CW: dragons, adoption, food, betting

:SIXTY-NINE:

Harry was waiting for them in the Great Hall, practically vibrating with energy. He beamed and slid over so Sirius and Remus could sit by him, looking surprised.

"Why are you two up so early?" He asked once they'd settled in.

"Just excited to spend more time with you, kiddo." Sirius ruffled his hair fondly.

"I could barely sleep either." Harry admitted, spooning some oatmeal into a bowl in front of himself. "Hagrid has only made my excitement worse too. He keeps dropping hints in classes and acting distracted during lessons."

Remus laughed. "If it's something Hagrid loves enough to distract him from teaching, it must be good."

"We nearly got him to show us, too." Hermione added. "And we're both not speaking to Ron because he's been obnoxious about it as well."

"Why has Ron been obnoxious about it?" Sirius asked curiously. "Surely he's just excited like you both."

"No," Hermione shook her head. "He knows something about the tasks too. It's been very irritating."

"Can't spoil the surprise!" Ron said smugly. "I almost wish I didn't know, to be honest."

Harry rolled his eyes as Sirius laughed at the three of them.

"Well," Remus shrugged. "We'll all know soon enough, won't we?"

That ended the conversation, which then moved on to Hermione's eternal list of questions for Sirius and Remus about everything to do with Magical Education. She was still talking as they walked out to the stands, finding seats where they could all be together and still see everything. Neville found them as they were leaving, and they met Luna at the stands.

"I was out early to see the squid." She smiled serenely. "He likes peanut butter and banana sandwiches."

Sirius beamed at her, giving her a warm hug. "Oh, I missed you, Luna."

"That's nice." She said, returning the hug.

"Where are the twins? And Ginny?" Remus asked. "I haven't seen them."

"Ginny's with her friends over there." Hermione pointed, and then continued saying with derision. "Fred and George are busy placing bets on the first task over there."

Sirius smirked craftily. "I'll be right back, you go on without me."

Harry looked momentarily confused, but then just shrugged and followed the others up to the stands. Sirius walked around, following the shouts of Fred and George as they called in for bets. Finally, he found them both surrounded by other students.

"Hullo!" Sirius waved around the small crowd. "Fred! George!"

George caught sight of him and waved. "Be with you in a moment!"

They finished taking bets, and then went to greet Sirius.

"Care to place a bet?" Fred smirked.

"Actually," Sirius said conversationally. "Yes, I am here to place a bet. 100 galleons that the dragons will win the first task."

The twins' jaws dropped, but Sirius continued smiling and handed them the bag of galleons.

"For the joke shop." He murmured conspiratorially. "But don't rat me out to your mum, alright?"

Fred saluted Sirius, smirking, but George still looked skeptic. "How did you know about the dragons, Sirius?"

Sirius shrugged. "Harry said Hagrid's been distracted lately and Ron knows what the task is 'mysteriously'. Bill works with dragons, doesn't he?"

"We're in the presence of a genius." George said mock-reverently, while Fred made a half-bow.

"Right, let's go boys!" Sirius threw an arm around them both, laughing as they joined everyone else in the stands.

The task was, in a word, fantastic. All three student champions approached the dragon in completely different ways. Cedric tried to distract his dragon, bewitching a rock into a dog. Remus found that feat very impressive even after Cedric got nicked by the dragon right after getting the egg. Fleur attempted to make her dragon fall asleep, but in a moment of bad luck got set on fire by a dragon's sneeze.

"At least it didn't actually burn her, just her uniform." Neville said in relief. "Whose bright idea was it to bring dragons all of the way to Britain just to set students on fire?"

"Oh, hush!" Ron said, grinning at the dragon as it was being taken out of the stadium. "This is bloody brilliant!"

"It's alright, Neville." Hermione added comfortingly. "Madam Pomfrey will put them right, and there's loads of dragonologists around the stadium, see?"

And she pointed around to where several wizards were guiding the next dragon out. This mollified Neville slightly, though he still looked nervous as Viktor came out to face his dragon. His was the most aggressive approach, cursing the dragon's eyes and collecting the egg the fastest of the three. He lost a few points though as the dragon accidentally stepped on one of the real dragon eggs.

So, even though Fleur performed the best and remained unhurt, Viktor took first place. Hermione's tune had changed since Remus had last spoken to her, as she railed against the unfair scores all the way back to the castle.

"Headmaster Karkaroff cheated!" Hermione stormed. "He gave Viktor a totally unfair score, considering he got an actual baby dragon killed in the process. Fleur was only a few seconds longer getting hers and she didn't hurt anyone doing it!"

Remus sighed and nodded apologetically. "Yes, I'm afraid you're right Hermione."

"The Triwizard Tournament has a reputation for many things, and cheating is one of them." Sirius added. "It's unfortunate, but there you are. That's why we have a more objective judge come in to help the Headmasters with the scoring."

"That's another thing," Ron jumped in. "Why was Percy there instead of Crouch?"

George shrugged. "Didn't get a chance to talk to him, he left right after the task was over."

"Pity Cedric didn't place higher." Neville commented, following them into the front entrance. "I thought the magic he performed was really cool."

Hermione nodded her head, bushy hair flying as she talked about the transfiguration feat enthusiastically. "It was very impressive!"

They had a late lunch with the rest of the school, and then it was time for Sirius and Remus to leave. They said their goodbyes to everyone, and then Harry walked them out.

"We didn't want to tell you until after the task," Remus started. "But we have some news for you, Harry."

"What is it?" Harry asked warily.

"Well," Sirius said, doing his best to hide his smile. "It turns out that, as of this morning, you are magically adopted to the both of us!"

Harry looked at him for a moment, stunned. And then he yelled so loudly that Remus thought he'd go deaf, tackling them both in a hug. They formed a huddle together, crying and laughing.

When they finally broke apart, Sirius added. "We were going to change our names after we left here, but we weren't sure if you wanted to be there or not."

"Nah," Harry shrugged, wiping at his eyes. "Just as long as I get invited to the wedding."

Sirius barked out a laugh, ruffling Harry's hair.

"Will it change my name too, then?" Harry asked.

"Not at first," Remus explained. "We're going to do it the muggle way first, and then figure out how to approach the magical side of things. What with that Skeeter woman hanging about, we want to make sure she doesn't kick up too much of a fuss."

Harry nodded. "That makes sense. She wouldn't leave me alone the other day - Professor McGonagall had to get involved."

"Well," Sirius said brightly. "Even she can't take you from us now, kiddo."

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief, beaming at the both of them. "And, will you be back for the second task?"

Sirius smirked. "Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Notes:
Dragons! And adoption too, which is very important.

Happy Reading!