Chapter 11


A/N: I do not own anything other than the plot of this story. Everything related to The Little Mermaid belongs to Disney while everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

Okay, again, so sorry with the delay in updating! I really meant to update once a month this year but life just got away me. Between getting a job, losing that job and taking care of my mom as she recovers from ankle surgery, it's been difficult finding time to write.

It's honestly amazing how much people want me to keep updating this story! The fact that it's still leading on my update poll with 27 votes never fails to make me smile whenever I see it. The poll's going to stay up for a while-probably until I complete about half of the stories on there. It's a good way to keep myself honest and to try to avoid starting any new WIPs when I've got so many projects to finish first.

Next update I'm aiming for maybe middle of November. It's election season here in the United States so first week of November might be a little difficult as my family tends to hunker down and watch the election coverage. Besides, it'll take a week for me to calm my emotions regarding the election no matter which way it goes, and I'd rather not drive away all my readers with either my celebration or anger.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please feel free to leave a review or shoot me a PM!


Back at Atlantica:

Ariel quickly turned her head to look down the hall before scurrying into the room that held the mirror she had been using. For the past couple of months, she had been using the mirror to talk to Harry—oh she hoped he was all right! This tournament was clearly stressing him out, even if he didn't say anything. That had to be the worst part of this whole thing—the fact that she couldn't tell anyone otherwise she'd go to Attina and ask for help. She was the oldest, she'd be able to figure out a way to keep Harry safe.

"Harry?" she whispered into the mirror. She had to be careful since her father could walk in at anytime. Granted, she doubted it since it was around midnight but still! Normally, she would never risk it at all and wait until daytime when her father was in a meeting with Sebastian or something. I mean, she was all for exploring and changing routine but this was the one rule they were never supposed to break.

But this was important. She accidentally overheard a couple of her father's soldiers talking about reports from the Black Lake regarding four land drakes near the lake—or at least their scent. If this could help Harry in someway, well then it would be worth the risk.

"Harry!" she hissed into the mirror. "Harry, please pick up!"

"Ariel?" the confused face of her friend came into focus and Ariel almost sighed with relief. "What are you doing? It's got to be the middle of the night there!"

"Not the time Harry," Ariel told him. "I overheard my father's soldiers talking about the scent of four land drakes this morning. Apparently, they'd gotten reports from the merpeople who are living in the Black Lake."

"Please tell me 'land drake' isn't another word for dragon," Harry asked, but his face seemed almost resigned to the answer even if Ariel knew what a dragon was. "Great, I've got to fight a dragon. Clearly whoever put me into this tournament really doesn't like me."

"Harry, you're going to be okay right?" Ariel asked, nervous for her friend. "I mean, it's just a game right? They wouldn't actually put you in harms way!"

"…I did tell you about my night time detention in the Forbidden Forest my first year right?"

"Point taken," Ariel sighed. "Oh, I wish I could be there to cheer you on! But Daddy's got us on our princess duties now more than ever. We barely see him anymore, except once in the morning and then again when he comes and says good night."

"I wish you were here too," Harry told her. "It'd be nice to see a friendly face other than Hermione's for a change."

"Oh? Is Hermione your girlfriend?" Ariel asked, perking up at the new name and stifling her giggles as Harry turned an impressive shade of pink.

"No! She's my friend, like you," Harry said, rubbing at his face to try to get the pink down and failing. The rubbing only made his face pinker. "Hey, did I tell you about Malfoy getting turned into a ferret?"

"Do tell," Ariel said, ignoring the awkward subject change and setting in for the story—taking care to stifle her giggles as Harry told her about the Slytherin git getting turned into a ferret by their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Personally, Ariel thought Malfoy deserved it. Trying to attack Harry when his back was risky to say the least. Depending on what spell Malfoy was going to cast, Harry could have been seriously hurt.

"Hey, I've got to go," Harry said as he pulled Ariel out of her thoughts. "I told Hermione I had detention with Snape tonight but I've been gone for too long and she'll probably come looking for me."

"I understand!" Ariel told him. "Go on! I'll talk to you soon."

"Next week," he said. "There's a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday that I can skip. Honestly, now that I know there's a dragon for the first task, maybe I'd better skip regardless."

"Okay, I'll see you next week—and Harry, try to be careful!"

"Hey I don't go looking for trouble!" he said, rolling his eyes at her and she shook her head in amusement before the mirror disconnected. Sighing, Ariel swam back to her room; taking care not to be caught. She wished she could go and see Harry in person but she knew her father would never allow it. For one thing, Harry was a human and she knew how her father felt about humans. To ask if she could support one as he faced danger?

No, her father would never allow it based on that alone. However, the other contributing factor was that it was at Hogwarts. Ariel didn't know exactly what her father had against Hogwarts but it was one of the few places he forbid anyone from visiting. Even the reports he received came via the merpeople who lived in the Black Lake.

Sliding down into her bed, Ariel hoped Harry could get some support from the people who were there. This competition sounded tough enough without the pressure of everyone being against you.

000

Hogwarts:

The week went by too slowly for Harry's liking. As it was, he already had a detention with Snape for the week. Maybe he shouldn't have called him a 'greasy dungeon bat'? Nah—he told Hermione that there was no difference in her teeth after Malfoy struck her with a teeth-growing hex. Snape deserved it.

No, the really frustrating thing was that now he couldn't use Snape as an excuse for why he was missing Hogsmeade. Hermione would totally see through that and demand a reason as to why Harry would skip a Hogsmeade weekend. Especially seeing as last year he went through a secret passageway using a map Fred and George had given him while a derange killer was on the loose.

Maybe he could argue it was a lot more fun when he couldn't go?

It's not like I can tell her about Ariel, he thought as he walked into the library. He was so thankful that Ariel had told him about the dragons. Granted, he still didn't know what the task actually was but you know what, it was more than he had before so he was just going to be thankful for it.

After this though, he was done with dragons. It was bad enough being guilted into helping Hagrid with his dragon back in First year. Okay, Hagrid wasn't a bad guy once you got to know him (and he didn't give your cousin a pig's tail), and Harry didn't want him to get in trouble. But did Ron really need to come up with such a harebrained idea? On top of it all, Harry and Hermione were the ones to serve detention since Ron had been in the Hospital Wing.

Not that Harry was bitter about that or anything.

Pulling some of the books regarding dragons off the shelves, Harry walked back to his table and paused half way in a sitting position as Cedric Diggory walked into the room. One of the fellow champions, Cedric was a Hufflepuff prefect and the seeker on their Quidditch team. Not only was he built like a champion with his broad shoulders and muscular build, but he was actually nice.

Harry still remembered the fact that it was Diggory who wanted a rematch after the Hufflepuff/Gryffindor game last year where Harry fell off his broom due to the affects from the Dementors. Diggory won fair and square but he still asked for a rematch.

Harry looked down at his books, subtly looking up every so often to watch Diggory pace the shelves as if unsure of what to look for. Not that he would, Harry reminded himself. None of the other Champions would know the first challenge would involve a dragon of some kind. He didn't know what to do—a small part of Harry wanted to tell Diggory, to let him know and prevent him from being hurt.

A larger part though was rejoicing at the fact that, despite being the youngest and the smallest Champion, he would be entering this challenge with an advantage. It'd be nice to rub it in Fleur's face that 'zis little boy' beat her in a challenge. Harry had always enjoyed besting the older boys at the swimming pool where he'd trained before Hogwarts; heck winning those races (the few times they occurred) made Uncle Vernon so proud he almost let Harry choose what dinner was going to be. He never did, but Harry was allowed to slip in a side here and there.

Sighing, Harry looked back up only to see Diggory looking at him with a concerned look on his face.

"You okay?" Diggory asked, and Harry realized his arm had been acting as a small pillow for the past five minutes. Oh.

"Yeah," Harry nodded and gestured for Diggory to sit down. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Diggory asked. "You're tired. You fell asleep. You think you're the first person to fall asleep in the library?"

Harry chuckled and looked back down at his books. Seeing Diggory only served to remind him about the growing hostility everyone seemed to have toward him. Oh the Gryffindors were over the moon about Harry being a Champion but everyone else in the other Houses were wearing those Potter Stinks buttons. Well, everyone he'd seen.

"Hey," Diggory said and Harry lifted his head to look at the older boy. "I'm sorry. About the buttons; I've asked my friends not to wear them but—"

"Don't worry about it," Harry said, waving off the apology before Diggory could continue. Though Harry would never admit it, it was nice to hear Diggory say that he had asked his friends not to wear them. Plus, Harry knew it wasn't Diggory who made the buttons so it wasn't like Harry could hate the older boy because of that.

"Cedric," Harry said suddenly, taking a leap of faith and looking around to make sure no one else could overhear them, "the first task—it's dragons."

Cedric stilled in his seat, a look of disbelief on his face. "You—you're serious?"

"They've got four of them, one for each of us," Harry explained, shoving one of the books in his pile toward the older boy. "I don't know what they want us to do with them though."

"Wh—why are you telling me this?" Cedric asked. "You had this great advantage, why didn't you keep it?"

"Think of this as me paying you back for trying to get a rematch for that Quidditch game last year," Harry said with a smile, gathering up a few of his books to study in the Common Room. Maybe Hermione knew a couple more books he could use as well.

"Do Krum or Fleur know?" Cedric asked and Harry stopped in mid task. He hadn't even thought about the other contestants.

"If they do, I don't know," Harry told him and Cedric frowned.

"Are you going to tell them?" the older boy pressed and Harry shrugged. Cedric frowned slightly and began running a finger over one of the books. "Look Harry, I know I just said that you should have kept the advantage but don't you think you should let them know? Dragons are serious—it's not like it's a Krup or a Hippogriff we're dealing with."

"Yeah, I bet they'd be real excited to talk to me," Harry muttered, glaring down at the book. Fleur would probably call him a little boy again and dismiss him while Krum probably would just walk away.

"You know, I'm sure Fleur didn't mean anything by that comment she made," Cedric said, unknowingly reading Harry's thoughts. "It's just, Harry this tournament is dangerous and we're all of age. We know what we got ourselves into. Honestly I can't believe they're all making you compete in this thing."

"Look, I'll think about it okay?" Harry told him, choosing to ignore the comment implying that Harry entered himself.

"Can't ask for more than that," Cedric chuckled and leaned back on his bench. So far, in fact, that he forgot that the bench he was sitting on did not have a back and therefore sprawled backwards on the ground as Harry tried to smother his chuckles.

"Listen, I'm going to go," Harry said as he gathered up his stuff. "I've still got an essay for McGonagall I've got to write."

"Completely understand," Cedric nodded from his spot on the floor.

"Are you going to stand up?" Harry asked as he noticed the older boy still sprawled over the bench.

"Probably."

"Okay then," Harry said and grabbed his bag. "Have fun with that."

As Harry walked toward Madam Pince to check out the books, he shook his head as Cedric bounced back up from his spot. Walking back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry sighed as he thought about the idea of telling Fleur and Krum about the dragons.

On the one hand, wasn't that what Hermione was talking about before the tournament started? The whole international cooperation stuff? Wasn't that the point of this whole thing and that maybe he was just being a bit too stupid?

But on the other hand, this was first and foremost a competition. Harry would never give Malfoy even footing on the Quidditch pitch and fly on a different broom than his Firebolt would he? Merlin, Malfoy did the same thing second year when he bought his way onto his team with those Nimbus 2001's. That certainly wasn't fair to the other three teams but Gryffindor still figured out a way to beat Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin team.

But Harry, you're comparing dragons to broomsticks, Ariel's voice suddenly swirled in his brain. A broomstick isn't as dangerous and telling the others won't hurt your chances! After all, you were in the same boat as them before I told you about the land drakes!

Harry sighed and shook his head, trying to get the voice of his friend out of his head. But it was no use—and truth be told Ariel's guilt worked better than Cedric's attempt at common sense or whatever that was in the library. But where could he find Krum and Fleur? It wasn't like he could just mosey up to their respective sleeping locations, knock on the door and say "Hey, we get to fight a dragon for the first task. Sleep well!"

Also, would they even listen? Krum might but Fleur probably thought Harry entered himself. Why wouldn't they? They were both of age and as Fleur said that night, the chance to compete for their schools was an honor plenty of people would die for. Harry, though, was not one of those people; having had more than enough near death experiences in the past.

Pausing to give the password to the Fat Lady, Harry sighed as he stepped into the Common Room. Thankfully, it was empty. He just wasn't in the mood to deal with the Gryffindors at that moment. Sitting down on one of the couches by the fire, Harry pulled out one of the books he checked out from the library. He'd never been more thankful for Ariel at that moment. Dragons, despite being evil beyond all belief, were something he was at least familiar with. It took some of the looming dread out of his system.

Now, all he had to do was figure out how to beat one while doing it in front of three schools that hated him. No pressure.

"Harry?" a voice sounded from behind and Harry turned to see a bewildered Hermione coming in through the portrait hole.

"Yeah Hermione?" Harry asked, marking his place with a scrap of parchment from his pocket. He figured Hermione would probably skin him alive if he dogeared a page, and he really didn't want to take his chances with Madam Pince.

"What are you reading?" his bushy-haired friend asked as she sat down next to him. "Not that I'm surprised you're reading—it's just I thought you'd might be spending time out by the Quidditch pitch."

"Why? There's no Cup this year," Harry snorted. "Another great thing about this Tournament."

"You know, I don't understand why that is," Hermione turned to Harry, her bag twisting off her lap as she contorted her entire body to face in Harry's direction. "The Tournament lasts all year right? Well, with the exception of the three—err, four champions, all the other students would be rather bored throughout the span of the Tournament. Quidditch would still be a viable option—maybe even allow some students who want to play but can't to get a chance."

"So what? Are you saying you'd be in favor of mini-Quidditch games?" Harry asked, surprised that his friend would suggest such a thing. It wasn't a big shock that Hermione wasn't the biggest Quidditch enthusiast. He almost expected a conversation like this with Ron or the Twins.

"I mean, I'm not a super fan but it is good fun to watch," Hermione said. "Besides, I'd like one year where you didn't give me a heart attack during your first game."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!"

Hermione shot Harry a look of utter disbelief, and Harry shook his head in amusement. It wasn't as if he planned for those events to happen. They just happened around him was all.

"Okay, maybe you have a point," Harry chuckled. "I have to admit, it'd be nice to go up against Krum in a friendly Quidditch game. I mean, he played in the Quidditch World Cup for Merlin's sake."

"I think everyone here would faint if they heard you were going head to head with Krum on the pitch," Hermione chuckled. "The Youngest Quidditch Player in a Century vs. A Professional Quidditch Player!"

Harry shook his head in amusement at the nickname; it was a lot better than The-Boy-Who-Lived but he had to wonder about the Wizarding World and their love of giving people nicknames that were capitalized.

Maybe it was just him?

So deep in thought, Harry didn't notice Hermione reaching over to look at one of his books. Granted, even if he did notice it, he probably wouldn't have thought anything odd about it. It was Hermione—books would always fascinate her.

"Harry? Why do you have about six different books on dragons?" Hermione asked and Harry stilled. It was one thing to tell Cedric about the challenge being dragon related; it would be another thing entirely to tell Hermione.

Considering the fact that he knew how much Hermione needed to know information, he would be hard pressed to keep the information regarding Ariel a secret from Hermione.