Authors note

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; all characters belong to the talented J.K Rowling.

So this chapter will be really similar to canon. Can't really change much, but I did try and change a little. Hope you enjoy!

~Briane94

Chapter 14

The First Task

The next month passed by quickly. Laurel, Harry, and Ron had all started training together in the morning, Hermione as well, though she didn't participate in the exercise part. After a week, Laurel could run the full lap, and by the time the first task came around, she was running two full laps.

Harry was also looking very fit and had been getting a lot more attention from the female population, even if they were still mad at him for taking away Cedric's moment as the Hogwarts champion. He had gained some weight, and maybe a little height and he looked really healthy. It was a stark change from the skinny 13-year old that everyone had seen last year. Laurel couldn't help but blush when she caught him every now and then looking at her. Ron was just happy to be getting fit, saying that it would help him next year when he tried out for Quidditch. Ron had become a little more focused on his studies, maybe it was because he didn't have Harry to slack off with as much, or maybe he had realized he didn't want to be left behind either way, it was working.

Their dueling ability had increased as well. Laurel and Harry would go first, one of one, and then Harry would duel with Ron after. Ron was becoming a very good dueller; Laurel had been surprised the first time that he and Harry had dueled, Harry had won yes, but Ron had almost beat him. Every day it became harder and harder for Harry to win against them, and every day Laurel and Ron were getting better. After, Laurel and Ron would throw spells at Harry to work on his dodging and shields as payback. Hermione would sit with them and study, and sometimes she did participate in the dueling, but rarely since she was usually stuck in a book.

In Harry's spare period, he'd go either to the library or the spare classroom that Professor McGonagall had allocated for him and practice spells that Laurel and Hermione thought he might need. And once they found out that Harry would, in fact, be battling a dragon, Laurel and Hermione spent hours in the library learning all they could about dragons and their weaknesses.

Laurel could tell that Harry was still feeling anxious about the tournament, and they couldn't find much on how to attack a dragon. If there was more time Laurel would have asked Ron if he could write a letter to Charlie asking for advice, but there was no guaranty that he would reply since you weren't supposed to ask for help and he was working for the tournament. Sirius was about to tell Harry a spell that would be useful at their meeting but had been interrupted by a student coming down stairs.

"We just have to think", Laurel was muttering as she paced back and forth along a row of books in the library. But with all four of them searching through the library, it wasn't enough. They'd searched through every book they could on dragons and had found nothing. It was with a heavy heart that Laurel went to Herbology that afternoon. Harry had run off somewhere on the way, so it was just her, Hermione and Ron. Laurel hoped he hadn't gotten into trouble.

So with only one day until the first task, it was an excited Harry that came running to class halfway through the lesson, whispering how Moody had given him an idea of what to do.

For the rest of the afternoon helping Harry to practice the summoning charm at different locations to make sure that it would work from a long distance. Laurel and Hermione had Arithmancy, while Harry had his free period, so they left him to keep studying and practicing any useful spells they had marked that would be helpful in any way. Laurel had included some healing spells encase Harry needed to heal himself quickly, while Hermione's notes included practice spells to defend against the dragon, not that much would work against a dragons hid, but they had finally found a reference in an old textbook that mentioned that a dragon's weakness laid in the parts of its body that weren't covered in scales, so basically the eyes were the only weakness that a dragon had. Though it wasn't much to go on, trying to hit dragon's eyes wasn't the biggest target in the world, it was still something.

The following morning, Laurel woke up with anxiety gripping at her heart, fear for Harry and the dangers that faced him at the front of her mind. 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. All throughout the classes, Laurel shot Harry worried looks. He was barely focusing on the content, staring off into space. Laurel couldn't blame him; she wouldn't want to face a dragon either.

When the lessons were finally over Laurel, Ron, and Hermione all wished Harry luck at lunch, trying to distract him. Harry barely ate a thing, Hermione and Ron were watching him in worry.

And then Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to him in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching. Time had gone so fast.

"Potter, the champions have to come down onto 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.

"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!

Laurel walked with him to the door, out of sight to say goodbye. Professor McGonagall walked a little ahead, not looking back.

"Harry, we've done everything we could to get you ready. I'm positive you're ready. You can do this. We've trained all month, and you've never been this focused on anything before", Laurel said as she hugged him tightly. "You'll do great", she whispered as she kissed his cheek before running off. Not looking back at his expression.

Laurel was blushing when she went back to sit with Ron and Hermione, but they didn't seem to notice, all of them worried about Harry and how he would go. Once lunch was finished, they were all ushered outside and made their way down to the stadium that had been built overnight in seemed. The stadium was huge, bigger than the Quidditch stadium they were used to. It was more crowded as well, with foreign students, reporters and minister officials.

They found good seats half way up the stadium and sat down. Loud chatter surrounded then as all the students were talking excitedly. Hermione then ran off, wanting to check on Harry, Laurel declined to go as well, too anxious about it all and saved Hermione's seat in-between Ron and herself. When Hermione finally came back, she was blushing and muttering about that horrible Skeeter woman, Laurel looked at her in confusion, but Hermione waved her off.

A whistle suddenly blew and everyone stopped talking to look to where Dumbledore was standing with the ministry officials.

"Now, you've all waiting. Let the first task begin. The champions have all just found out what they will be doing, they'll each have to get through a nesting mother dragon, and collect a fake egg in the nest. To begin we have our first Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore shouted as Cedric came out of the tent and saw what he faced. The crowd roared at seeing Cedric, everyone going crazy.

Laurel looked worrying at Cedric, he didn't look good. Laurels fears were unfounded, as Cedric transfigured a rock on the ground, turned it into a dog, it was clear he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Laurel had known he was great at transfiguration, but not that good. It almost worked perfectly, until the dragon decided it wanted Cedric instead of the dog, and Cedric only just got the egg and dodged before the dragon let out a torrent of flames, some of the flames hit Cedric as he was too slow to get totally out of the way. Laurel gasped as Cedric fell down, but then the dragon tamers were there, forcing the dragon away from Cedric and then stunned it. Everyone cheered for Cedric, he had done it!

"Go Cedric!" Laurel called as he was led away, with a grin on his face even though he was clearly in pain.

Everything seemed to have gone so slowly. Fleur was next, and then Krum and then lastly, Harry.

Fleur tried some sort of charm, like she was trying to put the dragon into a trance. It worked. Until the dragon snored, and a great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand.

And Krum hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. His dragon went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs. That would cost him some points. Laurel had to admit Krum had done well, but Laurel still felt bad for the mother that had lost some of its eggs. It seemed to have gotten into a rage after that, and it took ages for the handlers to subdue the angered mother dragon.

And then it was Harry's turn. The whistle blew and Harry walked out of the entrance of the tent. And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence. The crowd went wide like with the other champions in excitement and Laurel could hear many of the students actually calling out in encouragement at what Harry would be facing. Laurel screamed along with them, as did Hermione and Ron as they saw the horrible beast that Harry would have to face.

The Horntail was 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, heaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground.

Harry raised his wand. "Accio Firebolt!" he shouted. And Harry waited. Everyone watched in confusion except for Laurel and her friends at what Harry was doing.

And then Harry's Firebolt was hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount. The crowd was making even more noise.

"And see here. Harry's summoned his broom. A Firebolt if I'm not mistaken!" Bagman shouted from the stands.

Harry was soaring through the air, as if he wasn't just about to face off with a dragon. He was in his element. Harry flew higher and higher before diving into a steep decline.

The Horntail's head followed him; he knew what it was going to do and pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire had been released exactly where he would have been had he not swerved away.

"Go Harry!" Laurel screamed exuberantly, jumping in her seat as she watched in fear and excitement. Harry could do it. She knew he could.

"Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"

Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress.

Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time the dragon changed it course, the tail came out instead, trying to hit Harry with its spikes. Harry, taken by surprise, just missed the spikes, only getting grazed with one deadly spike on his cheek. Laurel was lucky they'd practiced dodging so much, otherwise she didn't Harry would have been so lucky. The crowd screamed more.

Harry seemed to have realised that the Horntail wouldn't leave her eggs. He changed his course and started to take a different approach.

He began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, 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, hike a snake before its charmer.

Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. Her 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, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane - and Harry dived. Laurel screamed along with Hermione.

Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward 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 out over the stands, the golden egg safely under his arm. And the crowd went wide. Everyone was screaming and applauding. Laurel, Hermione and Ron along with everyone else. Harry had been amazing. Only a small scratch on his face.

"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "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!"

Laurel and Hermione were now out of their seats, jumping and hugging each other in shock, relief, excitement and so much other emotions that Laurel couldn't place.

And then the dragon keepers when rushing into the arena to subdue the Horntail, and Harry was flying towards the entrance of the enclosure, towards Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, and Hagrid, everyone beaming at him.

"Come on lets go see Harry", Laurel screamed over the crowd and she darted between people, not looking back to see if they were following.

Laurel ran into the tent, knocking into Harry as he caught her.

"You were amazing Harry", Laurel shouted. Hermione and Ron followed behind her as then pulled the tent flap open.

"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!"

"I can't believe it. You did better than the others, mate", Ron said excitedly.

"The way you got your egg. Ingenious!" Laurel was still bouncing on her feet; she felt like she'd just eaten a bucket of sugar, she couldn't stop.

"Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores..."Ron grinned. Harry picked up his egg and Firebolt, and followed then outside.

"You were the best, you know, no competition. Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground...turned it into a dog...he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well - the dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the Labrador; he only just got away. And that Fleur girl tried this sort of charm, I think she was trying to put it into a trance - well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand. And Krum - you won't believe this, but he didn't even think of flying! He was probably the best after you, though. Hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs - they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them." Ron drew breath as he finished. They came to the edge of the enclosure, the Horntail now gone.

"And you were the only one to not get injured Harry. Everyone else got points taken off for injuries", Laurel said excitedly.

"It was quite a show Harry. No one can believe now good you did", Hermione said breathlessly.

"It's marks out of ten from each one," Ron said, as they watched the judges score Harry's performance.

Madame Maxime was first, she raised her wand in the air and a long silver ribbon shot out, twisting into a figure 9. Laurel cheered, that was a great score.

"Well done Harry", Laurel said as she jumped up and down.

"Not bad!" said Ron as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took one mark off for the scratch though it's barely anything".

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 ten. The crowd was cheering harder than ever.

Ludo Bagman - ten.

"Two tens?" said Harry in disbelief.

"Harry you really don't understand how well you did compared to the others", Hermione explained.

And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand too – 7.

"What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Seven? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you gave Krum ten!"

"Who care you're in the led!" Laurel screamed in excitment.

Laurel looked on as they judges announced that Harry was in the lead! Almost a perfect score. The crowd went wide, all cheering for Harry. Laurel thought it was a bit rich; a day ago they were all booing him. Krum took in second place, while Cedric came in third and Fleur in fourth.

"You're coming in first, Harry!" said Charlie Weasley, hurrying to meet them as they set off back toward the school. "Listen, I've got to run, I've got to go and send Mum 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 for a few more minutes...Bagman wants a word, back in the champions' tent."

Laurel, Ron and Hermione all waited for Harry. All of them talking excitedly about Harry's performance. Laurel was sure Harry could win.

Once Harry got back, they all started to walk back around the edge of the forest, talking about everyone's performance. Harry wanted to know what the other champions had done in more detail, Laurel and Hermione explained it better than Ron did.

Then, as they rounded the clump of trees behind which Harry had first heard the dragons roar, a witch leapt out from behind them.

It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today; the Quick-Quotes Quill in her hand blended perfectly against them.

"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

"Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Good-bye."

And then they all continued walking back to the castle, Laurel giggling at Skeeters face. It didn't seem like she got told 'no' a lot.

Harry didn't want to go back to the common straight away, and so they all headed to the Owlery as the sun came down, so that Harry could send Sirius a letter.

Once they were done, they watched Pigwidgeon disappear into the darkness, and then Ron said, "Well, we'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry - Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now."

"It's not a surprise anymore now Ron" Laurel huffed with her hands on her hips.

"What? He was going to find out in a minute anyway", Ron said in his defence.

Sure enough, when they entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface; Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks; and Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, most of which depicted Harry zooming around the Horntail's head on his Firebolt, though a couple showed Cedric with his head on fire. Laurel would have glared at him for that image of Cedric, but she was too much of a good mood to do anything tonight.

They all sat together on two couches, and helped themselves to the food and drinks. It was the first time in a while that they'd all been this happy and care free.

"Blimey, this is heavy," said Lee Jordan, picking up the golden egg, which Harry had left on a table, and weighing it in his hands. "Open it, Harry, go on! Let's just see what's inside it!"

"He's supposed to work out the clue on his own," Hermione said swiftly. "It's in the tournament rules..."

"I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own too," Harry muttered, so only Hermione, Laurel and Ron could hear him, and they all grinned rather guiltily. Though Laurel didn't think it was fair to say that they couldn't have friends help them. It's not like anyone tried to stop them from going out in the mornings.

"Yeah, go on, Harry, open it!" several people echoed.

Lee passed Harry the egg, and Harry dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open.

It was hollow and completely empty - but the moment Harry opened it, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing, filled the room.

"Shut it!" Fred bellowed, his hands over his ears.

"What was that?" said Seamus Finnigan, staring at the egg as Harry slammed it shut again. "Sounded like a banshee...Maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!"

"It was someone being tortured!" said Neville, who had gone very white and spilled sausage rolls all over the floor. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal," said George. "They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing...maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower. Harry."

Laurel thought for a moment. The egg was obviously a clue, but to what, she had no idea.

The party lasted well past everyone's bed time. But no one came in to tell them to get to bed. It was well into the morning that everyone finally headed to bed, all of them tired from the excitement from the day. Laurel went off to bed more relaxed than she'd been in the last month with a smile on her face.

Authors note

So my reasoning for Harry coming in first came from the fact that Harry should have won the first task if some of the judges weren't bias in their scoring. I really never understood why the school headmasters were the ones to give out the scores. That's obviously going to be bias. Also I don't know if you noticed but I changed it a little, Harry got injured as badly in my version, which is because he trained with Laurel, Ron and Hermione every morning. Makes sense that he'd have a little more skills than in canon. I'm not too sure, but I'm thinking of having Harry win the first two tasks, he would have won in the first one anyway because Harry's awesome. And in the second task, Harry was an idiot and wanted to save everyone, like a school is going to just leave the kids come there to die if you don't retrieve them. Use your brain Harry! But I have said Harry will be smarter (ish) so that's my reasoning behind Harry winning it all. As for the third task, you'll have to wait and see.