Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own the sandbox the is the Harry Potter Universe. (If I did, I definitely wouldn't have student debt.) Said sandbox belongs to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter Five: First Tasks Don't Have To Be Frightening

November

Sirius

"Dragons!" Sirius watches Harry jerk his fingers through his hair as he paces in front of him, Remus, and Hermione in Remus's quarters.

"Harry—" Remus tries to cut off the other teen but his godson just continues pacing like he hadn't heard him.

"What are they thinking putting students up against dragons?!" Sirius can't help but agree with him there. It was absolutely ridiculous. And the rest of the school still thought Harry had entered the contest willingly, even professors had been giving him the cold shoulder. A lot of them even had stupid buttons. The only people who really believed him were Sirius himself, Remus, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Ginny.

"Harry—" Sirius could tell his pup was getting exasperated with Harry not listening to Remus. He was just waiting for her to smack Harry.

"And for the first task!" His godson still ignores Remus.

Hermione jerks out of her seat and quickly strides over to his godson but she doesn't smack him upside the head like Sirius expects her to. Instead his cub wraps her hand around the back of Harry's neck and pulls his lips down to hers in a searing kiss. What's even more surprising is that Harry doesn't seem shocked by this action at all. His body almost instantly relaxes as he wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her body flush against his.

Sirius moves his gaze over to his lover whose forest green eyes are just as wide as he knows his own eyes are. Clearly this isn't something that's normal. His gaze moves back to the still occupied couple and Sirius shakes his head before loudly clearing his throat.

Both teens immediately pull apart and face the two adults in the room at the sound, matching blushes flaring across their faces though their arms remain wrapped around each other's waists.

"Back to what I was trying to say," Remus says, grinning wolfishly at the two teens. "You don't have to worry too much about the dragons, Harry. Snakes are descendants of dragons."

"So?" His godson sounded just as confused as Sirius was.

Luckily, Hermione wasn't. "That means Parseltongue is most likely a variation of their more ancient language that they have the ability to understand and speak it! You will need a backup plan but your ability to speak Parseltongue will give you the edge you need to survive this task. Dragons are very intelligent and reasonable creatures. As long as you don't disrespect them or try to harm them, they will treat you fairly."

His cub grins widely at his lover and Sirius can't help but smile himself, content that his three favorite people were all in the same room. A comfortable silence falls over the group of four before Sirius decides to break it, "So… When were you going to tell us the two if you had gotten together?"

Hermione

Hermione was silent as she walked with Luna, Ginny, and Neville to first task. She'd been quiet all day, silently worrying about Harry even though she knew he'd be fine logically. The rest of her just didn't seem to agree with that. The white tent housing the four champions catches Hermione's attention when they're about to enter the arena.

"Save me a seat?" She asks her three friends, barely waiting for their nods before she heads toward the tent.

She cautiously watches the shadows of the people in the tent, waiting for the shortest one to be closest to her spot whispering, "Harry?"

The shadow freezes, his familiar voice sounding seconds later, "Hermione?"

She doesn't hesitate to push through the tent flaps and tackle him in a hug. Her best friend stumbles for a moment as he wraps his arms around her to keep her from falling before he gains his footing and pulls her as close to him as he possibly can.

"I'm glad you came," he murmurs softly as he buries his face in her unruly curls.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," she whispers back before kissing his collarbone softly.

Harry takes a deep breath as though to respond but is interrupted by a blinding flash and an irritatingly familiar screechy voice.

"Young love!" Hermione goes to pull away from Harry as Rita Skeeter enters the tent but his arms around her waist only allow her to turn around as he keeps her as close to him as he can. "If nothing goes wrong today, you two just might make the front page." Skeeter's grin reminds Hermione of the cat that caught the canary.

"You haf no buziness here!" A gruff voice interrupts before Skeeter can get another word in. "Thiz tent iz for champions…and friendz."

Hermione doesn't miss the conniving look that crosses Skeeter's face as the Bulgarian champion confronts the reporter, this moment is definitely going to come back and bite them in the ass later.

"No matter… I've gotten everything I want here," the reporter states, grinning like the cat who caught the canary before striding purposefully out of the tent.

"Thank you," Hermione says, smiling slightly at the Bulgarian.

He nods, the corners of his lips turning up slightly before going back to whatever it was that he had been doing before.

Hermione turns around in Harry's arms, cupping his cheek softly as his eyes meet hers. "I should go, the task is going to start soon."

"Alright. I'll see you soon." Harry leans down and kisses her softly.

"Good luck." Hermione whispers as she pulls away before pecking his lips once more and pulling away completely.

Hermione quickly strides out of the tent and toward the arena, scanning the seats for her friends. A familiar yip pulls her attention down to Snuffles and she can't help but smile at her friend.

"Hey buddy. It's been a while." She leans down to scratch his head. "Are you here to take me to my friends?"

Snuffles snorts and nods his head before walking ahead of her, quickly leading her to her friends and Professor Lupin.

Ginny pulls her down in between herself and Luna as soon as Hermione gets within arm's length of her, both girls holding onto her hands tightly. Snuffles leans against her legs in support and both Neville and Professor Lupin shoot her reassuring smiles. That's what kept her grounded as she waited for Harry's turn with his dragon which he was last for of course.

Harry stepped out into the arena, immediately putting his wand to his throat like Professor Lupin had taught him so they could all hear what he was doing. Hermione couldn't help but think it was a bit anticlimactic after that because the dragon just moved aside and let Harry take the egg after her best friend had talked to it for a few moments in Parseltongue. That didn't matter to their group of course, they all still cheered louder as he exited the arena with the egg in his hand than the rest of the spectators put together.

"I'm so proud of you!" Hermione exclaimed as she threw her arms around her best friend, not caring that the golden egg in his arms pressed uncomfortably into her side as she smashed her lips to his. She opened her mouth to say something else only to be cut off by an irritatingly familiar voice.

"Congratulations, Harry!" she said, beaming at him. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing that dragon? How you feel now, about the fairness of the scoring?"

"Yeah, you can have a word," said Harry savagely. "Good-bye."

Hermione had to bite her lip to hold back her laugh as Harry wrapped his free arm around her waist and began leading her back to the castle.

"You're not going to lecture me about respecting my elders?" Harry asks when they're far enough away that Skeeter won't hear him, raising his right eyebrow at her in question.

"Why would I?" A smirk tugs at Hermione's lips, mischief sparkling in her eyes as they connect with Harry's emerald gaze. "That woman is absolutely dreadful, she gives journalism a bad name."

Harry grins back at his girlfriend, swooping in to steal a kiss as they enter the old castle.

Both teens freeze at the sight of their wayward redheaded best friend slumped against a tree not far from Hogwarts's entrance.

"Hey," Ron murmurs quietly as soon as they're close enough for conversation, scuffing his shoe against the ground and looking anywhere but Harry and Hermione.

"Hey," Hermione says softly, watching his every move as she grips Harry's hands tightly.

Harry doesn't say anything, simply watches both of his best friends in a distant sort of silence.

Ron's eyes flick to Hermione for a moment before fixating on Harry as he speaks again, "I just wanted to apologize…Dragons are an insane first task and I can't even imagine how I…I understand now why your name coming out was such a big deal…And it's been a awful few weeks without…"

Harry looks at Hermione for a long moment, silently asking her opinion.

Hermione tilts her head slightly to the right, lifting her right shoulder almost imperceivably. He was their best friend, he had been beside them for so much, she would be willing to forgive him but only if Harry was willing to do the same.

"You left us, Ron," Harry states, meeting Ron's gaze with his sharp emerald eyes. "You can't do that again."

"I won't," Ron promises, a wide smile on his face.

Sirius

Sirius tries (unsuccessfully) to hold in his laughter as he and Remus watch his godson, pace back and forth on the other side of the coffee table in Remus's quarters.

"I just don't know what to do. How the hell am I supposed to ask her? I didn't even ask her to be my girlfriend, she's the one who kissed me! There's no way she'll want to go to the ball with me, I don't even know how to dance!" His pup broke off from his rant long enough to look at the two men on the couch, his eyes narrowing dangerously when he saw the laughter in their eyes. "This isn't funny!" His godson places his hands on his hips and Sirius can no longer hold in his laughter as he leans into Remus's side, both their bodies shaking with laughter. "It really wasn't that funny," Harry states, his lips pressing together in a firm line once the two older men's laughter dies out.

"It really is, pup. She's already your girlfriend, it's not like she's going to tell you no. Even if you do turn out to be the worst dancer in the world." Sirius smiles fondly at his pup as his shoulders relax and he makes his way over to the chair closest to Sirius.

"Of course, that doesn't mean you can just ask her to go and be done with it. My cub deserves to be wooed. Which means you need to get her flowers at the very least," Remus tells Harry, a stern look on his face that Sirius had only ever seen on the face of James' father.

Harry nods almost absentmindedly before a spark of inspiration lights up his gaze and he is whirling out of the room.

"Thank you!" he calls as the door closes behind him.

The next week passes quickly as Sirius keeps an eye on both his pups, Hermione who is easily distracted by her SPEW project and Ginny's general ramblings while Harry works with the twin terrors to set up Hermione's surprise.

"You've really turned into a soppy old geezer in your later years, Padfoot. I think you're more invested in Harry's asking than Hermione is," Remus teases Sirius as he is getting ready to head up to the Gryffindor common room on the day Sirius had overheard Harry discussing with Ginny and the twins.

Sirius rolls his eyes and shoots his lover a cheeky smile, "Like you wouldn't do exactly the same thing if having a professor in their common room wouldn't draw weird sorts of attention."

It's Remus's turn to roll his eyes as he watches Sirius shift into his animagus before trotting out the door and up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

He gets there just in time to hear Hermione and Ginny's steps coming down the stairs from the girls' dorm.

"Viktor? As in the Bulgarian champion, Viktor Krum?" Hermione's voice trickles down to Sirius's canine ears. "When did you even talk to him?"

"I actually ran into him last night… literally. I was headed out to go for a flight when I slipped on some black ice near where Viktor likes to jog and I slammed right into him. I thanked him for sticking up for you and Harry against Skeeter and he surprised me by brushing it off like it was nothing. Then he saw my broom and asked if I knew any good places to fly. I offered to show him and the two of us spent the rest of the night flying and talking. He's a lot more intelligent than his headmaster would like you to believe and he doesn't buy into the blood purity a lot of people in that school seem. God, it was like a fairytale Mione. We flew for hours over Black Lake, just watching the stars and talking. It was well past midnight before we even realized what time it was. He offered to walk me to my dorm but I didn't want him to go that far out of his way. He still ended up walking me to the castle though and then he asked me to the ball. I didn't even think, I just blurted out yes. Gods, Mione, it all just happened so fast." Ginny spoke so quickly that almost didn't understand the fiery witch.

There's a shuffle and a small squeak from Ginny as their footsteps pause on the stairs and Hermione softly squeals, "I'm so happy for you, Gin!"

"Thanks, Mione." Ginny replies, relief coating her tone.

"I just want you to be happy, Gin," Hermione tells her friend as their footsteps begin coming down the stairs again.

"Do you think Harry will be angry with me for going to the ball with his competition?" Ginny queries.

"Of course he won't! He'll be happy to see you happy, we've been worrying about you feeling like a fifth wheel considering Harry and I are dating and it won't be long before Neville finally gets up the courage to ask Luna out. The fact that you're going to the ball with Viktor won't change that. Besides, you know Harry never wanted to be in this competition. He couldn't care less who wins or loses, he just wants everyone to get out of this alive."

Red rose petals falling around the two girls cut off any further conversation and Hermione's gaze zeroes in on the boy standing in front of them a few feet away from the stairs as the girls hit the last step.

The rose petals burst into golden dust as they hit the floor, a new red and gold rose appearing in Harry's hand once a certain number of petals hit the ground.

"Hermione Jean Granger," Harry begins as he steps toward Hermione, ignoring the petals that get caught in his hair and explode as he makes his way toward her. "You were my first true friend and you have been my best friend for the past three, almost four, years now. I never thought you'd be interested in me but by some miracle you are. You've stuck by me through everything and you've saved my life more times than I can count. You deserve so much more than I could ever give you but I'd like to start with taking you to this ball… If you'd like to go with me of course." The last of the petals burst and Harry holds out the beautiful flowers to her, his eyes staring hopefully into her own.

Hermione lunges forward, crushing her best friend in a tight hug. "Of course I'll go with you, you big goof!"

Her lips crash onto his and neither of the teens notice when the rest of the common room bursts into cheers.