Oh hai Reader, welcome to the next chapter of Cruel Angel Thesis. I was planning on updating my Voltron story, but I got distracted as usual by this story. Anyway hope you enjoy it and now on to the review.
girani4: heh, thanks. There were a few hints about it through out the story but happy it was a surprise.
Now story time.
In the weeks leading up to the First Task, life became even worse for Harry within the confines of the castle, for Rita Skeeter had published her piece about the Triwizard Tournament, and it had turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament as a highly colored life story of Harry.
Much of the front page had been given over to a picture of Harry; the article had been all about Harry, the misspelled names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions had been squashed into the last line of the article, Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all but Claire had, but under vastly different conditions.
Rita Skeeter had reported him saying an awful lot of things that Harry couldn't remember ever saying in his life.
'I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now... Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it... I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me...'
But Rita Skeeter had gone even further, she had interviewed other people about him too.
Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of Claire Kent, the stunningly pretty heiress to the house of Kent and Black who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.
"Okay, you know that article is rubbish from that line alone." Alex said, reading over Harry's shoulder one morning, "Top student my arse! Your more of a top seventeen student."
"And what an arse it is..." Hermione mumbled dreamily.
"Right..." Claire said slowly, turning from her to Alex, "Glad you bounced back from that weird meltdown you were having as of late."
"Oh, I am still having it." he said, "But those plants the Hufflepuffs are growing behind the greenhouses really helps, I do get hungry when I smoke it though. I also talked about it with Malfoy, so I'm..."
"What are you doing talking with Malfoy!?" Neville said shocked, "How would that go!?"
"I was just losing my marbles a few days ago, then he came across me and he said his usual speech, 'I'm Draco Malfoy! I'm really rich, and I'm really proud of the fact that I'm pure blooded white! I mean wizard! Tee hee!' and I was like 'Wow, what a wonderful person!' and then I just started to talk nonsens until he listen to my actual problems, then we became sort of acquaintances. We are having breakfast tis weekend."
Harry, Claire, Neville and Hermione look from Alex to each other with faces which showed confusion, shock and utter disbelieve.
"That... Did not really happen." Claire said, looking unsure, "Did it?"
"Of course it didn't happen." Alex said, "I would never get up that early on the weekend. We are having brunch."
The article had appeared ten days ago, from the moment the article had appeared, Harry had to endure people, Slytherins mostly, quoting it at him as he passed and making sneering comments.
"Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"
"Since when have you been one of the top students in the school, Potter? Or is this a school you and Longbottom have set up together?"
"Hey Potter!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Harry found himself shouting as he wheeled around in the corridor, having had just about enough, "I've just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I'm just off to do a bit more..."
"Very interesting to know. But you dropped your quill."
It was Professor Snape.
Harry felt the color rising in his face, "Oh... sorry professor." he muttered, taking the quill back.
"Good luck on Tuesday." he said, "Charles and I know you will do well.", giving an awkward half-smile before striding away.
Claire had come in for her fair share of unpleasantness too, but she hadn't yet started yelling at innocent bystanders; in fact, Harry was full of admiration for the way she was handling the situation.
"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Parkinson had shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with Claire after Rita's article had appeared, "What was she judging against - a chipmunk?"
"Go screw yourself Parkinson, chipmunks are cute." Claire said, "I would make a remark about how you looked like a pug, but that would be an insult to pugs."
This left her red faced, as Claire was followed by Hermione.
"Why can't you just ignore it?" Hermione said in a dignified voice.
"Because I don't put up with unicorn turds like them." Claire told her plainly as they headed to the library.
Sitting down at a table, Hermione began to work at her Arithmancy homework, while Claire read a book about advance spell work.
"So about Ron..." Hermione began but Claire held up a finger, not looking up from her book.
"Let me stop you right there." she said, turning the page before continuing, "Ron started it, it's his problem."
"You miss him!" Hermione said impatiently, "Harry misses him, we all miss him."
"No, I don't." she said, continuing to read, "Neither does Harry. If you want someone to fix tis problem in our group, go ask Alex. Tis sort of thing is his shtick."
"But your our leader!" Hermione implored, "If anyone can mend their relationship its you!"
"Since when am I the leader?" Claire chuckled, until she heard the giggling coming from behind them.
It was a group of giggling girls, who had become a constant annoyance for Hermione. The reason the girls were here was because of Viktor Krum, who was in the library an awful lot too, and Claire wondered what he was up to.
Was he studying, or was he looking for things to help him through the first task? Hermione often complained about Krum being there, not that he ever bothered them, but because groups of giggling girls, and Hermione found the noise distracting.
"He's not even good-looking!" she muttered angrily, glaring at Krum's sharp profile, "They only like him because he's famous! They wouldn't look twice at him if he couldn't do that Wonky Faint thing..."
"Wronski Feint." Claire corrected her, "And we know what kind of boy you like."
"Oh and what kind of boy do I like?" Hermione huffed.
"Long hair, mischivious look in the eyes, good sense of humor, is very populair."
"I don't like Fred and George like that!" Hermione added, joining her friend when she laughed.
On the Saturday before the first task, all students in the third year and above were permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade. Alex told Harry that it would do him good to get away from the castle for a bit, and Harry didn't need much persuasion.
"I'll come, but I'm not meeting Ron, and I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak." Harry said.
Alex laughed, slapping him on the back, "Oh silly Harry, with your Invincibility Cloak." he said, ignoring Harry's attempt to correct him, before wrapping an arm around his shoulder, dragging him along, "Let's go. Claire, Tracy, Daphne, Tracy's cousin and her friends are waiting for us."
"Well isn't tis nice Harry?" Alex said as they came out of Honeydukes Sweetshop later, eating large cream-filled chocolates.
"Yeah sure." Harry said, looking behind him to see Claire talking with Fleur, as they walked with Daphne, Tracy, Adri and Amelia. "Is there a particular reason why we are the only boys? Where are Neville and Hermione?"
"Well you needed some cheering up, and when I feel down, I surround myself with pretty girls." he said, as he began to think, "As for where Neville is... I have no idea, and Hermione isn't a boy... Is she or he?"
"What are you two talking about?" Claire said, walking up to them.
"Oh, Harry thinks Hermione is a boy." Alex said, but his cousin suddenly dragged Harry into an alleyway, "Sure leave us just standing here."
"Claire, what are you doing?" Harry asked.
"Be quite." she told him, pointing over her shoulder.
Rita Skeeter and her photographer friend had just emerged from the Three Broomsticks pub. Talking in low voices, they passed right by alley Harry and Claire were hiding without looking in.
When they were gone, Claire said, "She's staying in the village. I bet she's coming to watch the first task." she didn't seem to noticed how close she and Harry were standing to each other, a nervous feeling going through his stomach.
"You two can come out now." Alex said, peeking into the alleyway, "Or am I interrupting something?" he added with a sly smirk.
Claire turned back to Harry, their noses nearly brushing against each other. It was then that her face became red as well. "Uhm... Yes... Should we get a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit warm... I mean cold!"
"Y-Yeah." Harry said, taking the lead to the Three Broomsticks.
"Are they..." Fleur asked, wigging her pinky finger.
"No... Not yet. Give it a few months. I have been planting seeds for about four years now." Alex said, looking at his wrist, "It's almost time to harvest."
"Why is he looking at his wrist?" Amelia asked, as they walked to the Three Broomsticks, "He doesn't have a watch."
The Three Broomsticks was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, the group edged slowly toward a spare table in the corner while Alex went to buy drinks. On his way through the pub, Harry spotted Ron, who was sitting with Hermione.
Resisting the urge to give Ron a good hard poke in the back of the head, they finally reached the table and sat down at it. Alex joined him a moment later with a tray of butterbeers.
"Well, may the best school win." he said raising his bottle, "Which is Hogwarts."
"You mean Beauxbatons." Adri corrected him, "We are going to win because we have a Fleur!"
"Bitch please, we have the Girl of Steel." Alex said, "And the Boy Who Lived, and Cedric... Need to think of a title for him."
"Oh please, the Flower Of Beauxbatons is going to destroy the Girl of Steel!" Adri argued.
"How are flower petals capable of cutting through steel?" he argued back.
"I don't know! How can paper defeat a rock during rock-paper-scissor!?"
The rest of the group drank their butterbeer as Alex and Adri continued to argue, watching the people in the pub. All of them looked cheerful and relaxed. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot were swapping Chocolate Frog cards at a nearby table; both of them sporting 'Support Cedric Diggory!' badges on their cloaks.
Right over by the door he saw Cho and a large group of her Ravenclaw friends. She wasn't wearing a Cedric badge though.
Harry wondered how the other champions were feeling. Every time he had seen Cedric lately, he had been surrounded by admirers and looking nervous but excited. Thanks to Alex friendship with Adri, he had also been seeing a lot of Fleur, she looked exactly as she always did, confident and unruffled. It was no wonder in his opinion, that she and Claire had hit it off so well.
"Look, it's Hagrid!" Tracy said suddenly.
The back of Hagrid's enormous shaggy head emerged over the crowd. Claire wondered why none of them hadn't spotted him sooner, as Hagrid was so large, but standing up carefully, she saw that Hagrid had been leaning low, talking to Professor Jeager, Snape, Flitwick and Moody.
Hagrid had his usual enormous tankard in front of him, but Moody was drinking from his hip flask. Madam Rosmerta, the pretty landlady, didn't seem to think much of this: being to busy giving flirtatious looks at their combat professor.
"To my shame I must admit Adri is right." Amelia said, putting her bottle down, "Fleur got taste in men."
This got a proud smirk on the brunette's face, "Sorry if it sounds weird if we talk about your father like that." Adri said to Claire, "But he is just a very handsome man."
"Uhm, Charles Jeager is not my dad." Claire corrected her.
"Told you." Fleur said, crossing her arms.
"Really? I know he told Fleur that, but come on." Adri said, gesturing to the professor, "Look at him, now look at you. You look very similar to each other."
"Like what? Black hair, grey eyes and pale skin complexion?" Claire asked.
"Both very handsome, both very powerful, both very good with magic..." Daphne added.
"Now that you mention it, you two do look like each other." Alex added.
"I don't find the idea that my mother cheated on my father with my favorite teacher a very pleasant one..." Claire said dangerously cold. Her mother was still a sore spot for her, but she did remember there were rumors about Jeager having relationships with former students.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, making her look up into Fleur's eyes, "Don't let it get to you. Adri is... She is an acquired taste." she said gently.
"I know. She's like Alex." she said, "Also an acquired taste."
Alex and Adri gave each other a high five, "Team Acquired Taste for the win!" they both said.
Hagrid and Moody get up to leave then the pair of them made their way back across the pub toward their table.
"All right, Everyone?" Hagrid said loudly.
Hagrid now bent down and said in a whisper so low that only Harry could hear it, "Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. Take Claire with ya, wear that cloak of yours."
Straightening up, Hagrid winked, and departed with Moody following him.
"Why does Hagrid want us to meet him at midnight?" Harry said, very surprised.
"Does he?" Daphne said, "I wonder what he's up to?"
At half past eleven that evening, Harry and Claire sneaked out of the common room under the Invisibility Cloak back over himself and crept back downstairs through the common room.
The grounds were very dark. Harry and Claire walked down the lawn toward the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; Claire could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as Harry knocked on Hagrid's front door.
"You there, Harry? Claire?" Hagrid whispered, opening the door and looking around.
"No it's Father Christmas and Krampus." Claire said dryly, slipping inside the cabin and pulling the cloak down off their heads.
"Funny, Claire. Got something ter show yeh." Hagrid said.
There was an air of enormous excitement about Hagrid. He was wearing a flower that resembled an oversized artichoke in his buttonhole. It looked as though he had certainly attempted to comb his hair, a comb's broken teeth tangled in it.
"What're you showing us?" Harry said warily, wondering if the skrewts had laid eggs, or Hagrid had managed to buy another giant three-headed dog or dragon egg off a stranger in a pub.
"Come with me, keep quiet, and keep yerself covered with that cloak." Hagrid said, "We won' take Fang, he won' like it..."
"I have a feeling I won't like it much either." Claire mumbled dryly.
Hagrid wasn't listening; he was opening the cabin door and striding off into the night. Harry and Claire hurried to follow and found Hagrid leading them to the Beauxbatons carriage to their surprise.
"Hagrid, what?..." Harry began.
But Hagrid told them to be quite, and he knocked three times on the door bearing the crossed golden wands.
Madame Maxime opened it. She was wearing a silk shawl wrapped around her massive shoulders. She smiled when she saw Hagrid.
"Ah, 'Agrid... it is time?"
"Bong-sewer," said Hagrid, beaming at her, and holding out a hand to help her down the golden steps. Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses, with a totally bewildered Harry and Claire running to keep up with them.
But it seemed that Madame Maxime was in for the same treat as Harry and Claire, because after a while she said playfully, "Wair is it you are taking me, 'Agrid?"
"Yeh'll enjoy this." Hagrid said gruffly, "Worth seein', trust me. On'y - don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."
"Of course not." Madame Maxime said, fluttering her long black eyelashes.
And still they walked, but then when they had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight, the sound of shouting men, then came a deafening, earsplitting roar.
Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Harry and Claire hurried up alongside them, her mouth fell open.
Dragons.
Seven fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting, torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks.
At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs.
Mesmerized, Harry looked up, high above him, and saw the eyes of the black dragon, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bulging with either fear or rage, he couldn't tell which.
"Keep back there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"
"Is'n' it beautiful?" Hagrid said softly.
"It's no good!" yelled another wizard, "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"
Each of the dragon keepers pull out his wand. "Stupefy!" they shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the dragons' scaly hides.
Its jaws stretched wide in a silent howl; its nostrils were suddenly devoid of flame, though still smoking then, very slowly, it fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly-black dragon hit the ground with a thud that Claire could have sworn made the trees behind him quake.
The dragon keepers lowered their wands and walked forward to their fallen charges, each of which was the size of a small hill. They hurried to tighten the chains and fasten them securely to iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.
The pair of Hagrid and Madame Maxime moved right up to the fence. The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned, it was Charlie Weasley.
"All right, Hagrid?" he panted, coming over to talk, "They should be okay now, we put them out with a Sleeping Draft on the way here, thought it might be better for them to wake up in the dark and the quiet but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all..."
"What breeds you got here, Charlie?" Hagrid said, gazing at the closest dragon, the black one, with something chose to reverence. Its eyes were still just open.
"This is a Hungarian Horntail.", Charlie said, "There's a Common Welsh Green over there, the smaller one, a Swedish Short-Snout, that blue-gray, a Chinese Fireball, that's the red one, we have a Peruvian Vipertooth the smooth copper-colored one, we have an Ukrainian Ironbelly that metallic grey one over there and finally we have an Antipodean Opaleye, the one with the pearly scales."
Charlie looked around; Madame Maxime was strolling away around the edge of the enclosure, gazing at the stunned dragons.
"I didn't know you were bringing her, Hagrid." Charlie said, frowning, "The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming. She's bound to tell her students, isn't she?"
"Jus' thought she'd like ter see 'em." Hagrid shrugged, still gazing, enraptured, at the dragons.
"Really romantic date, Hagrid." Charlie said, shaking his head.
"Seven..." Hagrid said, "So it's one fer each of the champions, is it? What've they gotta do, fight 'em?"
"Just get past them, I think." Charlie said, "We'll be on hand if it gets nasty, Extinguishing Spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don't know why... but I tell you this, I don't envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing. Its back end's as dangerous as its front, look."
Charlie pointed toward the Horntail's tail, which was a long, bronze-colored spikes protruding along it every few inches.
Five of Charlie's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-gray eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a moan of longing.
"I've got them counted, Hagrid." Charlie said sternly, "How's Harry and Claire doing?"
"Fine." Hagrid said, still gazing at the eggs.
"Just hope those two are still fine after they faced this lot." Charlie said grimly, looking out over the dragons' enclosure, "I didn't dare tell Mum what the first task would be; she's already having kittens about Harry..."
Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. "'How could they let them enter that tournament, both are much too young! I thought they were all safe!' She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article about Harry. 'He still cries about his parents! Oh bless him, I never knew!'"
Trusting to the fact that Hagrid wouldn't miss them, with the attractions of seven dragons and Madame Maxime to occupy him, Harry and Claire turned silently and began to walk away, back to the castle.
Skirting the edge of the forest; then without warning, they ran into something very solid. Harry fell backward, only to have Claire pull him back before he could land on the ground his glasses askew, clutching the cloak around him. A voice nearby said, "Ouch! Who's there?"
The two stay very still, staring up at the dark outline of the wizard. The recognizable goatee was a dead give away, it was Karkaroff.
"Who's there?" Karkaroff said again, very suspiciously, looking around in the darkness.
After a minute or so, Karkaroff seemed to decide that he had hit some sort of animal; he was looking around at waist height, as though expecting to see a dog. Then he crept back under the cover of the trees and started to edge forward toward the place where the dragons were.
Very slowly and very carefully, they set off again, hurrying through the darkness back toward Hogwarts.
They had no doubt whatsoever what Karkaroff was up to. He had sneaked off his ship to try and find out what the first task was going to be. He might even have spotted Hagrid and Madame Maxime heading off around the forest together, they were hardly difficult to spot at a distance.
And now all Karkaroff had to do was follow the sound of voices, and he, like Madame Maxime, would know what was in store for the champions.
The common room was deserted once they got back. Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and threw himself into an armchair in front of the fire. The room was in semi-darkness; the flames were the only source of light.
Nearby, on a table, the 'Support Cedric Diggory'! badges the Creevey's had been trying to improve were glinting in the firelight. They now read 'Potter Really Stinks'.
"Dragons... I thought these tasks would be a challenge.", Claire said as she sat down on a couche to the side, "Horntails are bastards to deal with, but I could take something like the Fireball pretty easily."
"B-But Claire, they are dragons, how can you not be nervous about it?" a pale faced Harry said.
"Simple." Claire said with a confident smirk, "I'm not face-to-face with one yet."
Harry let out a weak chuckle, wishing he could be half as confident as his friend was being.
"We shouldn't use Stunning Spells, dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner." Claire continued, stroking her chin, "Best chance we got is to go for the eyes. Or... you could fly."
"Yeah, but..." Harry stared at her, "I'm not allowed to bring a broom, we only got our wands..."
"Then maybe you need to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need." Claire pointed out.
Harry looked at him blankly and then it clicked. He was best at flying, that was true. To fly pass the dragon, he needed his Firebolt. And for his Fire-bolt, he needed...
Then they could hear footsteps coming down the spiral staircase. Harry and Claire watched the bottom of the spiral staircase. Who had decided to go for a stroll at one o'clock in the morning?
It was Ron, dressed in his maroon paisley pajamas, Ron stopped dead facing Harry and Claire across the room, and looked around.
"What are you doing down here at this time of night?" Harry snarled.
"I just wondered where you...", Ron broke off, shrugging, "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."
"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you?" Harry shouted, his emotions getting the best of him.
"Sorry about that." Ron said, his face reddening with anger.
Harry strode across the room toward the stairs; Claire half expected Ron to stop her, but Ron just stood there in his too-small pajamas, and Harry stormed upstairs.
That's another chapter, hope you enjoyed it. Many thanks to everyone who read, review, favorite or follows this story.
For now I wish you all a fantastic day, if you enjoyed my work don't forget to leave a review and I hope to see you ladies and gents next time. Mischief Managed.