Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any such franchises. The only ideas that I own are my own that I write down here for you all to enjoy. And unfortunately, I've yet to make any money off of these ideas of mine. (T.T)

I'm alive!

Yes, I'm alive and I'm sorry about the long wait everybody. Work and school have gotten hectic and it's been hard to find time to sit down and write. Work hasn't been giving me many opportunities anymore where I'm put in a spot where I can write to pass the time, so that's slowed things down a lot as well. It also may not help that my girlfriend recently got me hooked on Skyrim and I fully delved into it for the last couple weeks.

But I am alive, and here is the next chapter. I'll try and get another chapter out before the year is over, but I can't promise anything. Thanks a ton for you guys who are still sticking around.

And now, on with the story.

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

Chapter 13

"No more."

It was a mantra that Harry repeated in his head over and over again as he took every slow step into the great hall. He could feel the eyes of the entire room on him, professors and students alike.

It wasn't hard to tell why, of course. Harry stood out heavily when he walked in flanked by a pair of gorgeous Veela, something that earned him even more hateful rumors and whispers.

It was the lack of glasses and different air about him that really made Harry stand out, though. Without his glasses, the emerald green eyes he'd inherited from his mother were even more clear, almost glowing in the light of the room. His presence was completely different as well. Gone was the hesitant, friendly demeanor and instead a look of cool indifference.

The new Harry startled quite a few people. But nothing surprised the great hall more than seeing Harry completely pass by the Gryffindor table and follow Fleur and Gabrielle to the Ravenclaw table.

Sitting with Gabrielle on his right and Fleur on his left, Harry took in the sight of the great hall from the Ravenclaw table. It felt different, but it felt far better than being surrounded by his own house.

For a few moments, things were quiet. Unfortunately, the quiet wasn't meant to last. As Harry began to gather food for his meal a figure came up to him.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" A voice called out.

Turning around, Harry found an older student in Ravenclaw robes glaring down at him. He was a prefect, based off of the badge he wore on his uniform, but Harry couldn't fully remember his name. He knew his first name was Roger, or at least he thought it was.

"Well?" The prefect asked at Harry's silence. "We don't like cheaters around here."

"I'm merely sitting with my friends for lunch. There's nothing in the rules that says I can't sit with friends for a meal." Harry shot back, his voice cold and a glare of his own sent to the older student.

Roger physically flinched as he saw the harsh glare, Harry's eyes almost seeming to glow for a moment.

"Well too bad. We don't want you here, so go sit with your other friends." Roger demanded.

"What friends?" Harry asked dryly.

"Them. Go sit with your own house." The Ravenclaw prefect spat, visibly getting angry.

Harry made a show of slowly turning to look over at the Gryffindor table, locking eyes with each of his Quidditch teammates as well as Ron and Hermione. Most of them were giving him heated looks, but one person at least stood out from the group. Neville was looking towards him with a rather sad expression.

'I'll have to talk to him later.' Harry thought to himself.

Turning back to Roger, he gave the prefect another bland look. Speaking again, his voice was cold as ice and sharp as a dagger.

"What friends? All I see are traitors."

At the word traitor, many gasps were heard through the great hall. Upon being confronted by Roger, most in the hall had gone quiet again. Everyone had heard Harry's words about his house, and most were shocked.

None were as shocked as those of Gryffindor house itself. A part of Harry felt a great deal of joy at seeing the stunned expressions from the Gryffindors.

"I - Well I don't care. We don't want you here." Roger sputtered out, just as stunned as the rest of the great hall for a moment.

It was at that point that Fleur got involved.

"Oh, will you just go sit down and leave us in peace." She demanded, her eyes glaring daggers at the prefect as she turned to stare him down.

At the voice, Roger turned to look at Fleur, his mouth open with a response on his tongue. The response died on his lips as he looked at the Veela and his eyes went glassy.

The trio watched with varying amounts of humor as Roger mechanically made his way back to his seat and stumbled into it.

"Pathetic." Fleur mumbled.

Gabby, between fits of giggles, explained what had happened to a visibly confused Harry.

"Fleur didn't even use her allure on him. It was just the passive allure. He's so incredibly weak willed that he couldn't even resist that." She explained.

For the next few minutes, the trio enjoyed a quiet lunch together. The rest of the Ravenclaws kept to themselves, not really talking to the group or interacting with them. Harry also took notice of the distance between Harry and the rest of the Beauxbatons students. Something to ask about later.

Suddenly Gabby perked up and waved over an approaching student. The girl was younger, around Ginny's age if he had to guess, with long blonde hair and a far-off expression on her face.

"Luna!"

The call attracted the attention of the girl and she gave a bright smile towards the younger Veela. She skipped over towards the table and joined the trio, taking the available seat to Gabby's right.

While she had been skipping her way over, though, Harry and the girls had caught sight of something strange.

"Hello Gabby, Fleur. Hello Harry Potter." The blonde greeted, her voice soft and airy.

"Luna? Where are your shoes?" Gabby asked hesitantly, a look of worry crossing her face.

"Oh, the wrackspurts took them last night and locked me out of the dorms." She explained.

Harry only grew more confused at her choice of words and looked towards Gabby since she seemed to know Luna at least.

What greeted him was a mix of anger and concern on Gabby's face.

"Luna is... Bullied." Gabby hesitantly explained. "We found it out quickly and we try to help her. She has an active imagination and calls things by other names at times."

Upon hearing the actual situation Harry's eyes slowly widened, and a fierce expression dominated his face. After just having all of his things stolen from him, he certainly didn't want someone else to experience the same thing.

"Dobby."

Not even five seconds after being called, the small house elf was standing by Harry's side. It certainly got a bit of attention from the Ravenclaws at the table.

"Yes, Great Master Harry Potter Sir?" The excitable elf asked.

A small giggle echoed from Gabby and Fleur at Harry's exasperated expression. The elf was just a bit much.

"Dobby I need your help. This is Luna. Some people took things from her like they did with me. Can you go and find everything of hers and put it back in her room? And then can you make a list of where you found everything?" Harry asked.

Before the house elf could pop away to do the task he was assigned to do, Luna spoke up.

"If you find a picture, can you bring it to me instead of to my room?" She asked. Unlike before Luna's voice was quiet and meek, but the desperate look in her eyes showed that the picture was very important.

"Dobby will do as told!"

With a quick pop the quirky house elf vanished to start on his job. A few of the Ravenclaw students at the table actually got up rather quickly after overhearing the conversation and rushed out of the great hall. The sudden withdrawal drew a few suspicious glances from Harry and his eyes narrowed.

"Why didn't you ever tell anyone, Luna?" Harry asked in confusion.

"I did. But the prefects just said I should stop making up stories and losing my things." She explained.

A sharp glare was directed towards where Roger Davies was seated, something which the older student didn't even notice.

"Well, I'll make sure you find your things. I'll also make sure that this stops." Harry bit out with a growl. "If it ever happens again, call Dobby to help you. He works at Hogwarts, so he knows the place as well as the house elves that work here."

The bright smile on Luna's face really made to brighten Harry's day, especially after the time he'd been having recently.

"Thank you, Harry Potter."

"Just Harry. My friends can call me Harry." He replied.

Who would have thought that being betrayed by his previous friends would have led Harry to making more friends in the course of a week than he had in his previous three years at Hogwarts?

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

The rest of lunch went by as a more peaceful affair. People stayed away from the group of four. Harry's presence and his harsh dismissal of all of Gryffindor house had kept those willing to push their luck away, at least for the time being.

Luna, as Harry learned, was a very sweet girl. Despite her whimsical nature and strange way of talking, the girl was incredibly intelligent. To add to that, she didn't believe that Harry had entered the tournament himself either.

It felt nice to have friends to talk to, even if Harry was still hesitant to fully put his trust in the three girls. Despite his best efforts to try and trust the girls, there was always the whispers of doubt in his mind, of the possibility of them betraying him as well.

Even then, with the doubt swirling in his mind, there was one thought that repeated in his mind again and again. The idea that he could trust Gabby never left him, much to his great confusion and growing worry.

A few minutes after Luna had joined the group, Dobby returned with a list of names, locations, and objects which he had found along with a picture of what Harry could only assume to be the girl's mother and a younger Luna.

A check from Luna confirmed that everything she had been missing was found and returned to her. But much to the growing anger of Harry, Fleur, and Gabby, the culprits were almost entirely from Ravenclaw. The situation hit particularly close to home for Harry, and he vowed to keep a closer eye on the small blonde.

"It seems like they're really going at it." Fleur commented suddenly.

Following her gaze, Harry noticed a commotion going on at the professor's table.

Flitwick was in a heated discussion with the headmaster. The short professor's face was red and he was visibly shouting at the older wizard. Despite that, Dumbledore looked infuriatingly calm and responded casually a few times to Flitwick's words.

Unfortunately, the group couldn't hear what was being said. It seemed either the headmaster himself or Flitwick had cast a spell to muffle all the noise coming from the area so that the conversation wouldn't be overheard.

For a minute the group watched the conversation, with Flitwick only seeming to get angrier as the seconds passed. It left a bad feeling in Harry's gut, and he had a good idea of what was being talked about.

Shortly after they started to watch, Flitwick turned away from the headmaster and made his way away from the table. He spotted Harry and the girls and made his way over, a stormy expression on his face once more.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well, professor?" Harry asked.

"That's an understatement, Mr. Potter. I pushed for Misters Weasley, McLaggen, Thomas, and Finnigan to be expelled or at least suspended for what they did. The headmaster disagreed. He gave Mr. Weasley and his two friends a month of detention with Mr. Filch. As for Mr. McLaggen, since the headmaster saw him as the one behind it all, he chose to give Mr. McLaggen a month of detention as well as banning him from playing Quidditch next year." The diminutive professor explained.

The sheer lack of punishment left Harry, Gabby, and Fleur dumbfounded and shocked. The shock was quick to turn into anger, though.

"They should have their wands snapped for what they did!" Gabby spat in anger, her eyes darkening from her anger.

"They shouldn't be in this school at least." Fleur added.

"I said much the same." Flitwick explained. "But the headmaster has chosen to put his foot down. He said that Mr. Weasley and his friends were likely influenced by Mr. McLaggen and shouldn't be judged too harshly, and that they all deserved second chances. He didn't even let me explain the entire story. Just claimed that you were likely exaggerating things." At the last line, the vitriol in the Charms professor's tone was impossible to miss.

Flitwick took a moment to breath, sighing heavily before turning to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, if you're still free I have time to practice with you now. I don't have any classes for a time and it would give us a good chance to help you get a bit of control."

Despite the anger that he felt at the lack of punishment Ron and the others were being given, Harry couldn't hide his excitement at the offer of training from Flitwick. The reminder from Ollivander was still fresh in his mind, and Harry knew he had to get a better grasp of control with his new wand.

"I'd like that, sir." Harry replied, finishing the last bites of a sandwich.

As Harry stood to leave, Gabby and Fleur began to stand as well. Before they could leave the table, though, Flitwick held out a hand.

"Though I understand that the two of you are friends with Mr. Potter, I do have to ask that you stay here. I don't doubt your skills with magic, but I'd like to have as little risks as possible with Harry still learning control." The professor explained.

The idea seemed reasonable enough and the sisters sat back down. But Flitwick wasn't fully finished talking.

"You both are also part of a competition; I should remind you. And while I plan to make sure that Mr. Potter survives, I also intend to teach him enough to win. I can't have my student losing the tournament now, can I?"

The grin on Flitwick's face was challenging as well as teasing, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the surprised look that crossed Fleur's face for a moment.

"We'll see." She shot back after a moment, a smile on her lip as she shooed the pair away.

The student and teacher duo made their way from the great hall, getting a few looks along the way.

"Harry! Wait!"

It was a voice that Harry wasn't really familiar with that called out to him as he and Flitwick made their way out of the great hall. Turning back around, he saw his fellow champion Cedric Diggory jogging over.

"Cedric?" Harry asked, surprised at the appearance of the older Hufflepuff.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry." Cedric began. "My house and everyone has been treating you like shit for the last week and it isn't fair to you. I've tried to tell my house to back off, but they've all gotten it in their heads that they need to support me and shun you for trying to steal the spotlight from me."

"Trust me I'd love nothing more than to give you the spotlight." Harry replied.

"I know. It wasn't hard to see that you didn't enter with the way you reacted. I don't think you put your name in the cup. I just wanted to tell you that me and a few other Hufflepuffs don't all believe it."

"Thanks, Cedric. It means a lot that some people aren't complete fools. Just be careful in the tournament, ok?"

Reaching out, Harry offered a hand to the older champion. The two shook hands and the older Hufflepuff gave a wave before making his way back into the great hall.

"Come along, Mr. Potter. We have a lot of work to do and not much time to do it." Flitwick called out.

Jogging after the surprisingly swift professor, Harry quickly pulled out a sheet of paper.

"Professor, I know you promised to help me, but I think you're going to want to see it." Harry spoke up.

Reading through the list, Flitwick merely gave Harry a look of confusion.

"And what is this supposed to be, Mr. Potter?"

"A list of every item that was stolen from Luna Lovegood and where it was found."

Harry's blunt and cold explanation had the part-goblin stumbling over his own feet for a moment.

"Are you saying-"

"Yes. Luna Lovegood is being bullied. Based on what I've heard from her and Gabby, she's been getting bullied all year. And it's mostly your house. The prefects are either in on it or don't believe her, so I wanted to let you know."

Flitwick was silent for a moment, but the anger in his eyes was easy to see.

"Thank you, Harry. I assure you that this will be taken care of once we're done training. Since this is my house, I can inflict quite a few creative punishments."

With his last bit said, the Charms professor led the way towards a room where the two could practice.

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

Practice was... Interesting.

Flitwick had been serious about learning control. And to do so, Harry went over every single spell he knew and had to improve his control to the point where he could safely use the spell.

It was a simple thing in concept, but in practice it proved to be very difficult. It also had led to a few hilarious situations.

It wasn't very often that a feather was levitated and left embedded into solid stone, a piercing spell that fully shot through the thick walls of Hogwarts, and a wind gust spell causing hurricane force winds inside a room. But despite the issues, there was some progress.

With Flitwick's help, Harry had gotten a better grasp of his magic and some proper control. The wand didn't exactly make him more powerful, but the custom make of the wand made it far easier to channel his magic into the focus and use it. Thus, using the normal amount of magic that Harry normally would for a simple charm meant drastically overpowering a spell with his new wand. It was like clearing a blockage in a river and turning a small trickle into a powerful flow, as the Charms professor explained. The wand allowed his magic to be channeled more efficiently. Less magic could perform the same spell he'd done with his holly wand to the same standard.

The wand had some advantages as well. Ollivander had been correct about the predisposition it would have towards combat magics. As the teacher and student duo found out, Harry's transfigurations were incredibly hard to take control over. When it came to transfigured objects, the wizard with a more potent magic and stronger will could essentially impose their own will onto the transfigured creature and object, wrenching control away from the caster and allowing them to be able to use the material for their own transfiguration. With Harry, his new wand made that even more difficult to do.

Now, that wasn't to say that he was on the same level as Dumbledore. Flitwick was incredibly blunt in stating that in a duel between Harry and the headmaster, Harry would stand no chance whatsoever, especially with his growing focus on the school of Transfiguration. But at the same time, the Charms professor hadn't fully torn Harry down. Flitwick made it quite clear that Harry was incredibly skilled when it came to dueling and fighting, and with proper training he could get even better.

By the time that the two were done with training, two hours had passed. Harry had managed to perform all of the spells he knew with proper control and knew how much power to actually put into a spell. Of course, some spells had benefitted from the extra power Harry could now pump into them. The wind gust spell, Ictu Ventus, was able to reach some truly powerful levels as well as more powerful piercing and blasting spells. And Flitwick promised to help teach Harry even more useful spells and techniques for the coming rounds of the tournament.

"Now magical training won't be the only thing that I will be teaching you in. There is a decent chance that one of the challenges in the tournament will have you dueling or fighting your fellow champions. Each of them has some experience with the idea of dueling. Unfortunately, all you have as an example is that sham of a dueling club that Gildroy somehow created. I'll be teaching you the proper ways to duel and fight so that you'll have an edge." Flitwick explained.

As the professor took a seat, he seemed no worse for wear despite the chaos that had occurred in the room thanks to Harry's testing. The boy-who-lived, on the other hand, was breathing heavily and drinking from a water bottle. He was magically drained and in need of a good rest after exerting his magic almost constantly for the last two hours.

"I'm also going to give you a schedule that I want you to stick to. You'll be doing a regiment of physical exercise as well to help make this easier."

At the protesting look from the young wizard, Flitwick merely chuckled and kept talking.

"Don't look at me like that, Mr. Potter. One of the best ways to last longer in a duel or fight is to not spend the effort on maintaining a shield. And the best way to do that is to not be in the path of the spell. While you're physically fit due to Quidditch, you're not nearly quick enough to dodge on the level of a duelist. I'll be working with you to fix that."

After gulping down the last of his water, Harry let out a sigh and leaned against the wall of the room. He couldn't really argue against the idea of the training, even the physical training. It couldn't be worse than the hell that Oliver Woods would frequently put the Quidditch team through. Quickly Harry pushed aside the thoughts of the team, feelings of regret and anger bubbling up at the thought of the people who had all betrayed him.

"I can do that professor. Thank you for actually trying to help me." Harry replied.

"Think nothing of it. I couldn't live with myself if I let you die in this horrible tournament. I don't want to lose such a bright mind to such a horrible fate."

After a few moments of silence, Harry brought up a question that had been bugging him for some time.

"Professor? What do you know about Veela?"

The question seemed to surprise Flitwick, though it was an entirely unexpected and out of place question.

"I know enough about them. Nothing in depth that only Veela would know, and not as much as some others. But I know enough. Why do you ask, Mr. Potter?" The Charms professor had turned fully towards his young student at that point, a curious look crossing his face.

"How do you know when a Veela is using their allure on you? I think that Fleur and Gabby are using theirs on me." He admitted, finally putting words to the fear that had been welling up in his mind for the past day.

"That is… A question indeed. Harry, to answer this I need to explain a bit. Veela have two different types of allure, I don't know if either of them have explained it to you yet, but let me explain. Veela always have a passive allure that they cannot control. Usually, it's rather small in its range but more powerful Veela tend to have larger areas that their allure effects. Now the passive allure can affect those around them, but mostly those with weaker wills that are attracted to the Veela in question. The passive allure isn't as strong and is easy to shake off for those with decent mental fortitude. It also doesn't do much to truly affect people other than swaying them to be more agreeable and interested in the Veela themselves. Do you understand so far?"

A short nod from Harry had Flitwick continuing.

"The full allure is far more potent. It's much harder to resist, even for those with a great deal of mental fortitude. And as I said before, the more powerful the Veela the larger the reach of their allure but also the more potent it becomes. This is what you'll see when men will seem to lose themselves and fall at the feet of Veela. It more or less works to make the target completely subservient to the Veela, wanting to do anything they can to make her happy and garner her attention. It's a very potent effect.

Trust me when I tell you, Mr. Potter, that you would know if you've been under the control of either or both of their allure. The sensation is startling how much control you lose over yourself. Let me ask you this, why do you think that you've been affected by their allure at all?"

"Well… From the first time I properly met Fleur and Gabby, I've trusted them, a lot more than I probably should. I don't know why, and it feels strange. And even when I find it hard to trust them, there's this part of me that's always saying that I can trust them, Gabby specifically. I always end up staring at her, even when I try not to. I find it hard not getting sidetracked when I think about her too. And just being around her tends to make me feel happier than I have been in a while. I think that it's their allure doing it and I don't know if I should distance myself from them."

Halfway through his explanation, Flitwick's curious and slightly concerned look had shifted to a wide grin. By the time that Harry finished, the short professor couldn't help but burst out laughing. The laughter startled and confused Harry, who had no clue what the reasoning was for Flitwick's sudden outburst.

"Mr. Potter. Harry, I can promise you that what you've described to me is not at all based around the allure of either of those two young women. During my time in the dueling circuit, I had a year where a competitor of mine was a Veela. She was a powerful witch, skilled as well. And she used her allure fully to her advantage to trip up male competitors at times. While the passive allure wasn't enough in most cases to bother most of the pro duelists, her full allure could still trip up and even fully entrance some people. She would use it in small bursts to trip up her competition and win the matches. She even used it on me more than once. And I can tell you that the emotions that you've felt are not what the allure causes."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"The allure causes feelings of desire. Yes, it would have you focusing on the beauty of the Veela in question, but it would be lust and desire that you would be thinking of. The thoughts would be almost overwhelming. A Veela's allure cannot cause you to trust them in any way. It also wouldn't be effecting you after you've been separated from the Veela in question."

"If you're so sure, professor, then what's wrong with me?" Harry asked, causing the grin on the part-goblin's face to grow even wider.

"Mr. Potter, you aren't being effected by the allure of a Veela. To me it simply sounds like you have a crush on the younger of the Delacour girls."

The words left Harry frozen for a moment and he shut down. Taking a few seconds to process what he'd just heard; the young wizard began to sputter and gape at the older professor.

Flitwick, during Harry's reaction, had begun to laugh again at the expressions of confusion, realization, and panic that crossed Harry's face.

"What am I supposed to do about that?" The dark haired wizard asked desperately.

"Harry, there's nothing you have to do. It's entirely your choice if you wish to pursue a relationship with Miss Delacour, though I would highly suggest doing so before the school year is over if you do wish to. If you wish to attempt a relationship, all you need to do is try to ask her out. Possibly on a Hogsmeade weekend. If you don't wish to try, there isn't any pressure on you. It's simply a crush. It could grow to be much more than that, but it also can fizzle out if you don't want it to happen. I won't say I'm the greatest person to go to for romantic advice, but I do believe that you don't need to stress so much."

The explanation from Flitwick definitely did do the job of calming Harry down a bit. Though he needed to figure out what he was going to do.

"Thank you, professor."

"Of course, Mr. Potter. I'm happy to help."

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

After getting his new training schedule from the Charms professor, Harry had gone on with his day. The only classes that he even bothered going to at that point were Charms and DADA. The prior because it was taught by Flitwick, and the later because Moody had yet to prove to be a useless teacher.

Dinner was an interesting affair with Harry's thoughts occupied by the talk he'd had with Flitwick. He'd distinctly avoided making much eye contact with Fleur and Gabrielle during the meal, focusing on his feelings and testing to see if he did get affected by the allure of the two Veela.

By the end of the meal, he could safely say that he didn't feel anything of what Flitwick had described, which led to his assumption of a crush being more accurate. But that presented another problem to the boy-who-lived.

What to do next?

He spent most of the next day by himself, training in the Chamber of Secrets. It had been a useful place for the young wizard. With only himself and Voldemort able to get inside, it was the safest place for Harry in the entire school. Thanks to his trunk and the modifications it had, he also didn't have to worry much about sleeping arrangements.

But as the sun set beyond the horizon, Harry had a task he needed to do.

Donning his cloak, the young wizard snuck out of the chamber and made his way out onto the grounds. Getting to Hagrid's hut proved to be incredibly easy with the cloak and Marauder's Map at his disposal. Avoiding Filch was simple since the map tracked his every move.

Soon enough Harry stood outside Hagrid's hut. It didn't take long to spot the half-giant himself. The massive man was dressed rather nicely, in a suit of sorts with a large variety of flowers in his hand.

Rather than talking to reveal himself, Harry loudly stomped a foot on the ground and used a bit of minor transfiguration to write in the dirt below his feet. When Hagrid looked over, there was a short message carved out and illuminated by the moonlight.

"I'm here. -H."

The half-giant visibly relaxed and spoke out into the open air where he believed Harry to be.

"I'm glad you're here Harry. I shouldn't be showing you this, but I can't keep it to myself. You need to see. Follow me and stay quiet. Once you see what you need to, head back to the castle and get some sleep."

Hagrid's tone was surprisingly serious for the jolly giant. It truly put the situation into perspective for Harry if his longest friend was acting in such a way. And there was genuine worry in his voice when he spoke of whatever it was that he knew.

It didn't take long for Hagrid to head into the Forbidden Forest. The surprising part was the guest that he had brought along. Madam Maxime, the headmistress for Beauxbatons, was apparently taking the stroll as well.

The fact that Hagrid had managed to land a date with the giant woman warmed Harry's heart a bit. He felt a bit rude intruding on the date, but the sight of his long-time friend smiling so happily and talking so enthusiastically was enough to make him happy.

The happiness drained from him very quickly though.

Hagrid finally stopped a decent way into the forest, and Harry could tell why. The trio had passed through a ward line of sorts, something that muffled the sound of everything inside. And once the barrier had been passed, Harry could hear the roaring.

Getting closer revealed a sight that would haunt Harry's dreams for the days to come and left him pale and sweating.

He got a good look at the residents of the clearing and took off, running back to the castle as quickly as he could.

Four dragons.

Four. Bloody. Dragons.

The first task wasn't a secret anymore and Harry knew what he was going to have to do.

He was going to have to fight a dragon.

-A Tale of Wings and Fangs-

Again, I am SO sorry that this chapter took so long. I never intended for it to take this long to get to you all. I hope that this makes up for it, and you all enjoy the read. The next chapter will focus on the Weighing of the Wands as well as some conversations, Ravenclaw's punishment, and more. The chapter after that should hopefully be the first task. Trust me when I say that I'm not going to go the traditional route on how it's going to happen.

In this chapter Harry finally gets a hint of how he really feels about Gabby. Whether he actually does something about it or not will have to be seen in the future. He's gonna have to deal with an overprotective, powerful older sister though. So that should be fun!

We get to see harry showing the rest of the school a bit of his new outlook on life. This Harry is going to be far less forgiving than canon Harry was. Now he's not going to be hostile to everyone, but people who went out of their way to hurt him are going to get no sympathy from him. Ron is, well, screwed. He has little to no chance of ever fixing what he's done. And I'll spoil it a bit by saying I have no plans on him ever being forgiven. Hermione I'm still up in the air about. Feel free to offer some comments about your opinions on if I should have Harry forgive her or not. Some actual ideas on how to go about doing it would be good as well.

Unfortunately, Dumb-as-door has put his foot down and Ron and the others won't be getting punished that much. But don't worry, in no way does that mean they're going to get off easy. No, I have some plans for them.

My favorite review of the last chapter has to go to The Aberrant One. Thanks for making me laugh.

Thank you all for all the support! I hope that everyone has an safe and happy holiday season and I'll do my best to get another chapter out before the year is up.

Till next time guys! Stay tuned for more!