Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

-oOoOo-

The Fourth School

Chapter 21

Eating breakfast one handed was a little more awkward than Harry had anticipated, but all in all, he wasn't complaining. And who could blame him? Holding the hand of his best friend, his girlfriend, under the table while they ate was wonderful. And the little glances that they shared, the way that they'd started leaning in towards each other to share some comment or other had plastered an almost perpetual grin across his face.

For once, Harry was incredibly glad of his metamorphmagus ability. Without it, he knew that his face and, more than likely his neck as well, would be eternally brilliant red, not unlike Hermione's for that matter. But with the constant 'oohs' and 'aahs' and teasing that they were being subjected to, embarrassment was inevitable.

"Letter for you, Master Harry Sir," Dobby said, popping in beside Harry's chair.

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said, freeing up his hand to take the envelope.

"It be from your Twin Red-Head Menace friends," Dobby added.

Harry guffawed, the image of their faces appearing in his mind if the twins ever found out what Dobby called them. He couldn't work out if they'd be insulted or impressed. Either way, he decided that there had to be some prank-worthy mischief that he could find to subtly, or perhaps, not so subtly, drop the name on them.

"Dobby, their names are Fred and George; you shouldn't call them that," Hermione admonished.

"Oh, I don't know, Miss Granger. It sounded rather accurate to me," Minerva said offhandedly between sips of her tea.

This, of course, produced laughs around the table, no more so than the great barking laugh of Sirius.

"I think we've created a monster, Moony," Sirius observed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Then our job is done," Remus agreed, saluting his partner in pranks with his cup.

"What do the twins have to say?" Hermione asked.

Harry tilted the freshly opened parchment towards her so that they could both read it at the same time.

Hi Harrikins (and probably Hermione, too, reading over Harry's shoulder),

We just heard some very interesting news that we thought that you might appreciate knowing. More for the sake of how it now doesn't affect you.

You see, you'll never guess who's just turned up here at Hogwarts for the TriWiz. Our brother Charlie and Hagrid, that's who! We managed to have a chat with them this afternoon and we reckon that we've worked out what the First Task is.

As you know, Charlie and Hagrid both work at the Romanian Dragon Reserve and apparently Hagrid is considered the best dragon handler when it comes to nesting mothers. So much so, according to Charlie, that he's not allowed to be away from them in case they get a bit 'excited'.

And guess when dragon breeding season is? If you were to say that it begins in November, then you'd be spot on, mate.

So, just put the clues together and the task is worked out. Aren't you glad you're not a Champion? I know we are. Don't know what we were thinking wanting to go in the TriWiz and we're doubly glad that Angelina's name never came out either.

Anyway, best go,

Prank you later,

Forge and Gred.

By the time that Harry'd finished reading the letter his eyes had expanded to saucer size and all of the colour had completely drained from his face. He would have had to face dragons?

"Pup? Are you alright?" a concerned sounding Sirius asked.

His head shifted towards the sound of the voice, but he never saw his godfather. Automatically, he reached out, handing the letter over.

A minute later, Harry was aware enough to note the odd way that his godfather neatly folded the parchment back up, placed it beside his plate and looked across the table at his best friend.

"Moony, old pal, would you do me the courtesy of hexing me with your strongest silencing charm?" Sirius asked.

Without pause, the old Marauder's wand was up and casting.

The instant that it was in place, Sirius let loose. His mouth opened and closed rapidly, hands gestured wildly and his face began turning shades of red and purple that Harry thought would put his Uncle Venon to shame. Every eye at the table snapped to the clearly irate man; knives, forks and glasses were frozen mid-air at the spectacle.

Finally, after a nearly ten minute tirade, Sirius refolded his hands gently in his lap, looked across the table at his friend and lifted one eyebrow.

"Are you sure you're finished?" Remus asked cautiously.

A scowl of annoyance seemed to satisfy Remus enough to lift the silencing charm.

"May I ask what in Merlin's Name that was about?" Minerva asked, her tone indicating that full-grown man or not, the Headmistress was seconds away from putting him in detention for the rest of his life.

"I just got a letter from Fred and George," Harry told not only her, but everyone at the table. "They've found out what the First Task is, what it is that I would have had to do if we couldn't get me out of being a Champion. It's dragons. They brought in dragons for the Champions to face."

-oOoOo-

"Have I told you how glad I am that you aren't a Champion recently?" Hermione asked, snuggling deeper into the side of her boyfriend.

Harry's arm squeezed her briefly. "Not in the past ten minutes or so. Before that, only about two or three dozen times so far today."

"Well, I am," Hermione insisted.

They were currently curled up together on a lounge in the sitting room. The two books that they'd been reading had been discarded on the low table in front of them beside Harry's feet. He was currently sitting against the end of the couch, one arm draped around Hermione as she cuddled up to him, her head on his shoulder.

"I can't believe that they brought in dragons," Harry stated, not for the first time either. "Dragons. Who do they think the Champions are? Saint George or something?"

Hermione giggled, picturing Harry dressed as a knight striding towards a waiting dragon.

"And they wanted me, a fourteen year old, to face one? It's bad enough that they're getting seventeen year olds to do it," Harry's rant continued. "How do you reckon Cedric's going to go?"

Hermione bit her lip in thought, eliciting a quick kiss from Harry when he saw her do it. Just as she'd expected. He'd already confessed that he found that particular habit of hers exceedingly cute. Of course, that had absolutely nothing to do with why she'd been doing it so much this past week.

"Well," she mused, "they wouldn't get them to kill the dragons. You'd need a team of people to accomplish that. More likely they'll just need to get past the dragon or collect something that the dragon is guarding. I'm sure that there would be ways to do that. It'd simply be a matter of thinking creatively."

"You mean like distracting the dragon or something?" Harry asked.

"That'd probably be the easiest way, although I'm sure that there are others. I'd need to research it to come up with possibilities," Hermione admitted.

"At least Cedric and the others are supposed to be the best of the best," Harry mused. "Could you imaging if the judges had to compete in the same task?"

"Madam Maxine'd probably do alright," Hermione giggled.

"Ludo Bagman'd end up being a snack for the dragon, I suspect," Harry added before beginning to chuckle.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking up at him.

"I was just thinking about Dumbledore," Harry admitted, "with that long beard of his. How likely would it be to catch on fire if he had to face a dragon?"

"I think that's one bet that I wouldn't take," Hermione replied, her chuckles now matching her boyfriend's.

Eventually, their laughter subsided and they were silent for a time as they enjoyed their time alone together.

"I must admit to being worried about our friends back at Hogwarts, though," Hermione admitted.

She felt Harry nodding in agreement. "If the Headmaster is willing to pit a student against a dragon, and a nesting mother dragon at that, what else is he capable of?"

"I wish we could have brought all of our friends with us here to Diricawl," Hermione sighed.

"I know," Harry agreed, "but Potter Haven's just not big enough."

A slight stiffening in her boyfriend had her tilting her head back to study his face. There was something there, something that she recognised.

"What are you thinking?" she asked suspiciously.

Sparkling emerald eyes looked down at her, a lop-sided grin firmly in place on his face.

"Have you heard anything about how the search for somewhere to build a new school is going?" he asked.

Hermione frowned. "I haven't heard anything, which I take to mean that it isn't going well. And frankly, I'm not surprised. Finding a large enough piece of ground, secluded enough from the muggles that can be built upon and warded isn't going to be an easy task, not in this day and age. Not to mention that they've only been looking for a couple of months."

"That's what I thought," Harry said before twitching. "Come on, let's go find Sirius. He promised to take me somewhere and it's time that I had him fulfil that promise."

"Where?" Hermione asked, curiosity welling up in her.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that he takes you as well," Harry promised.

-oOoOo-

A group of adults and teens materialised out of thin air sending over half of them crashing to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

"Oi, you two, this is a field trip, not a make out session," a clearly amused Sirius said.

A tousle-headed Harry poked his head out from underneath Hermione.

"Magical travel hates me," Harry groused. "And apparently anyone travelling with me as well."

"I agree with Harry," Susan stated, standing up and dusting herself off.

Other grumbles and groans also gave Harry enough vindication to smile impishly at his godfather

"Where are we anyway?" Harry asked, eyeing the gravel road that they'd landed beside. "This doesn't look like an uninhabited island."

"That's because we're still on the mainland," Sirius replied, breaking away from the hushed discussion that he was having with Remus.

Harry, along with Hermione, Susan, Hannah and Lil, the four who had chosen to come along for the adventure, looked around. They were standing beside a gravel road that ran through a rather desolate sort of area. What bushes and trees there were were rather scraggly and mixed in amongst the rocks. To their right, the land rose in a small hillock, blocking their view.

Seeing that their two teachers had quickly worked their way to the top of the hill, the five teens also began climbing.

The view from the top of the hill was almost completely unexpected. They'd known that they were travelling to an island, but to come upon a view of the ocean so quickly took their breath away. The sea stretched away into the distance, starting from the small shoreline almost at their feet.

To their left, maybe a hundred yards away or so, a pier stretched out into the blue-brown water. It looked old and, even though it'd obviously been abandoned for countless years, still in good repair. Not far from the end of the pier, the water changed to a deep blue-green, except in those places where the clouds passed overhead. There, the water was almost black the blue was so dark. Today, what waves there were were small; barely a swell marred the amazing sight.

"Where's Ynys Crochenydd?" Harry asked, using the island's proper Gaelic name.

"It's about three miles off-shore," Sirius replied.

"So what are we doing here, then?" Harry wondered.

"We're here to check what wards are still in place," Remus replied, never straying from the intricate patterns that his wand was waving towards the ocean. "We figured that it was better to stop here and check things than to find that there was a ward in place that would fling us a hundred miles out to sea if it didn't like our portkey."

"Good thinking," Hannah stated, shivering at the thought of landing in the cold, dark water.

"And the Potters own this section of the mainland as well," Sirius commented, "including that pier down there.

"Muggle-repelling and unplotable," Remus declared.

"That's all I can find as well," Sirius stated grimly, sharing a pointed look with his friend.

Harry swallowed and squeezed Hermione's hand for reassurance. Once, he now knew, there would have been a lot more wards and protections in place. It seemed that, as well as destroying his grandparents' manor, the Death Eaters had also ripped the wards to shreds.

"Okay, everyone grab hold again," Sirius instructed, picking up the hula-hoop from the ground where it had fallen.

Once everyone had one hand on it, he tapped his wand and they were off with a feeling of being hooked through their belly-button.

Once again, Harry, Hermione and Susan landed sprawled on their faces. Lil only managed to fall to her knees, while the remaining three landed on their feet, grinning down at their companions.

"Welcome to Potter Island," Sirius exclaimed, spreading his arms wide.

Harry spun slowly in a complete circle, drinking in the sight.

They were currently standing in the middle of a great field of grass. Wild flowers and roses of many colours dotted the landscape, the only evidence of what were once glorious gardens. The land arcing around from the east to the north was bordered by a thick, dense wood. But this wasn't a forest like the one surrounding Hogwarts; this one felt friendlier somehow, as though nothing in it would harm anyone.

The ruins of a once great manor house sat forlornly directly to the west of where they'd landed. Parts of half a dozen walls still stood, rising from the rubble that was all that remained of their brethren. Clumps of grasses and weeds were working hard at covering these sad remains and, given not so much longer, would complete their chosen task.

Harry profusely blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes as he turned to the south. Concentrating on the here and now, he pushed what might have been from his mind.

The land before him now rolled away over the undulating ground. Small clumps of trees were dotted about here and there. Hints of blue could be seen peeking through some of the trees, reminding him that the sea wasn't that far away.

"How big is this place?" he asked after a couple of tries and a great clearing of his throat.

"The main part of the island's a bit over five hundred acres, I think," Remus replied.

"Something like that," Sirius shrugged, "I more remember it as being more than enough for a stag and a grim to have a rollicking good time more than anything else.

Deliberately keeping his head turned away from the ruins of his grandparent's house, Harry began walking.

"Are there any animals here?" Hermione asked.

"The usual rabbits, squirrels and other small animals, sure," Sirius replied.

"But if you mean magical animals, then I'm not sure," Remus added. "I know that there used to be a small herd of hippogriffs and another or unicorns that lived on one end of the island and a couple of nifflers as well, I think. But whether or not they're still here is anyone's guess."

A burst of giggles off to the side caught Harry's attention and he looked to see the other three girls gathered about a stand of vibrant purple flowers. By the fact that both Lil and Hannah had bouquets in their hands, it was easy to guess what they were doing.

A beaming Susan looked around and waved to them, "there're some fairies here!"

"Well, that answers that question," Hermione stated.

A good fifteen minute walk brought them to the edge of a straggly stand of trees. To either side, the land abruptly cut off and dropped away in cliff edges. Before them, though, the land continued. Harry paused, resting one hand against the trunk of a tree.

By leaning down and slightly to the left, he could see that the ground continued on, becoming narrower and narrower until it was barely wide enough for two to walk abreast before abruptly expanding again.

"It's almost another island over there," Sirius stated, stopping on the other side of Hermione. "Best not to go there today. Once upon a time there were a whole host of safety wards and charms across that spit of land. But who knows if they're even still there these days and how safe it'd be to cross."

"How big is it?" Harry asked.

Sirius paused in thought, obviously thinking back across the years. "Maybe another fifty or sixty acres. Most of it's heavily wooded from what I remember, although there were a couple of clearings. Oh, and a small stream as well, but don't ask me where the water came from."

"Probably an underground spring," Hermione told him.

Sirius shrugged, clearly indicating that it wasn't high on his list of things that he needed to know.

Turning back around, Harry cast his gaze over the island, the island that was once the seat of the House of Potter. Now, all that was left was him. It had potential, vast potential in fact. And it was more than big enough to do anything that he wanted.

Plus there was that extra land over on the mainland. That was an unexpected bonus that could come in handy. He'd have to find out more about that – how big it was, how much access there was to the nearest town, what sort of magical protection it had on it …

"What do you think?" Hermione asked quietly, slipping an arm around him.

"It'll do," he replied and he knew that she knew exactly what he meant.