for now we need to carry on doing it Jiraiya's way." She said and Fox slowly looked at her, an almost pained look in his eye before he nodded his head. Slug hugged him before the other guards joined them at the table.

The days passed by rather quickly. Harry spent a lot of his time in the library with Hermione accompanying him sometimes. The guards spent their time patrolling the school as well as classes and when they weren't doing that, they were training and helping Fox control his powers. The professors spent their time teaching and preparing for the First Task, some of them worrying about the four students who were participating seeing as this was the first time the tournament had been held in quite a few years.

Finally the twenty fourth of November came and the four champions were ushered to the tents whilst the rest of the students and teachers along with the guards made their way to the stands. Harry paced anxiously around the tent, knowing that soon he would have to face one of the dragons he saw a few weeks ago. As he walked past a small opening in the tent he heard someone whisper his name. He looked towards the opening and slowly walked towards it. He heard it again and instantly recognised the feminine voice.

"Hermione." He whispered back and he heard the girl let out a sigh before the opening was made larger and she flung herself into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck.

"How are you feeling?" She asked in a frantic voice to which he shrugged his shoulders.

"The key is to concentrate and then all you have to do is-" She said before Harry finished off the sentence for her.

"Battle a dragon." They both let out a small laugh before there was a bright flash accompanied with a loud click. The two turned to where it came from and saw Rita Skeeter walking towards them.

After her interruption the headmasters walked in with Slug and Ludo Bagman. Ludo produced a small bag from behind his back and showed it to the four contestants.

"The four of you will reach into the bag and whatever you pull out will be the dragon you will be facing along with the position you will be going out in." He explained and the four champions nodded.

Fleur was the first one to pick. She slowly put her hand in the bag and pulled out a small green dragon with the number two on it.

"Ah the Welsh Green." Bagman told her and the girl looked up at her head teacher with a mixture of shock, fear and confusion.

Victor was next; he picked out the Chinese Fireball (with the number three on it) which caused Karkaroff to smirk at him, showing he thought it fit him well.

Then Cedric; he picked out the Swedish Short-snout with the number one on it. Finally it was Harry's turn. He put his hand in the bag cautiously and he pulled out the Hungarian Horntail with the number four on it.

Harry waited anxiously in the tent as one by one the three other champions went out to face their dragons and he watched as each one came back with at least one injury – whether minor or major, it was still an injury. Harry heard the whistle and knew it was time.

He walked out into the enclosure and his ears were assaulted by the sounds of screaming and shouting from the stands as people cheered. He looked around slowly and his eyes widened slightly when they landed on the dragon. It was larger than he expected, even if he had seen it before, and he could see something glinting in the sun behind it. He took a closer look and realised it was the golden egg they were supposed to be getting. He blanched at the idea of even getting near the egg seeing as it looked impossible. However he quickly steeled himself and took out his wand.

He muttered a spell under his breath, hoping to God that it worked but he knew that whilst he waited he would have to keep the dragon busy. He walked further out into the enclosure and the dragon automatically set its sights on him. His heart sped up as he quickly hid behind a small wall and he sighed in relief when he realised it was a good idea because a few seconds later there was a roar and fire was blazing above his head. He peeked out from behind the wall and quickly pointed his wand at the dragon, sending stunning spells towards it which hardly affected it. He ran out from behind the wall, dodging the dragon's mouth but in his hurry to get away he forgot all about its tail until it came crashing into the floor behind him, sending him tumbling down the small, rocky hill.

The crowd gasped in fright whilst others – most likely Gryffindors – screamed for him to get up. He slowly stood up, his ears ringing as he did so, and located the dragon once more. As he was about to start shooting more spells as the dragon he saw something coming towards him in the corner of his eye and his stomach leaped for joy when he realised it was his broomstick. He quickly grabbed it once it got close enough and jumped onto it, flying straight towards the dragon's nest, where the golden egg lay with various other dragon eggs.

Everything after that was a blur, the adrenaline getting to him. He remembered dodging the dragon and as he passed it feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder. He faintly heard people screaming but then he had a hold of the golden egg and he flew away as fast as he could. After that he remember tumbling off his broom as he reached the perimeter of the enclosure and he soon felt a pair of hands pulling him up and he slowly looked up at the masked guard, recognising it as Fox as he was pulled towards the medical tent where Slug was waiting patiently.

"Hey Harry, let's get you fixed up. I bet it's starting to hurt now that the adrenaline is wearing off. Trust me we all know how it feels." Slug said as her and Fox led him into the tent where the four other champions were and where Hermione and surprisingly Ron were sat, waiting for the results to be announced.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked once he was at on the bed and Slug hand her hand over his shoulder which started glowing a turquoise colour and his shoulder stopped hurting.

"I'm fine. Everything just seemed to happen too quickly once I got my broom." Harry replied and Ron was the next to talk.

"That was a good move mate." He said and Harry looked at him in shock before saying thank you.

"Hermione made me realise how much of an idiot I have been and when I saw you out there I knew that if something had happened to you I would have felt really bad because I wouldn't have had the chance to say –" Ron started rambling before Harry cut him off.

"It's fine Ron. Friends?" He asked, a smile on his face.

"Friends." The red head replied and Hermione quickly engulfed the two in a hug, happy that they were talking again.

They finally hear Harry's score and he is shocked that he is tying first with Krum which earned him a glare from Karkaroff but a smile of encouragement and friendliness from Victor himself. As they celebrated Bagman came back into the tent and informed them that the next task would be on the twenty fourth of February in the morning. The three Gryffindors eventually decided that it was best to go back to the castle so they followed Fox and Slug out of the tent who quickly congratulated Harry on his first place.

As they walked back up to the castle the three students talked animatedly whilst the two guards listened in, smiling every now and then at the small banter that happened between the two Gryffindor boys. Once they reached the castle Slug and Fox parted ways; Fox taking the three students to their common room whilst Slug went to the Great Hall where the other students would be for a meal.

"I'll take you to your common room and then we can go down to the Great Hall so that you can get something to eat." Fox said as they made their way through the corridors.

"Thanks Fox." Harry replied which earned him a nod from the blonde captain.

Fox said the password and the four walked in, Fox going to sit on the couch whilst the three students went up to their dorm room so Harry could get changed.

"Hello Fox-kun." Cat said as she walked towards him and he quickly turned towards her, not realising she was there.

"Hey Cat-chan, I didn't know you were here." Fox replied as he smiled at her behind the mask, his eyes creasing the only indication that he was doing so.

"I figured you would want some company whilst you waited for them." She said quietly whilst pushing her fore-fingers together (an old habit that still came back every now and then). Fox beamed at her before replying.

"Thanks Cat-chan." He said before carrying on. "The task was fun to watch."

"Yes it was, I find it funny how such a little object like their wands can do so many amazing things." Cat replied and Fox nodded in agreement.

"Yes but it is like some of our shinobi equipment." He said and before Cat could reply the Golden Trio walked down the stairs, still talking about seemingly unimportant topics.

Fox and Cat sat down at the table and greeted the guards that were already there. Fox looked at the food before filling his plate as he listened to his teammates talk about the task that had just been completed.

"So that's one task down, two more to go." Dog said as he stuffed his mouth with food along with Bear who sat next to him.

"Aye and no attacks yet. The suspense is killing me." Dragon replied as she looked at her teammates. "I'm wondering if they know we are here and are just planning an attack or if they are oblivious. I mean Lady Tsunade hasn't mentioned anything about any of the Akatsuki coming here yet but what if they are already here and she doesn't know about it." She carried on and the rest of the shinobi looked at her.

"Well if they do come here then we will be the first ones to be told so that we can protect the school but for now we need to be grateful that nothing has happened and our job is still considerably easy." Deer replied in his diplomatic voice which made the other agree with him. Deer had a way with his words when he actually did talk instead of sleep that made Fox think that he would be perfect for his advisor when he became Hokage. He looked at him with fondness in his eyes and knew he wouldn't have it any other way. He just hoped that he was right but it was Deer and he was incredibly intelligent so he had to be right.

He just had to be.

There you go and once again I hope you liked it. Please be sure to review and I will try and get the next chapter out as quickly as I can

-Until then.