Last time on Black and White:

"Whatever, Krum, have fun." Andrew said waving the boy away.

What Andrew didn't see was the wide eyed, extremely excited Rita Skeeter standing not too far away from where the pair had their little dispute. She couldn't find an angle with his lawyer there, bloody Li. But this, this was an angle she didn't think about it.

Youngest professional seeker vs youngest seeker in a century. This would be a fantastic issue of the Daily Prophet, she just hoped the Bulgarian would tell her all she would like to hear.


Book 4 – Chapter 17 : Studying and Strategies

Dear Andrew

Meet me by my hut tonight at 11:30, borrow Harry's cloak.

Hagrid

Andrew read and reread the letter multiple times, he blinked and looked up at the teacher's table and saw Hagrid shoot him a nod before turning back to his breakfast.

"What's that?" Harry asked curiously.

"A letter from Hagrid, he wants me to meet him tonight." Andrew answered with a frown.

"What do you suppose it's about?" Ron asked this time.

"Not sure, but with only a week left until the first task, well I can guess it has to do with that."

"Hmm, well, I did hear from the twins that Charlie was back in England... You don't think..." Ron asked, paling slightly.

"Dragons..." Harry whispered tightly.

"No... they wouldn't be that stupid... right?" Hermione asked once she swallowed her bite of toast.

"Well, the last tournament had the champions hunt down and fight a rogue Wendigo..." Andrew replied, his throat constricting as the words left his mouth.

There was a beat of silence before Hermione spoke again. "They're morons."

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The day passed relatively smoothly for all except Andrew who was practically on auto-pilot as his mind was stuck on the possibility that he would have to battle a dragon. He truly hated adults. He was now stuck between a rock and a 40 ton dragon, did he ask Dumbledore for help? Would that put Hagrid in trouble? He had to have a reason for knowing about the Dragons... he'd think of something.

That night, after a quick nod from his brother Andrew left the tower under the cloak and made his way out of the castle and walked along the path to Hagrid's house. Once he made it to the door he knocked and was rewarded with a rather dapper looking Hagrid who answered the door.

"Hello?" the large man answered, rather excitedly.

"Hagrid, it's me." Andrew answered, revealing his head.

"Oh, Andrew. Good, good. Get ready, we're leaving soon."

"Alright. By the way, why do you look so good tonight? And... did you comb your hair?"

Andrew could see Hagrid's large blush before he waved his hand at his questions. "Don't worry about all of that. Now, come on get under the cloak and follow me."

Shrugging, Andrew complied and followed the large man into the forest. They trekked for a little while until Andrew felt it. The ripples of a ward passing over him, they were rather powerful and for good reason seeing as how the roar he heard next could have easily been heard from the castle if the wards weren't in place.

"Holy fuck." he hissed as the power of the roar caused his body to vibrate slightly.

"'Agrid! Oh, 'Agrid, 'ow worried I was zat you would not come."

"Ah, Appoline, I told ye, I'd come, didn't I?"

Andrew watched in morbid fascination, the fear of the dragons, temporarily forgotten as he witnessed Hagrid and the Beauxbatons headmistress kiss. Did they have bleach at the castle? He'd need to rinse his eyes out when he got the chance. For God sake, stop!

The two finally pulled apart and Appoline – as Hagrid affectionately called her – pulled the ground's keepers hand as she led him to the source of the yelling and angry roars.

"Beautiful, are zey not?" she asked, her tone indicating that she really found the beasts to be beautiful.

"Aye, but not as beautiful as you." Hagrid responded sweetly.

Andrew wanted to gag but quickly held himself back and turned back to the man eating creatures in front of him. He watched as Headmistress Maxime, moved closer and prevented Hagrid from moving for a second.

"Fucking dragons?! So Ron was right..."

"Aye, I brought you here so you'd know. Ron knew?"

"He'd heard that Charlie; his brother, was back... but we didn't want to believe that it was because of..."

"Well, now you know, now you have a fighting chance." Hagrid replied with a nod.

"Can you tell me the breeds? I assume not all dragons are the same." Andrew said with a tired sigh.

"Okay, there's the Chinese Fireball, the Welsh Green, Swedish Short-Snout and the Hungarian Horntail. You'll be wanting to do yer own research on 'em though, don't know much unfortunately."

"Alright, thanks for showing me this, Hagrid. I should probably head back. Only have a few days after all." Andrew said with a small shake of his head. Once he had made his way back to the common room, Andrew found it rather difficult to once again fall asleep.

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The next morning was thankfully a Saturday and when he woke Andrew immediately sought help from Hermione, Ron, Harry, Su and even Luna. She was an eccentric person, but hey, better to have flexibility then a plan that was more than likely to fail.

Once he had tracked everyone down he led them all to the library. He then proceeded to give everyone a task. Harry and Ron worked on the Chinese Fireball, Su and Luna looked for information about the Welsh Green and he and Hermione would tackle the Swedish Short-Snout.

"What about the Horntail?" Ron asked after the roles had been assigned.

"Since, they're usually the biggest and baddest of the bunch, I figured I'd tackle it alone once I have more information on the others." Andrew answered before everyone nodded in agreement.

They split off and found various Dragon books and proceeded to look for, categorize and take notes of the Dragons they were each assigned. The process took half the day until Andrew felt he had enough information about the three Dragons to start looking for ways to get around them.

He sent the others off and began looking at the notes before he was joined by Hermione. Looking up he blinked in confusion.

"Don't you have an essay to write?" he asked her curiously.

"I could ask you the same question." she retorted.

"I'm actually exempt from classes this year. Cause of the tournament and all, but I am still required to take the exam end of the school year. Which is rather stupid if you ask me." he said with a small laugh.

"Well, like I've said, witches and wizards lack common sense. Anyway, let's see what we can do about this dragon issue, hmm?"

Andrew was about to speak again before Hermione cut him off.

"I finished my potions essay in History yesterday and I only have a page left to do on my Transfiguration work, which I'll crank out tonight. So don't worry about it." she told him.

After an amused look Andrew nodded.

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The Swedish Short-Snout is one of the more docile dragon breeds. As the name suggests, their noses are rather short which does not allow them to draw large amounts of breath for a continuous stream of flames. Rather they are designed to let out short bursts of flames which cover higher distances in shorter amounts of time.

Unlike most dragons the Short-Snout does not rely on it's sense of smell, but rather it's eyes as it has one of the best eye sights among the dragon breeds. With a wingspan of about 100 meters the Short-Snout can travel up to speeds of 120 km per hour, slightly faster than average...

As Andrew placed the book down he looked up at Hermione, "So the best defense against this Dragon would probably be something like the disillusionment spell. If you took your time and didn't rush, you could get past it's defenses rather smoothly."

Hermione read the paragraph and nodded to Andrew's assessment.

"I agree." she then pulled out a spare sheet of parchment and a quill and quickly wrote on it. Turning his head slightly, Harry noticed that she had written down a few notes, specifically spells he would have to learn.

Disillusionment

Andrew then picked up another page, from Harry and Ron and noticed while it wasn't as long as his and Hermione's it had the necessary information he needed about the Fireball.

Small and agile, can move up to speeds of 100 km per hour.

Launches projectile like flames which can travel up to 40 km per hour depending on maturity.

Greatest advantage is it's nose, can smell prey from miles away and can see rather well in the dark.

Greatest disadvantage is it's ears, highly sensitive to loud noises and can be used against it to cause a distraction.

"Well, they didn't really put their all into this, did they?" Hermione asked with a raised brow.

"Not exactly, no. But they did give us everything we would need to work against the Fireball. Great sense of smell, so a disillusionment spell would be pretty useless against it, but with the ability to see well in the dark, that means it also has great vision." Andrew responded while looking over the notes, his brother and Ron had made.

"True, the only weakness really, is it's hearing... So something to do with that? It'd have to be continuous though, and from somewhere away from you, so it doesn't attack you on sight." Hermione said with a small frown.

"I think I have an idea on how to do that actually. It'll take a lot of practice, but I think I have it figured out."

"And... do you wish to share your idea?"

Andrew sighed, "An air horn." he answered simply.

"Air horn?"

"Yeah, I remember back in primary school, we had an officer come give us a demonstration of multiple things to do if we were ever in trouble. One of his suggestions was for us to get a small air horn and push it when we felt threatened. It was... very loud."

"Okay." Hermione said, nodding her head agreeing with his thought process. "But how do you intend to bring an air horn? You're only allowed a wand."

"Transfiguration." He answered simply. "Air horns use compressed air and a partially open gap in the horn section to produce that sound. So I should have it down soon, the only thing would be how to get it to move around so that the Fireball doesn't just charge me."

"You could charm it. Admittedly, it'll be harder to accomplish..."

"I'll speak to Flitwick later today and ask if he has any suggestions."

"Andrew, you can't... you aren't supposed to know about the task."

"Fuck that." Andrew responded, ignoring her look of disapproval. "If they weren't trying to kill us, I would give a damn... but ultimately, this is about my survival, I don't care if they don't approve."

"Fine, I see your point, just stop swearing so much." she told him sternly.

"It's been four years, my dear. What makes you think I'm going to stop anytime soon?" he asked with a smug look.

"Oh, I'll get you to stop swearing, one way or another."

"Ah, challenge accepted." Andrew responded with a small laugh. "Now, can we get back to this?" he asked, motioning to the parchment before them.

"Oh yeah, just hold on."

Hermione wrote two more items on the spell list:

Disillusionment

Transfiguration (Air horn)

Charms (animation)

After a second of thinking she decided to add one more to the list.

Air freshening spell

Andrew looked at her for an explanation.

"You need to be able to mask your smell, or it'll attack you without a seconds thought." she told him as if it were obvious.

"Okay, last but not least, The Welsh Green, by Luna and Su." Andrew said before pulling up the parchment.

Found in the vast fields of Ireland, The Walsh Green comes naturally equipped with the ability to blend in it's surroundings. Known for it's rather small but vicious nature, The Walsh Green is considered to be one of the most dangerous breeds of Dragon to currently exist, second only to the Hungarian Horntail in ferocity, and the Chinese Fire-Bolt in speed.

The Walsh Green has a defence mechanism in which it will literally spike it's own scales and become a ball, much like a hedgehog and roll towards it's opponents in order to crush or puncture them. If perfectly timed, a spell could be used to hit the soft meat beneath the scales to incapacitate the beast.

Much like the Short-Snout it has a weaker sense of smell but a higher sense of sight, and hearing to make up for it.

"Well, doesn't he sound, lovely?" Andrew muttered sarcastically.

Hermione didn't respond as she had now added Silencing spell to her list.

"That's all of them, I'll come back in a bit and read some more about the Horntail. See if I can maybe come up with a strategy against that."

Hermione paused in thought before turning back to Andrew.

"I don't think you should be researching that alone. Like you said, it's the biggest and baddest, you could miss something vital while looking alone. Let me and the others help. It's only one dragon, but I'm more than positive that the more people we have here, the better our chances at finding something useful."

Andrew seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding.

"That makes sense, don't know what I was thinking, earlier. But you're right. I'll ask the others to help out after supper. I think we all deserve a break from fire breathing lizards for a while." he answered with a smile before standing and stretching. He then collected the books and walked over to the shelves, placing them back before turning and waiting for Hermione to clean up the desk before lightly jogging over to meet him.

As the two left the library a figure emerged and smiled as they collected their bag and also made to leave.

"So without the girl, he would practically be useless." Viktor Krum's smile caught the attention of a few girls who swooned when they saw it. He ignored them, for favour of his thoughts. He would teach the brat a lesson, he would soon not forget. Granger was his ace in the hole, and Krum planned to take that ace away.

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Andrew and Hermione were able to convince the others of their need for help regarding the Hungarian Horntail and as such they held regular, study/research sessions in the library, much to the delight of Luna, who would be getting help from some of the highest ranked students academically from the previous year.

These sessions went on for a while, and before anyone knew it, Halloween was right around the corner. Which meant the tournament was only a few days away. At this point in time, Andrew and the others had come up with various degrees of strategies, they believed would work.

Ron suggested flying, which was immediately shot down.

"Why?!" the red head demanded hotly. "Harry and Andrew are the best fliers in the school, they could outrun it easily."

"Horntails have a flame distance of 50 meters... brooms are made of wood and twigs... see the issue?" Su replied with a raised brow.

Ron went red and started spluttering before Harry stepped in.

"Alright, brooms are out. How about disillusionment, like with the others?"

"Possibly, but it'd have to be overpowered to all hell, even a single slip and I'm dragon dinner." Andrew responded with a tired groan.

"We could have you learn Lumos Maxima... You know, blind it long enough to complete the task." Su threw out there.

Hermione seemed to nod at the idea. "Yeah, that could work."

"Still doesn't do anything for it's sense of smell, the hearing or the wicked addition of the man killing tail spikes." Andrew once again responded, this time, his face pressed up against the desk.

"Why don't you change the weather?" Luna suggested, speaking for the first time as she worked on her Charms essay.

The others paused before Hermione spoke gently. "Luna that spell doesn't exist, and not that I don't think Andrew could achieve it, I just don't think he'd be able to develop and master a spell like that in such a short period of time."

Su nodded her head in agreement before she saw Andrew's head shoot up from the table and look at Luna with a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place, but knew she didn't like. As she tried to figure out what the look meant, Harry spoke up.

"Dude, no, there's no spell like that-"

"Who said I had to use spell like that at all? Luna just suggested I change the weather." he said, his eyes sparkling whilst a planned formed behind them.

"And exactly how do you plan to do that without creating a weather spell?" Su asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, I mean, I'll have all the elements I'd need to cause rain, it's just all down to timing." he answered with a grin before standing. "Alright, thank you for your help everyone. I think it's time for me to start practising. Harry, I need your help. Let's go."

Before his brother could even think of protesting, Andrew grabbed him by the arm and led him out of the library while the others looked on in confusion and slight worry.

"Is he always like this?" Su asked, turning to Hermione and Ron who both looked at the exit with various degrees of worry on their faces.

"Yeah, but..." Ron started.

"It usually doesn't end well. Don't get me wrong, when those two have a goal in mind, they can achieve it rather quickly."

"But it's always ends up with one or both getting hurt."

Su looked back at the exit, her mind now back to it's previous state of worry.

"There isn't anything we can really do about it. I don't know how, but those two can get around this castle like no one else, except maybe Fred and George. Hey, how about we play a game of chess, help take your mind off, whatever they might be planning?" Ron asked turning to the Ravenclaw who was quickly becoming a regular in their friend group.

Su seemed to struggle with herself for a bit, before sighing and nodding her head. "Yeah sure, why not?" she relented as Ron smiled and pulled out a portable game from his bag before he began setting the pieces up.

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Andrew and Harry made their way to the Charms class and knocked before entering, the tiny professor sat at his desk and smiled when he noticed the boys enter.

"Ah, Andrew, Harry, it's been a while. How can I help you?" he asked.

"Sir, is there a place in the castle I can practice spells? And would you be able to help supervise? I might need some help with some of those spells." Andrew told the professor honestly.

Flitwick seemed to think for a moment before nodding his head.

"I have heard whispers of a mysterious room which appears in the seventh floor corridor, though, I can't say I know of the method to have the door appear. I assume, this is in relation to the first task in a little over a week from now?"

Andrew didn't see any reason to lie, besides why else would he be randomly practising new spells.

"Yes, sir."

"So you have been made aware of what the first task entails."

It wasn't a question, and Andrew knew that Flitwick already knew the answer anyway.

"Very well." Flitwick said with a nod, "I shall allow the two of you to use this room for your practice for the time being, until I am able to figure out how to access that room."

Flitwick raised his wand and all the desks and chairs in the room vanished, once again showing showing the boys that while Dumbledore was seen as the most powerful wizard alive currently, Flitwick was in no way, shape or form a slouch either.

"Now, what is the first spell, you are going to try?"

"Disillusionment, I think. It can be used against most of them..." he answered with a nod to Harry.

"Occulta sentia, is the incantation you are looking for. The wand movement, a simple flick of the wand." Flitwick informed them while he went back to grading his papers.

"Okay... Harry when I do this, what I need you to do is try to find and hex me, okay?"

Harry nodded. "No problem."

Andrew sighed and took another breath to silence his nerves before tapping to the top of his head and whispering the incantation. He felt the sensation of what felt like a broken egg running over his body before it finally stopped and he looked down at his hands and found them to be, while not invisible, clear all the way through, as if he were looking through a very clear glass.

He looked up and began slowly moving around, his plan was to make it behind Harry and cast a stinging hex, right at his-

"Ow, dammit!" Andrew cursed rubbing the section of his chest which was hit by his brother's hex.

"I can see and hear you moving. You either need to be slower or the charm needs to be applied at a higher power." Harry told him with a small grin.

Grumbling, Andrew cast a finite on himself and watched the charm wash off him before looking at his brother.

"A rather valiant, first attempt though. Keep it up and you should be ready to go by no time." Flitwick told him with a small grin. "Harry how about this time, you close your eyes and when Andrew has applied the spell I will tell you and you can then attempt to find and hex him?"

Harry nodded in agreement and closed his eyes tightly waiting for the signal to go.

Andrew nodded at his professor and moved to a different section of the room, he once again cast the spell and waited a few extra seconds before Flitwick informed Harry that his brother was ready. Andrew watched as Harry looked around cautiously looking for any hint of his brother. When he turned his back, Andrew began moving closer. He crept like a lion stalking his prey, pausing every now again, when Harry's head would swivel to another direction.

Andrew could feel his chest compressing, either from excitement or nervousness, he wasn't sure, but finally he found himself in the perfect position, and made to cast the stinging hex when Harry suddenly turned and once again caught him in the chest.

"Ah! You bastard!" he yelled out in surprise.

Harry chuckled followed by Flitwick who was happily sitting and grading his papers as the boys worked.

"How did you know?!"

"I will admit, it took me a while to notice you this time around, but when you took a step, your shoe scuffed the ground and I heard it. I figured you were behind me, but I didn't know where until a saw a shimmer out the corner of my eye when you, I guess went to raise your wand? Then I knew for sure."

Andrew sighed, okay, it looked like he would need to learn to stack spells. He really didn't want to do too much and overexert his core, but if Harry could see him within a five minute frame, the dragons would do it, in a much quicker time.

"Alright, I guess I'll have to really push. Let's go again."


Hey all, just a quick little add on here before people try to tear me a new one in the reviews. I know the Horntail's fire range is about 50 FEET but that's only like 15 meters, which is a lot but not nearly as terrifying as 50 METERS which is around 164 feet. I damn near made it 100 meters (+/- 328 ft) but decided against it... yes even I can't suspend my disbelief that much!

Anyway just wanted to say that.

So enjoy the next chapter!