Chapter 13: First Task

The next day everyone in the school who isn't a friend of mine or Snape are colored various neon colors and really hard to look at. Other then that the day passes in a blur and now I'm standing in the tent, waiting for the judges to explain the first task. "Ok, the neon colors were...interesting, but did you have to make everyone's hair green and silver today?" Cedric asks, his green hair with a silver streak down the middle reminding me of a weirdly colored badger. "Its not exactly my color."

"What? I'm just showing some house pride." I say with a smirk.

"I agree with Cedric. These are not my colors." Fleur says.

"You look good in nearly every color, Miss Delacour." I tell her as the judges arrive. "But you will be glad to know that the colors will fade at dinner tonight."

"But why did you prank everyone this time? There's usually a few left alone." Dumbledore asks.

"Showing a bit of Slytherin pride." I tell the headmaster, who currently has a green beard with a silver stripe down the middle of it. "No one was safe today. Even me, in case you didn't notice."

I then stand and walk over to receive the news of the task. When I reach the judges Barty Crouch Sr. smiles at me and says, "Ah, Miss Potter, lovely to see you again. May I ask what's in the box that you have on your cot?"

"That's the armor I had made for myself." I tell him. "Aurea was glad to do it for me for free due to the fact that I provided the materials. She's a friend of mine."

"Aurea?" Dumbledore asks, "I don't suppose you mean Aurea Mortem? The owner of the forge by the same name?"

"Yes. That's her." I tell him with a nod. "I'm her main contact here in the UK."

"I don't suppose you could tell us who she is?" he asks with a smile.

"I cannot." I say simply. "She's sworn me to secrecy. The armor is mainly because I got the feeling I would need some strong armor for today's event."

"How right that feeling was, dear girl." Barty Crouch Sr. says as he pulls out a small bag and Professor Moody, who has been trying to mentor me through this but getting stopped by me avoiding him outside of classes, steps up to stand next to me. I give him a mildly irritated look before paying attention to Crouch Sr. again. He smiles excitedly at us, seeming extremely excited for this event, and happily says, "Now, in this bag is four miniature dragons, which represent four, very real, dragons which you will face."

He offers the bag to Cedric who pulls out a miniature Swedish Short-Snout. As soon as I see the tiny dragon my face lights up and I say, "Aw, I don't know what I've got yet, but am I allowed to keep the mini dragon?"

Crouch Sr. gives me a slightly amused look while a few others give me strange looks before saying, "Yes, Miss Potter, you will all be allowed to keep the miniature dragons."

"Yay!" I say as Fleur pulls a Welsh Green from the bag. Viktor gets a Chinese Fireball and I excitedly reach in and scoop out a mini Hungarian Horntail.

"The Hungarian Horntail." Crouch Sr. says, "Each of these dragons have been given a single golden egg containing a clue for the second task to guard. Your mission is simple, retrieve the egg." he says this and I immediately get a flash of the other's strategies and stumble a bit, "Miss Potter?"

"May I have a moment to confer with my fellow champions?" I ask and he gives me a concerned look before nodding. I make a gesture at the other side of the tent and we all walk over. "Fleur, your dragon has a weak point on its chin that makes it instantly sleepy if hit with a stunner. Don't try to charm it just hit it in the chin with a stunner. Viktor, there's a spot under your dragon's right wing that will instantly make it faint to the left, make sure the nest is on the right of the dragon, Cedric, upon entering the arena dodge to the left and then throw a rock and hit the tip of the tail of your dragon, it will think there's something behind it and jump towards its tail, use the distraction and move as quickly as your legs can carry you."

"How did you know our strategies?" Viktor asks.

"I'm a seer, I never told you guys because it's not exactly something I want many people knowing about." I say with a small shrug, "Too many people would try to use me."

"We can understand that." Viktor says and the others nod, "But why tell us how to pass our tasks?"

"Because I had a vision of you accidentally causing your dragon to smash her own eggs and there is no doubt that my dragon will recognize me from a long time ago." I say before looking at where the judges are waiting, "We'd better get a move on. I believe Cedric is going first."

We walk back over and Crouch Sr. immediately asks, "Are you alright, girl?"

"Yes sir, it was just a bit of nerves and some strategy talk between friends. Thank you for your concern." I say with a small smirk.

"Vary well." Dumbledore says, "Mr. Diggory, at the sound of the cannon–"

He's interrupted by the cannon going off and the crowd beginning to chant Cedric's last name. The Hogwarts champion takes a breath to steel his nerves, squares his shoulders, and walks out to face his dragon, following my instructions. I walk over to the cot with my armor on it and dump the box before beginning to suit up.

I keep the helmet off and wait as Cedric faces his dragon. Fleur walks over to me and inspects the armor before saying, "That is very well made. Could I get a set made in case I ever need it?"

"I can contact Aurea." I say. "I got my set for free, because that I provided the materials. I'll contact her later tonight and she'll most likely respond at some point tomorrow."

"Thank you." she says politely as we hear that Cedric got his egg and Fleur gets sent out.

"Good luck." I call and she nods, smiling at me before heading out to face her dragon. The next hour or so goes in a blur with the other two following my instructions and winning their eggs. Now its my turn and I stand at the entrance of the arena as Dumbledore announces me and the crowd starts chanting 'Potter' I take a breath before entering the arena with my helmet on. I get blasted by dragon fire from the left, but thanks to my armor I'm perfectly fine when she stops. I then pull off my helmet and look at her as I call, "Hey there. I haven't seen you in a while. I was seven when we met, I spent a good chunk of that year with you, you even taught me a your language. How is your wing doing?"

The dragon tilts her head and sniffs the air a bit before I hear her ask, "What? Why is it familiar?"

"Great Drake Strike Tail, you named me Fire Light." I tell her in Drake Speak, which I can speak because of her. She reels back before leaning forward to inspect me. "You taught me Drake Speak so I taught you the language of my people." I then clear my throat and say in English, "A fake egg was placed with yours, may I retrieve it?"

She considers me for a moment and the crowd sits in stunned silence before she says, "Fire Light, honorary Drake from the realm of Privet Drive, you, and you alone, may approach my nest as thanks for fixing my wing so long ago."

I bow to her before walking over to her nest and carefully extracting the egg, bowing to her again as I say in Drake Speak, "Thank you, Great Drake Strike Tail." I then walk out of the arena and the crowd cheers. Soon as I'm away from the dragon Dumbledore demands to know how I did that. "I simply told her there was a fake egg in her nest. She allowed me to grab it."

"But you were speaking to her." Dumbledore says.

"Yes. When I was seven I spent a good chunk of my year fixing her wing, which had been broken by a wizard who fancied himself a dragon hunter. She landed on him on the way down. As I tended to her she taught me how to understand Drake Speak, the language of the dragons. By the end of the year I could speak the language fluently; she made me an honorary dragon before she presented me with a dragon name of my own. As thanks for fixing her wing she let me take the golden egg." I explain with a small shrug.

They give me a score, which makes me come in second to Cedric. After that I collect my mini dragon and walk over to where Madam Pomphrey is checking the others for injuries. She checks me over and gives me a clean bill of health so me and the others begin heading back to the castle.

"That scared me to watch." Fleur says as we walk through the doors of Hogwarts, "You got set on fire; are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine." I tell her with a small nod. "My armor is completely fire proof. To be honest, though, I'm just lucky she let me speak. Strike Tail is typically the kill first ask questions later type."

"Strike Tail?" Cedric asks.

"The dragon I went against." I say, "She was named for her ability to quickly impale things on her spiked tail and her quick to act attitude."

"Do all dragons have names?" Fleur asks.

"No, they have to earn their names." I say. "Vary rarely you can find a human with a dragon name; but they have to have done something really special."

"Like what?" Viktor asks.

"I healed an injured dragons broken wing and nursed her back to full heath." I say, "I also defended her from several things that thought a downed dragon would be easy prey, so she gave me the name Fire Light due to me fighting, in her words, like fire. My dragon name is because I am quick as as a flame in a fight and kind as a gentle light."

"No offense, but that doesn't seem like the you from the start of this year." Cedric says.

"I'm only like that towards certain things. Animals, people I like, things like that. I hate most of the people in Hogwarts, the only exception is you three and my other friends." I tell him. "Its quite hard to get me to like a person usually."

"Oh, well then I'm honored that I'm one of the few." Cedric says with a smile, "So, the Yule Ball is coming up and we're all expected to have dates, who do you all plan to ask?"

"Shoot." I mutter. "I almost forgot about the torture that's in store."

"You don't like to dance?" Fleur asks, "Or do you not know how?"

"Uncle Vernon thought Aunt Petunia wanted me to learn, so he forced me to." I say with a small scowl. "If I had wanted to do it I'm sure it would have been fun, but after being forced to learn Ballet, Classical, and several other styles of dance I quickly lost my enthusiasm for the subject."

"That's understandable." Cedric says with an understanding nod before sighing a bit, "At least you know how to dance though, I've never had a single lesson, though I'm hoping that the teachers will provide one before the ball."

"I have no doubt that they will." I say with a frown, "But then there's the problem with needing to shop for a nice set of dress robes, a suit, or a dress that I don't look terrible in, and I need a date and can't take my soulmate...can I take my soulmate? I'll be back later, I need to check the rules."

"Wait, you have a soulmate?" Cedric asks. "Do you know them?"

"Yep, I've met her." I say. "She's...well, Hella, actually."

"Hella?" Fleur asks.

"Yeah, as in the pretty lady who's taking over the world with Loki as we speak. I need to check the rules for something. I'll see you guys at dinner." I say.

As I walk away I hear Cedric say, "No wonder why she doesn't mind us being on Loki's side. Her soulmate is helping him."

I go to my room, set my mini dragon on my nightstand, and search through the rule book of Hogwarts and the rules of the Triwizard Tournament before confirming that they both say I can bring my soulmate if I know them, no matter what side of whatever war might be going on.

I grin and think to Hella, 'Are you free to take a break from the war on the twenty-fifth next month?'

'May I ask why?' she asks.

'There's a school dance I'm required to have a date too. I'm hoping that date can be you because I just checked and the rules says it doesn't matter what side of whatever war is going on my soulmate is on, I can bring my soulmate as my date provided they agree to not kill anyone.' I think to her and feel a rush of happiness come from her. 'Be my date please?'

'I would love to.' she says.

'Great, I'll meet you at the gates of Hogwarts on December twenty-fifth then.' I tell her.

'Wear something green.' she thinks and I head for the Great Hall, humming happily to myself as I enter. I walk over and sit across from Viktor at my usual spot.

"You seem cheerful." he notes.

"Rules say I can take her." I say simply and he nods.

After dinner me and the other champions all meet together to listen to the next clue.