Thus the days passed, and November 24 had arrived. Classes had been cancelled for the day, as well as the next. Giving the students a four day weekend. At around half ten the champions were led to the quidditch pitch. Once inside a nearby tent they were greeted by Mr. Bagman, the happy idiot as Harry began to think of him.

"Morning! Great day for this I must say, smashing really! Alright, let us get on with it. Today I am excited to say you will be dealing with Dragons!" Harry's head shot up. Dragons. Merlin, this was going to be different. Looking around, Harry noticed that both the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts champions were not surprised. So much for not knowing ahead of time. Oh well. "Now each pair will have to handle their dragon while they grab one of these." Bagman grabbed a large golden egg. Great, they had to steal an egg from a dragon, literally one of the most dangerous actions in the world. "Now you will be marked by each judge, time will be a factor, overall idea, amount of other eggs destroyed, and amount of damage you take. So be careful, Any questions?" Be careful, wonderful advice. Harry really wondered how this man could be a ministry employee. If he was an example of the men in control of British ministry it was a wonder it hadn't fallen in on itself. "No? Alright ladies first Ms. Delacour." The Beauxbatons girl pulled a little charmed statue of an Antipodean Opaleye, the bag shifted to the Hogwarts group who pulled a Hungarian Horntail. Finally the bag was moved to Harry, who pulled out a Ukrainian Ironbelly. "Oh, good. You will have a few minutes to plan, I will call your groups out when it's your turn. Best of Luck! And, Henry, might I have word?" As Bagman spoke to Potter, Harry and Viktor quickly conversed. Eventually they reached a plan that worked to both their skills, Harry's knowledge of random spells and Viktor's transfiguration. Turning to look at the others, Harry saw Bagman had left and everyone was getting ready.

Bagman's voice boomed from the outside thanking everyone for coming and briefly explaining the task. Soon Bagman called out the Beauxbatons' Champions. The roar of applause indicated more than just the Hogwarts students were in attendance. Then a large gong sounded and the task began. From Bagman's description it sounded as if the two had attempted to charm the dragon, which seemed to work until right near the end when the dragon broke the enchantment. So after it was Henry and Diggory. They seemed to try and distract the dragon, while the other flew to the egg. Harry shook his head, bad idea; dragons were creatures that thrived in the air, by flying around it you were basically challenging it. Still it seemed to work.

"And, last but not least, we give you the Durmstrang Champions: Viktor Krum and Harold Black!" As Harry and Viktor walked out they saw the beast. It was chained to its side of the arena, slightly helping their plan. The two moved together up into the arena a bit. The gong rang, and Harry blocked everything else out. They were still far enough away that the dragon had not advanced away from the nest. Harry began his incantation. He had been lucky that this was a spell that Professor Selwyn had taught him before leaving Durmstrang. Pointing at the ground before him the rock started to melt, and in its place molten lava started to form. When the pool started to get big enough he shot the lava up and out towards the dragon. The Dragon, thinking a large beast was attacked, raised up to present its size. The lava collided with it, pushing it back to the arena wall. During this Viktor ran forward keeping in range of the beast. Once it hit the wall he began to transfigure the lava in solid tungsten,. As more lava piled up he started to transfigure chains and wrap them around the beast and tie it to the wall.

The spell Harry was casting was very taxing, but he knew that Viktor's transfiguration was just as hard. The nature of the lava made the transfiguration easier, but tungsten was still one of the hardest metals to transfigure, couple that with being in range of a dragon and you had a very hard job. Ths shakes were the first sign that Harry was nearing his limit, but he persisted. Viktor was now chaining the head to look away from them. Soon the dizziness came and Harry started to lose control. He quickly stopped sending the molten rock at the beast and started to slow the spell down and dissipate the heat. Eventually that proved too much and Harry dropped to his knees.

As the dizziness receded Harry looked up: the Dragon was encased against the side of the arena, Viktor had the egg and was walking towards him. Soon the sound came back to him and Harry heard the applause. Bagman was shouting about the pure strength of the Durmstrang champions. Viktor reached Harry and pulled him up. Soon several aurors and dragon keepers were there shepherding them out of the arena and into a tent.

Inside were the other champions and a few medical personnel. One lady was going on about dementors and dragons, which seemed odd. Not the dragons part, but Harry had no idea what she meant by dementors. When she made her way over to the two she seemed surprised that the only thing wrong with them was magical exhaustion.

"Rest. Tonight and tomorrow, and no major magic." Looking around Harry noticed that Fleur was looking decent, a few singed hairs, her partner had some wicked burns on his back. Cedric had some burns, and Henry looked like he took some heat but better than Diggory or Jacques. After about half an hour they were called out for their scores. Bagman started announcing once again.

"And, now ladies and gentlemen for the scores. For Beauxbatons who used a sleeping charm to put the dragon to sleep, which ultimately wore off as they almost had the egg we award:" Turning to the other judges each shot a number out of their wands; Maxime an 8, Crouch a 6, Dumbledore a 7, Bagman 7, and Kirillovich an 7. "35 out of 50! Now onto Hogwarts, who had Diggory distracting the beast with wolf transfigurations while Potter grabbed the egg. Which ultimately worked, but some eggs were destroyed and both took some heat, we give:" Maxime an 8, Crouch 7, Dumbledore 8, Bagman 9, Kirillovich 7, "39 of of 50, and lastly to Durmstrang which used transfiguration and umm… lava to subdue the dragon, which worked, but some eggs were destroyed by some of the lava we give:" Maxime 8, Crouch 9, Dumbledore 9, Bagman 8, Kirillovich 9, "43 out of 50! So Durmstrang leads, followed by Hogwarts, and lastly Beauxbatons. Our second task will take place in February, and champions the eggs are your hints!" With that the champions moved on. Each was soon descended upon by their families. Aunt Dorea engulfed Harry and they made their way off to somewhere quieter. She was pleased with his performance, not so much due to his skills, but more so the strategy as it had kept him out of range of the dragon.

Harry eventually told her what had occurred between himself and Sirius. She clucked her tongue in annoyance, but said he did well, though the comments about squibs could come back to haunt them. Overall, he should not worry about it. Eventually it was time for supper so Dorea took her leave and Harry made his way to the castle.

Arriving, Harry noticed he was one of the last. Soon as one of the Durmstrang students saw him the applause started. Harry quickly dashed over to the Slytherin table and sat with Draco and Daphne. Klaus was near enough that Harry quickly asked him what was that for.

"Ah don't worry, we gave Viktor applause, too. It is for showing everyone that Durmstrang is the greatest." Harry nodded, if Viktor had applause as well then he wasn't being singled out which was good.

"Harry what spell did you cast? I have never seen anything like it." Daphne asked, shifting Harry's attention.

"Oh, it is the Narya iz Anor. It is a spell that I learned at the beginning of this year, before we came to Hogwarts. It allows the making and control of fire, heat, and other related things, like the lava. It is probably one of the most complex spells I have learned."

"Were you repeatedly casting it? It looked like you were speaking the entire time." Draco decided to join in.

"Sort of. The spell is almost like a ritual: the incantation is long, and then there is a portion you repeat until the spell ends."

"Quite the spell. Do all fourth year Durmstrang students know such spells?"

"Ah, no. I don't think it is part of any of the curriculums actually. Professor Selwyn has me working on a modified program. Some spells are just ones he knows of and has taught me. That one was a real pain to learn, too. I spent nearly 5 full days worth of study throughout the first two months solely working on it." Both Draco and Daphne were looking at Harry oddly with that statement, so he quickly changed the topic. He started asking Daphne about her family. This seemed to draw Daphne in, but Draco settled back with an odd smirk on his face.

The rest of the meal was good. Harry spent most of talking to Daphne with the odd comments to the others around him. Eventually Dumbledore stood and addressed the crowd, "Good evening. I would like to first wish congratulations for all the champions on a splendid performance this afternoon. Few witches or wizards could have done what you all did, and you should be proud of your accomplishments." Dumbledore raised his goblet, which soon the whole hall mirrored, "Now two further announcements. The first is on Sunday there will be a duelling competition. Anyone may enter, as there will be three brackets; One for the first and second years, the second for the third, fourth, and fifth years, followed by the sixth and seventh years. If you are not planning to compete you may spectate as there will be food and drinks throughout the event. Also, the winner of each bracket will receive a prize chosen by Professors Flitwick and Selwyn. Again, my congratulations to the champions!"