Chapter 5: The First Task
"You want me to do what?" asked Harriet.
"I want you to go to the Forbidden Forest with me tonight," said Ron.
It was breakfast, and the fourth year Gryffindors were all sitting together for once. Parvati happened to be sitting next to Harriet. Hermione was across from her, but she looked a bit distracted.
"Ron, I do not think Harriet is ready for that sort of thing," said Parvati.
"What? What do you think I'm suggesting?" asked Ron, puzzled.
"Most people sneak out to the Forbidden Forest to get the privacy that a broom closet doesn't give them," said Harriet lightly.
"Oh no! That's not what I'm suggesting at all!" insisted Ron frantically, "I got a letter from Charlie. Apparently there is going to be something to see out there tonight."
"From Charlie?" asked Harriet suspiciously, "Charlie works at a dragon preserve. The only reason he would know…."
"Oooh," said Ron, Harriet and Parvati at the same time.
"Sorry Hermione, I guess Ron and I are going to have to do some reconnaissance tonight in the Forbidden Forest," said Harriet
Hermione looked up, the motion of her head a bit jerky. "Oh, well, good luck," said Hermione.
"No lecture?" asked Ron "Not that I'm complaining."
"It's a good idea," said Hermione, "I think this whole competition is a terrible idea. If you can help Angelina, go for it."
After Harriet and Hermione left, Ron scooted over so that he was next to Parvati.
"Is it just me, or did Hermione seem off?" asked Ron.
Parvati nodded. "Something is definitely up with her, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. Harriet and Lavender noticed it yesterday. There is something she seems to not want to talk or even seemingly think about, but none of us has any idea what it is."
"I'll keep an eye out," said Ron, "Something weird is going on this year, and I can't help but think things are going to get worse."
XXXXX
That night, Ron and Harriet snuck out late underneath the invisibility cloak. Getting out of the school was not particularly difficult. But once they reached the forest they had to be more careful, as they spotted both Madame Maxine and Albrecht Wisner in the forest.
"Cheaters," mumbled Harriet.
"Aren't we cheating too?" asked Ron.
"Yes, but not as much," argued Harriet, "We are students, they are the Headmasters of their respective institutions!"
Ron was in the lead, and he stopped suddenly causing Harriet to bump into his arm. He seemed to hesitate for a moment.
"Something wrong?" asked Harriet quietly.
"Sorry, my arm just brushed your boob," whispered Ron apologetically.
"Oh, for goodness sake!" hissed Harriet in annoyance, "You can obsess about my boobs later if you absolutely have to. We're looking for dragons right now."
"Right," said Ron, who was almost certainly blushing at that moment.
Harriet sighed in annoyance, but not really angrily. She did understand his interest in boobs, and they were probably a lot more novel to Ron than they were to her. But he really should be able to focus on what they were doing a little more.
There was a light in the distance, red like fire. Moving quietly, they made their way to a clearing, where they saw four cages, and a sleepy looking dragon being ushered into one of the cages by rows of dragon handlers. A really huge, nasty dragon.
"Angelina owes Charlie a butterbeer," said Ron.
"Let's head back to the common room," said Harriet.
Harriet led the way this time. It didn't take particularly long before they had reentered the Gryffindor common room. Despite being after curfew, the common room was fairly well populated. Apparently there was a test of some sort in sixth year charms, and all the sixth years were cramming for it. Most of the fourth years were also there, aside from Hermione.
Ron pulled the invisibility cloak off of himself and Harriet.
"Hey look, it's Potter and Weasley," said Lee Jordan, "Sneaking off together!"
Harriet moaned angrily and grabbed the cloak from Ron. She walked over to Angelina.
"You have a problem," said Harriet, "We were out in the Forbidden Forest…"
"Weasley and Potter were…" started Lee, ecstatic at his seemingly juicy news. But Fred, at a nod from Angelina, had slapped Lee in the stomach. George fell over laughing."
"The Ministry has four dragons out there," said Harriet, "The First Task is going to involve dragons."
Angelina blanched a bit. "What, do they want us to…" then she shut her mouth as McGonagall entered the common room.
Fuck! thought Harriet, She must have seen the portrait open!
"Who came in this portrait just now?" asked McGonagall.
"I thought I heard a noise outside, so I opened the Portrait," said Neville, "I didn't see anything, so I closed it up."
Harriet stifled a sigh of relief. The Fat Lady would probably be able to say whether a male or female voice opened it, even if it couldn't see who it was. And Ron had given the password.
McGonagall looked at Harriet sharply. "Why does Miss Potter have her invisibility cloak then?"
Suddenly, Harriet was angry. She had snuck out to help protect Angelina, and now she was being grilled for it? She immediately decided Professor McGonagall needed a lesson in minding her own business.
"I brought it down because I am loaning it to Fred and George," said Harriet, handing the cloak to Fred.
McGonagall's eyes bulged. "You are loaning it to the Weasley twins? Why?"
"They want to study it," said Harriet dryly.
McGonagall put her hand to her forehead as if she had a headache. "I'm being punished for asking too many questions, aren't I?" she asked wryly.
"What? Why would you think that?" asked Harriet innocently.
McGonagall nodded as if to say that she understood Harriet had outplayed her. Then she left.
"So I'm going to have to fight a dragon?" asked Angelina.
"More likely it will be guarding something," said Harriet.
"I'm going to have to plan this out. Alicia? Tomorrow work for you?"
"Yeah," said Alicia.
"Fred, George?" asked Angelina.
Both twins nodded.
"Harriet?" asked Angelina.
"You want my help?" asked Harriet.
"You have a head for solutions to puzzles and for fighting your way out of bad situations," said Angelina, "You'd be invaluable. And Hermione would be helpful too, if she's interested."
Harriet smiled suddenly. She would very much like any opportunity to spend more time with Hermione.
"You know," started Ron, "We could brainstorm all this stuff in our self-defense group. Then as Angelina is practicing, we could also try some of this stuff out."
"The Hufflepuffs might not want to help me," said Angelina lightly.
"So we invite Cedric as well," said Harriet.
"Are you kidding?" demanded Fred, "After what he did to Angelina?"
"It's a good idea Harriet," said Angelina, "especially since I doubt anyone has told Diggory about the dragons."
"Do you want your cloak back now?" asked Fred.
"No, you have to do something that embarrasses McGonagall with that," said Harriet.
"Harriet, you are a patron of the practical joking arts, and we will not forget this," said George formally.
"If you get my cloak confiscated I will kick you in the dick," said Harriet, "So, you know, keep that in mind."
"We will only use it for stealth, not for escape," assured Fred.
"By the time our joke actually goes off, the cloak will be back in your hands," agreed George.
Harriet grinned. She went and sat down in an armchair. Ron sat down in a chair next to her.
"Is this a good time?" asked Ron.
"For what?" asked Harriet, puzzled.
"Well you said I could obsess about your boobs later," said Ron, turning a little red.
Harriet stood up. "Sure, go ahead," she said, finally out of patience.
She walked over to him, leaned over and quietly said, "Obsess all you want… up in your bunk."
Ron turned as red as a tomato, and Harriet stormed off. She was halfway up the stairs before she realised what she had done.
She ran into her dormitory where Hermione was reading quietly.
"I fucked up again Hermione," she said, covering her face with her hand in embarrassment, "I just accidentally gave Ron permission to wank to fantasies about me."
Hermione looked up in disbelief. "How do you keep doing this?" she asked.
"I do not know," said Harriet.
"Well, at least one boy is attracted to you," said Hermione, "That's not all bad."
Harriet grumbled. It was if you weren't attracted to boys!
XXXXX
Angelina decided to contact Cedric the very next day. It wasn't a simple matter though. After the confrontation in the Great Hall, the Hufflepuffs hadn't been letting anyone near Cedric who wasn't part of his friend group. Angelina might have been part of that group before, along the edges, but she didn't think she qualified anymore. Harriet and Fred both offered to accompany her, but Angelina shot both of those offers down immediately. No doubt Harriet could intimidate the Hufflepuffs into standing down, and Fred could probably create enough havoc to let her slip past the sentries. But Angelina wanted to be diplomatic.
Cedric was sitting outside, near the greenhouses. And sure enough, Angelina was stopped.
"Cedric doesn't want to talk to you," said one of the sentries.
Angelina shook her head angrily, "Yes he does. Unless he wants to die in the first task that is."
"You don't know what the first task is," said the other sentry.
"Are you willing to bet Cedric's life on that?" demanded Angelina.
"They're not," said Hannah Abbot, walking up from behind them, "Neville told me what was happening. She actually knows what the task is, morons."
With that, the sentries stood down. Hannah motioned for Angelina to follow her.
"Cedric is being an ass," said Hannah, "and our entire house is looking bad for enabling him. The fourth years, at least, are all in agreement though. We're not having it anymore."
Angelina nodded in appreciation. Soon they were in a little crowded garden behind the greenhouses. Angelina hadn't known it was here. In the spring it must have looked impressive, though currently it looked dead, as it was November. There were about six other Hufflepuffs present, aside from Cedric.
Cedric scowled as he saw Angelina. But he motioned her forward anyway.
"The first task is dragons," said Angelina without preamble.
"How do you know?" asked Cedric doubtfully.
"Charlie Weasley sent Ron a letter which let out a bit too much of his itinerary," said Angelina, "Since Charlie is a dragon tamer, Harriet and Ron put two and two together. They confirmed the dragons are here last night."
"Damn," said Cedric, "Going to have to figure out how to get past a dragon. Any ideas?"
"Not really," admitted Angelina, "Harriet's self defense group is holding a brainstorming session tonight. You and any of your friends are welcome to come."
"I think I'll pass," said Cedric, though his voice was unsure.
"Up to you," said Angelina.
"Just so you know, all of the fourth years are already a part of this group," said Hannah, "so we're going."
"You don't have a problem with the group being taken over to help the Gryffindor Champion?" asked Cedric.
"Angelina was helping tutor us. She was a part of the group," said Hannah. The other Hufflepuffs stirred at this.
Cedric nodded. "That makes sense. I agree, you do have to help her in that case."
The other Hufflepuffs nodded.
"Thank you for your understanding," said Angelina.
"We aren't always good at living up to our house's ideals," admitted Cedric grudgingly, "But a true Hufflepuff always repays a kindness done to them. You didn't have to tutor a bunch of fourth years. So they owe you."
Angelina nodded. "Well I'll see you around Diggory," she said.
Cedric just nodded as she left.
XXXXX
The self defense group divided into smaller groups that evening. Sue Li led a group of students in trawling the library for any information about dragons. Susan Bones, along with Lee, Alicia, and Ginny, led another group in testing out the power of various spells and trying to rate how effective they would be against dragons. Angelina, Fred, George, Harriet, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Hannah, and Luna all gathered in a group, trying to figure out a strategy.
"They won't have you fighting a dragon," said Harriet, "that would be too difficult."
"So I need to get past it," said Angelina pensively.
"Dragons are very difficult to directly affect with spells," said Luna, "Only a sorcerer or sorceress could do so reliably."
"If you can generate a lot of emotion you can do the same," said Harriet, "But fear won't cut it unless you are in mortal peril. Which might be true in the task, but we don't want to depend on that. So we'd have to use anger or love."
"There we go!" exclaimed George, "we make Angelina a love potion that makes her fall in love with the dragon!"
"Even if we could make such a potion, it wouldn't work," said Hermione, "The 'love' created by a love potion isn't real love, so it can't power a spell. And even if it could, making Angelina fall in love with a dragon would make her defend it, not defeat or frustrate it."
"Spoilsport," said George.
"What about flying?" wondered Fred, "Angelina is a good flyer."
"I doubt they will let her bring in her broom," said Harriet.
"What about summoning it?" asked Hannah, "The Tournament rules don't seem to forbid that."
"Dragons can fly," said Ron, as if he was saying the most obvious thing in the world.
"They'll have to contain the dragon somehow," said Harriet, "They can't just let it fly around and attack people. They must have it guarding something, as I said last night."
"Flying might be helpful, and it might not, depending on how the task is set up," said Hermione.
"Are there spells designed specifically to work on dragons?" asked Neville.
"There must be," said Hannah, "Otherwise how would anyone ever keep them in check?"
"Charlie has mentioned some spells, yeah," said Fred.
"But they're all really specialized," said Ron, "There is definitely a Dragon taming spell, but I don't know where we would find it."
"Hermione," said Harriet, "Why don't you go help the group in the library, and try to point them at the dragon taming spell. If you can give them some advice, do it, then come back. I have a lead I will follow up on as well."
"Got it," said Hermione.
Luna waited for Hermione to leave, then turned and faced the group. "You know that any spells that can work against dragons are likely to be very dangerous to humans. It is very likely that the book we are looking for is in the Restricted section," she said.
"Yeah, I know," said Harriet, "I also know that Sirius has a book on Dragon handling. I am about to break about three school rules, so I decided not to test Hermione's tolerance level. If she asks, it appeared here in the Room of Requirement. Which will technically be true."
"Kreacher!" shouted Harriet.
Kreacher appeared in front of Harriet.
"Oh, imagine the pranks we could do with a house elf at our command," said Fred.
"I do not do pranks," sniffed Kreacher stuffily.
"Aw, you have to do what Harriet says," said George.
"Kreacher is not a slave," said Harriet angrily, "I will not ask him to do anything he does not wish to do, and I'm certain he would find your pranks beneath his dignity."
"Thank you mistress Harriet," said Kreacher happily.
"I need a book from Sirius' library," said Harriet, "Dragon care and training for Beginners."
"That book is restricted by Master Sirius," said Kreacher sadly.
"I don't want to read it," said Harriet, "One of my friends does."
"I am not allowed to show your friends books anymore either," admitted Kreacher, "I am prohibited from bringing those books to any minor."
"Oh, well that is simple enough!" said Angelina, "I am the one who wants it, and I am not a minor! I am seventeen."
"Yes!" said Harriet, "Would you bring Angelina the book, please?"
Kreacher grinned, then disappeared with a pop. A few moments later he reappeared with the book and offered it to Angelina.
Angelina looked through the book quickly, then began copying down the instructions. It didn't take long, and soon she handed the book back to Kreacher.
"Thank you," said Angelina.
"My pleasure," said Kreacher before apparating away.
"Someone should go and get Hermione…" began Harriet, but Hermione was already back.
"Did you finish whatever rule breaking you were doing Harry?" asked Hermione.
"Uh, whatever do you mean?" asked Harriet lamely.
"Harry, I don't care if you break the rules," said Hermione, "The way I see it, this whole tournament is irresponsible. Do what you have to do, I won't judge any of you."
Susan Bones came in from an adjacent chamber in the Room of Requirement. "We aren't really having much luck Angelina. None of our spells are doing much," she said.
"We think we have a solution," said Angelina, "We use this Dragon Taming Spell, and then if possible I can summon my broom. Let's call everyone together and start practicing."
XXXXX
Angelina finished buttoning the robes that had been provided in the small private area in the tent. They were emblazoned with the Hogwarts Crest, but were otherwise simple and functional. She stepped out into the center of the tent, where Fleur, Viktor and Cedric were already waiting.
As soon as she did so, Cornelius Fudge, Head of the Department of Magical Transportation, entered the room. He had grudgingly taken over Ludo Bagman's duties in regard to the Tournament after Bagman had been convicted of fraud. Bertha Jorkins, Bagman's former assistant, walked behind Fudge. She was largely in charge of the actual work of organising the tournament now, but rumour had it that Fudge had her on short leash. Outside the tent, Angelina briefly saw Professor Solaire standing guard.
"Everyone ready? Good!" Fudge said eagerly. At least he appeared more enthusiastic in the moment. He probably didn't get to hobnob with groups of people much outside the Ministry.
"First, I want to thank Bertha Jorkins here for finishing the design of the arena. Ludo Bagman's designs were incomplete when I came onto this problem, and I must confess that this sort of thing is not up my alley," acknowledged Fudge.
"Thank you Cornelius," said Bertha with a slight blush.
Fudge immediately launched into a description of the event. "You will have to recover a golden egg from a nest full of dragon eggs. The nest is guarded by a dragon, a nesting mother. You may only bring your wand into the ring with you as you enter, no other magical artifacts or objects. You will lose points for damaging the eggs, seriously harming the dragon, or being injured yourself. I doubt any of you will be able to actually hurt the dragons, but be warned, just in case, you aren't allowed to kill them. That will mean instant disqualification. You will need the golden egg for the second task, so if you don't get it, you will be in a great deal of trouble, unless you can convince a fellow competitor to help you."
Everyone nodded. It was quite clear.
Fudge held out a sack. "Pick a figurine from the sack, it will determine which dragon you will face."
He extended the sack to Fleur, saying "Ladies first." Fleur picked out a green dragon that seemed to be alive!
"The Welsh Green," said Fudge amiably as he turned to Angelina. Angelina reached in. The figures were moving! She felt a sharp prick from one of the dragon figures. Angrily she grabbed it, pulling it out. It was a vicious looking black dragon with many spikes, and it was biting her forefinger!
"The Hungarian Horntail," said Fudge, nonplussed. Angelina scowled. She should have avoided this one obviously, but she had made a kneejerk reaction. Stupid.
Krum picked the Chinese Fireball, a red dragon, while Cedric picked the Swedish Short-Snout.
"Very good," said Fudge, "The order will be Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour, Viktor Krum, then Angelina Johnson. We will prepare the arena."
He and Bertha Jorkins both spun around and left the tent. As they left, Angelina absently noticed that Professor Solaire was gone.
XXXXX
Morgana had taken to her raven form. She had been growing more and more concerned about Harriet's growing relationship with Angelina. Hermione was one thing, Harriet had been very close to her beforehand. But Harriet seemed to be getting closer to Angelina. It had taken Morgana ages to understand, but Harriet's will had actually been strengthened by the peril Angelina had been placed in. It was giving her a portion of her mind not under the geas.
So Angelina needed to be removed from peril. And as Morgana quietly changed back into her own form and began casting spells on the Hungarian Horntail, she knew exactly how she was going to remove Angelina from peril. Permanently.
XXXXX
Harriet, Hermione and Ron were sitting together in the stands. It was the first time they had done something together outside their classes or the self defense meetings in weeks. Hermione had been spending a lot of time in the library with Neville. Apparently they had been engaged in some sort of Herbology extra credit assignment to find the strangest magical plant ingredients that they could. Neville had won, largely on his discovery of a strange plant called gillyweed. Harriet had been spending a lot of time with Ron or Parvati.
Ron was not noticeably being weird anymore, which actually worried Harriet a lot. She seriously doubted that he had lost interest in her, so he must be planning something. Which meant he was probably going to invite her to the Yule Ball. Harriet had quickly gone to Hermione, who had affirmed that she had no intention of going to the Yule Ball with anyone. So Harriet had made it very loudly known that she was going to just go with her girlfriends. Problem solved.
Fred, George, Lee and Alicia were all sitting in front of Harriet and her friends, with Katie Bell along for once. Which meant they were up to something. In fact, Harriet knew that the twins had done something, because they had returned her invisibility cloak this morning. Well, first they had tried to climb the stairs up the girls' side of the tower under the cloak, which had not worked at all.
Barty Crouch Sr. had come out to the judges box and was addressing the crowd. He had replaced his son as judge, much as Fudge had replaced Bagman. Ostensibly this was because of Barty Jr.'s poor security on the Goblet of Fire. Realistically, everyone in the know knew that Crouch Jr. was probably responsible for that whole fiasco, so he had been taken off the Tournament detail, and the Minister had taken it up.
Harriet looked around and saw Sirius in the back of the judge's box. He wasn't a judge, but was here as a representative of the Board of Governors.
"Please rise as we honor the three schools!" shouted Crouch.
Before them lay an arena, suddenly uncloaked and visible to their eyes. It had a series of rugged rocks, including a broad plateau in the center, with a craggy bit of rocks with a huge nest built into it. Little ravines and defiles were dug all around into the rocks, but none were particularly close to the nest. The closest, which was about 20 yards from the nest, was on the side closest to the stands. Here the ascent onto the plateau was steepest, almost 45 degrees, but with enough handholds that the side could easily be scaled by a healthy participant. At all other points the slope was gentler, but the distance to the nest was twice as great, and the cover far more dubious. A large spot was next to the nest, and it was flat here. Presumably for the dragon.
Across the arena was a tunnel which led into and out of the floor, back towards the Champion's tent. And it was above this, but to the left, that a giant banner bearing the crest of Beauxbatons suddenly unfurled, slowly, as the school song of Beauxbatons played. It was a light, pretty song, perfectly fitting the fairy tale reputation of Beauxbatons.
Next came the unfurling of the Durmstrang Banner. Their school song was low pitched and deep, reflecting the long traditions of Norsemen. Harriet was quite moved by the music as the banner slowly descended directly over the tunnel.
Finally the Hogwarts banner began to unfurl, to the right above the tunnel. The Hogwarts school song began to play, every bit as much of a random cacophony of song as ever. However, there was something wrong with the Hogwarts Crest.
The snake of Slytherin on the Crest was uncommonly straight, and had a somewhat unusual head. It took Harriet a moment to realise that the snake had been replaced with a phallus. Harriet could see that McGonagall's face had gone white. Professor Flitwick on the other hand seemed extremely amused.
When the banner finished unfurling and the song reached its most exuberant moment, suddenly the Gryffindor Lion roared, The Raveclaw eagle cried, and the Hufflepuff clawed. And the Slytherin willy… stuck out its forked snake tongue, which divided and curved, as if it was a fountain.
"Stand up for Slytherin," joked Harriet quietly.
Across the stands, Harriet could see almost everyone was laughing. Even a few of the Slytherins, like Astoria Greengrass and Blaise Zabini seemed to think it was funny. McGonagall was now glaring at the twins, but she had to know that she would never be able to prove it was them. Flitwick flew up to the banner and, with a few flicks of his wand, the Slytherin symbol was a snake again.
Hermione had heard Harriet's joke. She shook her head, but the smile on her face was huge.
"For one shining moment, Slytherin House had a symbol that properly represented it," said Hermione, "A wanking cock."
"Hermione!" chided Harriet fakely, "Such rude language."
"I'm entitled," said Hermione wearily.
Harriet laughed and patted her friend on the back. Hermione laughed back, seemingly a bit embarrassed and a little unable to believe what she had just said.
Dragon handlers marched in smartly, levitating eggs into the nest carefully. Last of all they placed a large golden egg. Then they moved the dragon in from a large side entrance, chaining it on top of the plateau. The dragon was a silvery blue colour, and had what looked like a flattened face.
"That's a Swedish Short-Snout," said Ron, "Charlie says they have a weaker sense of smell than other dragons, but very good sight, including infa-red vision. Very useful in the North where cold weather can obscure the normal senses."
The dragon seemed fairly docile, even with the crowd around. Which made sense, as nesting dragons rarely hunted. Unless you intruded on her nest space, she couldn't care any less if people were about.
Fudge was explaining the rules as all this was going on. They seemed straightforward enough. Harriet was not particularly worried about this dragon either. It seemed relatively safe, as far as dragons went.
"First up," said Fudge, "Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts!"
The tunnel opened, and Cedric walked into the arena. The dragon eyed him suspiciously, and Cedric ducked into one of the ravines. Harriet sympathized. The dragon probably looked much larger from inside the arena and below the dragon.
Cedric popped his head over the edge of the ravine. He still wasn't close enough to trigger a response from the dragon, but it was eyeing him carefully. Cedric popped his head down and wasn't seen for many moments. Finally he popped up again, this time close to the slope up the mini plateau. There wasn't enough cover over here to have a real chance of dodging the dragon. But he wasn't trying to dodge. He cast a single spell, towards a boulder. And suddenly that boulder had become a small dog. The dog began to bark at the dragon, and immediately ran away from the nest. The dragon's eyes flared, and it immediately lunged for the dog, but the dog was too quick.
With the dragon distracted, Cedric began ascending the slope as quickly as he could move while hunched down. He made it to the nest without incident. But even as he grabbed the golden egg, the dragon turned around, stone crumbling from its mouth. It had caught the transfigured dog on the edge of the ravine, and it had reverted to its natural form.
Cedric ran back across the plateau, directly towards the tunnel, perhaps the worst decision he could have made save charging the dragon. If the dragon had remained distracted for a few seconds more he could have made the tunnel with only a scratch or flame mark, but as it was the dragon caught up with him three-fourths of the way back to the tunnel. Cedric managed to dodge the dragon's claws quite skilfully, but they still made their mark. The claw slid across his back, leaving a wicked looking, but probably not very deep gash across it. But the claw also got hung up in Cedric's robes.
With a scream of exertion, Cedric pulled forward. His robes tore off as he and the dragon pulled opposite ways. He jumped and skipped his way back towards the tunnel. But the stands had broken out into laughter. Cedric had 'dressed like a pureblood' today. He wasn't wearing pants. So the entire audience was treated to the sight of his bare bottom and occasional glimpses of dangly bits between his legs as he fled into the tunnel.
Immediately dragon tamers ran out and began to cast spells on the dragon, moving her out of the arena quickly. The judges all huddled together to figure out how to score this. In the stands, all of Harriet's friends agreed that it was no less than Cedric deserved for refusing their help. Alicia and Katie started an argument over whether they had been able to see his actual penis; Katie insisting it had been long enough to be visible, but Alicia arguing that it couldn't be that long. But Harriet herself felt that she wasn't interested in all that. It had been enough to see him embarrassed (literally bare assed at that), and now she should try to mend fences with Cedric, somehow.
The judges posted their scores, and apparently they had come to some consensus. Dumbledore and Fudge rated Cedric a 7 each, while Crouch rated him a 6. Maxine and Wisner both rated him 5.
"Should have been a six at the least," said Hermione, "He did do it very quickly, and it was a clever plan. If the arena had been shaped differently the dragon might not have caught the dog."
The tamers had replaced the eggs in the nest, and now they were bringing in a smaller green dragon.
"A Welsh Green," said Ron, "The only dragon native to the British Islands. Smart for dragons, and they can aim the fire from those nostrils very accurately. They come close to being ambush predators, or as close as any dragon becomes."
"Charlie really had dragons on the brain for you to remember all this, didn't he?" asked Harriet.
"You have no idea," said Fred and George simultaneously.
"Mealtimes were constant dragon fact times," said Ginny from a few places down.
"The males are poisonous," said Ron.
"You mean venomous," corrected Hermione, "unless you plan to eat a Welsh Green."
Ron flushed, but he laughed it off with his brothers.
"Next," said Fudge, "Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons."
Fleur walked out confidently, not trying to hide. The dragon eyed her, but didn't seem particularly threatened. Fleur pulled out her wand and pointed it squarely at the dragon. And with a twitch of her wand, the dragon slumped, and fell asleep.
The crowd erupted in cheers (much to Fleur's annoyance) but the dragon stayed sleeping. Hermione nodded in approval.
"The one thing I read was that dragons are very easily affected by mind altering spells," said Hermione, "A very clever use of magic."
However, the danger wasn't quite over. As Fleur made her way to the nest, the dragon began to snore. And with its snores came a gout of fire, right at Fleur. Luckily a rock was in the way, but the fire pushed past it and continued towards Fleur.
Still, the presence of that rock had bought Fleur time to pull out her wand, and swing her robes about to shield her. The robes caught on fire, but with a deft cut from Fleur's wand they came free and she flung them away. Luckily for Fleur, and unluckily for all those attracted to women in the stadium, Fleur had been a bit more foresighted than Cedric. She had been wearing a sports bra and athletic shorts underneath her robes. They were tight, and Harriet suppressed an urge to stare at Fleur's relatively toned abdomen, but there was certainly nothing scandalous on display here.
Fleur waved to the crowd as she grabbed the egg, then made her way to the steep slope and ravine. She didn't want a second run-in with dragon fire. She sprinted back to the tunnel, easily beating Cedric's time by several seconds.
The judges conferred, and Fleur made her way up to the judges stand, still dressed in her athletic wear. Harriet leaned back, trying to hide her attraction to this girl. She felt a hand in the center of her back. It was Parvati, and Harriet leaned back onto it. That simple action had snapped her back to normalcy.
Madame Maxine was also noticing Fleur's outfit, but far more negatively. She glared at her, but didn't say anything. She knew Fleur would be tough to beat and didn't want to spoil the mood.
"We did not detract as many points as we did with Cedric because you were not injured, and you cut your own robes off," said Dumbledore before they displayed the scores: three 9's from Dumbledore, Fudge and Maxine, an 8 from Crouch and a 7 from Wisner.
The tamers had taken a fair amount of time to move the Welsh Green, largely because they had needed to wake it up safely. As Fleur left the stage they were just then clearing away the remaining eggs. It didn't take too long, and then they brought in a more elongated red dragon.
"Blimey, a Chinese Fireball!" said Ron, "They're really rare in the west. Can't create a stream of fire, but instead can let out a big fireball every few minutes. Damn good noses as well."
"Won't be easy to fool," said Harriet.
"Next up," said Fudge, "Viktor Krum of Durmstrang."
Viktor Krum walked out confidently, but his first action was to scan the arena with his eyes. Then he looked up at the stands. His eyes stopped when they landed on Harriet and her friends for a moment, then continued on. Then Krum dashed into the ravine that ran along the steep side of the nest. The dragon stirred, but didn't otherwise react.
Soon they could see Krum make his way quickly along the steep side of the ravine. He climbed up and poked his head over the side of the plateau. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at the dragon, and silently cast a spell.
Harriet immediately recognized the spell from its effect on the dragon. A Conjunctivitis Curse, a spell that temporarily blinded an enemy by irritating their eyes. A dragon's eyes would be vulnerable to it, but most dragons could hear and smell exceptionally well. It was very risky.
The dragon began stumbling around blind, looking for who had attacked it. Krum leapt up to the plateau and began running for the nest. He reached it without incident and put his hands on the Golden Egg. As he lifted it, it made a loud scraping noise against a branch in the nest.
The dragon's head snapped around and the dragon rushed towards the nest. Krum fell back toward the ravine at a run. The dragon, unable to see, crashed through the nest in pursuit of Krum, smashing several eggs. She let forth a blast of fire, but Krum had already leapt into the ravine and was now running around the corner towards the tunnel. The dragon howled angrily as Krum made good his escape.
The dragon handlers were back now and began calming and removing the angry dragon. Meanwhile the judges were scoring the match, and in deep consultation. Wisner seemed very animated. Krum emerged, to riotous cheers from the stands.
"There will be a deduction," said Dumbledore, "due to the smashing of those eggs. However, as the rest of the run was very clean, there will only be moderate penalties.
Wisner gave Krum an 8, while Crouch Dumbledore and Fudge gave him 7's. Madame Maxine gave him a 6. He was in second place, behind Fleur.
Harriet watched as the dragon handlers cleaned up after the broken eggs. She felt somewhat bad that the dragon had destroyed its own eggs, and was now a bit disillusioned with this whole endeavor.
After a while the mess was cleaned up, but there was a significant wait. Finally the last dragon was brought in, covered in heavy chains. The dragon was huge, and it had black scales.
"That's a Hungarian Horntail," said Ron, his voice strangely quiet, "They're really aggressive, very fast, and have incredible hearing. This… this dragon is a completely different animal than the previous three. This is not a fair challenge for Angelina."
Harriet's heart sank. This was very bad.
The handlers removed the heavy chains, only leaving the chain from the arena holding the dragon, then fled.
"Now!" said Fred.
Fred, George, Lee, Alicia and Katie leapt to their feet and turned towards the crowd. Then all of them opened their robes as they shuffled into a different order. All of them had trousers on, thankfully, but none of them were wearing shirts, though the girls did have bras on. On each of their bellies was a painted letter. Fred had a capital A, Alicia an n, George a g, Lee an i, and Katie an e.
The Gryffindors all cheered. Harriet giggled as she realised that Ron was blushing as his eyes were exactly at level with Katie's breasts. Her bra wasn't exactly daring or anything, but that small bit of cleavage was a bit too much for poor Ron.
The five switched spots and turned to face the arena, just as Fudge shouted, "And last, from Hogwarts, Angelina Johnson."
Angelina walked out calmly. She looked up and saw her friends. She gave them a nod, and they all sat down, none of them bothering to close their robes.
Angelina looked at the dragon, then narrowed her eyes. Going on the ground must have seemed like a very bad idea. She pointed her wand up, then shouted, " Accio Broom!" She then pointed her wand at the dragon.
" Pax Draconis," cast Angelina.
The spell should have caused the dragon to stand down. Instead, it went into a frenzy. It lunged at Angelina, who leapt into the furthest ravine. The dragon reached the end of its chain and couldn't reach Angelina so it tried to breathe fire into the trench. Couldn't quite get there either. But as Angelina moved to the ravine near the nest, the dragon followed her movements. It could hear her.
But then Harriet could see the dragon's eyes. In those eyes was no cunning. Just a frenzied hate. And it hit her.
"RIGGED!" screamed Harriet as she leapt to her feet, "SOMEONE HAS TAMPERED WITH THAT DRAGON!"
It was obvious that the judges agreed with this, as they were standing and pointing in the judges box, but it wasn't clear what they could do. Morgan walked into the stands and casually cast a shield charm over the whole thing. Dumbledore nodded to her in thanks.
Suddenly a large missile flew into the arena. It was Angelina's broom! Angelina snagged the broom from the air and leapt astride it in a single motion. She rocketed out of the ravine.
The dragon was ready. It unleashed fire at her, but Angelina pulled up abruptly. The fire hit the shielded stands. Harriet realised that they probably would have died had Morgan not been there.
The dragon began to take flight after Angelina, but it would not make it far before it came to the end of its chain. Unfortunately, the chain, weakened from being used in the first three tasks, was not up to this new assault. It snapped, and the dragon followed Angelina over the tops of the stands.
For a minute or so, Harriet could not see what was going on. There were sounds of fire, and roars of fury, but nothing else. Then Angelina suddenly dashed back into the arena. She seemed completely unharmed. The dragon was right behind her, but she swept by the nest and scooped up the Golden Egg without slowing down. She flew straight on right into the tunnel.
Everyone let out a cheer, for it seemed as if Angelina was safe. Dragon handlers spilled into the arena and tried to calm the dragon. But it charged forward, smashing into the tunnel and breaking out into the area beyond, near the Champion's tent. Angelina looked completely shocked, and was standing out in the open, the dragon advancing on her.
Harriet didn't ever really think about what she was doing, she just leapt to her feet, vaulted over the first row of seats and jumped down into the arena.
"NO!" screamed Sirius from the judges box.
Harriet ignored him as she landed on the plateau. She rushed to the middle, where she could see the dragon clearly. Angelina had taken shelter behind a hastily constructed wall, but the dragon was pushing its way through the ruins of the side of the arena.
Harriet lifted her wand and gathered every bit of power she could. "STOP!" she roared, as she put all her will into making it happen. The crowd went silent as her voice boomed in the arena.
The dragon turned around and began advancing on Harriet. Harriet stood her ground, gathered her power, and shouted out, "I SAID STOP!"
The dragon suddenly stopped, and bowed. The dragon handlers began throwing the massive chains back on the dragon. The frenzy left the massive dragon's face.
And everyone in the arena began talking all at once. Most of the spectators were staring at Harriet with what seemed to be awe. But most of the Slytherins looked decidedly nervous. Draco and his friends were the only group from Slytherin that showed neither emotion, with Draco himself looking thoughtful.
Sirius and Morgan ran down to the arena, from different directions.
"Amazing!" shouted Morgan, "You modified your face, used an aura, and cast a Word of Command, all at the same time! You should have seen the fire in your eyes."
"The magic may have been impressive, but what the hell were you thinking Harriet!" screamed Sirius.
"I had to save Angelina," said Harriet.
"Dumbledore had reached her!" screamed Sirius, and sure enough, Harriet could see Dumbledore helping Angelina back into the arena.
"You don't have to fix everything!" shouted Sirius, less angry and more pleading now, "You do not have the control yet to guarantee that what you are doing is going to work. So far you have been lucky. But your luck can't last forever."
And suddenly Sirius threw his arms around Harriet and pulled her close to him. "You are like a daughter to me," he said quietly, "I could not bear it if something happened to you. Do you understand?"
"You've been a father to me," whispered Harriet, "Dad."
There was a long pause. "I am grateful that you think of me that way," said Sirius as he pulled out of the hug, "Don't think I am not. But please, don't call me Dad again. I…"
Sirius' voice broke as tears formed on his eyes. "I really can't bear it," he said finally, "You will always be James and Lily's daughter to me, and James will always be your Dad. I can't replace him, I just can't."
"Fine...Sirius," said Harriet sadly. And then she kissed Sirius on the cheek and walked over towards Angelina, who was approaching with the Golden Egg in her arms.
"You saved my life Potter," said Angelina with a wry smile.
"It was nothing," said an embarrassed Harriet.
"It wasn't nothing," said Angelina, "How did you do that? First you jump that trench…"
Harriet looked back at the ravine she had leapt and realised she had jumped much further than she had remembered. It was almost ten metres!
"... then you stop the dragon in her tracks," finished Angeline.
"I just wanted it to stop," said Harriet.
"No mere beast can defeat a sorceress that has come into her power," said Morgan.
"A Hungarian Horntail is no mere beast," said Sirius angrily, "You need to be teaching Harriet caution and control."
"She does," insisted Harriet at the same time Morgan said, "I do."
"It may be that I am overly excited by Harriet's power," said Morgan, "It reminds me of… my brother's. I have been showing her how to use and control all these new elements. But her heart, that I cannot control. She will leap to the aid of those she loves without hesitation, every time."
Morgan impaled Sirius with her glare. "I will protect her from whatever other threat I may, but I swear to you Sirius Black, I swear on the grave of my brother, I will never stop her from protecting those she loves, nor will I try to convince her to stop doing so. She has a strong heart, and that more than any other power will defeat Voldemort."
Sirius sighed, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "I know, I know, but I want to protect her."
"She gets her heart from you Sirius," said Morgan, "Would you back down?"
"Maybe she gets her will from me," said Sirius, "Her heart she gets from her mother. I was never near as good a person as her…"
Suddenly the judges came up, Fudge with his wand to his neck. "Our judges have scored Miss Johnson."
Each judge held up a number. Three 10's from Dumbledore, Fudge and Maxine, and two 9's from Wisner and Crouch.
"You won!" shouted Harriet, giving Angelina a big hug. Angelina happily returned it.
XXXXX
The party in the Gryffindor common room was spectacular. Fred and George had gone all out with the drinks and snacks, and several people had even gotten mildly inebriated. All in all, it was a great party. There was music, dancing, bad singing and some drunken snogging by older students.
But the centerpiece of the whole thing was Angelina opening the Golden Egg. Instead of a clue, however, it made a horrible screeching noise. It was so loud that Hermione jumped into Harriet's arms in fright. Harriet held her close for several long moments before Hermione got embarrassed and let go. Harriet laughed. Maybe she would tell Hermione how she felt about her at the Yule Ball.
Little did she know how very wrong that was all about to go.