Chapter three: Dazed and Confused...
...Continued...
'Ok, now where am I?' Harry thought. Making to stand, Harry realized he'd been slouching in an ordinary, old, wooden chair. Shakily heaving himself to his feet, he lost his balance and tripped over what he figured was a foot rest. 'Very graceful Harry. Good one,' he thought sarcastically.
Harry's eyes snapped open. His head impacting the earth (his face was in the dirt) had the effect of clearing his senses the remainder of the way, and what he heard made him freeze. It was all around him: a steady roaring of cheering voices and excited chatter. But that was only part of what made his stomach start re-churning. Before his face, not but 12 inches away, was a perfect replica of a Hungarian Horntail—complete with two bright yellow eyes, and an intimidating, razor sharp spiked tail.
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"Oh shit!" Harry moaned and grumbled all at once. His mind was reeling. 'Of all the times to rebond with myself, I have to do it now!'
Somewhere outside of the tent, a deafening roar ripped threw the ether and Harry cringed. 'Just! Great!'
"A great performance there by Mr. Krum! Everyone give him a round of applause!" A booming voice, most likely amplified by a Sonorus Charm, bellowed to what Harry assumed was the large audience outside his tent. "And now, for our final champion. Unlucky Mr. Harry Potter will be facing the most fearsome dragon in attendance today, a Hungarian Horntail. Let's give Harry some encouragement with another round of applause shall we?" Somewhere outside the tent, an obnoxiously loud whistle blew and Harry understood that to be his cue.
He wasn't ready though. He'd just traveled through time and jumped head long into a new body, even if it was his. He hadn't even been given the time to set his bearings.
'For Merlin's sake!' Harry knew he had to leave the tent but he didn't want to draw attention, which was slightly ironic if not impossible, considering he was about to battle a dragon before the eyes of students, reporters, and other adults. Harry stood up shakily, purposely kicking the dragon figurine before slowly walking out through the entrance of the tent.
It was just as he could remember. There were hundreds upon hundreds of staring faces, all attached to hundreds upon hundreds of bodies, all located in stands that circled a large enclosure. It was almost like a dream, seeing the monstrous Horntail, standing there protecting her future children. But of course, one was not a dragon's egg, but rather a shiny golden egg that would hint at the next task.
Harry knew what he had to do.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted. Harry was almost stunned. The words had flown out of his mouth before he had even grasped what he was saying. A familiar whoshing sound met his ears as the reason for his shock zipped to a stop at his side, waist high. He hadn't seen his Firebolt for years. It had been left behind at some point during the war and Harry had failed to find it.
Running his hand from the tip to last tail twig, Harry's heart soared. It was like meeting a friend in a coffee shop after being separated for many years. He swung his leg over the broom and kicked off the ground, soaring up into the air. Higher and higher he climbed, relishing the feeling of freedom, oblivious to the hundreds of stunned people below him.
A sound like rolling thunder washed over him, and Harry came back to his senses, only to find himself high, high above where he was supposed to be. Looking down, Harry saw what resembled a small petri dish filled with a great number of small particles all surrounding a larger particle.
Harry could clearly remember the events of this day; circling the dragon over and over again, looking for a small hole to slip through and grab the egg, only to get his shoulder cut by a tail spike. Not today though, no sir!
Harry tipped the nose of his newly recovered friend perpendicular to the ground's surface, and let his broom excellerate to top speed. He heard a sigh of relief echo over the stands as he almost effortlessly pulled out of the dive and came to a stop, gently landing on the soft grassy earth.
"Accio egg," Harry said under his breath, ignoring the dragon's effort to burn him to a crisp and deafen him all at once. His suspicion was confirmed when the egg didn't move. 'They would make the egg un-summonable! I guess that would be a little too easy though.' Harry didn't intend to show how much he knew about magic or how powerful he was until the time was right, so he'd have to find another way to solve this problem. He'd have to use a method a fourth year should know. 'Hmpff! I wonder . . . '
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry screamed, concentrating on the real eggs. He could have just levitated the dragon, but he knew a fourth year, much less a full grown adult, would be hard pressed to pull off such a feat. In chorus, every single egg, minus the golden one, rose up around their mother, carefully avoiding her many dangerous weapons. The dragon roared in shock and distress, watching her quarry rise up over her head. Dragons were NOT stupid, and after seeing Harry on his broom, knew the air was not safe for her babies as long as they were not accompanied by her. As such, with a great flap of his mighty wings, the Hungarian Horntail rose up close to fifty feet to hover amongst her children.
Keeping the eggs aloft, Harry lazily walked forward. Once under the large shadow of the beast, Harry picked up the egg and walked away to a safe distance before slowly lowering the eggs back to the ground, careful not to damage one even the slightest bit. An angry dragon was very fearsome.
"Look at that." Harry could remember Bagman yelling this the first time around, but today, his voice was calm, filled with surprise and awe. It was then that Harry noticed how calm and quiet the rest of the stadium was. "Amazing. . . Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg," the man's voice was slowly increasing in volume as he came back to his senses. "Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!" The rest of the onlookers seem to come back to reality, and some singular cheers were soon joined by the rest of the stadium as a thunderous applause begins. The screams, shouts, and claps were loud enough that Harry couldn't even hear the dragon keepers' cries of 'stupify' as they subdued the Horntail.
A hand clapped his back, almost knocking over his pitifully weak body, and Harry almost drew his wand on the assailant until a familiar voice passed through to his ears.
"That was excellent, Potter!" cried Professor McGonagall as he bent down and picked up his Firebolt. Harry looked up and couldn't help but smile. Seeing Professor McGonagall alive was a good sign. Maybe the changes in this world, if any, would be much smaller than he'd feared. Harry's smile only grew larger as he looked into the face of his first ever friend: Hagrid. The half giant's pats on the back would be welcomed from here on out.
Unfortunately though, the smile left Harry's face rather quickly as the one and only Professor Moody limped out from behind Hagrid. A dark aura surrounded the man, and Harry was trying his best to keep his face emotionless. He didn't want to take out the imposter right now, in front of everyone. Harry would wait and deal him later . . . in private.
"You'll need to see Madam Pomprey before the judges give out your score . . .Over there, she's had to mop up Diggory already . . ." McGonagall said.
"Yeh did it, Harry!" said Hagrid hoarsley. "Yeh did it! An' agains' the Horntail an' all, an' yeh know Charlie said that was the wors'--"
"Thanks, Hagrid," Harry said loudly. He didn't need Hagrid getting in trouble. At that moment, Moody looked as if he was about to give his two cents, but Harry didn't want to here the Death Eater utter even one word, so he quickly ducked away from the trio and headed toward the mouth of a second tent; the one McGonagall had pointed him towards. Inside, Harry gratefully put up with Pomprey's check up, who was happy to announce him undamaged. After her examination, she took off to go check on Cedric.
'Now, if my memory serves me right, ahhh . . . yes," Harry thought. Two VERY familiar people had just darted into the tent: Hermione, and Ron.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione squeaked, the finger nail marks on her face as clear as ever. "You were amazing! You really were! We didn't even practice that," she finished approvingly. Harry smiled, trying as hard as he could to not leap up and embrace her. The same went for Ron, who he looked over to next. The urge to grab both of them and never let go was immense, but seeing Ron's white face and staring eyes kept him in place. They both looked so young . . .
"Harry," Ron began, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet -- I -- I reckon they're trying to do you in!" Harry almost died then. A large laugh was trying to spew out of his mouth, and Harry was suffocating in is attempt to keep it in.
'Someone's trying to do me in?' Harry thought with mock shock. 'You have no idea.' Harry knew that Ron had just experienced a big fight with him here, in this time, but Harry couldn't be mad. He'd just shared words with two of his friends, who until this moment were dead to him.
"It's alright mate!" Harry exclaimed, leaping to his feet as he gave in to his urges, and pulled Ron and Hermione in for a group hug. "Just don't let it happen again!" The rest of the day went on in a blur. Harry did his best to act immature and unknowledgeable, the whole while enjoying the company of Ron and Hermione. Harry had received top scores for the first task and was surprisingly leading the tournament, even with Karkaroff's meager '6' this time around.
The trio partied in the common room that night. Harry refused to open the egg over and over again, which confused most of the Gryffindors, but they stopped asking after he put it away up stairs. Harry let the others do most of the talking though. He was a little unsure of himself. He needed to settle back into things. It didn't help that he had classes tomorrow, which Hermione reminded them when two a.m. rolled around. For one, he couldn't bring himself to fight Hermione; for two, he was tired anyway, and needed sleep. The combination of time-travel, dragon fighting, friend re-meeting, and partying had taken a toll on his being.
Saying good night to Ron felt natural on his tongue, almost as if he hadn't gone on a seven year hiatus from the words. Ron's 'Night mate,' sounded just as natural and refreshing.
Harry fell asleep almost immediately that night. No dreams of death and destruction haunted his mind thanks to his Occlumency shields, and a proper bed may have assisted as well. His small bed at the Ministry didn't have a feather mattress, or silk sheets, or elves to warm it even. This was definitely a nice change in Harry's opinion.
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Earlier That Day . . .
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore watched as the young Durmstrang champion, Mr. Krum, performed an exeptible Conjunctivitus Curse on his Chinease Fireball before foolishly dashing forward and snatching his golden egg from beneath the dragon, narrowly escaping before a large, clawed foot stomped down on his previous position, smashing a few of the real dragon eggs in the process. Dumbledore could tell Krum had just learned the spell recently, but didn't care. He agreed as much as the next person--cheating was just part of this tournament.
Dumbledore rose from his seat suddenly, startling Hogwart's Potion's Master, Severus Snape. Snape follow the elderly man's eyes, and found himself gazing at the champion's tent.
"Headmaster?" Snape inquired.
"Hmm . . . I thought . . . but no, never mind Severus . . . just a false alarm." But Dumbledore's eyes never left the tent until Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, emerged unscathed. Albus, what with his incredible senses, had felt an immense, almost unfathomable amount of power erupt from within the tent Harry had just been in. The power easily surpassed his; probably doubled it. But it was not the incredible size of the power that intrigued the Headmaster; It was the way the power almost vanished the second he'd felt it wash over him. 'Hmm . . .'
To be Continued...
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A/N: Ok, that was short, but those of you who reviewed asked for a quick update, so I cut it here to give you what I have so far.
---Harry remet with Ron and Hermione and kind of went into a daze for the rest of the day. It was a shock being with his once-dead friends again. I say this just incase any of you wondered why I breezed through the rest of the day so fast.
And of course: I took dialogue directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, written by J.K. Rowling. I give all credit to her! And just incase, 'Dazed and Confused' is the title of a Led Zepplin song.
--Didn't want to plagiarize. R&R!
Ben
