AN: Time for some Action!
I present: The first task...
Let me know how you liked Harry's approach to fight the dragon.
Enjoy!

The recognizable sections belong to JKR

Chapter 35

Today was the first task and Harry was about to face his dragon. Sitting at the table and eating lunch in the Great Hall, Harry went over his strategy one more time. He was confident that it would work and it would be a brilliant display of raw magical power at the same time.

He felt prepared to face his dragon and watched himself in the reflection of his silver plate. He had decided to wear the dark grey athletic robes with the Peverell Crest on display. Screw what Rita Skeeter or anyone else thought about it.

Besides Luna Lovegood and Terry, no one wished him good luck. Earlier today, Cedric was surrounded by his housemates and supporters from all other houses. However, whereas Harry was radiating pure confidence and calmness, Cedric looked extremely nervous and even a bit scared.

Krum and Fleur had each remained at the ship and the carriage, respectively. Harry was eager to find out how Fleur would be dealing with her dragon. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Flitwick making his way down towards him.

"It's time, Harry. Please follow me down to the grounds."

Harry nodded, finished his last scoop, and stood up to follow the charms master.

"You seem like you have a plan, Harry, so I won't even bother asking if you are prepared," Filius mentioned.

"Get ready for a treat, professor. This one will be fun." Harry chuckled.

They walked towards a tent at the edge of the forest.

"The other champions are inside, Good Luck, Harry." Filius gave him a small smile and made his way around the tent. Harry took a last calming breath and entered. Fleur was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. She was wearing something similar to the dueling robes Harry had seen her in, at the tournaments. As she saw Harry enter, she gave him a smile and raised her chin a couple of inches.

Krum looked a lot surlier than usual, which Harry supposed was his way of showing nerves. It seemed as if he and his headmaster were unsuccessful in figuring out what the task entailed. He, too, was dressed in special athletic robes in a bright red.

Cedric was pacing up and down the tent. He looked the worst of all of them. Fear stood in his expression and his face took an unhealthy color. He looked like he was about to throw up. Harry shook his head at the older boy's outfit. He was wearing his normal school uniform with the Hufflepuff colors. The material might easily catch fire.

"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 amid all the pale-faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again.

"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 stopped pacing around and simply looked at Bagman stone-faced. He seemed utterly confused. Fleur Delacour did not react at all. She probably came to a similar conclusion as Harry.

Krum narrowed his eyes but nodded his understanding soon after. Outside the tent, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly.

Soon, Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.

"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur. 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.

It was different for Krum and Cedric. Both the older boys' faces were distorted in confusion at the miniature model Fleur had just pulled out. Krum was next. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. The Bulgarian blinked a couple of times and gulped. Then he 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. The poor Hufflepuff looked about ready to faint. It seems he finally realized what exactly he entered his name in.

Harry sighed… he knew which one was left, but luckily his approach and strategy would hardly make a difference. Knowing what was left, Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number four. It stretched its wings as he 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?"

"No, I don't think so, Bagman. I will prepare for my task now." Harry replied neutrally.

Bagman seemed conflicted but decided it's best to rest his case and instead approached Cedric to guide the Hufflepuff out of the tent and into the arena ahead. Cedric's tasks started and Harry tried to listen to Bagman's commentary.

It seems he wasn't doing so well, according to what he could hear, Cedric was mostly just hiding and had no clear strategy yet. The crowd screamed… yelled… gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Cedric did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout.

Suddenly the screams were unnaturally loud. Something must have happened to Cedric. Even Bagman stopped his commentary. Harry chuckled: "I guess someone overestimated his abilities."

Krum shot him a glare. But said nothing. Fleur was still pacing around, so Harry walked over to her.

"Hey, are you okay? Do you have a plan?" Harry whispered, squeezing her hand lightly.

"I have a plan. It will work." Fleur replied confidently.

"Good, I still want to get to know you better, Mademoiselle." Fleur couldn't help stop the laughter that escaped her lips. The two sat down together, still comforting each other by holding a hand.

A couple of minutes later Bagman reapplied the Soronus charm.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

Fleur stood up to her full height and gave Harry one last look.

"Good luck," Harry whispered and tucked a stray hair behind her ear affectionately.

Fleur gave him a soft smile and exited the tent. The same process started again...

"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh… nearly! Careful now… good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"

Suddenly everything got very quiet outside. Harry frowned, all he could hear now was a very faint chanting. What was Fleur doing?

Ten minutes later, Harry heard the crowd erupt into applause for the first time… Fleur must have been successful too. Harry was happy for her and even somewhat relieved that nothing serious had happened to the French witch.

A pause, while Fleur's marks were being shown... more clapping… then, for the third time, the whistle. "And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman, and Krum slouched out, without the usual arrogant look on his face.

Krum definitely took the longest. He was most likely thinking about a strategy and hiding for the time being. Finally, he decided to do something.

"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Harry heard the Chinese Fireball emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing — and — yes, he's got the egg!"

Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished… Harry couldn't help but respect that. The boy had no way to actually prepare and still finished his task, all though taking way longer than Fleur.

Now it was his time. Harry took a couple of deep breaths and let his magic swirl around him. This would be his most impressive display so far, probably leaving him exhausted for a couple of days.

He stepped out of the tent. Loud boos were shouted at him from the stances and the audience. However, everything faded out beside the gigantic Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure. It was crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. There between the normal eggs, Harry could spot a bright golden one. Time to get to work:

The first step would be to distract the beast. Harry approached the dragon head one. The spell was on his lips, he was simply waiting for the dragon to breathe its fire. A couple more steps and Harry would be in range. The dragon knew so, threw its head back, and opened its wide mouth to release the second hottest flames on earth.

Second… indeed... Just as the dragon had opened his mouth, Harry shot his wand forwards and tore deep into his core. Then he let out a roar in Parseltongue:

"FIENDFYRE!"

A fiery Basilisk, almost the size of the dragon, rose from his wand, took a protective stance in front of Harry, and swallowed the entire flame the dragon had shot at him.

"Absolutely incredible!" Harry could hear Bagman yell over the Soronus charm, while the many members of the audience started panicking.

His Basilisk, conjured by cursed fire, was more than a momentary distraction for the dragon. The Horntail decided that the giant serpent in front of him was the more serious threat compared to a small human and focused her attention entirely on battling the beast. Its fire, however, dealt no actual damage to Harry's spellwork. Harry waited for half a minute, watching the spectacular fight between the two monstrosities, and letting his core replenish.

The horntail had been slowly pulled away from her eggs. They were now unprotected. However, Harry did not favor risking his life and body just yet. Time for part two… killing a dragon...

"What is he doing now? He could easily just steal the egg, already," Bagman shouted as Harry took a knee and placed both his hands on the ground below him. Then he started chanting in Parseltongue.

"Coniuro radices inferni… Coniuro radices inferni… Coniuro radices inferni… "

He could barely finish the last part of it, but the work was done. He felt them rising below him. This had been an almost two millennia-old Parseltongue spell, usually used by at least a dozen of Parselmouths to bring down an entire village or city.

Harry remained on his knees to catch his breath, as the literal Roots of Hell broke through the solid ground and started tugging on the dragon's limbs. The first couple of roots were small and fragile and the dragon easily broke free. However, they quickly grew as thick as small trees and the dragon realized its precarious situation. Slowly the roots started wrapping themself all over the Horntails body, pulling it flat to the ground.

Meanwhile, Harry's fiery Basilisk repeatedly drew its fangs deeper and deeper through the thick skin at the dragon's necks. The dragon roared in pain, while Harry walked over to the eggs and picked up the golden one with one hand.

His Fiendfyre Basilisk had now shrunk to barely 10 feet, but its fiery body was long enough for it to wrap itself around the whimpering dragon's throat. After less than a minute the battle was over. The horntail was dead. Harry aimed his wand at the Basilisk, which had let go of its victim in search of a new target. After a battle of wills, made significantly easier by the small size of the cursed flames that was left, Harry vanished the creature, just as Dumbledore had done a couple of days ago.

The entire stadium was silent. Harry searched for the judges' panel and watched the horrified expressions on the faces of Maxime, Karkaroff, Bagman, and Crouch. Dumbledore seemed very disappointed and shook his head ever so slightly. Sirius just seemed very impressed with Harry and gave the boy a thumbs up.

Finally, Bagman pulled himself together: "Well… our youngest champion defeated the dragon the quickest with a combination of… I honestly have no idea what kind of spells those were… Congratulations, Mr. Potter! Please remain with us for a minute to receive your score."

Each jury member started shuffling through his scoreboards while conversing in low whispers. Sirius seemed enraged at whatever was going on. Then, they finally presented their scores:

Bagman seemed to be very impressed with Harry's performance and held up a ten for him. Crouch seemed angrier than anyone else. He gave Harry a zero. This was followed by two more zeros from Karkaroff and Maxime. Dumbledore seemed still disappointed but couldn't hide his pride at the magic Harry wielded. He gave the boy a nine. Finally, Sirius finished the scoring with a ten and some very harsh words for the other judges:

"You cowering little shits. Nowhere in the rules was it mentioned that the Dragon had to remain unharmed or even alive. Krum permanently blinded his dragon and none of you bat an eye at him. I hereby appeal the decision of the other judges!"

"Champion Potter finished his task in the fastest time. Half the speed it took the closest competitor. He showed exceptional control over his spell work and no members of the audience were endangered at any point in time. My godson was already pulled into this competition against his will! The least you can do is stop being fucking biased."

The entire arena was silent. Sirius made quite an impressive figure and some of the judges were visibly nervous.

"I give you a minute to reconsider and adjust your scores." Sirius finished his short speech and winked at Harry.

Harry himself did not really care much about the score. He had just beat a freaking dragon by himself. Of course, he was completely exhausted magically and couldn't wait to lay down but watching Sirius belittle the other judges was a treat in itself.

After another minute of whispers, Crouch stood up: "It seems or previous decision was rushed and ill-considered."

Harry snorted.

"Mr. Potter showed an incredible skill for his age, It was simply the unknown element in the magic he used, that left a bad impression on us. Three of the judges have therefore reconsidered their scores."

He himself then held up a nine. Madam Maxime followed with an eight and after another glare from Sirius, so did Karkaroff.

"Mr. Potter's total score is therefore 54 points, placing him first in the competition so far."

Crouch turned to leave, but Harry was not done yet. He quickly amplified his voice:

"I, Harry James Potter, hereby claim the remainder of this dragon as my tribute, as is my right as the slayer of the beast!"

The jury gulped. It has been centuries since someone had made use of the ancient tradition that was still part of wizarding culture and law.

"We acknowledge your conquest." Crouch simply stated before turning and leaving.

Harry smiled. The sale of the dragon would probably be enough already, to finance a potential new Pensieve. He walked over to the dead beast, just as Sirius made his way down into the Arena.

"Dobby, Kreacher!" Harry called.

"Harry Potter, sir has defeated his nasty dragon, Sir!" The former greeted him. Kreacher looked at the dead dragon curiously.

"Master killed the beast. Master is now a dragon slayer. He honors House Black with his achievements. How may Kreacher serve him?"

"Kreacher, I would like you to help Dobby take apart the dragon. Dobby will then take the parts to a location of my choice one by one." Harry ordered.

Both elves gave a deep bow and started their work. Harry walked over to Sirius to meet the man halfway and was caught in a bone-breaking hug.

"Harry, I am at a loss of words… James, Lily, and I were the brightest students in our year, but this was something else. You make me so proud, Pup."

"Thank you, Sirius, why don't you take me out to dinner tonight at the Three Broomsticks. Just some quality Godfather-Godson time?"

"Sure, Harry." Sirius grinned, who noticed Harry's eyes flickering to a bright patch of platinum-blonde hair that was standing at the edge of the arena.

"Make sure to be careful when celebrating your victory later on… I am too young to be a god-grandfather." The man barked his laughter.

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to walk towards Fleur, who was beaming at him. He noticed her parents standing behind her, but still walked straight at her and embraced her in a tight hug. The Veela was momentarily surprised by the public display of affection but quickly returned the hug, throwing her arms around Harry's neck and pressing her body against his.

Harry lost any concept of time, as he simply stood there… exhausted from his task but with the beautiful witch in his arms. Her parents seem to have waited long enough, as Sebastian Delacoiur cleared his throat.

Harry let go of a blushing Fleur. He contained his own blush as best as possible and approached the stern-looking man:

"Monsieur Delacour, it is a pleasure to welcome you at Hogwarts." Harry held out his hand politely.

The man shook it: "Thank you, Mr. Potter. I congratulate you on your impressive victory over the Horntail."

Harry gave the man a kind smile: "You honor me, Monsieur." he turned towards Fleur's mother.

"Madam Delacour, you look as beautiful as ever, even the grey and cold Scottish weather does not diminish your radiant aura." Harry grinned cheekily.

Appoline Delacour laughed as musically as her daughter: "You were right, my little Flower… this one is a charmer."

"Harry, stop flirting with my Mamam, please." Fleur interrupted their little banter. "Maman, Papa, I will see you later, I would like to talk about the task with Harry, quickly."

"Meet us at the carriage at six for dinner, Fleur." Her mother replied, before pulling away her husband, who seemed to disagree with his daughter's decision to spend even more time with the young man. Fleur and Harry made the way back to the castle, ignoring the whispering students around them.

"Do you want to go to the room and tell me about your task?" Harry asked her, as they reached the main gate.

Fleur flashed him a small smile and nodded eagerly. Together, they walked up to the seventh floor, where Harry stopped in front of the blank wall:

"What kind of room would you like?" He turned to the Veela.

"Let me show you." The girl replied and walked up and down in front of the wall three times. "Go ahead." She gestured for Harry to open the door. Behind the door was not a room, but a beautiful, sun-lit garden with a variety of flowers and magical plants.

A pebble pathway led through the different sections with bright marble statues at regular intervals. As soon as Harry took his first step into the garden, his nose was filled with the scent of different flowers and freshly cut grass.

"Do you like it?" Fleur asked him, as she led Harry to a wooden bench at the edge of a hedge.

"It's beautiful," Harry simply replied: "Is the garden below your balcony in France?"

"It is…" Fleur nodded: "I love spending time here over the holidays, reading my school books, or practicing magic with Papa."

"I did not know your parents would join you for your task," Harry admitted.

"I sent a letter to Maman. I needed her help with something and they arrived a couple of days before the task." Fleur explained.

"What did you need help with?" Harry asked curiously. At Fleur's frown and silence he continued:

"I know Madam Maxime told you about the dragon a couple of days before the task." Harry laughed.

Fleur was perplexed: "How did you know? Who told you?"

"Nobody told me… I accidentally crashed the date between your Headmistress and our groundskeeper. Hagrid decided that there is nothing better to do on a first date than watching fire spotting beasts in a dark forest." Harry grinned.

Fleur couldn't hide her grin: "So you knew as well? That makes me feel better already, about you beating me in the task. I could not live with myself, knowing that I had an advantage and you still outperformed me."

"I knew I would face a dragon and I knew I had to find a way around it. However, I decided to just go all in." Harry explained

"You were incredible, Harry. I recognized the cursed flames after Krum had used them in your duel, but what were those dark vines and roots coming from the ground. Even my Papa says he had never seen anything like that before." Fleur's eyes were gleaming in amazement.

Harry decided that he could tell her about another secret of his: "I own a very old book about Parselmagic. The spells in there are all incredibly ancient and powerful, long forgotten by the magical world. What I used today was 'The roots of Hell'. During the middle ages, it was used by groups of Parselmouths to subdue entire cities and villages."

"You must be exhausted then, non?" At Harry's nod, Fleur closed her eyes, and the bench they sat on grew a couple of feet in its length. "Lay down and put your head on my lap. You should rest, Harry." The Veela ordered with a stern look.

Harry knew better than to argue with her whenever she became like this and did as he was told. He turned sideways, put his legs up on the bench, and carefully let his head rest in Fleur's lap. It was actually quite comfortable and the view was amazing. Harry stared up into Fleur's hypnotizing deep blue eyes and simply didn't say a word for a minute.

"Comfortable?" Fleur asked him while letting down her high ponytail. Harry just nodded, closed his eyes, and sighed contently.

"Tell me about your task. How did you get your golden egg?"

"Well, I already told you that I asked my Maman for help. At the wand weighing ceremony, you heard me say that my Grandmother is a Veela. What I did not mention, is that any female child of a Veela is automatically a full Veela, too. There are no quarter or half Veela's. We simply use those terms to avoid a lot of discrimination in the wizarding world."

At Harry's nod, Fleur continues.

"Anyways, the allure of a Veela can be used for different purposes. My passive allure simply makes most males lust after me in a sexual manner. However, I can manipulate my own allure to also create strong tiredness in the people around me. I amplified this part of my allure with a very ancient song to beat my dragon."

Harry started chuckling: "A song? You beat your dragon by singing a song?"

"Yes, it was magnificent. The dragon got more and more tired and fell asleep after close to 10 minutes. Almost every member of the audience was asleep too at that point. I think only Headmaster Dumbledore, Madam Maxime, and your Professor Flitwick could still keep their eyes open."

"What happened to your robes, then?" Harry asked and turned his head sideways to gesture at the part of her uniform that had been burned.

Fleur pouted: "Well... when I approached the dragon after it fell asleep, it let out a single fiery breath from its left nostril. It caught my uniform, but I quickly used some water."

"Luckily it didn't catch your hair…" Harry whispered, as a single stray of platinum blond hair fell from Fleur's head and dangled above his face. He played with it and twirled it between his fingers.

Fleur did not seem to mind it and continued her story: "I received 52 points in total, putting me right behind you in second place." She mentions proudly.

"I very proud of you, Fleur. Do you know how Diggory and Krum did?" Harry asked curiously.

"I only know that Diggory got burned very badly and failed to retrieve his egg. He received 10 points in total was his 'Bravery'." Fleur shook her head amusingly.

"Krum played hide and seek with the dragon for almost ten minutes before finally coming up with a plan. Then he tried to hit the dragon's eye with a Conjunctivitis Curse. He was successful, but the dragon was so enraged that it destroyed almost all the other eggs. It also took him 20 minutes in total. He got 40 points, ten of those from Karkaroff." Fleur mentioned with narrowed eyes.

Harry started laughing, he decided not to mention that he was the reason why Krum didn't know about the dragons in the first place. "Well, we have a lot of time until November now to prepare for the second task. I hope Sirius is taking good care of my egg for me."

"What do the students usually do over those months, besides studying for classes?" Fleur asked.

"Well…," Harry frowned. "There is not really that much to do here during the winter. Usually, there are a couple of Hogsmeade weekends. The next one should be this weekend."

"Hogsmeade?"

"It's the village close to the castle. We saw the outline of it from the Shrinking Shrack, remember? I could show you around if you'd like…" Harry added and wanted to hit himself right after… Why the hell would he suggest that? They just started getting along as friends…

"Are you asking me on a date, Harry Potter?" Fleur laughed.

"No...I mean... I am sure you could also just go there with some other students from Beauxbaton if you'd rather…" Harry tried to save himself.

"Non, it's okay, Harry. I would like to explore the village with you. You already gave me a tour of the castle, why not the village as well?" Fleur smirked.

"Well, apparently you did not like my tour very much." It slipped out before Harry could stop it.

Fleur becomes unnaturally still below him. "Yes… about that, I probably owe you an apology for that… that was very immature of me…" Fleur seemed very uncomfortable. "I did not actually go on a tour with him, Harry, I was just frustrated with you. I instantly regretted it, as soon as you disappeared. I am not interested in any of the other boys here, Harry..."

Harry gulped. Did that mean she was interested in him?

"I wish you would have gone on a tour with Davies… It would have been the worst tour of your life and served you well as a punishment." Harry tried to lighten the situation with a joke.

"I will make it up to you tomorrow, I promise." Fleur looked down at him and moved a single raven-haired lock from his forehead. Harry forced himself to remain relaxed when her fingers touched his skin. The two teenagers remained in their position for another hour, talking about the different shops they would visit in Hogsmeade and what the other tasks might bring.

Around 6 pm it was time to leave for both of them. Harry had a date with his godfather at the Three Broomsticks, while Fleur would join her parents and Madam Maxime for dinner at the carriage. Harry reluctantly removed his head from the Veela's lap. It had been the most intimate time they had yet spent together, not only on a physical level.

They had enjoyed some great banter after finally finishing the first task. Both could simply relax and enjoy each other's company. Harry could not wait to spend the day with her in Hogsmeade next weekend.

Harry accompanied Fleur down to the carriage. He was still within the Hogwarts wards, so he asked Dobby to apparate him to the Three Broomsticks. Sirius wanted to know everything that happened with Fleur during their 'Private Time' and Harry admitted that he had somehow asked her on a date to Hogsmeade.

"Well, at least you are moving faster than your dad… It took James over six years until Lily finally went out with him. Not for a lack of trying."

They finished their respective meals and Harry enjoyed his very first shot of Fire-Whiskey. When Sirius started flirting with Rosmerta, the curvy owner of the pub, Harry decided that it was time to leave. He did not trust Sirius to successfully apparate by himself and called for Kreacher to get him back to Grimmauld place, before letting Dobby take him back to Hogwarts.

At 11 pm, he finally got back to the Chamber. Dobby and Kreacher had started taking the Dragon apart and stored it close to the remainders of the Basilisk. To his surprise, Dobby had placed a reply from Borgin at his table. Harry curiously opened the envelope and started reading.

Dear Mr. Potter,

congratulations on being chosen as a contender for the Triwizard tournament. I am positive you will make it very far in this extraordinary competition.

Memories are indeed very interesting and understand your desire to store them. My reply might seem late, however, I started asking within my network if anyone had information on the device you desire.

Unfortunately, there are no known suppliers in magical Britain. However, I was successful on the continent. There is a well-known manufacturer and reseller in Egypt, who offers three different models.

A simple Pensieve in which one person at a time might rewatch memories. (10.000 Galleons)

A modified version of the first Modell, which allows multiple people to enter the Pensieve at the same time. (12.000 Galleons)

A Pensieve with the same characteristics as Nr. 2, in addition to certain runes, which allow the holographic projection of memories. (15.000 Galleons)

The resale and transport of a Pensieve is heavily regulated by the ICW and the British Ministry of Magic. For my services and my discretion, I would therefore charge you a sum of 500 Galleons to organize everything for you, so that you can pick up the device at my store in Knowturn Alley.

I eagerly await your reply,

Borgin