Thanks to: Furionknight, tenshi-no-akuma-81, WinxPossible, ichigos-lover-1996, OCD, RadientWings, Spider's Thread, Mosstar, ChelseaAnonymous, Morte Cacciatore, Ochibi and Urufu, Crazy-Psycho-Anime-Lover for reviewing.
Also, thanks for not screaming at me. I'm glad that the majority of you accepted my decision of not writing fluff and whatnot.
Chapter Twelve: Task Number One
(…)
Harry had been focusing so hard on learning Summoning Charms that evening that some of his blind panic had left him. It returned full measure, however, on the following morning. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure – though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there.
Harry felt oddly separate from everyone around him, whether they were wishing him luck or hissing at him. It was a state of nervousness so advanced that he wondered whether he mightn't just lose his head when they tried to lead him out to his dragon, and start cursing everyone in sight.
Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment he seemed to be sitting down in his first lesson, History of Magic, with Swan, and the next, walking into lunch… and then Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to him in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching.
"Potter, the champions have to come down into the grounds now… you have to get ready for your first task."
"Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter.
Fox, who was sitting at the Ninja Table, instructed Raven to follow Harry down to the grounds. Fox made about ten Shadow Clones and stationed them around the school, so that the rest of his crew could go down as well without leaving the castle unguarded.
Harry left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione that morning. As she walked him down the stone steps, Raven appeared silently behind them. Professor McGonagall put her hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Now, don't panic," he said, "just keep a cool head… we've got wizards and the ninja on hand to control the situation if it gets out of hand… the main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you… are you all right?"
"Yes," Harry heard himself say. "Yes, I'm fine."
She was leading him towards the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the Forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.
"You're to go in there with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall in a rather shaky voice, "and wait for your turn, Potter. Mr Bagman is in there… he'll be telling you the – the procedure… good luck."
"Thanks," said Harry, in a flat and distinct voice. She left him at the entrance of the tent. Harry entered.
Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Harry supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry entered, he gave him a small smile, which Harry retuned, feeling the muscles in his face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it.
"Harry! Good-oh," said Bagman happily, looking around at him. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"
Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing amid all the pale-faced champions. He kept on smiling, bouncing around.
Raven slipped silently into the tent and went to stand in a corner, his posture erect, viewing the whole tent with hard eyes. He noticed a rustling purple silk bag in the corner, but did not pay attention to it.
"Well, now we're all here – time to full you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" – he held up a small sack of purple silk, and shook it at them – "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different – er – varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else to… ah, yes… your task is to collect the golden egg!"
Harry glanced around. Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Fleur Delacour and Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps they thought they might be sick if they opened their mouths; that was certainly how Harry felt. But they, at least, had volunteered for this…
In no time at all, Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack and held it out to Fleur Delacour.
"Ladies first," he said, offering it to her.
She put a shaking hand inside the bag, and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon – a Welsh Green. It had the number 'two' around its neck. And Harry knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was coming.
The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number 'three' around its neck. He didn't even blink, just stared at the ground.
Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-grey Swedish Short-Snout, the number 'one' tied around its neck. Knowing what was left, Harry put his hand into the silk bag, and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number 'four'. It stretched its wings as he looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs.
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon which you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now… Harry… could I have a quick word? Outside?"
"Er… yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with Bagman, who walked him a short way away, into the trees, and turned to him with a fatherly expression.
Raven had followed them as well, his eyes narrowing.
"Feeling alright, Harry? Anything I can get you?" Bagman asked.
"What?" said Harry, "I – no, nothing."
"Got a plan?" said Bagman, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know. I mean," Bagman continued, lowering his voice still further, "you're the underdog here, Harry… anything I can do to help…"
Raven frowned, hidden behind a tree. Why was Bagman offering him help?
"No," said Harry, so quickly he knew he had sounded rude, "no – I – I've decided what I'm going to do, thanks."
"Nobody would know, Harry," said Bagman, winking at him.
"No, I'm fine," said Harry, wondering why he kept telling people this, and wondering whether he had ever been less fine. "I've got a plan worked out, I –"
A whistle had blown somewhere.
"Good Lord, I've got to run!" said Bagman in alarm, and he hurried off.
Harry walked back to the tent with Raven still following him, and saw Cedric emerging from it, greener than ever. Harry tried to wish him luck as he walked past, but all that came out of his mouth was a sort of hoarse grunt. Harry swore he heard Raven chuckle.
Harry went back inside to Fleur and Krum. Seconds later, they heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Cedric had entered the enclosure, and was now face to face with the living counterpart of his model…
It was worse than Harry could ever have imagined, sitting there and listening. The crowd screamed… yelled… gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Krum was still staring at the ground. Fleur had now taken to retracing Cedric's footsteps, round and round the tent. Raven simply looked bored.
Bagman's commentary made everything much, much worse… horrible pictures formed in Harry's mind, as he heard: "Ooh, narrow miss there, very narrow"… "He's taking risks, this one!"… "Clever move – pity it didn't work!"
"Calm yourself, Potter-san," Raven murmured to the frozen boy. Harry gulped and tried to maintain his breathing. "Otherwise you might go into hyperventilation, and I'm not going to help you if you do."
After about fifteen minutes, Harry heard the deafening roar that could only mean one thing: Cedric had got past the dragon and seized the golden egg.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled, as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Fleur was trembling head to foot; Harry felt more warmly towards her than he had done so far, as she left the tent with her head held high, and her hand clutching her wand. He and Krum were left alone, not counting Raven, at opposite sides of the tent, avoiding each other's gaze.
Again, the same process started again. The nerve-wracking commentary left Harry absolutely scared stiff. Ten minutes later, it seemed as though Fleur had gotten her egg as the audience roared once again.
For the third time, the whistle blew. Krum went out, his face impassive.
Harry barely listened to the commentary, but rather his own body. He was starting to panic, his breath coming in shuddering gasps.
"Potter-san, you're acting as though you're going to your own execution," Raven said, jolting Harry out of his shocked thoughts. "It's only a dragon, and we'll be there to control it if anything happens." Harry stared at the guard. Was Raven… being nice?
Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished – it would be Harry's turn at any moment.
He stood up, dimly noticing that his legs seemed to be made of marshmallow. He waited. And then he heard the whistle blow. He walked out through the entrance of the tent, the panic rising to a crescendo inside him. Raven followed Harry as he walked through a gap in the enclosure fence.
The Hungarian Horntail stood at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving long gouge marks in the hard ground.
Harry noticed the ten guards positioned around the enclosure, tense and at the ready if anything happened that would put his life or the crowd's in mortal danger. The dragon didn't pay any attention to the ninja; her focus was on him and on him only.
It was time to do what he had to do… focus his mind, entirely and absolutely, upon the thing that was his only chance…
He raised his wand.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted.
He waited, every fibre of him hoping, praying… if it hadn't worked… if it wasn't coming… he seemed to be looking at everything around him through some sort of shimmering, transparent barrier, like a heat haze, which made the enclosure and the hundreds of faces around him swim strangely.
And then he heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling to him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead mid-air beside him, waiting for him to mount.
Fox smiled a hidden smile as Harry climbed onto his broomstick and took off. He watched as he used diversionary tactics, speeding around the Horntail. He watched as he dived and twisted through the air. Fox thought that it was quite impressive.
He soared higher in a circle; the Horntail still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck, plummeting just as the Horntail opened its mouth. He missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes gazed his shoulder, ripping his robes.
Slug noticed the metallic scent of blood, but then relaxed after seeing his wound. It wasn't very deep.
The dragon's tail sped towards the stands, heading towards the crowd, but before it could connect with anything, Slug had jumped in and chakra-punched the tail away from the spectators. She scanned around to make sure no one was hurt, and then resumed her place. The Horntail gave Slug a glance, and then turned its attention back to Harry, deciding that he was more of the threat.
Harry began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared.
He flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying, like a snake before its charmer…
Harry rose a few more metres, and she left out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; he tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now… she shot fire into the air, which he dodged… her jaws opened wide.
And then she reared up, spreading her great black leathering wings at last, as wide as those of a small aeroplane – and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what she had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding towards the ground as fast as he could go, towards the eggs now unprotected by her clawed, front legs – he had taken his hands off his Firebolt – he had seized the golden egg –
And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm.
The ninja sped forwards and used jutsu to contain the Horntail, and then left it to the wizards to contain and shackle her. They then turned to Harry, who was flying to the ground, landing in front of Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody and Hagrid.
His heart felt lighter than it had been in weeks… he had got through the first task, he had survived…
"That was excellent, Potter!" cried Professor McGonagall as he got off the Firebolt – which from her was extravagant praise. He noticed that her hand shook as she pointed at his shoulder. "You'll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out your score… over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already…"
"Yeh did it, Harry!" said Hagrid hoarsely. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Horntail an' all, an' yeh know Charlie said that was the wors' –"
"Thanks, Hagrid!" said Harry loudly, so that Hagrid wouldn't blunder on and reveal that he had shown Harry the dragons beforehand.
Professor Moody looked very pleased, too; his magical eye was dancing in its socket.
"Nice and easy does the trick, Potter," he growled.
The shinobi had assembled behind Harry as well.
"You did well, Potter-san," Fox said quietly. The ninja nodded in agreement as well. Harry grinned.
"Right then, Potter, the first-aid tent, please…" said Professor McGonagall.
Harry walked out of the enclosure with, still panting, and saw Madam Pomfrey standing at the mouth of a second tent, looking worried. Slug went along with him, deciding to let the witch heal Harry.
"Dragons!" she said in a disgusted tone, pulling Harry inside. The tent was divided into cubicles; he could make out Cedric's shadow through the canvas, but Cedric didn't seem too badly injured; he was sitting up, at least. Madam Pomfrey examined Harry's shoulder, talking furiously all the while.
"Last year Dementors, this year ninja, and now dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next?"
Harry glanced at Slug to see if she was offended, but she seemed to be quite amused at the witch's ramblings.
"You're quite lucky… this is quite shallow… it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though…"
Madame Pomfrey cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid which smoked and stung, but then poked his shoulder with her wand, and he felt it heal instantly.
She made Harry sit, but as soon as she had gone, he got to his feet. He went to the mouth of the tent, but before he had reached it, two people came darting inside – Hermione, followed closely by Ron.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily. There were fingernail marks on her face where she had been clutching it in fear. "You were amazing! You really were!"
But Harry was looking at Ron, who was very white, and staring at Harry as though he had seen a ghost. Hermione opened her mouth, but then closed it after Slug put a hand on her shoulder.
"Harry," Ron said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in the Goblet – I – I reckon they're trying to do you in!"
It was as though the last few weeks had never happened – as though Harry was meeting Ron for the first time, right after he'd been made champion.
"Caught on, have you," said Harry coldly. "Took you long enough."
Hermione stood nervously between them, Slug's hand still on her shoulder, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly. Harry knew Ron was about to apologise and, suddenly, he found he didn't need to hear it.
"It's okay," he said, before Ron could get the words out. "Forget it."
"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've –"
"Forget it," Harry said.
Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back.
Hermione burst into tears.
"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered. Slug chuckled silently.
"You two are so stupid!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her front. Then, before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a huge, and dashed away, positively howling.
"She hasn't shown it to you," Slug said, staring after Hermione, "but these few weeks when you two have been fighting, you have got no idea how frustrated she was."
"Figures," Ron said. "Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores…"
Picking up the golden egg and his Firebolt, feeling more elated than he would believed possible an hour ago, Harry ducked out of the tent, Ron by his side, explain everything that happened with the other champions.
Slug had gone before them, and now she reached Raccoon, who had been waiting near the tent, interweaving her fingers with his. Harry's lips twitched when he saw that, but then continued listening to Ron.
Ron drew breath as he and Harry reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Horntail had been taken away, Harry could see where the five judges were sitting – right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold.
"Its marks out of ten from each one," Ron said, and Harry, squinting up the field, saw the first judge – Madame Maxime – raise her wand in the air. What looked like a long, silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.
"Not bad!" said Ron, as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks off for your shoulder…"
Mr Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.
"Looking good!" Ron yelled, thumping Harry on the back.
Next, Dumbledore. He, too, put up a nine. The crowd were cheering harder than ever.
Ludo Bagman – ten.
"Ten?" said Harry in disbelief. "But… I got hurt… what's he playing at?"
"Harry, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly.
And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand, too – four.
"What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"
But Harry didn't care, he wouldn't have cared if Karkaroff had given him zero; Ron's indignation on his behalf was worth about a hundred points to him. He didn't tell Ron this, of course, but his heart felt lighter than air as he turned to leave the enclosure.
Harry went back to the tent, where he was told Bagman was waiting. The tent looked somehow different; friendly and welcoming. Fleur, Cedric and Krum all came in together.
One side of Cedric's face was covered in a thick, orange paste, which was presumably mending his burn. He grinned when Harry saw him. "Good one, Harry."
"And you," said Harry, grinning back.
"Well done, all of you," said Ludo Bagman, looking as pleased as though he had personally gotten past a dragon also. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of January the thirtieth – but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open… se the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg – because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"
Harry left the tent with Slug and Raccoon trailing close by, and rejoined Ron, and they started to walk back around the edge of the Forest, talking hard; Harry wanted to hear what the other champions had done in more detail.
As they left the arena, however, there was the sound of breaking chains, Slug shouted out, and Harry turned to see the Hungarian Horntail breaking free and heading straight towards Fox and Raven.
End chapter.
Hah! Finally! I get to do a cliff hanger! A little twist here :D
Lord Claw gave me the idea XD
Also, because there are four tasks, the dates of the tasks will be switched around. I don't think you guys really care but oh well.
So, the first task is on November 24th
Second task: February 2nd
Third task: April 24th
Fourth task: June 24th
So… I'll leave you guys at the little cliff hanger here.
See you in… six days?