CHAPTER NINETEEN: SIMPLIFYING
The next morning, Buffy grabbed hold of Harry before he could leave the Great Hall after breakfast to go to Hogsmeade.
"We gotta talk," she whispered.
Harry looked vaguely worried, but let himself be dragged into a quiet corner.
"What?" he whispered.
"Dragons," she replied. "That's the first task."
Harry's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
"Deadly," she replied. "I saw them last night. In the Forest."
"Shit," he whispered softly.
"Charlie Weasley was there. He was talking to this guy, and he said that all the champions have to do is get past the dragon and get hold of the golden egg. It looks like it'll be with other real dragons eggs," she explained.
Harry nodded, feeling slightly numb. He hadn't known what to expect for the first task, but it looked as though Crouch's description of it being a test of daring was pretty accurate. His one and only experience with a dragon had been a baby Norbert when Hagrid had been hiding a dragon in his cabin in Harry's First Year.
Harry breathed in deeply and shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't think of anything else except the absolute terror that filled him at the thought of a group of dragons.
George and Fred suddenly came out of the Great Hall and grabbed hold of Buffy's arm, wanting to take her into Hogsmeade for her first experience of the small wizarding village. Harry ran a hand through his perpetually messy black hair and began walking up the stairs. He was stopped when someone with cold hands grabbed him by the wrist.
"A moment Potter?" Professor Moody asked.
Harry nodded, and followed Moody up the stairs and into Moody's office. Harry sat down, looking curiously around the room, waiting for Moody to say something.
"So…any ideas on how to get past your dragon?"
Harry's eyes widened. "How…"
"I have good hearing laddie."
Harry was looking panicked and Moody shook his head. "Don't worry boy. Cheating's always been a part of the Triwizard Tournament."
"I didn't cheat!" he replied defensively.
"Now, I suppose you didn't really. Though, I wonder if Summers woulda shared that information with you if you weren't her cousin," Moody mused. "I reckon she woulda."
Harry nodded his agreement. His cousin did seem to be the type to share whatever information she had, no matter the fact that it would put her at a disadvantage to others.
"Now…I want to give you a good bit of general advice. Play to your strengths."
"I haven't got any," Harry complained.
"Excuse me. You've got strengths if I say you've got them. Think now. What're you best at?"
"Quidditch," Harry replied miserably. "But I'm not allowed my broom. I've only got my wand."
Moody rolled his good eye, an action that looked incredibly strange when his magical glass eye was still fixed in place, looking at Harry.
"My second piece of general advice is to use a nice, simple spell to get what you need."
Harry thought about Moody's words before shooting out of his seat. "Hermione," he whispered, remembering the way that she'd perfected her use of Summoning Spells in Charms the other day. He raced out of the office, Moody grinning in amusement as the Boy-Who-Lived left the office.
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The weekend before the task, Buffy was again sitting in the Sixth-Year boys dorms. Lee and Katie were on Lee's bed, Angelina and Fred on Fred's, Buffy and George on George's bed and Alicia looking curiously around the boys room, absently tidying as she went.
"What d'ya reckon the task will be?" Lee asked curiously.
Buffy shrugged, not wanting the others to know that she'd technically cheated by knowing the task ahead of time. She also didn't want to explain how she'd seen the dragons that were hiding in the Forest.
"Not sure. Maybe we'll have to duel one of the judges or something."
"Are you nervous?" Alicia asked.
"Yeah, a little," Buffy replied honestly. "But, nothing too bad can happen."
Katie grinned, halfway through her perusal of George's messy desk. "What happened to 'no one's safe, not here, not ever'?" she asked.
Buffy rolled her eyes. She'd never lived that spiel down. "Dumbledore's not about to let anything horrible happen."
"That's true," Angelina agreed. "Reckon Harry'll be alright?"
"Hermione's been helping him learn spells and stuff," Buffy replied, thankful that Harry had such a loyal friend even when Ron had decided that Harry had 'betrayed him'. "He should be fine."
Katie suddenly tripped over a box that was partly protruding from under George's bed, spilling half of the contents. Buffy rolled off and began helping Katie pack everything back inside.
She picked up one of the items that had fallen from the box and suddenly felt incredibly inspired.
"George?"
George looked across and grinned, noticing Buffy's impish expression. It was a favourite of George's, and even though he didn't know what it meant at that moment, he knew that Buffy was up to something.
Buffy held something up in her hand for George to see. "Would you mind if I stole this?" she asked.
George grinned and nodded. "Yeah, it's yours," he replied generously. "What're you going to do with it?"
Buffy just grinned and put it into the pocket of her robes.
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By Tuesday, Harry had seen the dragons for himself, having met Hagrid in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade on Sunday. Hagrid had taken him to see the dragons, Harry in his invisibility cloak, and Hagrid taking Madame Maxime along with him on his version of a romantic date.
Now that he'd seen the dragons for himself, he wasn't any calmer. Hermione was spending every free moment with Harry, taking him through the steps of Summoning Charms so that Harry would be able to summon his Firebolt from his room on the day of the first task.
Even when Harry was fairly confident that his plan would work, he was still nervous. Tuesday seemed to fly by, and before Harry knew it, he was sitting at the Gryffindor table between Buffy and Hermione, picking at his food. Buffy didn't seem to be able to eat anything either, and even the twins were strangely silent.
"You okay?" Buffy whispered.
Harry nodded bravely. "Hermione's been really helpful," he replied.
Hermione smiled modestly, and before another word could be said, Professor McGonagall was coming up behind them.
"Summers, Potter, the champions have to come down into the grounds now…you have to get ready for your first task."
They stood up, and glanced back at their friends momentarily. Hermione nodded encouragingly and George stood to give Buffy a quick hug. "You'll do fine."
Buffy nodded, hoping that George was right. She quickly patted the pocket of her robes, checking to make sure everything was still in her pockets.
"Knock 'em dead Buff," Fred grinned.
Buffy and Harry walked out of the Hall, most of the students turning to watch as they left. They followed McGonagall who was looking incredibly anxious.
"Now, don't panic," McGonagall said quietly. "Just keep a cool head. We've got wizards on hand to control the situation if it gets out of hand. The main thing is to do your best, and nobody will think the worse of you. Are you both alright?"
"Could be worse," Buffy replied.
"I'm fine," Harry replied, though he didn't sound it at all.
They were ushered into a large tent where Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum were already, Krum looking Broody as ever, and Fleur was looking far less composed than she usually was. Buffy took a seat beside Fleur, and Harry sat beside her.
"Well, now that we're all here – time to fill you in!" Bagman said brightly. "When the audience has all assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you his bag," he said, holding up a small sack of purple silk, "from which you will each select a different 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!"
Outside the tent, hundreds of people could be heard walking past, all talking noisily. Several minutes later Bagman approached, holding out the purple sack.
"Ladies first," he said, placing the bag between Buffy and Fleur.
The two girls looked at each other for possibly the firs time since the Beaubaxton students had come to Hogwarts. Buffy offered the girl a grin.
"You first," Buffy said.
Fleur nodded. "Merci," Fleur replied, placing her hand in and selecting a perfect model of a dragon – a Welsh Green. It had the number 'two' around its neck.
Buffy pulled out the number 'four', the Hungarian Horntail. Harry swallowed nervously, remembering that Charlie Weasley had said that it would be the worst one to be up against. He reminded himself to warn her before she went out.
Krum chose next, number 'one', the Swedish Short-Snout. Harry was left with number 'three' a scarlet Chinese Fireball.
"You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order which you are going 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 Krum, 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?"
Harry was pulled out of his daze and got up to follow Bagman. The Minister of Games and Sports questioned Harry about his plan and offered him help, but Harry turned him down. He couldn't quite believe that one of the judges was trying to get him to accept help when it was plainly against the rules. Then again, Harry wasn't supposed to have got help from Hermione either, but that wasn't quite so serious.
Harry walked back into the tent and sat down beside Buffy again. A whistle blew and Krum straightened out his shoulders and walked out of the tent. The crowd began roaring and the other three champions could only wait in tense silence.
The listened to the crowds reactions, wishing they could see what was going on. The gasps, cheers, moans and groans weren't all that comforting, and both Hogwarts champions were getting more and more nervous.
"Nervous?" Buffy asked.
"Not at all," Harry replied, grinning.
The tense moment was broken and they both simultaneously took in big gulps of air.
"Reckon we'll make it through this alive?" Harry asked.
"I think Dumbledore'd be kinda annoyed if any of us died," Buffy replied.
Harry grinned at the casual flippancy Buffy had used. He felt slightly better about it, remembering that McGonagall had said that people were on hand in case anything went wrong.
"Be careful of the tail," Harry whispered softly, making sure Fleur couldn't hear his warning.
Buffy nodded and looked at the tiny model of the dragon, studying it carefully. She'd seen this type of dragon in her reading, and she remembered that its tail was incredibly dangerous. Then again, with any luck, she wouldn't have to get all that close to it.
After about fifteen minutes, they heard the deafening roar that could only mean one thing. Krum had got past his dragon, and seized the golden egg.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman shouted, his voice magically amplified. "Miss Delacour if you please."
Fleur was trembling from head to foot. She looked as though she was about to have a nervous breakdown and she looked close to tears. She stood, and Buffy stood as well. The Slayer grabbed hold of Fleur's shoulders.
"Don't just think you can," Buffy whispered. "Know you can."
Fleur met Buffy's eyes and after a tense moment of silence, she nodded and stepped back. The shaking had nearly gone and she stepped out of the tent.
"Think she's nervous?" Buffy asked.
Harry grinned and nodded. "What gave it away?"
"She's not the only one. I think I'm gonna wet myself in a minute."
Harry was laughing hysterically, more from the absolute nervousness he felt than anything. He was glad that his mind wasn't on the dragon he was about to face.
They sat, listening once more to the crowds reactions and Bagman's commentating. Ten minutes later, there was another roar and then a quieter period. The whistle was blown and Harry stood.
"For Hogwarts," Buffy said quietly.
Harry nodded and took a deep breath. "For Hogwarts," he agreed.
"And here comes our youngest champion, Harry Potter!" Bgaman yelled.
The crowd went wild and Harry walked into the enclosure. Harry tried to get himself to calm down, and keep his grip on his wand, his palms sweaty and incredibly hot. He stared at the Chinese Fireball dragon in front of him, praying desperately that the spells he'd been learning for the last few days would fail him now. He held his wand high into the air and yelled as loudly as he could above the roar of the crowd. "Accio Firebolt!"
It took nearly forty seconds to come to him, and they were possibly the longest forty seconds of Harry's life. But then, when he heard his beloved broom speeding towards him, he felt considerably better. The first half of his plan had worked, and now all that he needed to do was get the egg.
He mounted the broom quickly and took off into the air. The crowd was going nuts, Bagman yelling something, but Harry was deaf to all of it. As he left the ground, he realised something else…he'd left behind his fear. He was back in the air where he belonged, and this was simply another Quidditch game.
He began flying in circles around the massive dragon, gaining its attention, the Chinese Fireball standing and momentarily leaving her eggs, which was exactly what Harry wanted it to do. He dived towards the ground, but the dragon let out a burst of flame. He ducked but felt his robes singe slightly. He was just thankful that they hadn't caught on fire.
The dragon ducked its head quickly to try and swallow Harry, but the Gryffindor Seeker was faster, ducking left just as its jaws came down to bite it. Harry went back up higher, to get the dragon's snout back in the air. When the dragon had complied with Harry's plan, he dived again, drop-bombing straight at the pile of eggs. He could tell that the dragon above him was reacting a little too slow to Harry's movements, and Harry grabbed at the golden egg and pulled his broom upwards again. He soared above the stands and his hearing returned, the crowd below him screaming and cheering.
"Our youngest champion is the quickest to get the egg so far!" Bagman yelled. "Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Potter!"
Inside the tent, Buffy was bouncing on her feet slightly. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her, and she'd unconsciously shifted into Slayer mode. Her breathing was steady and her heartbeat completely normal, but she could feel her strength nearing the surface, ready to burst out at any second.
She gripped her wand tightly in her hand and waited for the whistle that would signal her. She closed her eyes, slipping into a light meditation to calm her nerves, and when the whistle blew, her eyes opened, and she calmly walked into the enclosure. All of Hogwarts were cheering loudly and she looked up into the stands, trying to find any of her friends, but the stands were filled with a see of faces. She gave up and refocussed her attention on the Hungarian Horntail in front of her.
She reached into her robes and knelt on the ground, planting something into the grass. She removed a silver cigarette lighter that she'd transfigured from a knife she'd 'borrowed' from the Great Hall and lit the fuse, stepping back ten paces.
The crowd leaned forward, watching in confusion.
There was suddenly a loud bang as the firework she'd lit flew into the air. Smoke started billowing, shaping itself like a mountain and began to glow at the summit. The crowd watched it, completely fascinated by this unexpected turn. It spouted gold and scarlet flames, and out flew a red-golden dragon – nearly life size. Fire came from its jaws, and it roared, flying over the crowd, who all ducked in shock.
The Horntail lifted itself up to meet the newest dragon, leaving its eggs unprotected. Buffy grinned and pointed her wand at the pile of eggs.
"Accio golden egg!" she yelled.
The golden egg flew away from the pile and into Buffy's waiting hands.
The dragon made of fireworks suddenly erupted with a deafening explosion and the Hungarian Horntail sank back down to the ground. There was silence in the stadium until all of Hogwarts began cheering and stamping their feet.
"Look at that!" Bagman yelled over the din of the crowd. "The fastest champion to get to the egg, completely unharmed, and using a rather ingenious method I might add, is Eliza Potter-Summers, better known as Buffy Summers!"
Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody raced towards her as the dragon experts were putting the Hungarian Horntail under a Sleeping Charm.
"Excellent work Miss Summers," McGonagall said, her face stretched into a smile.
Moody looked incredibly pleased as well. "What did I tell you, Summers?" he gloated.
Buffy grinned at her favourite Professor. "I never did listen to authority figures before."
She was ushered into another tent where Madam Pomfrey was tending to the other three champions. Harry was insisting that he was fine, and Madam Pomfrey was trying to get him to eat several pieces of chocolate.
"I don't think I'll be getting you that dragon for Christmas after all, Harry," Buffy said sadly.
Harry just laughed and grinned widely, thankful that the task was over. Ron was at his side, and had been ever since Harry had finished getting past his dragon. The two boys had made up, which had sent Hermione into tears.
Buffy was suddenly swept into a tight hug by George Weasley, followed by Fred, Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Lee.
"So, that's what you wanted that firework for," George said.
Buffy just shrugged innocently. "Knew it'd come in use someday."
"You're crazier than I thought Buffy," Katie commented, though it sounded more like a compliment than an insult.
George pulled her to the edge of the tent. "C'mon, they're going to announce your scores."
At the other end of the enclosure, the five judges were seated in raised seats draped in gold.
"It's marks out of ten from each one," Fred explained.
The others grouped beside her, all of them feeling as nervous as the anxious Slayer.
Madame Maxime raised her wand in the air. What looked like a long, silver ribbon shot out of it, and it twisted itself into a large number nine. Mr Crouch was next, giving her nine as well.
"This is good!" Angelina yelled above the cheering from the stadium.
Dumbledore too put up nine, Bagman put up eight, and Karkaroff put up five.
"Bastard!" Lee yelled.
"He gave Harry and Fleur really lousy marks too," George assured her.
"You and Harry are tied for first!" Angelina yelled.
"No, she and Harry and Krum and tied for first," Katie corrected her.
Charlie Weasley approached, quickly congratulating Buffy for her approach for getting the egg. He then told her she needed to go back into the tent so Bagman could explain some more things to the champions. Her friends offered to wait, and Buffy walked quickly back towards the tent.
"Well done, all of you!" Bagman said brightly. "Now, just a quick few words. You're got a nice long break in before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the Twenty-Fourth…but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime. If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open. You need to solve the clue inside the egg – because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it. All clear? Sure? Well, off you go then!"
They all left eagerly, Harry joined by Ron and Hermione, and Buffy joining up with the other Sixth Year Gryffindors. As they headed back up to the Gryffindor Tower, they compared each of the champions, and how they'd got past the dragons. The rest of the evening was spent partying in the Gryffindor Tower, completely ignoring the fact that they would need to be up for lessons the next morning.
Fred managed to con Neville into eating of the Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes Canary Creams, which caused raucous laughter as soon as Neville had turned into a large canary. Hermione had managed to get the directions to the kitchens out of Fred, who worried that Hermione would upset the house-elves and that the small creatures wouldn't ever give them food again.
As the evening drew to a close and the crowd dispersed, it was two very exhausted champions that drifted easily off to sleep in the Gryffindor dormitories.
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Hmmm, who recognised the dragony fireworks? Blatantly stolen from JRR Tolkien. I have no shame (Oh, please, like shame is something to be proud of.)
Many thanks for all yoru feedback and stuff.
Anyone else all kinds of excited about book six? They've just released the name of it, huzzah! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Spiff, eh? Can't wait to find out who this Half-Blood Prince is…ooo, the possibilities!
Toodles.
DKG.