The next night, after dinner, Harry went down to visit Hagrid. Harry was wearing his winter robes to ward off the chill of November. His invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map were tucked in his inside pockets, and he carried his wand loosely in his hand. Harry arrived at Hagrid's without incident, but it never hurt to be prudent.

As Harry approached Hagrid's hut, he noticed that the ground surrounding the pumpkin patch was full of divots and gouges, as if two teams of horses had been playing polo on the grounds. The pumpkins near the edge of the patch were blackened on the side facing Harry, as if they had been seared in an oven.

Harry puzzled over the state of the pumpkins as he knocked on Hagrid's door.

"Harry! Good ter see yeh! Come on in!"

"Hi, Hagrid," Harry said as he stepped through the door. A large fire was roaring in the fireplace; Harry immediately took off his cloak and draped it over the back of one of Hagrid's chairs.

"Spot 'o tea?" Hagrid offered.

Harry shook his head and held out his hand. "No, thanks."

Hagrid shrugged, then walked over to his sink. He leaned to one side and looked at his face in a mirror that was comically small; Harry would barely have been able to see anything in the mirror, and he was less than half Hagrid's size.

"What kin I do fer yeh?" Hagrid asked, still looking into the mirror. He had begun to pluck at his beard with large fingers.

"I just felt like coming down for a visit," Harry lied. "I saw the pumpkin patch—what happened out there?"

"Blast-ended skrewts," Hagrid said. As if that explained anything. "I'm havin' the fourth years grow 'em. A whole lot got loose this week an' blasted half the pumpkin patch before Hermione an' Ron got 'em wrangled."

As Hagrid spoke, be produced a small comb from his pocket and began to drag it through his hair. The comb became tangled every few inches. Rather than pulling it out and picking through the tangles, Hagrid simply forced the comb through the hair. After several jerks and yanks, the comb snapped in half. Apparently, the strength of Hagrid's arm, and hair, was too much.

"That won' do," Hagrid muttered.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Nothin'," Hagrid said. "Jus' tryin' ter make myself a bit presentable, yer know."

"But why? You've never worried about combing your hair since I've known you."

"Oh, well… erm…" Hagrid began to turn red beneath his beard.

Harry had seen this sort of behavior before, when older Slytherin boys were trying to pluck up the courage to ask a girl to Hogsmede. Harry smiled. "Hagrid, do you have a date tonight?"

"I wouldn' call it a date, iffin yeh take my meanin'," Hagrid said.

"Are you taking a woman out to show her a good time?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Then it's a date! Congratulations!"

Hagrid turned an even deeper red. "Don' make me nervous, Harry."

"Where are you taking her?"

"Well, we're goin' into the Forbidden Forest."

Harry frowned. "Hagrid. That sounds like a horrible date. Why aren't you going to the Three Broomsticks? Girls like it when a guy takes them out to dinner."

"I got summat a lot more impressive than dinner," Hagrid said. "You wouldn' believe it unless you saw it fer yerself."

"I'm intrigued." Harry leaned forward. "What's the big plan?"

"Well, we're goin' to see Charlie Weasley. Yer remember him, right?"

"Ron's older brother? Sure." He had only met Charlie once, during first year, at the top of the astronomy tower. Harry and Draco had teamed up with Ron and Hermione to rid Hagrid of Norbert the dragon, before Norbert burned Hagrid out of house and home. "Is this some sort of double date?"

"No, Charlie's here on business," Hagrid said.

"What business?"

Hagrid abruptly stopped speaking and glanced down at the floor. "Shouldn've said that," he muttered. "Shouldn've said that."

"Why?" Harry already had a good idea, but he needed Hagrid to confirm it.

"Because yer a champion, Harry," Hagrid said. "I can't help you. Dumbledore wouldn' approve."

"That's okay," Harry said. "I understand. Tell me some more about these blast-ended skrewts. They sound dead interesting."

As Hagrid launched into a description of the skrewts, Harry's mind was elsewhere. Charlie Weasley, dragon tamer, was in the Forbidden Forest. And Weasley was there with something that Hagrid felt would impress a woman. And Hagrid wasn't supposed to talk about it, especially not to Harry, because Harry was a champion.

That had been easier than Harry thought. The first task was dragons, in some capacity. Unfortunately, there were a lot of dragons in the world. And the task could be any number of things involving a dragon. Harry had more to go on than he did before, but not enough to feel confident.

Hagrid was expounding on the explosive properties of the blast-ended skrewt when a knock rang out on Hagrid's door. Hagrid leapt to his feet. "That mus' be Olympe," Hagrid said. "A few hours early, but tha's alright."

"Who?"

"Bong sewer, Madame," Hagrid said proudly as he opened the door.

"Excuse me?" asked Percy Weasley, who was standing on Hagrid's doorstep.

Hagrid's head dropped. "I though' yeh were someone else," he mumbled.

"I should hope so," Percy said primly. "Is Harry Potter here?"

"Sure is," Hagrid said. "Come on in."

Percy bustled into the room, holding his head high. He sniffed disdainfully as he glanced around, before his eyes finally settled on Harry. "There you are," Percy said. "I was hoping to speak with you for a few moments."

"Go right ahead," Harry said. He had never particularly liked Percy Weasley. When Weasley was Head Boy last year, he had been nearly insufferable with his enforcement of the rules. His only saving grace was his apparent embarrassment at the behavior of his twin brothers, which caused Percy to be just as strict with the Gryffindors as he was with the Slytherins.

Percy glanced around. "In private?"

"Fine." Harry stood and shrugged on his cloak. "Good luck on your date, Hagrid. When is Madame Maxime coming by?"

"I tol' her ter meet me 'round nine," Hagrid said.

"It's not even half eight!"

"I'm jus' nervous," Hagrid said.

"You'll be great." Harry reached out and patted Hagrid on the arm. "I'll talk to you soon, Hagrid."

"Bye, Harry."

Harry and Percy walked out of Hagrid's hut. As he closed the door, Harry saw Hagrid absent-mindedly stroking Fang for comfort. Harry smiled. His large friend was all heart. Hopefully, the date would go well.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked innocently. Weasley worked for Mr. Crouch. Certainly he didn't suspect that Harry was pumping Hagrid for information… right?

"I wanted to thank you," Percy said.

"For what?"

"For that business with my sister two years ago," Percy said. "I never properly thanked you. When I was Head Boy, I was too distracted by the daily duties. Knowing the danger you face in the tournament, however, caused me to realize that I may not have the opportunity to thank you for much longer."
"Gee, thanks," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

Percy continued, unperturbed. He had either failed to notice, or chose to ignore, Harry's tone. "I also realized that several of my older brothers had not properly thanked you. This situation cannot be remedied with William. Charles, however…"

"What about Charlie?"

"Follow me," Percy said. He walked quickly into the Forbidden Forest. Harry, after a moment of stunned inaction, followed quickly.

Percy led Harry deep into the forest. The sun had set long ago, and Harry found himself stumbling frequently on roots and bushes. He briefly considered using his wand to cast lumos, but thought better of it—there were many hungry things in the forest, and he did not want to attract the attention of any of them.

After walking for nearly ten minutes, Harry discovered that he was finding an easier time keeping his footing. The forest seemed lighter, somehow. In fact, the forest was definitely lighter, and the light was coming from up ahead.

Percy stopped at the edge of a clearing. Harry found himself standing near several tents and campfires. On the other side of the tents, out of sight, there was an enormous commotion. Harry could hear voices shouting, and the occasional flash of a spell through the forest.

"What's this?" Harry asked.

"Charles is camped here," Percy said. "Wait here and I will retrieve him. Do not—I repeat, DO NOT—go snooping around." With that, Percy disappeared among the tents.

Percy's warning had the opposite of its desired effect. As soon as Percy was out of sight, Harry unfurled his invisibility cloak and followed. Harry caught glimpses of Percy as the older boy moved quickly through the camp, and Harry struggled to keep up. When Percy made it to the other side of the tents, Harry had to sprint to avoid losing him. Harry dashed around the corner of a tent and found himself confronted by…

Dragons.

Harry had gleaned from Hagrid that the first task would involve dragons. Harry had even seen a juvenile dragon before during first year. But nothing in Harry's intellectual knowledge had prepared him for his visceral and instinctive reaction to seeing a full grown dragon. Put most simply: Harry wanted to run.

Harry forced away his urge to flee. He quickly took in his surroundings. Three of the dragons appeared to be a sleep, while a fourth appeared to just be waking. A half-dozen wizards in dragonskin armor were surrounding the waking dragon. At the edge of the clearing, Percy was speaking with another redhead. The other man appeared older than Percy and was wearing dragonskin armor. After a moment, Harry recognized the other man as Charlie.

Charlie and Percy began to walk back toward the tents. Harry gave one last glance at the dragons, then began to sprint back toward the edge of the forest. He wanted to make it back before Percy realized that he had been followed.

Harry arrived just a breath before Percy and Charlie. He was still stuffing his invisibility cloak into his robe when the pair of Weasleys sauntered up.

"Harry Potter," said Charlie. "Good to meet you!" Charlie said this loudly and conspicuously. Harry suddenly realized that Percy would have no reason to know that Charlie and Harry had ever met during first year.

"Great to meet you, too," said Harry. "I've heard a lot about you from Ron. Can't stop talking about his brother the dragon tamer."

Percy seemed taken aback. "Oh, er, you know what Charlie does for a living?"

"Of course!" Harry said. "It sounded so cool, how could I forget? Plus, he's wearing dragonskin."

Percy began to turn a sickly color of green. Charlie laughed at his brother.

"Come on, Perce. You had to have known that Harry would figure it out."

"I certainly did not!" Percy said, indignant. "I simply wanted to give you an opportunity to comport yourself like a gentleman, and properly thank Harry for all that he's done for our family."

"Figure what out?" Harry asked, playing dumb.

"NOTHING!" Percy said loudly.

"Ignore my brother," said Charlie. "I was just saying that Percy couldn't bring you out here to speak with me and expect that you wouldn't realize why I was at Hogwarts."

"Wait… are you here because…" Harry was playing dumb, trying the same tactic he had used on Hagrid. Harry wanted to have as much information as possible, to minimize the conclusions he would have to jump to.

"Yep. I'm here with the dragons."

"Wow..." Harry said breathlessly. "Am I going to have to fight a dragon?"

"NO TALKING ABOUT THE TASK!" Percy shouted.

"Shove off, Perce," Charlie said. "If I'm going to thank Potter, I'm going to thank him right proper." Charlie turned back to Harry. "You won't have to fight one, actually. More like, 'get past and survive,' I should think."

"Oh, well that's much easier," Harry said sarcastically.

"Actually, it is," Charlie said. "All you have to do is—"

"STOP!" Percy ran between Charlie and Harry, waving his arms. "You're compromising the competition! I'll have to report you!"

"I'll have to report you," Charlie said. "I didn't tell Harry anything. I'm sure Harry will remember it the same way. The only thing that happened tonight, Percy, is that you took an incredible risk by bringing Harry here. That's the sort of risk that Mr. Crouch would frown upon, don't you think? The sort of risk that would get you fired? End your ministry career before it even started?"

Percy went white. "You wouldn't."

"Of course not!" Charlie flung his arm around his brother's shoulders. "I wouldn't report you, because you wouldn't think about interfering with a proper 'thank you' for young Mr. Potter." Charlie squeezed Percy's shoulders, hard. Percy, who was much more slightly built than Charlie, winced under the pressure. "Right, Perce?"

"This is extortion!" Percy blurted.

"Not at all," Charlie said. "This is the right thing to do."

Percy was silent for a few moments. "Very well," he muttered.

"I knew you'd see the light!" Charlie said. He released Percy. The younger Weasley stumbled away and began smoothing his clothes as Charlie turned back to Harry. "Now, as I was saying, it's fairly easy to get past a dragon. They're big. Having a lot of mass slows them down. Now, I'd never call a dragon 'slow,' and certainly not where one might overhear me. But they're slower than a wizard on a broom."

Harry smiled. "You were a seeker for Gryffindor, weren't you?"

"Darn right. And I hear that you've spent the last three years tormenting my former teammate, Oliver Wood."

"Wood's overenthusiastic," Harry said.

"No such thing, with quidditch," Charlie replied.

"Wood treats it like a religion."

"Who says it isn't?"

Harry laughed out loud. "I like you, Charlie. So, I should be able to out-fly the dragon. But don't they, you know, breathe fire? What if that happens?"

"In real life, you run!"

"This isn't real life. Can I out-fly dragon fire?"

"Yes, if you know what to look for. A dragon will draw its head back when it's preparing its fire, and bring it forward just before it breathes. When you see the head go back, get out of the way."

"What if I can't get out of the way?" Harry asked. "Is there a shield I can use? How about a water conjuring charm—is there a stronger incantation than aguamenti?"

Charlie shook his head. "I don't think there's a wizard alive who could cast a shield that would stop dragon fire. And an incantation like aguamenti would be like spitting in a volcano. If you're truly desperate, you can try fighting fire with fire, but make sure you're already running when you do."

"That's enough," said Percy. He had finally regained his composure. "Stop giving the boy bad ideas. You've done quite enough already."

Harry looked back to Charlie and shrugged. "Thanks for the advice, Charlie. It's dead useful."

"Don't mention it," Charlie said. He reached behind him, and pulled a pair of gloves out from his belt. They matched the gloves he was wearing. "I want you to have these, as well."

"Dragonhide gloves?" Harry said. "I couldn't." Dragonhide was insanely expensive. It was warm, soft, and nearly indestructible… but it was also as rare as dragons themselves.

"It's my old pair," Charlie said. "As you can see, we all got new equipment for the tournament. We have to look good for the crowd while we stand by and make sure that nobody dies a fiery death."
"Well… thanks, then," Harry said. He pulled on the gloves immediately. They were a little large, but the fit wasn't too bad. "Can you really save somebody if they get hit with dragon flame?"
Charlie shrugged. "We can try. I'd watch out for the Hungarian Horntail, though. He's nasty at both ends. If you get run through by one of those spikes, there's nothing anybody will be able to do to save you."

"Why did you even bring it?"

Charlie frowned. "We had to find a fourth dragon on short notice."

"Because of me."

"That's the rumor." Charlie glanced down at his watch. "I have to get back. I'm meeting Hagrid to show him the dragons, and they're about to wake up." Charlie reached out and shook Harry's hand. "Thank you, Harry. What you did for our family… there's nothing we'll ever be able to do to repay you. But it certainly won't stop us from trying."

"You're welcome," said Harry. "Hogwarts is a better place with Ginny in it."

Charlie said goodbye to Percy, then walked back through the camp. Harry followed Percy out of the woods. As they walked away from the camp, Harry caught a glimpse of two large silhouettes strolling through the forest: Hagrid and Madame Maxime. Harry smiled, then frowned.

A hunched form skulked behind the couple. The person, whoever it was, was keeping his distance. It was clear that Hagrid was being followed.

Harry glanced ahead. Percy was striding confidently through the woods. It took only a couple of seconds for Harry to drop back, slip behind a tree, and throw on his invisibility cloak. Once he was concealed, Harry dashed through the forest, determined to uncover the identity of the wizard who was stalking his friend.

Harry knew that he was taking a chance with his safety. The most likely person to be stalking Hagrid was the same person that had submitted Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire. But if that person was intent on following Hagrid, he wouldn't be worried about being followed himself. Harry would have the advantage of surprise, and Harry was competent in a duel. And if it turned into a duel, Hagrid and Madame Maxime were only a few dozen paces away.

As Harry approached, the identity of the skulking figure became clear: Igor Karkaroff, headmaster of Durmstrang. Harry followed behind at a slight distance. It was possible that Karkaroff was just trying to get an advantage for the tournament, but it was also possible that he was up to something more nefarious.

Once Hagrid arrived at the campsite, however, it became clear that Karkaroff was, for tonight at least, simply a cheater, and not a Death Eater. While Hagrid and Madame Maxime examined the dragons, Karkaroff stayed at a distance, and actually took notes on a piece of parchment regarding the various dragon species. Harry rolled his eyes, and turned back.

As Harry neared the edge of the forest, he came upon Percy Weasley. Weasley was stalking back and forth at the edge of the trees. "Potter!" he whispered. "Potter!? Where are you?"

Harry ducked behind a tree and removed his cloak. "Weasley? Are you still out here?"

"Potter! Thank Merlin!" Percy sagged against a tree. "Where did you get off to?"

"Nowhere," lied Harry. "I was right behind you. You started veering away from the castle, so I just took the straight line back. When I didn't see you crossing the grounds, I came back."

"That's…" Percy looked around, suddenly confused. "Am I really that far off?"

"Yes," Harry said with a laugh. "Have you forgotten the grounds already?"

Percy lifted his nose in the air. "I didn't make it my business to sneak around the Forbidden Forest. It is, after all, forbidden."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Let's just get back to the castle."

A/N: A recent review argued that this series is "just a rewrite of canon" and that things happen exactly as they do in the book. This is a legitimate criticism, and one of the things that I have been most concerned about as I wrote (and continue to write). Unfortunately, the review was posted anonymously, so I can't engage in any sort of dialogue with the reviewer. The best I can do to respond is post my thoughts here. I don't want to seem defensive—the ship has long since sailed on my plot, and this story is what it is—but I made my decision consciously, and I do think that the subject is worth discussing.

If you don't want to read the author's longwinded musings on the nature of fiction and fanfiction, get out while you still can!

This is what I think… Speculative fiction-and therefore, much of fanfiction-is about a thought experiment. Every sci-fi or fantasy story asks the same essential question: What would happen if…? In this case, I'm wondering what would happen if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin? I think that the most interesting way to answer that question is to throw Slytherin Harry into the same (or similar) situations as canon's Gryffindor Harry. I want to see the contrasts in Harry's thoughts and actions, the differences. If Slytherin Harry is in a situation that Gryffindor Harry never encountered, it's harder to say that I've learned anything about Harry's character; maybe Gryffindor Harry would have done exactly the same thing. In a way, this story is like a science experiment; change one variable at a time, so we can understand what effect it has on everything else.

It's not something that every fic can, or should, do. Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time, for example, by joe6991, is one of the best and most original fics I have ever read, and it diverges completely from canon on page one. But joe6991's goals with Wastelands are not the same goals I have in Slytherin Selection. Joe6991 has a crazy awesome story to tell. I view my work as something akin to an extended commentary on Rowling's characters and themes. I could write it out as one enormous and boring essay, but this seemed like more fun.

On that note, I'd like to take this opportunity to announce my next series. It's an AU of Harry Potter and the Slytherin Selection, and this time, I'm changing another variable. Harry will be sorted into Slytherin, but Hermione will be sorted into Ravenclaw. Who knows what crazy things will happen? I'm halfway through the first of seven books.

Just kidding on that, by the way.