12

Whispers of freedom…

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"Didn't think you'd show up," Tracey said as Daphne came and sat beside her.

"You missed most of it!" Astoria said looking at her sister.

"I'm here now," Daphne said before glancing over at Tracey who smiled slightly. "What did I miss?"

"Krum was amazing but it was Fleur that shocked everyone," Astoria said. "She had these knives that produced fire and when she moved them around it appeared as if that fire created a shield around her."

"Sunflare daggers," Daphne said. "They are a historic weapon used by the vela race. They have elvish engravings on them that allow only the vela to use the weapon with its full potential. Do you know the nature of vela, Tori?"

"They are fire creatures," Astoria said proudly.

"Correct," Daphne said.

"But wouldn't that make Fleur invincible against the dragon fire?" Tracey asked.

"Each fire is different. Besides, Fleur is half-veela so it could be that she's not all that invincible when it comes to her resistance against the element," Daphne said. "I'll tell you later about it. The announcement is about to start."

Tracey smirked before looking towards the arena just like everyone as most Slytherins and a few other Hogwarts students from other houses started booing.

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"So what do you plan on doing?" Moody asked. He had arrived when Cedric left for the arena and only Harry was left inside the tent.

"I only have this one thing that I'm desperately hoping will work," Harry said.

"And what's that?" asked Moody.

"Parseltongue." The ex-auror looked at Harry with a shocked face. Harry felt somewhat proud making the ever-vigilant Mad-Eye Moody speechless. "I don't know why but I have that ability. Professor Dumbledore told me that I probably got it from Voldemort when he gave me the scar."

"I heard from Dumbledore about that talent of yours," Moody said. "However, I've never heard it being used on any creature except for snakes. Did you find something?"

Harry thought for a moment before replying, "I just read somewhere that snakes belong to the same family of crawlers as dragons. So I thought that if parseltongue could work on snakes then it might work on dragons too. I tested it on some lizards and it worked so I am somewhat hopeful." He didn't want to tell Moody what book he'd read it from or where he got it.

"Hmm," Moody grunted. "Be careful though. Horntails are nasty buggers. Watch out for its tail."

"I will," Harry said when he heard the announcement. Cedric had secured the egg.

Moody patted him rather hard on the back. "Good luck, Potter," he said.

"Thanks professor," Harry said as his name was announced and he heard the audience booing. "They sound supportive," he joked, trying to calm his nervousness.

Moody chuckled. "Don't let that de-motivate you," he said. "You are better than all of them. Go show them that. The worse they can do, is call you a dark wizard when they hear your parseltongue. In my personal opinion, it's better that way. If they fear you, they will start respecting you."

Harry looked at the man. He knew Moody was a little crazy but what he had said just now made him look quite scary. Harry simply smiled and nodded before he took out his wand and enlarged his broom. He then headed out into the arena.

The place had definitely been enlarged. It made sense because the Quidditch ground was not big enough for the tournament to use a dragon in there. The place was at least three times its original size now, as Harry could guess. He was pretty familiar with the size of the Quidditch ground because of how much he loved flying there during his free time. However, because of the tournament this year he couldn't get that opportunity.

The place now looked like he was in a mountainous pit with rocks of all shapes and sizes standing around him. However, he wondered where the dragon could be. After Cedric's turn came and Harry was all by himself inside the tent he had Dobby bring him the book on dragons that was in the restricted section of the library. He then did some last-moment studying as much as he could on the horntail before Moody showed up. Surprisingly the defense professor only encouraged him to look up about the dragon so Harry was very grateful for that. There wasn't anything that he hadn't studied already but he desperately hoped that he could find something new about the dragon that could help him not get burnt to crisp.

As Harry walked out into the arena, he tried to calm his racing heart. He looked at the audience sitting around him when he saw Daphne in the crowd. Seeing her made him feel a little better and he didn't try to hide his smile when he looked at her before realizing what he had done and looked away. He definitely saw her worried look when their eyes met for a moment and he felt a warm feeling inside his heart giving him the assurance that maybe she wasn't angry with him anymore.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the deafening screech that echoed throughout the arena. The noise was followed by an eerie silence as even the audience was shocked to hear a cry like that. Harry could see the look of horror on their faces and he got nervous. They had probably seen the horntail already, unlike him. He had this huge boulder in front of him that he needed to go around it in order to see where the dragon was or rather how scary and angry it looked when he heard the loud flapping of wings and a low guttural growl that shook him from the inside.

"What is that?" It was Dean who, just like everyone else, saw the horntail appear from the cave that was built in the arena. Harry could only guess from the audiences' horrified expressions that none of them had expected it. Not that it was good news for him. He was the one who had to face that beast.

The sound of the flapping of the wings stopped and all Harry could hear now was the heavy chain being dragged slowly as he saw the spiked head of the horntail slowly rise from the other side of the boulder that was in front of Harry. It had noticed him and Harry could tell from its expression that the dragon mom was not happy. He felt like he would throw up as his legs began to shake. He was telling himself to run but his body won't move. He hadn't felt this scared even when he had faced the basilisk. If Slytherin's monster was given wings and legs even then it wouldn't be as terrifying as the Hungarian horntail.

Harry gripped his wand before realizing that it would barely help him. He had his broom tied on his back so he took it off and positioned himself into the flying stance. He had noticed the heavy chain that was tied to the dragon's leg which meant that the creature wouldn't probably be able to fly. However, Harry did not want to take that chance. If the horntail could turn rocks into molten lava then a chain was nothing for it.

Another roar filled the arena as Harry felt the ground shake. The dragon had begun to charge at him. The rattling sound of the chain following behind the beast only made it scarier for Harry who couldn't find the courage to move. He saw the dragon pull back its head as its nostrils flared. Harry knew what this meant as he dived at the last second, missing the hellish fire by inches but he couldn't dodge the heat-wave that followed with it. It heated up the air around it so quickly that Harry's broom caught fire. He barely had any time to put it out as the dragon followed next with its tail whip. Harry laid flat on the ground on his stomach and narrowly missed the spiky bludgeon. It connected to a hug rock instead and obliterated it into smithereens.

Harry didn't know what he was going to do. The dragon's chain was probably long enough to allow it to reach all corners of the arena, except for maybe allow it to fly to a great height. He saw the dragon was looking in the opposite direction so Harry grabbed that chance and hid behind one of the rocks before quickly applying silencing charm all over him so the dragon couldn't hear him. Thinking that maybe the chain will stop the horntail from flying too high Harry looked at his firebolt before realizing all of its bristles were burnt completely. He could not believe it. His precious firebolt was worthless now. It couldn't fly anymore.

He was stuck.

The dragon screeched in anger as it could not find Harry who remained hidden behind the rock. He didn't even know where the nest was and he had to find the fake egg amongst the real ones. He thought for a moment and guessed that the nest would probably be inside the small cave from which the dragon had emerged at the beginning. He peeked from behind the rock towards the mouth of the cave but was noticed immediately by the horntail. Harry ducked down but it was to no avail as the entire rock exploded from the impact of the dragon's tail and Harry was sent flying towards the limits of the arena, hitting the walls pretty hard as he fell on the ground, barely conscious.

He felt the pain in his chest, a familiar feeling from when he was only four years old and his uncle had punched him repeatedly only because he had mistakenly broken a glass tumbler. He felt the same pain from his chest again and knew his ribs were broken. A second later he felt the taste of blood in his mouth. As he saw the dragon slowly approach him his mind went blank and he didn't know what to do. He looked at the audience and most of them appeared scared and worried. Harry chuckled. Just a few minutes ago they were booing at him and now they all looked worried. He then shifted his gaze and once again locked eyes with Daphne.

He didn't know if he was hallucinating because of the pain and his fear but he swore he saw her look at him with worried eyes. She had the look of worry and fear as she looked at him while sitting there with her hands together as if…as if she was praying?

He had never seen her like that. The vulnerable face that she made…for him, it somehow gave Harry a new flow of confidence as he grunted and pushed himself up from the ground. His feet wobbled and his head felt dizzy. The left lens of his glass was broken so he had technically lost half of his vision. The dragon seemed to be taunting him as it slowly approached Harry. Realizing it was probably the end for him Harry closed his eyes and in an instant his mind was completely clear of all kinds of thoughts, emotions and feelings. At that moment he felt nothing but a flow of calmness as the sound of the audience and the dragon's heavy footsteps disappeared completely. The only thing that he saw with his eyes closed were the time he had spent with Daphne during their meetings. They were like flashes of memories that ended with the two of them in the room of requirement when Harry gave her his cloak and she had thanked him. This vision was different from what had actually happened as Daphne looked more open emotionally and his own mind felt completely free from all kinds of pain and betrayal that he had been feeling since the start of this term.

"{Stop}!" Harry said as he opened his eyes and the horntail stopped dead in its tracks. The look of rage vanished from its face as it tilted its head and looked at him curiously.

The entire arena fell into dead silence as everyone looked on with shock and fear. Daphne smiled as she looked at Harry. She didn't know why he looked completely in control all of a sudden but it seemed that his parseltongue was working. She looked at the audience and the judges, all of them wearing the look of shock as they all looked at Harry and she couldn't help but feel proud for some reason. "Show them…Harry," she said as both Tracey and Astoria looked at her. Luckily no one else heard her but the two girls knew that Daphne had at least some idea as to what had just happened.

"What is going on?" Tracey whispered.

"Just watch," Daphne said.

Down in the arena the horntail had stopped its approach on Harry and was looking at him intently. As for Harry, he didn't know what had happened. He realized that he must have used parseltongue in a desperate attempt to stop the dragon from attacking him.

"{You…are a whisperer}" the dragon said.

Its style of parseltongue was somewhat similar to what Harry had heard from the lizards. They had told him that different crawlers had different 'accents' of parseltongue. It was just like how when people of different nationalities spoke the same language. It wasn't that he couldn't understand the horntail. Harry was just shocked to find that the dragon could understand parseltongue. He felt a rush of confidence as he took the support of a nearby rock to stand a little straighter. He could still feel the pain in his chest as he spat blood from his mouth before looking at the dragon as he smiled a little.

"{I am}" he said. This time he was completely aware that he was speaking in parseltongue.

"{I thought that the whisperers had vanished}" said the horntail. "{Where did you come from? How can you speak our tongue?}"

"{I got this ability by accident}" Harry said. He was telling the truth, if Dumbledore's theory was right, that is.

"{So you are not related to our savior Salazar?}" the dragon asked.

Harry thought about it for a moment. This question had come up before when he and Daphne had found Slytherin's book collection in the secret chamber. "{I don't know, to be honest}" he said. "{Why do you call Salazar your savior?}" he asked.

"{Salazar Slytherin was known to protect all the crawlers}" the dragon said. "{Even after he was gone, because of his will his descendants kept helping our kind. However, they stopped one day. We don't know what happened but we think that maybe Salazar's will that he had passed down to his generations had finally vanished. Once again crawlers like us and basilisks were being hunted because of our hide and other parts. We waited for whisperers to show up but no one came. Even when bad people came to take me and my babies, no whisperer showed up. I was told that the whisperers were long gone but I didn't believe it. However, when they separated me from my babies I knew for a fact that the whisperers had indeed vanished. But now here you are…a whisperer, trying to steal my babies from me. I don't understand why you are doing this. I thought you were supposed to help us crawlers.}"

"{I am sorry you had to go through that}" Harry said. "{They captured you and took your babies just for the sake of a game of which you and I are both a part now. I was put into this game by someone who wanted to harm me. If I didn't comply with the tournament's rules I would've lost my magic. If you are willing to listen to what I have to say, then I can promise you that you and I can help each other. I know you are worried about your babies so let me help you}"

"{I will listen to what you have to say}" said the horntail.

Harry couldn't help but smile before he winced due to the pain. He knew he would probably lose consciousness in a few minutes so he needed to hurry. "{Do you have your nest inside that cave?}" he asked pointing to where the horntail had emerged from.

"{I do, but for some reason I cannot touch or smell them}" it said.

"{Can you take me to it?}" Harry asked. The dragon seemed hesitant so Harry raised both his hands in a surrender position. "{I give you my word that I will not harm your babies. Instead, I believe that I can help them…and you.}"

The dragon looked at him for a minute before nodding. It then turned around and started heading towards the cave. Harry followed it, ignoring the open-mouthed, wide-eyed audience who all thought that they were dreaming. Entering the cave he found it wasn't that big and was instead cramped for a dragon as big as this horntail. He also saw the nest in the corner. It had a translucent shield surrounding it whose power seemed to be coming from a rune stone which had the carving of a palm engraved on it. Harry looked at it for a moment before realizing what he needed to do as he walked over to it and placed his hand on the rune. The shield surrounding the nest vanished immediately and he turned around and smiled at the dragon. "{You can touch them now}" Harry said.

The dragon had to lower its entire body in order to reach deep enough to where its nest was kept. It sniffed the eggs and Harry saw the dragon seemed to be smiling. It looked even scarier with that smile but Harry was happy that the horntail could feel its eggs again. However, the dragon suddenly breathed hard as it sniffed at one of the eggs. Harry realized that must be the fake egg that he needed to fetch.

"{Do you remember how I told you that we are both part of a game?}" Harry said looking at the dragon. It looked at him before nodding. "{Well, the objective of this game is for me to have that fake egg that is in your nest. I want to know though, if you have any of your eggs missing.}"

"{I do not}" the dragon said. "{So this fake egg is yours to take as per the rules?}" Harry nodded. "{What happens to me and my babies then, after you take this egg and the game ends?}"

Harry thought about it for a moment. "{I don't know to be honest}" he said when he thought of something. "{I will free you and your babies. You said that whisperers used to protect you. I don't know if I am fit to bear that role but I will do my best to help you, your babies and the other dragons.}"

"{But I can't get free from this chain}" the dragon said.

Harry looked at it confused. "{You…can't melt it with your fire-breath?}" he asked.

"{I tried but it didn't work, otherwise I would've freed myself and my babies.}"

Harry picked up the chain and saw it had very fine carvings on it. That definitely looked like rune symbols. If the horntail couldn't melt it then it meant that the engravings made the iron chains fire-resistant. He wondered if other things would work on it though so he put the chain back on the floor and asked the dragon to follow him outside. The cave was too cramped and if he accidentally hit the eggs when trying to break the chain then Harry knew even his parseltongue wouldn't be able to save him from an angry horntail. So doing this outside was much safer.

The crowd was whispering amongst themselves over why Harry had gone inside the cave with the dragon when they saw the two come out. The dragon was holding the nest in its mouth while Harry held the fake egg in his arms. It was as big as a quaffle. Suddenly the Gryffindors started cheering for him but then quieted down when he didn't leave the arena.

"What is he doing?" Hermione asked Ron who said nothing as he kept looking at Harry. He knew that whatever happened now it wouldn't be good for him. At first he thought that with everything going on Harry will come and apologize to him. He hadn't. Then Rita's article on him didn't seem to discourage Harry either and now he had finished the first task too, and in record time. Well, almost.

Ron looked at the giant clock which was still ticking. Harry was only about two minutes ahead of Krum who had finished the task in the least amount of time. Unless Harry left the arena with the egg the clock won't stop running so Ron wondered what he was doing. He looked at others and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. Even the judges looked confused.

Harry carefully placed the egg over a fist-sized crater so it wouldn't roll away before he turned towards the dragon. "{We can try to break you free out here}" he said in parseltongue. The dragon nodded before it placed its nest at a safe enough distance.

"What is he doing?" Tracey asked. "Doesn't he know he has to leave the arena with the egg in order to complete the task?"

"Shush!" Daphne shushed her as she kept looking at Harry. Just like everyone else she, too, was confused beyond anything when suddenly Harry fired a spell, aimed at the dragon's chain. The rock underneath it exploded but the iron rope remained undamaged.

"What is he doing?" Barty Crouch said as he stood up. "Bagman, get the handlers and get Mr Potter out of the arena."

Before Ludo could comply with the order the horntail looked in his direction and roared loudly. The coordinator stood still in his place as did Barty Crouch along with every other person in the audience section. Harry looked at Barty Crouch and shook his head slowly before firing another spell at the chain which again did nothing.

"Hmm, exploding and slicing hexes are not working," he said to himself. "I think they charmed the chain so the champions won't accidentally break it while completing the challenge. Let's try something else." He once again pointed his wand at the chain. "Mordax alica – chalybe!"

A spray of navy blue liquid emerged from his wand and sprinkled over the chain. The moment it touched the bare metal it started to emit white steam and Harry smiled. The spell had worked. He looked at the dragon and gave it a nod. The dragon jerked its leg and the chain broke free like a thin string.

"{What did you do?}" it asked.

"{I used an acid spell}" Harry said smiling. "{Now, about the promise I made to you. Do you know where the others are?}" The dragon nodded. Harry grinned. "{Let's go then}" he said and to everyone's shock he climbed on the dragon's back as the giant beast flapped its enormous wings, sending powerful gusts of wind throughout the place before it flew towards the clouds.

No one could believe their eyes, not even Dumbledore. However, Ludo Bagman realized where Harry and the horntail were heading as he whispered something in Crouch's ear. The man quickly came into action, calling all the dragon handlers who were sitting in the crowd.

Everyone wondered what was going on as they saw about 10-12 people running towards the arena's exit.

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The horntail took Harry pretty deep into the forbidden forest before they landed in a small clearing. He immediately saw three cages that were covered with tarp. They were also guarded by dragon handlers who all were shocked to see the horntail arrive at the place out of nowhere. Before they could reach for their wands the dragon roared and breathed fire as a warning. They all stopped in their tracks as Harry carefully got off the beast and used the hovering spell to remove the tarps from the cages.

Inside were the three dragons that had been brought alongside the horntail for the tournament. Harry looked at one of the handlers as he narrowed his eyes in anger. "Open the cages," he said coldly.

"We can't…" before the handler could finish his sentence the horntail roared again and whipped its tail on the ground, making the entire place shake as if an earthquake had just occurred. Harry looked at the man, raising one brow as if silently telling the handler if he really wanted to mess with the dragon. The handler slowly looked at his fellow-men. "Open them," he said in a shaky voice.

The other handlers looked at each other before one of them took out the keys and headed to the nearest cage. It belonged to the Chinese fireball that uncurled itself as it saw the handler slowly approach towards it. It gave a warning snort, releasing small sparks from its nostrils when the horntail let out a low growl.

The fireball looked at the horntail as the handler slowly and shakily unlocked the cage before quickly stepping away. The dragon slithered out from the cage like a giant snake.

"The others too," Harry said when he heard voices from behind him. They were still quite far but he knew they had probably been sent after him.

"{I'll take care of them}" said the horntail before it looked at the Chinese fireball. "{He is a whisperer and he is here to set us free. Protect him and make sure the other two are free as well.}"

The fireball dragon looked from the horntail to Harry before nodding. The horntail then took to the sky and headed towards the source of the voices.

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The situation was more problematic for Bagman than it was for Crouch. Crouch was a high-ranking ministry official who had been given the responsibility by the ICW to ensure the tournament took place without any issue. What was happening right now was an issue.

As for Bagman, he had a hidden agenda following the end of the first task. He had found a buyer for the dragon eggs which he planned on stealing once the dragons were set to be taken back to Romania. Bagman had paid quite a hefty sum to ensure the missing eggs wouldn't be noticed by anyone and after selling those eggs he was supposed to make a fortune that would last him for a lifetime. But then the most unexpected thing had happened. Harry Potter had started riding the horntail taking it to where the dragons had been kept.

As he, Crouch and the handlers headed for the clearing they heard the loud noise of the wings flapping and immediately knew who it belonged to as they saw the shadow of the beast envelop them before the ground underneath their feet shook following a loud thump. They all slowly turned around and saw the horntail looking at them with its tail moving mid-air, ready to strike.

Crouch looked at the handlers but before they could do anything the horntail lit up the ground between itself and the men on fire. Crouch immediately dived to the side, away from the flames as he simultaneously raised a shield to protect himself from the powerful heat-wave that accompanied with the flames. Bagman had run towards the handlers hoping they could save him. After all, they were dragon handlers. If they couldn't control this beast then who else could? With that thought in mind Bagman looked at one of the handlers and found him shaking in fear. He shook the handler as the man looked at him.

"Do something!" said Ludo. "You're a handler, for Merlin's sake!"

The handler slowly stood up, turned around and ran away. Ludo kept looking at him in shock when they all heard sound of wings flapping once again and looked up. The horntail did so as well before it snorted seeing the three dragons coming its way with Harry riding the Welsh Green.

The dragons landed around the horntail as Harry got off and saw the small patch of ground on fire. He then looked at the horntail. "{You didn't kill anyone, did you?}" Harry asked in a worried tone. The horntail shook its head once before looking at Ludo Bagman as did Harry.

He hadn't been able to find were the nests of these dragons were. Because they weren't in the cages it meant that the handlers had kept the eggs in a different place. Seeing that barely any handler was in the position of talking Harry decided to go for the next best source and so he walked up to Ludo.

"Where are their nests?" Harry asked. Ludo said nothing. "I am getting a feeling that you are one of those corrupt people with a powerful position at your deposit. That means if I try to do anything to you then I will be the one in problem. I don't want to take that hassle because I'm already busy because of your blasted tournament. However, that doesn't mean they can't," Harry said pointing at the dragons behind him.

Ludo looked from him to the dragons and almost pissed his pants. He was sweating profusely and he was scared to death when Harry leaned in a bit closer to him. "Even though they don't eat humans, it doesn't mean they won't enjoy taking revenge on you for stealing their eggs, Ludo," he whispered slowly. "Even though they can understand me, I won't be able to stop them. So tell me, where have you hidden their eggs?"

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There was an environment of confusion back at the arena. No one had any idea as to what had just happened or whether Harry was still playing. The clock was still ticking so it meant that the round wasn't over yet but the way Harry had left the arena, riding at the back of a dragon while leaving the fake egg behind everyone wondered if he purposely wanted to be disqualified. They all wondered if a champion could be disqualified like that. The fourth year Gryffindor had set up quite a spectacle before leaving everyone in an utter state of shock and somewhat fear. The latter definitely came after they had all heard him speak in that forbidden language.

However, after about half an hour of Harry's departure from the arena the audience heard the sound of wings flapping and everyone looked towards the skies. Much to their shock they saw all the four dragons flying towards the arena together with Harry once again riding the Hungarian horntail.

The dragons landed in the arena with each of them holding their nests in their mouth. Harry carefully got off the horntail, making sure he didn't get injured from all the spiky scales of the dragon before he looked at the four beasts. He had a smile on his face along with a look of realization that he will never ever forget this moment. It was equally an impossible experience and it was beautiful. Reuniting these dragons with their eggs brought a feeling of content inside Harry's heart.

He stood there, ignoring the silence that hovered over the arena as the four dragons lowered their heads so they could be at Harry's level. Harry patted each of their heads as he felt somewhat emotional.

"{Thank you whisperer}" the horntail said. "{If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to get our babies back or our freedom.}"

"{Where will you be going?}" Harry asked.

"{Some place where it is cold}" said the short-snout. "{Our babies would need it to hatch properly}"

Harry knew that unlike other oviparous, dragon eggs needed to be kept cold in order for the babies to hatch out. This is why dragons laid their eggs in winter season but it took more than a year for them to hatch so in order to prevent the eggs from getting warm the dragons mostly chose cold places like a frozen lake or a waterfall where the temperature remained cold for most time of the year.

"{All of you be safe, alright?}" Harry said.

The dragons nodded before they flapped their wings and took to the sky. Harry watched them fly away until they had disappeared beyond the clouds. He then turned around, walked up to the fake egg, picked it up and left the arena as the timer came to a stop.

Entering the tent he now started feeling the pain from his injuries that he had sustained when facing the horntail at the beginning as his adrenaline began to subside. His vision became blurry as Harry somehow walked up to a nearby chair. He lost consciousness the moment he sat down as the announcer announced what points each champion had scored.

Harry, however, was long unconscious before he could hear it.

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A/N: Oviparous – animals that lay eggs…

Thanks for reading…