Maardaan

24th of November, 1994. Thursday

It was early on the day of the First Task. Harry was sitting by the lake meditating. He was calm. He had his morning lessons and then lunch and then the task. He'd be alright. He wasn't really worried. The dragons wouldn't hurt him - strangely enough. The dragons on Earth were very different from the ones on Nirn. He'd taken a run through the forest earlier. He'd skipped his glamour necklace when he did that. If he was stopped by anything in there, he preferred being himself.

He'd showered and gotten dressed. He should be heading over to the Great Hall for breakfast soon. There was a light breeze blowing in over the Black Lake. Harry ran and hand through his hair. He really missed Katla right then. 'I wish you were here monah,' he thought. He stood up slowly. The best way to deal with the longing was to surround himself with people. It would keep his mind busy.

"Good morning Neville," he said as he sat down next to the shy brunet.

Neville looked over at him. "Good morning Harry," he said somewhat shocked. He looked down at his plate. "Are you O.K.? The first task is today, isn't it?" he said.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it is," he said. "It's kind of nerve-racking, but I figure that I've been though worse before." He looked out over the table and located the fruits. He picked an orange up. "Good morning Hermione," he said.

The brunette looked up from her book. "Good morning," she said. She sat down and disappeared back into the book.

Harry shook his head. It was amazing that she got enough to eat. Her nose was almost always stuck in a book. Adorable, Katla might have called her. He shook his head. They would be heading off to Transfiguration soon enough.

Transfiguration

History of Magic

Herbology

…

"I know it is like a non-magical sunflower, but it's poisonous if you eat too much of it," Neville said. "The flowers are beautiful though, and they are really easy to care for."

"You need to wear gloves with them though don't you?" Harry said.

Neville nodded. "At least if you are sensitive," he said. "They can give you rashes." He was really happy. He didn't know why Harry had suddenly started being interested in plants but it was great. The raven was so into it. And it wasn't like Hermione that would spout facts at you. He was actually interested in taking care of plants and really learning about them.

They had sat down and filled their plates with food. They ate in relative silence. They didn't talk, but everyone else couldn't seem to shut up. People were exited.

Eventually Harry could see Professor McGonagall walking down along the table. "Potter, the champions have to come down into the grounds now…" she said when she reached them. "You have to get ready for your first task."

"Oh. O.K." Harry said and stood up.

"Good luck Harry," Hermione said.

"Yeah, good luck," Neville said.

"Thanks guys," Harry said. "I'll see you after." He followed his Head of House out of the Hall. He realised that everyone around him that actually cared about him seemed more anxious about what was going to happen than he was.

Even McGonagall seemed tense. She stopped halfway down the stone steps leading up to the castle and placed a hand on the raven's shoulder. "Now don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head. We've got wizards 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 less of you. Are you alright?"

"I'm alright all things considered," Harry said. They had started walking again and she was leading him towards the dragon pen. When they rounded the trees covering the dragons, Harry raised an eyebrow. The dragons were hidden from view by a big tent; its opening facing them.

"You're to go in here with the other champions," McGonagall said in a somewhat shaky voice. "Mr Bagman is in there… he'll be telling you the – the procedure. Good luck."

"Thank you Professor," Harry said. He saw her walk away out of the corner of his eye as he walked into the tent. He looked around. The other champions didn't seem all that calm. Funnily enough he was the calmest one there. He smiled at Cedric as the teen looked up at him.

"Harry! Good-oh!" Bagman said happily. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"

The man looked ridiculous. He was wearing a black and yellow set of Quidditch robes that were way too small for him. Harry faintly remembered him wearing the same robes way back during the Quidditch World Cup. They had been hideous back then too.

"Well, now we're all here – time to fill you in!" Bagman said brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag," he held up a small sack made of purple silk, and shook it, "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 too… ah, yes… your task is to collect the golden egg!"

Harry did his best not to roll his eyes. Everyone there knew that they would face dragons. One dragon wasn't that different from another – at least not as far as everyone else was concerned. He knew the difference. He hummed softly and walked over to a corner of the tent before sitting down. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. He breathed in slowly. He was calm - collected. He barely registered the hundreds upon hundreds of feet that passed by the tent. He had entered his own safe bubble.

Then everyone else inside the tent changed their pattern. Green eyes opened. Bagman had opened the silk pouch and Delacour had reached down into it. She pulled up a miniature Sovenvild, the Welsh Green. It had the number two hanging around its neck.

As Harry stood up, the pouch was held out to Krum. He pulled out a miniature Chinese Fireball with a three.

'Neltoor,' Harry thought. He joined the other champions as the pouch was held out to Cedric. The brunet reached into it with shaking fingers. He pulled out a perfect model of Suthiiz the Swedish Short-Snout. It had the number one around its neck.

Harry knew which dragon was left. It didn't actually matter to him. He reached in and pulled out a miniature Maardaan. He'd gotten the Hungarian Horntail. He would be going last.

"Well, there you are!" Bagman said. "You have each pulled out the dragon 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?"

Harry looked up at the man. "Sure," he said. He didn't quite understand why the man wanted to talk to him. He followed the man outside.

"Feeling all right, Harry? Anything I can get you?" Bagman asked.

"No I'm fine." Harry said. "You'll see me out there." He turned back and walked into the tent before the man could say anything else. He walked up to Cedric. "Breath in breath out and centre yourself," he said. "You'll be fine."

The brunet looked at him disbelievingly. Then the whistle sounded. He turned green as he walked out of the tent.

Harry walked over and sat down by the others. He closed his eyes again.

Bagman introduced the brunet.

"Vuth. Stay back, malsemun, little human," Suthiiz roared. "You will not touch my klurre, my eggs."

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow," Bagman commentated.

"Ofaal zek - get back," Suthiiz said.

"He's taking risks, this one!"

There was a massive roar.

"Yol toor shul."

"Clever move – pity it didn't work!"

Harry really hoped that the dragons had listened to him. He sat there listening to Bagman and Suthiiz. Then finally the crowd cheered. Cedric had done it.

It wasn't much longer before Miss Delacour was heading out. She was shaking from head to toe.

Sovenvild reacted much like Suthiiz had. She roared at the little French girl. Told her to stay away from her eggs. Bagman's commentary was very strange when you couldn't see what was going on.

"Ag malsemiil - burn little woman," Sovenvild roared.

'Oh, Kyne please say that she made it out of that alright,' Harry thought. He looked up at Krum as the grumpy teen moved out of the tent. He listened intently until a roar so great it shook through him tore through the air.

"That's some nerve he's showing, and … yes, he's got the egg!"

"Niiiiid! Hi krastov pusojur - you vile bug! I will, vaaz, tear you apart! Vir krilon hi - how dare you?!"

'Oh, no,' Harry thought. 'What did Krum do?' He stood up. It would be his turn next. He walked out the same path the other champions had walked before him. He headed to the enclosure. Maardaan was standing on the other side. She didn't seem happy. Harry could understand her. Neltoor had lost eggs. He could still hear her.

He breathed in slowly. He needed to focus his Illusions. "Siiv vuuk orofaal," he whispered.

"You will not touch my leret, my nest," Maardaan roared. She blew fire at the human. He rolled out of its way. She wasn't really trying to hurt him. He'd promised not to harm their eggs.

Harry turned as his broom arrived. He grabbed the handle and jumped on. He flew up above the crowd. Wind blew through his hair. He was feeling free. He turned around midair and shoot straight down towards the Horntail. "Just give me a chance to get the egg that isn't yours," he whispered. He knew Maardaan had better hearing than any human around.

"You'll have to, genun zey, show me you're worth it," Maardaan roared.

Harry turned and flew around her. He didn't care about anything else. In a way he felt like a little dragon showing off to his mother. The thought made him laugh. He flew around her avoiding her fire breath. He'd caught sight of the golden egg several times. He knew he had to get it. He corkscrewed down and pulled away from the nest. Right now they were just putting on a good show. And then he miscalculated. "Fuck," he hissed as he was hit with one of the long sharp spikes attached to her tail. He pulled up. She took off after him and he dived back down fast. He speeded in over the nest full of eggs and grabbed the golden one. He pulled back up and stopped above the stands. He sighed. He'd gotten hurt. 'Oh, well,' he thought.

"Look at that!" Bagman yelled. "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!"

Harry rolled his eyes. He watched as the dragon-keepers ran forward to subdue the Horntail which was really unnecessary. Maardaan wouldn't hurt him. As he looked around the enclosure, he noticed Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody and Hagrid hurrying out to meet him. They were waving to him to come and join them. He flew over to them slowly and landed next to Hagrid.

"That was excellent, Potter!" Professor McGonagall said.

"Thank you Professor," Harry said. "I need to go see Madam Pomfrey. The Horntail hit me."

"Ah, of course it is right through there. Get yourself looked at, at once," the stern woman said.

"Yeh did it, Harry!" Hagrid said hoarsely. "Yeh did it against the Horntail."

"Yeah, I know it went pretty well," Harry said with a wink to Moody. He walked over to the medical tent slowly. He could have healed himself, but that might come across as strange. Hermione would have seen it happen and bug him about it at the very least.

Madam Pomfrey did not look happy. She was standing at the mouth of the tent. "Dragons!" she said in a disgusted tone. She pulled Harry with her inside. He scanned the tent. It was split into cubicles. He could see Cedric silhouette past the canvas. He seemed alright; he was sitting up at least.

He pulled his shirt off so Madam Pomfrey could take a look at his back. She shook her head. "Last year there were Dementors, and this year they have dragons. What are they going to bring into this school next? You are very lucky it didn't hit anything vital. It will need some thorough cleaning before I can heal it up. Stand still," she said. Harry rolled his shoulder and then he relaxed. She poured some kind of liquid into the wound and it stung. Then there was a soothing feeling and the wound was healed. "Now, just sit quietly for a minute, sit! And then you can go get your score," Pomfrey said. She bustled out of his section and walked over to Cedric. "How does it feel now, Diggory?" she asked.

Harry tuned her out. It wasn't his business. He placed a hand over the healed wound so he could sense if it was healed perfectly. It wasn't that he didn't trust Madam Pomfrey to heal him, he was just more used to doing it himself. He reached out and pulled his robe back on. He liked how College type mage robes worked. They fell down to his ankles in the front and back but they were cut to the sides so there were no problems moving around.

"Harry!"

Suddenly the raven had an armful of bushy-haired brunette. "You were brilliant," she said. She could understand now how he'd been so calm. He had done great. "That was just amazing."

Harry looked down at her with a smile. "Thank you Hermione," he said. He hugged her back. "You helped a lot."

She stepped back from him and looked over her shoulder. Ronald was standing there. "Harry," he said very seriously. "Whoever put your name in that Goblet… I reckon they're trying to do you in."

Harry tilted his head to the side. Frankly he didn't care about the redhead. He guessed the guy didn't have to run around thinking that he hated him. He shrugged. "That has occurred to us a couple of times I guess," he said.

"I'm sorry," Ron said. "I was an idiot."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, you were," he said. "Everyone does stupid things sometimes. But you know… You should have known me better than to think that I wanted to be in this tournament." He looked over at Hermione. "I guess I should go out there and hear what they have to say," he said.

The brunette nodded. She looked over at Ron as Harry walked out. "He has forgiven you," she said. "I guess he just wants you to realise that you have to think before you act next time."

Ron nodded and sighed. "I really messed up this time," he said. He walked with Hermione after the raven. They stopped before they entered the enclosure. They could hear just fine from where they stood.

Hermione did her best not to listen to Ron's commentary as Harry was given his scores. It looked really good. It didn't even matter that Karkaroff only gave him a four. He was tied for first place with Krum. She raised an eyebrow as she watched Charlie Weasley come running over to the raven. She couldn't hear what they said to each other, she was too far away. Harry seemed to be heading back into the champions' tent after he'd spoken to the oranget though. 'I guess we'll wait for him back in the common room,' she thought. She had a book she wanted to read.

Harry stepped into the tent. He smiled at Cedric, Delacour, and Krum as they came walking in together. He wished he could just heal Cedric's face. He was pretty used to dealing with fire burns - especially from dragons. "Good one, Harry," the brunet said.

"You too Cedric," Harry said.

"Well done all of you," Bagman said as he bounced into the tent. "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 mourning of February the twenty-fourth – but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime!" … … …

Harry stayed behind in the tent after Bagman left. He looked down at the egg. 'So this holds the clue,' he thought. He moved it around in his hands. He really wanted to go see how the dragons were doing. Poor Neltoor needed some comforting.

"You 'ave changed."

Harry looked up. He hadn't realised that he wasn't the only one left in the tent. It was Miss Delacour. The part Veela was looking at him intently. "Ze ozers might not notice, but I do," she said.

'What on earth do I say to that?' Harry wondered. "I'm not entirely sure I know what you are talking about," he said.

"Don't be silly," Fleur said she walked up to him and he could feel a wave of magic washing over him. He could tell that it should affect him, but it didn't. "No teen would be able to do zat. I just 'it you wiz a wave of Veela allure, and you didn't react."

Harry closed his eyes. He moved closer to her. She could tell he'd changed. He would have to talk to her. "I don't want to talk about this here," he told her. "I don't trust that others won't hear. If you want to know what's going on you're going to have to wait."

Fleur thought about it for a moment. She was interested in knowing what the raven had to say. She nodded. "You better not keep me waiting for too long," she said.

"Of course not," Harry said. "I would assume that you are otherwise occupied this evening."

Fleur nodded. "You would be correct," she said.

"How about we meet early on Saturday?" Harry asked.

"Oui, zat sounds good," Fleur said. "I will see you zen." She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she walked out of the tent.

'Great,' Harry thought. He wasn't sure what he was going to tell the part Veela. He had not counted on that happening. Since there was no one else around he turned invisible before heading over to the dragons.

"Yol toor shul."

Harry threw up a shield.

"Tol mun banaak - that human scum made me step on my own eggs," Neltoor roared at him as he appeared amongst them.

"Zu'u los krosis - I'm sorry," Harry called. "I didn't know that would happen. This wasn't my idea."

"Hush Neltoor," Maardaan hissed. "Dovahkiin is right. He didn't know. It was the other mun, the other humans that did this. They should have known better."

Neltoor roared in agony. She lay down on the ground. Harry walked over to the devastated dragon. He placed his hands on her snout. "I'm really sorry," he whispered. He sat down next to her and started singing softly. He was making up the lyrics as he went.

The other dragons just lay down around him and listened. He fell silent eventually. Lying against Neltoor's snout, he fell into a kind of half sleep.

…

"Harry!"

The raven's eyes opened suddenly. He felt someone grabbing his forearm.

"What are you doing here, Harry?"

He looked up at the person. "They're sad," he said. He wasn't quite with it yet.

"What are you talking about?"

Harry rubbed his eyes. He moved away from the second oldest Weasley kid a bit and looked up at him. "They are sad," he said. "Why did you have to put their eggs in danger?" he asked.

Charlie sighed. "It wasn't my idea," he said. "I was against it. But they wouldn't listen to me."

Harry nodded. "O.K." he said.

"What is a child doing here?"

Charlie turned to the woman. "I don't know Rosalie," he said. "He keeps telling me that the dragons are sad though."

Rosalie sighed. "I know," she said. "We should have pushed harder. Made sure that the eggs were safe."

Charlie nodded. "Do you need me here? He's a family friend so I was thinking that maybe I should help him back to the castle," he said.

"We'll be fine. You better get him out of here before Neculai sees him," Rosalie said.

"Yeah, I'll be right back," Charlie said before he started leading Harry away from the four great dragons. "You do realise that the dragons are dangerous," he told the teen.

Harry looked up at the oranget. "Sure they are dangerous if you make them angry," he said. "I know that." He moved so he was walking next to the second oldest Weasley boy. "I'm fine you know. You don't need to walk me all the way back."

Charlie snorted. "I will believe that when I don't find you sleeping around dragons who could eat you if they felt like it," he said.

Harry rolled his eyes. "They wouldn't have hurt me," he said.

Charlie shook his head. "Go up to the common room and behave," he said.

"Fiiiiine," Harry said jokingly. He walked up to the great double doors and opened one of them up so he could head in to the Entrance Hall. "Good evening, Charlie," he said.

"Goodnight Harry," Charlie said. "Don't go sneaking out again."

"I won't," Harry said. He turned to walk up to the common room. He guessed Hermione might be in a bit of a snit when he got up there. He'd been gone for a long time. He made his way up quickly.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as he sat down next to her.

"I wandered around a bit," Harry said.

"Oh, there he is," George said. "Harry come on don't just sit over there," Fred followed up. "We have a party set up for you." "Come on." The Weasley twins really were good at lifting anyone's mood up with their insane ideas.

Harry chuckled. He got out of the armchair and walked over to the twins. They spent hours partying. Everyone else even managed to convince him to open the golden egg up. The shriek had been ear deafening. He'd decided to not open that aging until he'd researched some. Hermione had also learned where the house-elves stayed. She had been obsessed with freeing them for sometime by then. Harry wasn't sure what to think about that. He was interested in going to the kitchens though.

The Weasley twins had gotten the last laugh when Neville had turned into a canary right in front of everyone. Canary Creams. The twins really had some brilliant ideas.

By the time Harry went to bed that night he was too exhausted to think about anything. He just collapsed.