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Restrained feelings…

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Ron hadn't been in a good mood lately. Ever since Harry had secretly went behind his back and put his name in the goblet Ron had wanted to confront his former best mate over the betrayal. But Harry was keeping his distance because he was scared to admit that he had lied about not putting his name in the goblet.

It didn't help the red head that of all people Harry had now started to sit with Neville. He could never understand what Harry saw in that boy. Ron had even heard rumors that someone from Beauxbatons had seen Harry with Daphne Greengrass. That part, Ron found unbelievable because he knew how much Harry hated those snakes. Their kind had killed his parents, after all.

As he put another piece of the roasted chicken in his partially filled mouth Ron saw Harry walk into the great hall with Neville. It had almost been a week since the champions' selection but even now Harry would grab everyone's attention and Ron hated it. The nerve of that boy to even ignore those attention which he so secretly craved, as if he wanted to show people that he didn't care about it all, is what made Ron angry.

He saw Harry sit at the very end of the table with Neville before Ron turned towards Hermione. "Can you believe his guts?" he said talking about Harry. "Just look at him. It's as if we don't exist to him anymore!"

"Let him be, Ron," Hermione said trying to focus on her book which she had opened in front of her. "Whatever be the case Harry needs to focus on the tournament."

"With whose help? Longbottom's?" Ron chuckled before he regretted it as he started choking on a piece of chicken and had to spit out everything that was in his mouth.

Hermione quickly moved away before his half-chewed, spit covered food could fall on her book while the Gryffindors sitting close to him all lost their appetite. Ron wiped his mouth with his hand before cleaning the mess with his wand and then going back to eating like nothing happened. Others kept glaring at him but he didn't care one bit.

"And he talks about how I ignore people," Harry said who had heard Ron's conversation with Hermione.

"So you still have no clue what the first task is going to be?" Neville asked. Harry shook his head. "Does Cedric know?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "To be honest I can't even tell if he meant what he said to me that night about helping me."

"Well, we can look into what kind of tasks they had the champions do in the previous tournaments, if you are free today evening," Neville said.

"As much as I would like to do that I have to see Hagrid after dinner," Harry said. "He said he had something to show me and I wonder what it is. He sounded somewhat excited similar to how he gets around weird animals. I think he got a new magical creature that he is thinking of keeping as a pet. Besides, with everything going on, I can use a little distraction."

"I heard that he once bought a dragon's egg when we were in our first year," Neville said. He then saw the look on Harry's face before realizing it. "It's true?" he asked.

"Don't tell anyone," Harry said. "Yes. It was Quirrell who had secretly sold him that egg…" he started talking about how Hagrid named the baby dragon Norbert and how it burned his beard and everything.

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"Stop staring at him you will get other people's attention," Tracey said nudging Daphne who looked at her. They were also having their meal in the great hall.

"I wasn't looking at him," Daphne said.

"Yeah, right," Tracey said rolling her eyes. "So, did he really tell you that he didn't put his name in the goblet?"

"For the millionth time, it was I who first figured it out," Daphne said. "He just confirmed it."

"So how much will we win?" asked Tracey.

"About five hundred galleons each," Daphne said. "All we have to do is convince Draco that he lost. I'm sure he wouldn't like that. Whatever Potter says or claims Draco will accept the opposite of that."

Tracey grinned. "So did he really ask you to help him?" she asked referring to Harry.

"I don't want to talk about it," Daphne said.

"Awe, come on. You know we share everything with each other," Tracey said.

Daphne seemed to think about it for a minute before nodding. "He sounded desperate though," she said. "I mean even you can see that he's not sitting with Weasely and Granger. He told me that they didn't believe him."

"So he's no longer friends with them?" Tracey asked.

"I don't know about that," Daphne said, "but he said he felt hurt."

"What did you tell him?" Tracey asked.

"I just told him the facts," Daphne said, "that if his friends don't trust him then he shouldn't have to put any effort trying to make them believe him."

"And that is when he asked you to help him," Tracey said. "But why would a Gryffindor like Harry ask a Slytherin for help? From what we know he's almost like his friend Weasely – hating on us 'snakes'."

Daphne didn't say anything because she knew Harry wasn't what the rumors described him as. She had caught that much about him from their last conversation. She was sure that if it was some other Gryffindor she wouldn't have had even a word's worth of conversation with them. That made Harry interesting in her book but Daphne didn't want anyone to know about it otherwise she would be branded as a traitor and she couldn't risk her position in the Slytherin house for she had to look after her sister.

But Harry's case was also interesting and Daphne was looking for ways to distract her bored mind. She was two years ahead of her curriculums, meaning she was already done studying up till their sixth year courses on her own and was confident that she would easily get at least an 'excellent' in all of her subjects if she could sit in the OWLs exams right now.

Before coming to Hogwarts she was taught all the basics about magic and its applications by her parents. It was a common practice in most pureblood families but her mother always did a little extra when it came to their family. By the time she was eleven and got her Hogwarts acceptance letter Daphne knew everything up till their second year's curriculum and she had decided to maintain that lead. However, she didn't want to secure the first position in her year because she didn't want the attention that came with it. So she settled with the second place by deliberately writing some wrong answers in her exams. Sometimes, she would willingly slip down to even the third or fourth position just to make it look like she wasn't academically consistent but was above average.

However, the problem with having already studied her year's curriculum meant that she had to attend classes and study the same thing again now that she was at Hogwarts and that was painfully boring for her. This is why she would often skip classes and spent most of her time in the library looking for an interesting book that could distract her.

So when Harry had asked her to help him for the tournament a part of Daphne wanted to agree to his request. The tri wizard tournament was created as a means of testing people's abilities and skills and how they could use it in desperate situations. It didn't matter what the ages of the champions were. What mattered was how they could deal with the scenarios that they'd be put in. It tested their magical knowledge, its practicality and their ability to deal with the problems. The winner of the tournament didn't get the title just for show. It was a proof that that individual was capable of handling himself in dire situations almost perfectly.

If she agreed to help Harry then she could find a means to stay distracted and not get bored. Looking for ways to survive the tasks sounded fun because it meant researching spells, charms and other means that could be useful when Harry would be facing whatever it was during the challenges.

But then again the mere fact that she was a Slytherin and he was a Gryffindor was what was stopping her from doing anything. In her heart she wanted to help him, out of pure selfishness but she knew that if she was caught then it would be problematic and not just for her but also for Astoria – her sister. While Slytherins were very loyal to each other they could also turn hostile and dangerous towards someone that they'd deemed a traitor and helping a Gryffindor or any other house's student would get Daphne branded as one and she couldn't take that risk. It seemed that her means to get out of her bored school life would have to wait until she had graduated. She wondered if she could remain sane for three more years. It felt like she was repeating her years at Hogwarts, having studied everything beforehand.

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Harry didn't know what to make of it. He didn't know what to make of a lot of things that Hagrid had asked him to do like bring along his invisibility cloak or why he was taking him to the forbidden forest. Instead, Harry was curious to know the reason behind Hagrid's completely different attire that evening.

His giant friend was wearing a huge, silky-looking overcoat which had a beautiful lapel that seemed to be made from the mane of a unicorn. Harry also didn't miss the huge flower that was placed in Hagrid's breast pocket, alleviating the half-giant's appearance even more. He didn't even know what to say about Hagrid's combed hair and braided beard.

Harry was at a loss of words. He didn't know what to say to Hagrid so he did just that – he said nothing. Instead he followed his giant friend into the forbidden forest wondering what it was that Hagrid wanted to show him. After seeing Hagrid's appearance he wondered if it was related to wherever they were heading which made him even more curious about this whole thing.

They walked for like twenty minutes and were pretty deep into the woods. The sun had gone down so it was pitch dark when Harry noticed the sky turning yellow for a moment in the distance. He saw Hagrid slow down so he did too when his giant friend turned towards him and told him to cover himself with his cloak.

Harry did that before they continued to walk and after some time he could hear people's voices in the distance and saw the flash of a bright yellow light. As he and Hagrid neared the place Harry saw something which made him wonder whether he was dreaming.

There was a huge dragon cramped inside an iron cage too small for its size. It was breathing out fire everywhere. There were people surrounding the cage trying to contain the beast when suddenly the dragon roared before trying to flap its wings. The movement caused the cage to fall over, trapping one of the people underneath it. The man's painful cries were nothing compared to the deafening roar of the fire beast which now had managed to break out its head from the cage. After a bit of struggle though, the people around it somehow managed to restrain it back into the cage. Once the dragon had seemingly been brought under control, the man trapped under the cage was pulled out.

Harry could see his bloodied legs and knew for a fact that both of them were definitely broken. He brought his head out of the cloak and looked at Hagrid in utter shock and fear. "Hagrid, what is this?" he asked when he heard someone coming from behind and quickly hid under his cloak again.

He saw, as from the darkness emerged Madame Maxime – the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Harry stepped aside when he realized she was coming his way and for a moment wondered whether she had seen him there with Hagrid but then he saw her stop a few steps before.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" she said, sounding breath taken.

"They are," said Hagrid with a smile of a kind Harry had never seen on his friend before. "I didn't think you'd come, Olymp."

"Of course I would, Rubius," Maxime said coming close to him.

They were too close for Harry's comfort as he now had some idea why Hagrid looked so presentable tonight. It also didn't help him from getting the feeling of throwing up when he saw the two huge people that close. He was happy, for Hagrid but he just wasn't ready to see two half giants be so intimate with each other. Harry turned away before the two could kiss and he was glad that he did as he could hear the sound of them snogging and he could barely keep whatever was inside his stomach from coming out. It was then that he saw Karkaroff looking their way from behind a tree a few feet away which made Harry wonder what was going on. He looked at the caged dragon and the people surrounding it which he now clearly knew were dragon handlers. And with both Maxime and Karkaroff also present there his eyes widened as Harry realized what this was.

For a moment he thought that they wouldn't be this brutal to let the champions face a dragon but the tournament had a bad rep. Harry felt shivers down his spine as he saw the enraged dragon, that was clearly not happy inside the cramped cage, glare at people. He didn't know what the champions were supposed to do but if the first task had something to do with a dragon then it possibly meant that they will have to fight the beast.

Harry didn't know if that was even possible as dragon scales were almost impenetrable which is why they served as an ideal armor against magical spells. Not to mention, dragons could breathe fire that could even melt rocks. His mind had stopped working. Harry wondered if he could even stay alive for a whole minute while facing a beast like that during the first task. Nothing came to his mind. He looked at Hagrid who was busy with Maxime. Karkaroff seemed to have already gone back so Harry decided to do the same. He couldn't stay there one more moment with two half giants snogging each other while a ferocious dragon tried to burn everything a few feet away from them.

Ensuring that he was properly covered by his invisibility cloak Harry headed towards the castle. As he walked he wondered what the first task could be but he could think of nothing. Also, if Karkaroff and Maxime knew about the first task then they will definitely tell Viktor and Fleur about it. Why wouldn't they? They were already furious that Hogwarts had two champions. They will do anything they could to ensure that their own champion students would win this tournament.

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It was the next day when Harry once again woke up from the same nightmare. Despite having the same bad dream since summer he would still wake up all scared and shocked; drenched in sweat. He sat there for a minute trying to calm himself down as he looked at the time. It was seven in the morning. He decided to attend the classes that day seeing he needed to feel distracted after what he had seen last night.

As he got off of his bed Ron walked into the dorm. Harry ignored him like he had ever since the selection night and headed for the bathroom when Ron's words stopped him.

"The least you can do is apologize," Ron said.

Harry stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the red head. "For what?" he said flatly. He knew Ron would behave like this. The boy had five siblings before him so he hadn't always received the best care from his financially struggling family and that often left him being angry and jealous of others. And he wasn't good at handling his feelings.

"For putting your name in the goblet secretly so you could once again have everyone's attention!"

"I don't have to say anything to you or Hermione because I have already said that I didn't do it" Harry said calmly. He didn't know why he was this calm but it was giving him confidence he knew he didn't have before. Before, he would've snapped back at Ron. "We've been friends for three years now. If you can't believe me, then I don't owe you any explanation…or apologies for that matter." With that he walked out leaving a fuming Ron in the dorm.

Harry found Neville in the great hall and sat beside him before he started to fill his plate when they both saw Cedric coming towards them. Harry wondered what Hufflepuff wanted and it had definitely grabbed others' attention too. But Cedric didn't care and even Harry tried to ignore them all.

"Hey, Harry," Cedric said sitting beside him. "So, uh, about the first task, do you know what we have to do?"

"I don't," Harry said. He knew it had something to do with dragons but he wasn't going to tell Cedric that right away. He first needed to see if he could trust the Hufflepuff. "Do you?" he asked leaning a bit closer.

Cedric looked around before casting a privacy ward for the two of them. "It's dragons," he whispered even with the wards around them.

"Are you sure?" Harry said sounding surprised. He kind of was because he hadn't anticipated Cedric to know about it. "How did you know?" harry asked.

Cedric nodded. "I overheard Maxime and Fleur talking the other day," he said.

"So what, do we have to fight them?" Harry asked. "Also, why do you say dragons, as in plural? Are there more than one?"

Cedric smiled nervously. "There's one for each champion," he said, "and no, we don't have to fight them. We have to steal their egg which apparently holds a clue for the next task. I don't know about you but I've read that dragons are very protective of their eggs so retrieving it would be similar to facing a dragon, an angry one at that."

Harry remembered the dragon from last night in the forest. He did not want to be in front of that monster with its egg in his hand. As he thought about it he saw McGonagall walking towards them. Use of privacy wards or magic in general wasn't allowed outside of the classrooms or without the supervision of a faculty member. Cedric must've noticed her too as he undid the privacy ward, stood up and greeted McGonagall. She deducted ten points from him before letting him go. She then glanced at Harry before going back to the head table.

Harry sat there thinking about what Cedric had said. If his words were true then it meant that he could trust the Hufflepuff. However, the task about retrieving the dragon's egg, Harry didn't know how to feel about it. He had no idea what he was going to do. He knew he had to accomplish that task otherwise he would be burnt to crisp before anyone could come and save him. He needed help and he needed it desperately. He looked towards Hermione and saw her lost deep in her book while she slowly chewed on her toast. A part of him wanted to ask her for help but the other half was against it. It wasn't his fault that his relationship with his friends had soured so why should he apologize for anything?

Looking away from her Harry saw Daphne was looking at him. As soon as their eyes met she looked away. He remembered talking to her in the library that day. Despite her reputation as the ice princess she didn't seem that cold towards him and although she wasn't as bright as Hermione she was still in top ten of their year. Besides, coming from a magical family she knew about the tournament and possibly of the spells that could prove helpful against the dragon.

Also, unlike with Hermione and Ron he could ask her to help him. The first time she had politely declined his offer but if he told her about what the first task was about, then perhaps she could give him some pointers.

It seemed it was once again time to talk to the ice princess.

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Thanks for reading…