Hey guys! This chapter took a while but I think it was worth it. I've been sick for a while (promise you I'm not dying from some virus) so it's been a bit harder for me to write. So if there is any problems or anything, than just comment and I'll fix it. Hope you enjoy!
Harry's POV
Harry was a bit worried. About the dragons, the tournament, his life at Hogwarts, his godfather Sirius Black, and too many things to keep up with. He had talked things over with Sirius the night before. But before he could talk about his thoughts on the Americans and what they were talking about, Ron had walked in on them. He had quickly been able to get Sirius away from the fire (he was talking to Harry through there) and seemed like he wasn't doing anything. It ended up in Harry storming to his bed after he threw one of the 'POTTER REALLY STINKS' badges that the Colin brothers made directly at Ron's head.
A while before this, Hagrid had shown Harry what he would be up against on Tuesday... Dragons.
Out of all things wizardry, why dragons!
Harry had no idea how to deal with them. He was able to tell Sirius about it though. Sirius mentioned having a plan using a simple spell but he couldn't finish because, well, Ron just had to walk in!
On Sunday, he told Hermione everything about what Sirius said once they were out of the Great Hall. They walked around the lake a few times before deciding to go to the library. They didn't get to far in trying to find a useful spell for the dragons though because of a certain someone.
"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" Hermione had irritably said when Viktor Krum had walked in, cast a surly look over at the pair of them, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books.
"Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common room.. his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away... "
And sure enough, when they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.
On Monday, Harry found himself having a hard time chewing his bacon for breakfast. The Americans were nowhere in sight -just like the previous day. Harry guessed that Percy was probably doing his own studying... Not that he knew about the Dragons. Harry was debating whether or not to tell him.
He could be against me... But that doesn't mean that he shouldn't know about the deadly dragons... Especially if he gets the Hungarian Horntail.
Harry decided that whenever he could find Percy, he would tell him. But he hadn't talked to Percy since Saturday. The Nico and Hazel encounter when Hermione and him were at the Three Broomsticks was a strange one... It was almost like they knew that he was under his invisible cloak... And the part about death that Nico had mentioned.. It got Harry on edge even more. But, he decided to worry about it later. One thing at a time.
He also thought about Cedric. Cedric still didn't know about the dragons... the only champion besides Percy, if Harry was right in thinking that Maxime and Karkaroff would have told Fleur and Krum.
"Hermione, I'll see you in the greenhouses," Harry said, coming to his decision as he watched Cedric leaving the Hall. "Go on, I'll catch you up".
"Harry, you'll be late, the bell's about to ring -"
"I'll catch you up, okay?"
By the time Harry reached the bottom of the marble staircase, Cedric was at the top. He was with a load of sixth-year friends. Harry didn't want to talk to Cedric in front of them; they were among those who had been quoting Rita Skeeter's article at him every time he went near them. Harry followed Cedric at a distance and saw that he was heading toward the Charms corridor. This gave Harry an idea. Pausing at a distance from them, he pulled out his wand, and took careful aim.
"Diffindo!"
Cedric's bag split. Parchment, quills, and books spilled out of it onto the floor. Several bottles of ink smashed.
"Don't bother," said Cedric in an exasperated voice as his friends bent down to help him. "Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on... "
This was exactly what Harry had been hoping for. He slipped his wand back into his robes, waited until Cedric's friends had disappeared into their classroom, and hurried up the corridor, which was now empty of everyone but himself and Cedric.
"Hi," said Cedric, picking up a copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration that was now splattered with ink. "My bag just split. It was brand-new and all- "
"Cedric," said Harry, "The first task is dragons".
"What?" said Cedric, looking up.
"Dragons," said Harry, speaking quickly, in case Professor Flitwick came out to see where Cedric had gone to. "They've got five, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them".
Cedric stared at him. Harry saw some of the panic he'd been feeling since Saturday night flickering in Cedric's amber eyes.
"Are you sure?" Cedric said in a hushed voice.
"Dead sure," said Harry. "I've seen them".
"But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know.. "
"Never mind," said Harry quickly - he knew Hagrid would be in trouble if he told the truth.
"But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now - Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too. You and Percy were the only ones who didn't".
Cedric straightened up, his arms full of inky quills, parchment, and books, his ripped bag dangling off one shoulder. He stared at Harry, and there was a puzzled, almost suspicious look in his eyes.
"Why are you telling me?" he asked.
Harry looked at him in disbelief. He was sure Cedric wouldn't have asked that if he had seen the dragons himself. The large scaley beasts...Harry wouldn't have let his worst enemy face those monsters unprepared - well, perhaps Malfoy or Snape.
"It's just... fair, isn't it?" he said to Cedric. "I'm thinking of telling Percy too. We all should be on an even footing, shouldn't we?"
Cedric was still looking at him in a slightly suspicious way when Harry heard a familiar clunking noise behind him. He turned around and saw Mad-Eye Moody emerging from a nearby classroom.
"Come with me, Potter," he growled. "Diggory, off you go".
Harry stared apprehensively at Moody.
Did he overheard us?
"Er - Professor, I'm supposed to be in Herbology -"
"Never mind that, Potter. In my office, please... "
Harry followed him, wondering what was going to happen to him now.
What if Moody wanted to know how I found out about the dragons? Would Moody go to Dumbledore and tell on Hagrid, or just turn me into a ferret? Well, it might be easier to get past a dragon if I were a ferret. I'd be smaller, much less easy to see from a height of fifty feet.
He followed Moody into his office only to find out that Moody wasn't going to question him. He only told him he did the right thing telling Cedric and how Karkaroff and Madame Maxime just wanted their own champions to win. But then he gave a wonderful idea to Harry.
"So got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragon yet?" Moody said.
"No," Harry said.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you," said Moody gruffly. "I don't show favoritism, me. I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is - play to your strengths".
"I haven't got any," said Harry, before he could stop himself.
"Excuse me," growled Moody, "you've got strengths if I say you've got them. Think now. What are you best at?"
Harry tried to concentrate. What was he best at? Well, that was easy, really -
"Quidditch," he said dully, "And a fat lot of help -"
"That's right," said Moody, staring at him very hard, his magical eye barely moving at all.
"You're a damn good flier from what I've heard".
"Yeah, but... " Harry stared at him. "I'm not allowed a broom and I've only got my wand. Unlike Perc- "
"My second piece of general advice," Moody loudly interrupted him, "Is to use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need?"
Harry looked at him blankly. What did he need? What was this 'simple spell' that both Sirius and Moody had mentioned.
"Come on, boy..." whispered Moody. "Put them together... it's not that difficult".
And it clicked. He was best at flying. He needed to pass the dragon in the air. For that, he needed his Firebolt. And for his Fire-bolt, he needed -
"Hermione," Harry whispered, when he had sped into greenhouse three minutes later, uttering a hurried apology to Professor Sprout as he passed her. "Hermione - I need you to help me".
"What d'you think I've been trying to do, Harry?" she whispered back, her eyes round with anxiety over the top of the quivering Flutterby Bush she was pruning.
She wasn't wrong. Hermione had been helping him a lot, but he finally knew what this 'simple spell was'.
"Hermione, I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon".
And so they practiced. They skipped lunch and headed to a free classroom, where Harry tried with all his might to make various objects fly across the room toward him. He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping hike stones to the floor.
"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate... " Hermione said repeatedly.
"What d'you think I'm trying to do?" said Harry angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason. Okay, I'll try again... "
He wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, but Hermione refused point-blank to skip Arithmancy. And there was no point in staying without her. He therefore had to endure over an hour of Professor Trelawney, who spent half the lesson telling everyone that the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment meant that people born in July were in great danger of sudden, violent deaths.
"Well, that's good," said Harry loudly, his temper getting the better of him, "Just as long as it's not drawn-out. I don't want to suffer".
Ron looked for a moment as though he was going to laugh; he certainly caught Harry's eye for the first time in days, but Harry was still feeling too resentful toward Ron to care. He spent the rest of the lesson trying to attract small objects toward him under the table with his wand. He managed to make a fly zoom straight into his hand, though he wasn't entirely sure that was his prowess at Summoning Charms - perhaps the fly was just stupid.
He forced down some dinner after Divination. He spent a while trying to find Percy and even sent him an owl (Hedwig finally let Harry grab her). But he gave up looking and returned to the empty classroom with Hermione, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid the teachers.
They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room. Harry and Hermione left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.
At two o'clock in the morning, Harry stood near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour had Harry really got the hang of the Summoning Charm.
"That's better, Harry, that's loads better," Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased.
"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to Hermione, so he could try again, "Threaten me with a dragon. Right... " He raised his wand once more. "Accio Dictionary!"
The heavy book soared out of Hermione's hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it.
"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione delightedly.
"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds... "
"That doesn't matter," said Hermione firmly. "Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Harry, we'd better get some sleep... you're going to need it".
Harry had been focusing so hard on learning the Summoning Charm that evening that some of his blind panic had heft him. It returned in full measure, however, on the following morning. 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.
Harry felt oddly separate from everyone around him, whether they were wishing him good luck or hissing "We'll have a box of tissues ready, Potter" as he passed.
It was a state of nervousness so advanced that he wondered whether he might not just lose his head when they tried to lead him out to his dragon, and start trying to curse everyone in sight. Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment he seemed to be sitting down in his first lesson, History of Magic, and the next, walking into lunch... and then (where had the morning gone? The last of the dragon-free hours?), Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to him in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching.
"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!"
"Yeah," said Harry in a voice that was most unlike his own.
He left the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself either; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione. As she walked him down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Now, don't panic," she said, "Just keep a cool head. We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you. Are you all right?"
"Yes," Harry heard himself say. "Yes, I'm fine".
She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.
"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice, "And wait for your turn, Potter. Mr. Bagman is in there. He'll be telling you the -the procedure. Good luck".
"Thanks," said Harry, in a flat, distant voice. She left him at the entrance of the tent. Harry went inside.
Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a how wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Harry supposed was his way of showing nerves. Cedric was pacing up and down. When Harry entered, Cedric gave him a small smile, which Harry returned, feeling the muscles in his face working rather hard, as though they had forgotten how to do it.
"Harry! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"
Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing in the the middle of the pale-faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again, "So all we need left is Percy Jackso- "
That's when Percy burst into the tent, "Sorry.. I came from the other side of the school.. They told me about two minutes ago".
Fleur looked bewildered, "How is 'e not panting? 'Ogwarts eiz a vairy large school!"
Percy looked around and blinked. Then he just blinked.
"Well, now we're all here - time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" - he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them - "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 glanced around. Cedric had nodded once, to show that he understood Bagman's words, and then started pacing around the tent again; he looked slightly green. Fleur Delacour and Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps they thought they might be sick if they opened their mouths; that was certainly how Harry felt. But they, at least, had volunteered for this. Percy's reaction was different though. It seemed almost as though he was used to the sort of thing.
Maybe other Death Eaters taught him how to deal with creatures like this... Maybe he's even killed others...
Percy sat in the corner and fiddled with his pen. He finally took the cap off and the large bronze sword appeared. Harry wondered how he was going to use that against a dragon... With the size of them, the sword looked more like a toothpick than anything...
And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking... Harry felt as separate from the crowd as though they were a different species. And then - it seemed like about a second later to Harry - Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.
"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour.
She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck and Harry knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was coming.
The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number four around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.
Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck.
Percy was up next and pulled out a greenish-black Norwegian Ridgeback with a number three around it's neck. Percy groaned and moved back.
Harry knew about Norwegian Ridgebacks since Hagrid's old dragon, Norbert, was one himself. They tend to eat water creatures more than humans so Harry didn't see what Percy was worrying about.
Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail and the number five. Harry knew he would get it since it was the last option but he still felt his heart stop at the moment he pulled it out. It stretched it's wings as Harry looked down at it, and bared its minuscule fangs.
"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "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?"
"Er.. yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with Bagman.
Percy's POV
Percy watched as Ludo Bagman pulled Harry out of the tent. He wondered why but he wasn't too worried. It was out in the open after all. Percy had spent the last two days figuring out different ways he was going to defeat the dragon without killing it because that was an actual issue he had to worry about.
He and the other demigods spent all their time in the dorms just studying the different dragons and relaxing before the tournament. He actually had time to think about what he was going to do this time -unlike all his other quests. Percy and Annabeth devised a plan for him to use your defeat the dragon. Well, it was more of a... Helpful fact? Apparently there was a point near the head of few dragons that would make them slightly dizzy. But it was almost impossible to find it. (A/N NOT A TRUE FACT. I MADE IT UP ENTIRELY. Thank you).
He just had to hope that it was true.
A whistle had blown somewhere. Percy knew that it was the cue for Cedric to get past the dragons first.
Cedric, who looked incredibly green, stopped pacing. He looked up determingly and was walking to go face the Swedish Short-Snout.
"Good luck, Cedric," Percy said.
Cedric looked back for a second and thanked him. He opened the tent flap and went off into the cheering crowd.
Hope he does well... Hope we all do well. Especially Harry..
...
Heyyyyyyyyyyy. I know that this a horrible spot to leave off on but oh well lol. Thanks for reading this chapter! Next update 2/11/20.
-E.V