I do not own Bleach or Harry Potter the both belong respectively to Tite Kubo and J.K. Rowling
"There you are" said Harry, rushing towards Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who were in the middle of having a nice breakfast.
"What's wrong?" asked Hermione.
"Nothing, just hurry up."
Not eating, Harry waited until his friends finished the last of their meal, then practically dragged them out onto the grounds. Harry then told them about the dragons, and everything Sirius and Remus said, as they walked around the lake.
Though alarmed by the warning about Karkaroff, Hermione thought that the dragons were the more pressing problem.
"Let's just try to keep you alive until Tuesday evening" she said desperately. "Then we can worry about Karkaroff."
They walked around the lake three times, trying to think of a simple spell that would subdue a dragon. Nothing came to mind, so they retired to the library instead. Here they pulled down every book they could find that had the word 'dragon' written on it.
"Talon-clipping charms, treating scale rot, this for nutters like Hagrid who want to keep them like pets" Ron complained.
"Maybe we should try talking to Charlie" Ginny suggested.
"No" Harry said shortly. "It'd be cheating. He was one of the people at Hagrid's hut trying to tame the dragons."
"He could've mentioned he was visiting" Ron grumbled.
"He probably thought his presence would give away the first task" said Hermione.
The four continued to look through the mountain of books; Hermione whispering to herself as she read.
"Well, there are Switching Spells…but what's the point of switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that'd make it less dangerous…. Trouble is, like the book said, not much can get through a dragon's hide…. I'd say transfigure it, but something that big, you'd really have to hope, I doubt even Prof. McGonagall…unless…."
"Hermione" said Harry, gritting his teeth. "Would you mind keeping your thoughts in your head please? I'm trying to concentrate."
"Relax Harry" said Ginny, trying to calm him down. "We still have time."
"We have two days, Gin. I can't even pull off a summoning charm. How am I supposed to master a new spell in only two days?"
They hated to admit it but Harry had a point. Despite usually being good at picking up new spells, he still needed time to actually perfect them. Time they didn't have.
"Oh no, he's back again" Hermione groaned, as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look at them and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. Ron looked like he was going to say something about the Quidditch star looking at them but Hermione had other plans. "Come on, we'll go back to the common room. His fan club will be here soon, twittering away and then we really won't be able to concentrate."
And it turned out Hermione was right, the moment they stepped out of the library, a group of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgarian scarf tied around her waist.
Monday morning came and Harry's nerves were a wreck. As he ate his breakfast in the great hall, he found it difficult to think of anything other than the tournament. But as he wondered if he'd actually end up a dragon's next meal, Harry realized that there was one champion that wasn't in the know, as he had no doubt that Karkaroff also found out about the task and warned Krum ahead of time.
As he, Ron, and Hermione got up to leave for their first class, Harry spotted Cedric leaving the Hufflepuff table.
"I'll see you in the greenhouses" said Harry, as he watched Cedric leave the great hall.
"Harry, you'll be late, the bell's about to ring" said Hermione.
"I'll catch up" he said dismissively, running off to catch up to his fellow Hogwarts champion.
"What's up with him?" Ron wondered.
"I think he wants to tell Cedric about the dragons" said Hermione.
"Yeah that makes sense." Admittedly Ron thought if his friend was going to be forced to compete, he might as well win. But Harry had always had a strong sense of honor and fair play.
By the time Harry reached the bottom of the marble staircase, Cedric was at the top, with a load of his sixth year friends. Not wanting to talk to Cedric in front of them, Harry followed from a distance. When he saw Cedric about to enter the charms corridor, Harry had an idea, taking careful aim with his wand.
"Diffindo!"
Cedric's bag split; parchment, quills, and books spilled out onto the floor.
"Don't bother" he said in exasperation, as his friends bent down to help him. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on."
Just as Harry had hoped, Cedric's friends went on ahead. Slipping his wand back into his robes, Harry hurried up the corridor, now devoid of life save for him and Cedric.
"Hi" Cedric greeted, picking up an ink splattered text book. "My bag just split…brand new and all…"
"Cedric the first task is dragons" said Harry, catching Cedric by surprise.
"What?" he said, looking up in shock.
"Dragons" Harry repeated, speaking quickly lest Prof. Flitwick came out to see what was holding Cedric up. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."
Cedric stared at Harry, perhaps trying to see if he could find any signs of deceit.
"Are you sure?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"Dead sure, I saw them."
"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know."
"Never mind that" Harry said quickly. He knew that Hagrid would be in trouble if he told the truth. "But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now; Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons."
Cedric straightened up, staring at Harry with a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes.
"Why are you telling me?" he asked.
Harry looked at him in disbelief. He was sure Cedric wouldn't have asked if he had seen the dragons himself. But still he wouldn't let his worst enemy face those monsters unprepared, well maybe Malfoy or Snape.
"It's just fair isn't it?" said Harry. "We all know now we're on even footing, aren't we?" Well as even as I can make it anyway. Worst case scenario, he still had the option of using his Soul Reaper powers.
Cedric still looked somewhat suspicious when a familiar clunking noise caught their attention. Turning around they saw Mad-Eye Moody emerge from a nearby classroom.
"Come with me, Potter" he growled. "Diggory, off you go."
Harry stared apprehensively at Moody, wondering if he had overheard them.
"Uh, Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology..."
"Never mind that, Potter. In my office, please."
Harry followed him, wondering what would happen now. What if Moody wanted to find out how he had known about the dragons? Would he go to Dumbledore and tell on Hagrid, or just turn Harry into a ferret?
Harry stepped inside Moody's office, the ex-Auror closing the door behind them, before fixing both eyes on him.
"That was a decent thing you just did, Potter" Moody said quietly. This was certainly not what Harry was expecting. "Sit down."
Having visited the office under two of its previous occupants, Harry couldn't help but look around to see the changes done by the current DADA Professor. While Lockhart had the walls plastered with pictures of himself, and Remus would display a specimen of some interesting new Dark creature, he had procured; Moody had opted to fill the office with a number of exceptionally odd objects that Harry suspected were from his days as an Auror.
On his desk stood what Harry recognized as a sneakoscope, though much larger than the one Ron had gifted him for his birthday the previous year. In the corner on a small table stood what looked like an extra-squiggly, golden TV antenna, humming slightly. On the wall opposite Harry hung what appeared to be a mirror, but it wasn't reflecting the room. Instead shadowy figures were moving around inside it, none clearly in focus.
"Like my Dark Detectors, do you?" said Moody, who had been watching Harry closely.
"What's that?" Harry asked, point to the squiggly golden antenna.
"Secrecy Sensor. Vibrates when it detects concealment and lies…no use here, of course, too much interference; students in every direction lying about why they haven't done their homework. Been humming ever since I got here. Had to disable my sneakoscope because it wouldn't stop whistling. It's extra sensitive, picks up stuff about a mile around. Of course, it could be picking up more than kid stuff."
"And what's the mirror for?"
"Oh that's my Foe-Glass. See them out there, skulking around? I'm not really in trouble until I see the white of their eyes. That's when I open my trunk."
He let out a short, harsh laugh, and pointed to the large trunk under the window. It had seven keyholes in a row. Harry wondered what was inside, until Moody's next question brought him sharply back to earth.
"So found out about the dragons, have you?" said Moody. "It's all right" he assured Harry, having noticed the boy's hesitation. "Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been."
"I didn't cheat" Harry said sharply. "It was sort of an accident that I found out."
Moody grinned as he took a seat behind his desk, stretching out his wooden leg with a groan.
"I'm not accusing you, lad. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human."
Probably because he likes to act like he's some kind of god Harry thought bitterly.
"So got any idea how you're going to get past your dragon yet?" asked Moody.
"No" said Harry, wondering if the ex-Auror planned to give him some help.
"Well I'm not going to tell you" he said gruffly. "I don't show favoritism. I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is play to your strengths."
Play to my strengths? Harry wasn't sure about that sure he had a talent for DADA, extending even into his developing Soul Reaper powers. But outside of that his only real talent was Quidditch.
"I hear you're a talented flier" Moody continued. "So my second piece of general advice is to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need."
After his talk with Moody, Harry finally had a game plan for how to deal with the dragon. But it all depended on his ability to master the summoning charm before the first task, the next day. So he, Hermione, and Ron found and empty classroom to work, only breaking to attend classes and meals as they practiced well into the night.
"Concentrate, Harry" said Hermione, holding out a dictionary as his target.
"What do you think I'm trying to do" Harry said angrily, frustrated by the lack of progress. "A great big dragon keeps popping into my head for some reason!"
"Relax mate, you'll get it" said Ron.
Harry was about to complain about how it didn't seem likely when the classroom door opened, to their relief it was simply Ginny.
"How's it going?" she asked, but before either Harry or Hermione could report his lack of progress Ron had a question of his own.
"What're you doing here?" he demanded. "You should be in bed."
"Don't start sounding like mom" said Ginny. "And if you must know; I got curious so I decided to see how it was going."
Hermione wanted to ask, how Ginny had even found them but then she remembered that she was the only one Harry had taken the time to teach how to actively search for spiritual pressures. Maybe once he made it through the tournament she and Ron could ask him to teach them too.
"So again: how's it going?" asked Ginny.
"Harry's still having a rough time of it" Ron said at last.
"He just needs to concentrate" said Hermione.
"I am concentrating!" Harry snapped.
"Try focusing on how badly you want something" said Ginny. "Accio Glasses!"
To Harry's surprise his glasses actually lifted themselves off his face and into Ginny's hand, leaving both him and Hermione shocked that she mastered a charm a whole year early.
"She's been helping me study" Ron explained, as his sister returned his best friend's glasses.
"Don't worry so much about the wand movements" said Ginny. "Just focus on how badly you want it."
Harry closed his eyes and tried to focus on how badly he wanted the dictionary. Focusing only on his desire for the book he held out his wand and whispered "Accio"
The dictionary flew from Hermione's hand and straight into Harry's stomach.
"It worked!" Harry cheered, ignoring the pain. "I did it!"
"It worked" Hermione and Ron said together, in a mix relief and exhaustion.
"Told you" Ginny smiled.
"Thank you" Harry said sincerely.
"No problem."
For a moment Harry and Ginny just stood there smiling at each other but the moment came to an abrupt end once Ron spoke up saying they should go get some sleep.
Harry had been so focused on learning the summoning charm that evening that some of his panic left him. It returned the following morning in full force. At least classes stopped at midday; not that he would've been able to concentrate anyway.
Harry couldn't help but feel oddly separate from everyone around him, whether they were wishing him good luck or hissing "we'll have a box of tissues ready, Potter" as he passed. Time just seemed to fly by until it that afternoon at lunch, Prof. McGonagall approached him at the Gryffindor table.
"Potter, the champions have to come down to the grounds now. You have to get ready for your first task."
Ginny, Ron, and Hermione each wished Harry good luck as he got up to follow McGonagall. As they left the great hall Harry noticed that he wasn't the only one feeling anxious. Prof. McGonagall was looking just as nervous as him.
"Now don't panic, just keep a cool head" she said, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any less of you. Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Though in truth Harry was feeling anything but.
While Harry and the other champions were gathering, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron hurried to find seats. The stands were packed and they couldn't help but grow more and more fearful as it got closer for the start of the first task. But then Hermione remembered something Harry had once told her.
"Hey remember when Harry was with Buckbeak?" said Hermione.
"Yeah he rode him, so what?" asked Ron.
"Buckbeak was confused about him. Harry said magical creatures like hippogriffs are highly attuned to the spirit world. Maybe the dragon will just leave him alone."
For a moment they all felt a lot better about Harry's chances of survival but then a voice they hadn't heard before cut that comfort to shreds.
"Hate to tell you this but that relies heavily on the magical creature's intelligence" said an unknown male voice.
To their surprise the voice had come from Felix the cat that had taken a liking to Harry.
"What you act like you've never seen a talking cat before."
"Bloody hell" Ron gasped, looking around to see if anyone else noticed the talking cat.
"Don't bother Ron" said the cat. "No one is even aware of us right now."
Upon closer inspection Hermione noticed that the air around them seemed to shimmer, almost like a mirage.
"What is this?" she demanded, as she Ron and Ginny now pointed their wands at they now suspected to be more than a cat.
"Well I suppose first I should say my name is Yoruichi, nice to meet you" she said casually. "Now why don't you just relax." Releasing just a small amount of her spiritual pressure, Yoruichi forced Ron, Ginny, and Hermione back into their seats, leaving them feeling as if they had the breath knocked out of them.
"There that's better" Yoruichi smiled. "Now as I was saying; Werewolves, hippogriffs, goblins, house elves, etc. all have some form of higher level intelligence. Not necessarily human level but still they can
I promise to explain everything after Harry finishes the first task. See you later."
Yoruichi then walked away, taking her kidō with her, and leaving the three magic users fearful for Harry's life should she have something sinister in mind. But those thoughts were soon forced to the back of their minds as Bagman rushed on to the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman announced, his voice magically amplified. "The objective of the first task is for each of the four champions to retrieve a golden egg. But I'm afraid it's not that simple. For in order to reach their goal, they'll have to get past a dragon!"
Cedric, Krum, and Fleur each managed to retrieve their eggs, the now it was Harry's turn to face the challenge.
The crowd cheered as Harry walked out on to the field. Though this didn't even register for him; his focus was entirely on the Hungarian Horntail. He watched as eight wizards fought to drag the giant black dragon forward, its sinister yellow eyes glowing in the shadows of it holding pen.
Once the handlers were out of the way, the Horntail focused on Harry, making him wonder if his Soul Reaper powers would confuse it, just like with Buckbeak. Unfortunately like Yoruichi said intelligence was a factor.
Dragons are a very aggressive species, especially the Hungarian Horntail, opting to kill anyone or anything that it perceives as a threat or food source. Too bad for Harry he fell into the both categories, as his powerful aura actually made the beast more aggressive, releasing a powerful stream of fire.
Diving out of the flame's path, Harry raised his wand to the sky and shouted "Accio Fire bolt!"
After waiting for what felt like an eternity, Harry heard it, his Fire bolt speeding through the air, coming to rest midair beside him.
Bagman made some sort of comment but honestly Harry couldn't be bothered to listen as he quickly mounted his broom and took off, soaring high above the enclosure, until the audience and even the dragon appeared to be nothing more than ants.
As flew through the air, Harry couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and freedom from his fears. It was strange in a way that he only truly felt in control of his life was when he knew he could just take to the air; regardless of whether it was with his broom or as a Soul Reaper, challenges just didn't seem so impossible when he knew he could touch the sky.
Ok Harry, it's just like catching the Snitch. With this mindset, Harry scanned the Horntail's nest, spotting his golden prize amongst its' cement colored mates, safely snuggled between the dragon's front legs.
Ok time for some diversionary tactics.
Harry dived, the Horntail's head following him; he knew what it was going to do and pulled out of the dive just in time, swerving out of the way, just as it released a jet of fire.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" Bagman yelled as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"
Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still tracking him; it's head revolving on its long neck-in accordance to Harry's plan to dizzy it.
Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky. Though he missed the flames, the dragon's tail whipped up to meet him, injuring his shoulder as it knocked him off his broom.
The crowd gasped in horror as Harry fell, certain that the Horntail would eat him. But then to their astonishment he revealed one last trick up his sleeve; Harry transformed his body shifting from human to that of a jet black bid, a raven.
"An animagus!" cried an astonished Bagman, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. "I can't believe it!"
Sirius told Harry to put on a show and that's just what Harry planned to do. Using his smaller form's speed, Harry zoomed around the back of the Horntail, swooping down under the dragon's tail and through its legs.
Shifting the eggs around with his beak, Harry maneuvered himself next to the golden egg. The Horntail sensing the disturbance in its nest the dragon stood up to check, leaving Harry the opening he needed to clutch the golden egg between his talons and take off as fast as he could before the beast could notice him.
The crowd went wild, louder than it had been throughout the entire task.
"Look at that!" Ludo yelled. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"
Fast as they could, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny ran towards the first aid tent to find Harry, catching him just as he walked outside.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. "You were amazing! You really were!"
"It was amazing" Ginny said ecstatically.
"How come you never told us you were an animagus?" asked Ron.
"Um because until a few minutes ago I wasn't" said Harry, laughing his friends' astonished expressions.
Sure he had been working with his dad during visits to the Soul Society and a few times at home with Sirius but that had been Harry's first successful animagus transformation.
"It seems you're the type that rises to the occasion" said Yoruichi, surprising them all with her sudden appearance.
While his friends trembled in fear, Harry couldn't help but stare in wonder as his mind tried to make sense of the fact a cat had spoken to them.
"You all heard…"
"Yeah Harry, we know" Hermione interrupted. "We just don't know what he wants."
"Well Hermione I did say I'd explain after the task, didn't I?" said Yoruichi. "So why don't we listen to Harry's scores and then we can have that chat."
Yoruichi led the way to the edge of the field. The judges were sitting in a both on the opposite side of the arena.
"It marks out of ten" said Ginny.
The first judge, Madame Maxime, raised her wand into the air. A long silver ribbon shot out of it, forming an eight.
"Not bad!" said Ron, as the crowd applauded. "Suppose she took marks off for your shoulder."
Mr. Crouch was next, awarding him a nine.
"Looking good!" Ron yelled, thumping Harry on the back.
Maybe Ron should be my coach Harry mused, noticing how seriously his friend was taking his placement in the tournament.
Dumbledore followed; he too awarded Harry nine points. The crowd was cheering even harder now.
Ludo Bagman's score came next…
"A ten?" Harry said in disbelief. "But I got hurt. What's he playing at?"
"Harry don't complain" said Ginny, now sharing her brother's enthusiasm.
And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too.
"What?!" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy, biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"
At Harry's questioning look, Hermione explained that Krum's attempt was sloppy resulting in the destruction of half of the nest's real eggs.
"What can you expect, when the headmasters are judging their own students" said Yoruichi. "Honestly I'm surprised the other two didn't score low as well."
Harry didn't care about the scores. He was just glad he wasn't a pile of ashes. It didn't hurt that it was more than just Gryffindors cheering for him. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that the entire school had sided with him once they saw what he and Cedric of course were up against; after all, Slytherins didn't like him on a good day. Nor did he believe this would be the last time they'd turn on him, it was painfully obvious by now how fickle they were, but he'd at least enjoy the peace while it lasted.
"Hey, Charlie!" Ginny called, waving to her brother as he came towards them.
"Hey Ginny, Ron" Charlie greeted, and nodding to Hermione before focusing on Harry. "You're tied for first place, Harry! You and Krum! Listen, I've got to run, I've got to send Mom an owl, I swore I'd tell her what happened-but that was unbelievable! Oh yeah, and they told me to tell you, you've got to hang around a few minutes…Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."
With Yoruichi making herself comfortable in the grass and his friends basically left with no choice but to wait for him, Harry re-entered the tent and returned not long after, planning to tell them what Bagman said about the second task once things were settled with the resident talking cat.
Cautiously the four teenagers followed Yoruichi to a secluded area on the far side of the grounds out of sight from the castle and Hagrid's hut, even the dragon enclosure.
"I suppose I should start with why I'm here" said Yoruichi. "I'm sure by now you've noticed the uptake in Hollow activity these last few months."
"Yeah" said Harry, curious as to how a cat could possibly have anything to do with that. "But it's gone back down, hasn't it?"
"Afraid not. I've just been picking up the slack for you."
"Yeah right" Ron scoffed. "How the hell does a cat do anything against a soul eating monster."
Clearly his skepticism had overpowered any sense of fear Ron had toward Yoruichi, leaving Ginny and Hermione to watch anxiously for the cat's reaction. But to their surprise Yoruichi didn't seem bothered by it all.
"Well obviously I couldn't do it as a cat; I simply returned to my true form."
"Oh so now you're a transforming talking cat!"
"Obviously Ron" said Yoruichi, rolling her eyes. "Cat's don't talk."
Ron sputtered indignantly, struggling to form words, when suddenly the cat's body glowed as it started to change. Gone was the cat form that Harry had called Felix and in its' place was the woman that had saved him from the Menos Grande.
Harry wanted to demand to know who she was and why had she hidden herself as a cat. But first he'd have to find his voice as he too found that he couldn't speak.
Both Harry and Ron stood there transfixed by the sight of a very naked Yoruichi, both blushing a bright tomato red.
"Bloody hell" they finally breathed out, still mesmerized by sight before them.
"I always love to see people's reaction when I show my true form" Yoruichi laughed, amused by the boys' reaction. "Especially when the voice I use in cat form makes them assume I'm a man."
"Y-you're a girl" Harry squeaked.
"Yes and we had such a good time together didn't we Harry?" Yoruichi said teasingly, leaning into the boy, showing off the collar he placed on her. As well as giving him a good view of her cleavage. "Am I the first girl you've ever seen naked?"
Ginny and Hermione just stood to the side also stunned by the appearance of Yoruichi's human form. Though for very different reasons from the boys. But the sight of the Soul Reaper teasing the boys was enough to snap them out of it.
"Put on some clothes!" they yelled, getting another laugh from Yoruichi.
