A/N: I wished I owned Harry Potter. Alas, I do not. Ms. Rowling, I'd be happy to take it off your hands

Chapter 22: Harry's Plan

November 24th, 1994

Harry sat in the tent, taking deep breaths. Krum had just left the tent to duel with his dragon, and he was next. Against the worst dragon imaginable. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He was alone in the tent, with just his thoughts for his company. Right now, his thoughts were far from his best friends. It was easy to imagine being crushed by the giant tail of the Hungarian Horntail. It was even in the name.

"Harry?" Harry was whipped out of his thoughts, and he looked around curiously. "Harry!" The call was more insistent and he saw a bulge in the tent. Curiously he went over to it and poked it. "Ow!" Harry heard. He recognized the voice and his eyes widened.

"Susan?" Susan slipped through the entrance, a frown on her face.

"Don't poke me, Harry!" Susan glared at him, hands on her hips. "It hurt."

"Susan, what in the world are you doing here?" Harry asked, just as the crowd roared. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, watching the challenge?"

"Eh, Cedric and Fleur did fine. So my friends are good. I don't really care what happens to the star of the Bulgarian quidditch team."

"You are friends with Fleur?" Harry asked, surprised. "I figured she didn't have too many friends, definitely not any here."

"I've met here before," Susan explained. "Her father is some bigwig in the French government. Used to be head of their auror department, so he knows my aunt. She's actually pretty nice once you get past the icy exterior. But you are right, she doesn't have too many friends, so I hang around with her occasionally."

"I assume it helps that you don't hang out around her with guys who can only drool," Harry said with a laugh.

"Yeah, even Cedric is a little affected," Susan told him. "He told me about it, and I explained Veela heritage to him, and how it exists in every girl who is even part Veela. But you aren't affected by it?"

"I guess it's like the imperious curse, and you know that doesn't affect me," Harry said. "Trying to mess with my mind usually doesn't go well for others."

"Whatever," Susan said. "We are getting off topic." There was another roar, this time of shock from the crowd. "Krum must almost be done. Listen, you are facing a dragon. It looks like you have to steal an egg from it."

"Susan, Barty Crouch told us all," Harry told her gently. "Did the deer trick work for Cedric?"

"That was your idea?" Susan asked, surprise evident on her face.

"I did tell you last night I went to warn him," Harry reminded her. "Good thing it worked too. I suspected a dog might not do the trick."

"But if you do the same thing as him, you will be penalized!" Susan said.

"Well, then I guess it's good I won't have to do the same thing," Harry said. "I gave Cedric a plan, but I'm not the best at transfiguration of live objects. Surprisingly, I didn't show all my cards."

"Oh?"

"Go back to your seat," Harry urged her as he heard a sound coming from the front of the tent. "I promise, I'll be fine." Susan gave him a quick hug and then disappeared out the way she had come.

"Does young Harry have a girlfriend?" He heard from the man who had just entered the tent from the arena side.

"Shut up, Charlie," Harry snapped back. He turned and saw a smiling Charlie Weasley standing at the tent entrance. "Shouldn't you be switching out a dragon right about now?"

"Eh, I'm a senior handler," Charlie told him. "They can handle it without me." Charlie walked over to him, and Harry realized that despite his joking manner, he was worried. "Harry, the horntail is no joke."

"Charlie, do you think I would be here if it was a joke?" Harry responded.

"Be serious for a moment," Charlie told him. "Listen, technically you have to get the egg before we can step in to restrain the dragon. But if you shoot up red sparks, I'll jump in and bring the other handlers with me. We'll take the bad boy down."

"Charlie, if the dragon gets restrained before I get the egg, I might as well leave school," Harry told him. "I'm touched by your worry, really I am. But trust me, I'm fine."

'Ok," Charlie said. "I doubt you want a hug from me more than your girlfriend, so I'll just say be careful."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Harry yelled at Charlie, who left the tent chuckling. It was nice to know that people cared, but his concentration was entirely busted. It took a few deep breaths, but the comment from Charlie stuck with him, and he realized who he hadn't talked to since learning about the dragon. "Oh, Daphne is going to kill me," Harry said with a groan. "Maybe I should just let the dragon kill me. It will probably hurt less."

"Time," Charlie said, sticking his head back in. "Remember, red sparks. No tournament is worth more than your life."

"Ok," Harry agreed. Charlie nodded and Harry took two long deep breaths, and finally all the distractions were gone. He stepped out of the tent and he saw the massive crowd. He quickly picked Daphne out in the crowd and tried to flash her a smile, but she shot daggers at him with her eyes. The anger faded for a second, replaced by concern, and then she turned away. "Forget about an angry dragon," Harry muttered, and then turned his attention to the Hungarian Horntail.

It was a nasty looking dragon and Harry looked at its tail, which was swaying back and forth. His eyes narrowed on the tail, and he blocked everything out. It was just like taking a stroll, except with a giant tail and claws to contend with. Harry sighed, and just started walking towards the dragon.

The crowd murmured, and Harry knew that he looked like he was walking to his death. But the dragon sat there, looking at him curiously. Then Harry saw the twitch, and simply stepped to the left, allowing the tail to smash into the space he had just occupied. The tail jerked back and the dragon stared at Harry angrily. Harry had to hold back a smile.

He continued walking, and he saw the jaw twitch. It opened and fire raced out of the mouth, but Harry had already taken two steps to the right and the fire raced past him. Harry felt the heat, and the dragon abruptly cut off the fire. Then it took a pirouette to dodge another lash of the tail. The crowd was cheering in amazement as Harry weaved his way around a third attack from the tail.

August, 1994

"Ok, today we are going to start learning some advanced defense techniques," Hayashi Sensei told the class. Harry nodded eagerly. He had wholeheartedly bought into the idea of defense first, and anything that would stop him from getting hit was a good idea in his book. So far, they had learned a serious of blocks and dodges. Harry's only complain would be that it was a little formulaic.

Hayashi Sensei taught in a very formulaic manner. They would see Hayashi Sensei and a senior member demonstrate the technique, and then they would perform it on their own. Eventually, they would pair up and practice the move. The afternoon physical training was not as hard even if Harry was panting afterwards. What really exhausted him was if he made mistakes and extra work was required. So he really focused when he watched the demonstrations.

"Normally, I would do this with a senior student, but this is a technique that needs to be done at full speed a few times," Hayashi Sensei said. "So I have asked Nambung Sa Bum to help." Nambung stepped into the training room and gave a half bow to Hayashi Sensei. "I don't expect any of you to be able to see us at full speed but try and pick up on Nambung's movement."

Harry kept his vision wide to look at both instructors. He didn't even see the punch from Hayashi, but Nambung slipped the punch, allowing it to flow over his shoulder. The kick that followed was just as swift, but Nambung ducked under it. Finally Hayashi executed a backwards roundhouse, but Nambung parried it with a cross arm block.

The attacks had been viciously quick, and Harry only saw the finish of all three attacks, but he was confused. All of Nambung's defenses were things the class had already learned. Hayashi Sensei looked at the class, and Harry could tell his master was pleased that everyone was as confused as him.

"Anyone have any ideas?" The class remained silent. They had all learned that if you were not sure, it was better to be silent then to guess. "I guess that is to be expected. Did any of you see my attacks?" Again, there were no takers. "Of course not. They were at nearly full speed."

"If I had reacted to full speed attacks by your sensei, I would not be able to deal with them so easily," Nambung told the class. "However, unless they are a true master, any attack will have indicators. We will slow down to a very slow speed. Watch Hayashi's right shoulder and chest." Harry looked and saw the muscles contract a little bit before the punch. "Of course, normally Hayashi would not have any indicators, but he is showing you what they might look like."

"By learning about indicators, you can learn to mask your own, so this is not simply a defense technique," Hayashi Sensei explained. He beckoned to the door and one of the senior students Harry did not know came in. "Watch Reza carefully and choose a block or dodge for the attack. He will stand at the front of the class. Pretend you are facing him and react accordingly."

Later that night Harry went flying across the floor. He grimaced and rose to his feet, giving a hard look at Nambung. Harry brushed his clothes off and rose to his feet. Training with Nambung Sa Bum was informative, but it left a lot of bruises.

"Harry, I am giving you very clear indicators," Nambung told him. "Someone of your skill should be able to see my attacks coming."

"First of all, when I see the indicator you speed up when you attack," Harry said. "Secondly, it doesn't matter if I see the indicator if the attack is so strong it blows me away."

"I've been sending you flying all night but you've seen almost every attack, so I'll give you a hint," Nambung said. "Suppose you were fighting a giant. He isn't very skillful, so you can see all his indicators." Nambung took a fighting pose, and Harry felt a lightbulb go off in his mind. "Ready to try again?" Harry took his pose across from Nambung and saw the left leg twitch. He waited a fraction of the moment, all his focus on the left leg.

Nambung kicked at his head but Harry was already gone, ducking under it. He didn't have long to celebrate, as Nambung shoulder barged him, sending him flying again.

"Really!" Harry said. He bunched his stomach and flipped to his feet. Akira had taught him how to do that flip, and besides looking cool it was also the best way to rise from a knockdown. Harry used it whenever he could, and it was also a good workout for his stomach. "I dodged that cleanly."

"And you took your eyes off me," Nambung said. Harry hung his head. His teacher was right. He had focused entirely on the leg, forgetting that there would almost definitely be a follow up attack. "Even if I hit you, you shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent."

"Yeah," Harry said, and took his stance. "Ok. Ready."

"Good," Nambung said. Harry saw the chest shift and slipped past a vicious punch, but this time he saw the left leg start to rise and he jumped back. He landed solidly on both feet and used his right foot to push off, throwing all his weight behind a punch which Nambung easily slipped past. Harry tripped over an outstretched leg but rolled to his feet.

"Again," Nambung said, and Harry shook his head and rose to his feet.

November 24th 1994

Obviously, an angry vicious dragon didn't have any human tendencies. Also, being hit by the 1- ton tail of a Hungarian Horntail would do more damage than a punch. There were many reasons that Harry should have chosen another tactic, something that would not put him in imminent danger. But he believed in what he had learned over the summer. Also, this dragon had not been trained to disguise its attacks.

As Harry weaved, dove, and avoided attack after attack, he managed to work closer to the nest with every step. It was an arduous and dangerous progress, but soon he was inches from the dragon, who was now only on its back legs, using the front claws to attack along with bites, fire and a lashing tail. But still Harry avoided everything, some by such small margins that even the slightest slip would not only mean a failed attempt at a task, but also the potential end of his life.

Harry couldn't keep the smile from his face even as a razor-edged claw whistled through the air right over his head. Whenever Nambung sat and talked with Harry, which he did whenever Harry was really struggling, life and death inevitably came up. Nambung was of the belief that training could only take you so far. Once you put your skills to the test with a life and death situation, that was when the measure of your resolve was tested.

Harry was happy in this moment, which he wouldn't have believed was possible. But everything was gone from his mind. He had friends, a special girl, family, teachers. They didn't occupy his mind or his thoughts. At the moment the only thing Harry had to worry about was not getting hit. It was simple, it was pure, and it was the freest Harry had every felt.

Then his hands were on the egg and he was sprinting away. Harry transferred the egg to his left handand drew his wand with his right and shot two spinning blue bolts into the air. The dragon roared, his eyes locked on the blue in the sky. Harry knew from letters with Charlie that dragons were especially light reactive. Since there was a dark blue bolt against a light blue sky, the dragon's full attentions would be on the bolt. So Harry slowed and turned to ensure the dragon didn't attack him as he walked backwards to the gate.

Then he heard an odd sound. It was high-pitched, screeching, an awful rattling and then a pop. Harry couldn't place the sound, but he froze a few feet from the gate, looking around for the origin of the noise. Then the dragon's wings bunched, and it rose into the air. It reached the bolts and snapped at it, looking around angrily as it found only air.

Something was wrong, so Harry stopped at the gate. He couldn't place what was wrong, but the gasps from the crowd along with a pit appearing in his stomach convinced him to pause. Then he heard a scream, and movement from the crowd. It hit him just as the dragon turned its eyes on him, fury and anger clear in the creature's eyes. The dragon was supposed to be chained. How had it taken to the sky in pursuit of his distraction?

"Harry!" Charlie yelled as the stands devolved into total panic. "You have to get out of here!" People in similar clothes to Charlie were pouring into the arena, but there seemed to be pitifully few of them. "Let us do our job." There was a bead of sweat on Charlie's forehead, and his voice was too high pitched for Harry to believe him. Then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder.

"McGonagall and Dumbledore will put us in a shield that will hide us and the dragon," Akira said in his ears. "Can you distract him?"

"Maybe," Harry said. "Charlie could help."

"Yes, but I don't know him," Akira said, his voice still quiet. The dragon roared and its wing locked as it dived at Harry. "Fine. We don't have time." Akira grabbed Charlie and pulled the dragon handler next to him. "Akira raised his wand and shot a green spark into the air. Instantly the world went entirely dark, and then a pulsing light started to illuminate the new environment. There was a pure white bubble, and the dragon was just underneath the top of the curve. Its eyes were focused on Harry, who shivered a bit.

"What?" Charlie said, a little stunned.

"Dumbledore can't hold this for long," Akira said, stepping forward, Harry alongside him. "We have 3 minutes to subdue it. Charlie, is it?" Charlie nodded. "Harry and I are going to slow it down, eventually pin it in place. You will have to lock it down, immobilize it. Can you do that?"

"Not on my own," Charlie said. "I need at least one other wand."

"Good thing I figured out what was going on before everyone else," a vaguely familiar voice said from behind Charlie. Harry turned and saw Krum with his wand draw, pointed at the dragon. "You said we had a few minutes. Can you teach me what do to?"

"I can try," Charlie said, still a little baffled.

"Krum, I hope it doesn't need to be said that what happens in this dome stays in this dome," Akira said, his wand pointed directly at the Bulgarian. Krum nodded, and Akira sighed. "Well, I guess we can't keep secrets from your co-competitors anymore brother." Harry nodded, and they both raised their wands.

"Akiraka ni shite rokku o kaijo!" Weights appeared on Harry and Akira's body. They were wrapped around their arms, legs, ankles, shoulders, and necks. Then with a dull clang all the weights on Harry opened and fell off. They made a dull thud

"What the hell is that?" Charlie asked.

"Hidden weights," Harry said, stretching his sore muscles. "No such thing as an off day." Then Akira's weights unbuckled and as they hit the ground it sounded like an explosion spell. "His are a little heavier."

"Yikes," Krum said.

"I'm not done yet," Akira said, his voice deep and guttural. He turned his wand at himself and gripped the wood tightly. "Shokai rirīsu." He said that incantation quietly, so quietly no one, not even Harry could hear him. Akira's body began to glow silver, and Krum tapped Harry on the shoulder.

"What was that?" Harry shrugged as Akira took a fighting pose.

"Harry!" Akira snapped. "Let's go!" The dragon landed and roared as it faced the four wizards.

"Right." Harry stepped forward, and then raced at the dragons. He was unaccustomed to fighting without the weights, so he reached the dragon much faster than anticipated. Only a hard full speed bank and turn stopped him from crashing into the creature at full speed. Harry used the back of the dome as a springboard, jumping over the dragon and drawing its attention. Harry knew his job was to use his agility and speed to attract ire and anger.

The dragon spent a few seconds trying to catch Harry. Harry laughed at the ease his body was feeling, moving without all the weights. But as he laughed, he lost the clear mind he had been using. The tail of the dragon was heading towards him, and he didn't have an easy escape route.

"Uh oh." But then the dragon skidded backwards, slamming its wings into the dome, cracking the white shield. And then Akira was all over the creature. Akira hammered blow after blow into the dragon's side and head, which managed to back it up a little. Akira jumped back and stumbled to his knees as the silver glow faded. Krum and Charlie's wands glowed, and then ropes flew from their wands, restraining the dragon. The ropes were thick, and the dragon looked annoyed. Harry felt the physical exhaustion from his rapid acceleration and mental exhaustion from his death-defying duel with a dragon catch up all at once, and he stumbled over to his egg. Akira rose as well and his ropes, smaller as they were, began to wrap around the dragon's maw. He saw the dome begin to shimmer, and he picked up the egg.

"You ok?" Akira said, and Harry felt his brother put his arm over Akira's shoulder.

"Just tired," Harry murmured, and Harry felt Akira arms on his back before he closed his eyes.

"He ok?" Charlie said, as the dome became translucent.

"Just exhausted," Akira said, slinging his now sleeping brother over his back. "He isn't used to fighting without the weights. The strain it takes on the body, especially after dodging a dragon's attacks for a few minutes is pretty incredible." Akira looked around and saw the dome was almost gone. "You and your dragon buddies can take care of him?"

"We can now," Charlie said, seeing the dragon struggle under the ropes. "I have to confess, I've never seen someone beat a dragon down with his hands and feet."

"I wager, you'll never see it again," Akira said with a half-laugh. "Listen, I'd appreciate it if you keep Harry's involvement in this a secret. I'd like to remain anonymous as well, but if you can only keep one name hidden-"

"Say no more," Charlie said. "Dumbledore and I took care of it ourselves. Krum, I would disappear if I were you. Unless you like interviews." Krum's lips curled in a sneer. "That's what I figured." Akira nodded and them simply seemed to vanish.

"That wasn't Apparition" Krum said, both question and statement.

"Super-fast movement, I think," Charlie said, half to himself. "Here I thought I was Harry's only secret teacher."

"His movements were odd," Krum said. The dome flicked once and vanished. "I'll be going now." Charlie nodded, and then Krum's presence vanished. Other dragon handlers moved in, throwing ropes and bindings around the horntail who hard risen and almost broken through the original ropes, having already recovered from the pummeling from the Defense professor. Charlie gave a few directives to the other senior handler, and then went and sat down, taking deep breaths.

Charlie hadn't recognized the first spell Harry and his teacher had used. The second spell he hadn't even heard. Originally Charlie had planned to head back with all the handlers to drop the dragons in their original enclosures and then head back to Romania. But Charlie was worried about the weights that now lay on the ground of the arena. No training he had ever heard of had someone wearing 30 pounds in extra weight every second of every day.

"Charlie!" Charlie turned to see his old head of house running up to him. "Where is Harry?"

"Oh, your new professor carried him off somewhere," Charlie said. "He's safe, just exhausted." Charlie saw McGonagall exhale with relief. "Odd professor, isn't he? I've never seen someone beat a dragon into submission without a wand before. To be fair, I have also never seen a 14 year old boy, spend 2 minutes dodging every attack a dragon could come up with and stealing an egg. It's a day full of surprises."

"When you have been here as long as I have, nothing surprises you," Professor McGonagall said. "But yes, today was indeed full of surprises." She pointed at the dragon, which was now fully restrained. "You have that beast under control?"

"Don't call it a beast," Charlie said automatically. McGonagall gave him a hard stare. "Just…" Charlie shrugged. "Yeah. It's under control now."

"Would you mind explaining how it got off its tether and nearly killed a student? Imagine if it had gotten free with another student."

"Well, ignoring the blatant, and accurate favoritism of that statement," Charlie said, "I'm not sure." Out of the corner of his eye he saw a little color flow to his old professor's cheeks. Was dear old McGonagall finally starting to show emotion towards her students. "Oh, don't tell me you are actually starting to play favorites?"

"Of course not," McGonagall snapped, but Charlie knew a bad lie when he saw one. Well, if McGonagall was giving Harry preferential treatment, this seemed like a good year. Charlie had a heard a rumor that each task would be harder than the last, and that there were still at least 2 more tasks.

"Well, that's interesting," Charlie said, bending at the knee and taking the iron tether that had held the horntail in check. "See this scaring?" He pointed at a jagged black mark on the metal. McGonagall nodded. "The dragon could not have done that. That mark is from a spell. Someone weakened the metal, sometime between when we tied it up and when Harry entered the arena. They must have had an invisibility cloak or something of the like. Don't you have someone here for security?"

"Alastor Moody," McGonagall confirmed.

"I know his reputation," Charlie said, examining the metal closely. He didn't know any spell that could cause that kind of damage. "Minerva, if' he's here that's a very serious problem."

"What do you mean?"

"You need a serious and powerful spell to do this kind of damage," Charlie explained. "For someone to slip past Moody and effectively release a dragon speaks to pre-mediation and a specific target. You can't stop the tournament?"

"Mr. Weasley, what are you talking about?"

"Minerva, someone is trying very hard to kill a certain Harry Potter." Charlie turned to McGonagall and saw the worry carved on her face. "And next time, your mystery teacher may not be around to protect him."

"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked.

"No, and if this was any other student, I would hesitate to draw this conclusion," Charlie said. "But all of this evidence, combined with the fact that it happened to the boy-who-lived… I'd be nervous I was you."

"We had a few aurors watching Harry for security until today," McGonagall told him. Charlie couldn't hide his grimace. "I know, I know. I assumed Alastor could have sniffed out any danger, but maybe we will bring them back"

"I don't know I'd do that. Talk to Moody and get someone else here, who has a good cover story but can provide an additional wand to keep an eye on your prize pupil." The Deputy Headmistress nodded, and then Charlie saw her eyes narrow on him. "What?"

"After all these dragons, I have a feeling that some of our students would be fascinated in a weekly seminar about dragons. How would you feel about teaching it?"

"I didn't mean me! Someone who actually knows something about security!" Charlie was openly sweating, He could talk his way out of this, as long as McGonagall didn't play the one card that he couldn't avoid. If this was anyone else, Charlie was confident he could stall them long enough to get out of the country. But Minerva McGonagall had been teaching Weasleys too long.

"Well, I'm sure your mother will be pleased to hear you exposed someone she considered a surrogate son to a dragon." Charlie's shoulders slumped.

"I'll start next week." McGonagall nodded. "I hope you offer competitive pay?" Charlie asked, knowing he sounded defeated.

"I'll see what we can do," the transfiguration professor said as she walked away. Charlie surveyed the grounds he had left himself only a few years past. He shook his head in irritation, but in his heart, he knew that spending 6 months at home wouldn't be the worst thing. He could live without the incoming Molly Weasley howler though.