Chapter 9

There was no point anymore. Trying to sleep would be a fruitless endeavor. The news that Cedric had given him yesterday played over in his head non-stop and every time he closed his eyes, he saw dragons in his head. He blamed muggle television for some of the thoughts. Growing up with Dudley, he had seen multiple movies with fire breathing dragons that destroyed entire villages with one puff. They weren't the most pleasant things to think about when he had to face an actual one tomorrow. Sighing loudly, he looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was 6 am, but it was also a Sunday so no one in their right mind would be awake. The task was tomorrow, and he had nothing planned for a dragon.

He needed help. He wasn't arrogant enough to think that he could solve this problem by himself and there was only one person who could possibly help him. He needed Daphne right now. She usually had knowledge about obscure subjects, and she could keep a level head when thinking about the problem. He chuckled to himself thinking about his ex-friends would approach the issue.

Ron would have just said something like 'bloody hell mate. That's tough'. Ron was usually more of a burden in those situations, preferring to just interject with unhelpful points and sometimes even make the task more daunting. Hermione would have been more helpful towards the task, but her incessant worrying and doubt would mean Harry would have to help her out.

How do I get to Daphne? What time does she even get up on a weekend, and even then, how do I get her attention in public. These questions and more ran through his head as he got ready. It's wasn't that he couldn't figure out the research by himself, but he had seen through their training how she was able provide more logic to situations. Plus two minds were better than one, especially in this case.

Getting down to the Gryffindors common room, he walked towards the Great Hall. Entering the hall, he looked around. There were only a handful of students, and no sign of Daphne on the Slytherin table. Cursing his luck, he sat down, piling food onto his plate.

As he finished his last toast, he was joined by another classmate.

"Hey Harry," Neville Longbottom said, sitting opposite him.

"Hey Neville," Harry replied, surprised that the usual shy boy had engaged in a conversation with him. "You're up early"

"Bad habit I guess. During the summer, I'm used to waking up early to take care of the plants in our greenhouses. Many can only be tended to during the early sunlight," he replied informatively.

"Wow, you own multiple greenhouses?" Harry asked.

"Well we have to. Majority of the Longbottom fortune comes from supplying our plants to different shops and even St Mungo's. I've been learning about plants since I was a child which is why Herbology comes easy to me," Neville replied, a hint of pride in his voice. "So, how are you feeling about tomorrow?"

"A bit nervous, but you know… just hoping for the best,"

"So, you have no idea what's going on then?"

"Not a clue," Harry lied. He wasn't going to burden Neville with the information and wasn't sure how much he could trust him. He felt a pang of guilt at that. He had never attempted to make a closer acquaintance with the boy in all his years. He needed to rectify that, and even enlarge his friends circle. He couldn't believe that the first three years, he only hung around with two people.

Neville must have sensed the slight tone in his voice, because he replied, "Look Harry… I know this is beyond late to say this… but I just want to say that I always believed that you didn't put your name in the cup. I was just afraid of drawing attention to myself", he said ashamedly.

"You… you believe me?" Harry said, glad to have another person by his side.

"Never had a reason to doubt you. It's just not who you are."

Harry just gave him a bright smile in response. If Neville, a person he had barely talked to could see it, why couldn't Ron and Hermione have. Pushing the thought of them out his head, he continued to talk with Neville, happy to get to know someone else.

A streak of blonde walking through the hall stopped the conversation. Daphne was finally here, walking with Tracey towards the Slytherin table. But how do I get her attention?

"Listen Neville… I've got to go do some training for preparation tomorrow. But its been great to talk to you," Harry said, an idea forming in his head.

"You too Harry. And you'll do great tomorrow."

Saying a final goodbye, he quickly walked out of the Great Hall, and went into the closest classroom. Closing the door behind him, he called out, "Dobby!"

The excited elf appeared within a second, bouncing on the balls of his feet at being called.

"Listen Dobby, sorry to disturb you, but could you pop to my trunk and get me my invisibility cloak, a quill and a piece of parchment?" Harry asked.

"Of course. Anything for the Great Harry Potter sir," Dobby said, disapparating away. Harry laughed to himself at the seemingly longer title the elf had given him. Sometimes he wondered if it would be more prudent to get himself his own house elf. They were fiercely loyal creatures and could be a great asset to him.

The elf came back in a minute with the required items. Writing a note onto the parchment, he quickly sealed it with his wand, and got under his cloak. Walking back into the Great Hall, he spotted her at the end, glad that no one except Tracey was near her. However, since it was the weekend, she wasn't in her robes, but instead a form fitting sweater and some jeans, which meant no big pockets to stick the note in.

Knowing it was risky to do, he tapped the table softly in front of her, before throwing the note on her plate, hearing Tracey make a small shriek. Quickly walking away, he hoped no one else had just seen a stray hand popping out with no body.

"So is your boyfriend prepared for the task tomorrow," Tracey asked, snickering at Daphne's annoyed glare at her saying 'boyfriend'.

Sighing Daphne replied, "I think so. But prepared for what? You do all this training, but he has no idea what for."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. Little Draco must be ecstatic. Can't believe the bastard is-AHH!" Tracey said out loud, as a hand shot out. "What the utter hell…" she said going pale, "since when do ghosts look so solid."

"That wasn't a ghost," Daphne laughed, but quickly became serious after seeing the note.

Daphne,

When you're done with breakfast, would it be possible for you to meet me on the seventh floor.

She passed the note to Tracey who was trying to read it over her shoulder. "Ever heard of privacy," Daphne said bemusedly.

"When it comes to you… no," Tracey said. "Ooo a weekend meetup. Maybe he needs some motivation for tomorrow. Perhaps some light snogging followed by some wandering hands..." she winked.

"Oh, will you shut up. I better go and meet him. He wouldn't have gone through all of that for something small," she said, getting up.

"Wow… so some boy calls and there you go and leave your best friend to eat her breakfast by herself," Tracey said jokingly, to which Daphne replied very maturely by sticking her tongue out at her.

She quickly reached the bare wall on the seventh floor. Walking in she saw piles of bookcases, and Harry was sitting in the middle; multiple books open in front of him.

"Someone's busy," she said, asking the room for a chair.

Harry looked up, glad to see that she had come. But as fast as that emotion came, it was replaced with worry once again.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she said.

"Well, what isn't wrong?" At her confused look, he continued, "Dragons… the first task is a bloody dragon," he replied.

"Wait… you're going to have to offer some explanation for this."

Harry proceeded to tell her about his meeting with Cedric the previous day and how Moody had let it slip.

"That's… interesting" Daphne said pensively.

"Interesting?"

"It's almost Slytherin of Diggory. I'm quite proud actually."

"You are really confusing me," Harry replied.

"Ok… so you said that Moody told him last week." Continuing at Harry's nod, "Yet he waited to tell you yesterday, and only gave you a day to prepare for it."

"Yeah, I guess… but he was probably busy with figuring out the task, and only remembered about telling me later," Harry said, trying to defend the Hogwarts champion.

"That is a possibility. But perhaps it's the Slytherin in me to see it differently. By telling you… he's put you in his debt, and so if you were to ever find out something about the tournament, you'd go out and tell him."

"I don't know, but I can worry about that later," Harry answered.

"Yeah… but what's more interesting is what you told me about Moody."

"What do you mean?"

"Well this is Alastor Moody we're talking about. Arguably one of the best ex-aurors out there, the man who has caught countless death eaters. He must be used to keeping secrets, yet he divulged that the tasks were dragons," Daphne finished.

"So, you think Moody purposely told Cedric about the dragons," Harry replied in understanding.

"Well apparently cheating has always been part of this tournament. I bet you Krum and Delacour know what the tasks are as well."

"Yeah, but why did Moody tell Cedric, and not me?" Harry inquired.

"Well that's too risky. Of course, he could play it off by saying he accidentally spilled it to one student, but two is too obvious," she replied.

"I guess, but right now, it doesn't matter. Dragons… a frickin dragons. What the hell am I going to do for preparation a day before."

"Look Harry, dragons may be the task, but there is no way they expect you to fight one. My family and I once went to a dragon reserve in Germany, and it took twenty handlers to stun the dragon," she answered.

"Ok fine… I may not need to fight one, but I must deal with one. Worst of all, these books are not helpful. All they say is precautionary warnings, like running away as fast as possible without getting detected," he sighed.

"Any weak spots?" she asked.

"Most of the body is impenetrable to spells… except the eyes, but I'd need to get close enough to shoot it in the eyes," he replied.

"Ok… so maybe that's how you distract it…"

They spent the next few hours skimming through every book the room had on dragons, with Harry getting more frustrated as they couldn't find any other solutions. No one fought dragons, it was just unheard of. The books had extracts of people who had seen dragons, but their advice was always how to get away from one.

"Harry, it's lunchtime and I've got to go. Keep up appearances and all that… also I kind of ditched Tracey and I feel bad," Daphne spoke up, stretching after sitting for hours.

"It's fine," he chuckled wearily. "Thanks for all your help."

Daphne looked at him for a few seconds. She didn't know what came over her, but she pulled him into a hug. "You'll do great," she said softly, before turning and exiting the room.

Harry stayed rooted on the spot, the smell of vanilla and parchment still lingering. That was different. It was nothing like Hermione's or Mrs. Weasley's hugs which smothered him to the point of suffocation, but just one filled with complete warmth. He must have been staring at the spot where she was for a minute before shaking his head.

He looked at the dragon books on the floor, before pushing them aside, realising they wouldn't help him anymore.

"Ok room… I think I may have an idea"

"Come on Harry… you've got to eat," Fred said, the twin unusually solemn today.

"Yeah mate, can't win first place if your tummy isn't full," George added.

Harry just nodded silently, taking another spoonful of his scrambled eggs. He was wearing special red and black robes today, which were basically the same design as his Quidditch robes but much lighter to wear. They had been left on his bed in the morning, embroidered with his name on the back.

"Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said, coming to the table. "It's time." He got up, saying bye to his friends, barely able to hear the standing ovation the Gryffindor table was giving him. She guided him to a tent pitched outside the Forbidden forest.

He noticed the makeshift arena that had been created. It must have been made last night because he would have seen something of this size. It was bigger than the school's Quidditch stadium, probably to fit in the students from other schools and various officials.

"I can't go inside now," McGonagall said, stopping at the entrance.

"Alright," was all he said. He didn't trust himself to speak anymore, trying to keep the food in his stomach.

"You'll do well Harry," she said, surprising him as she had never said his first name before. "James and Lily would have been proud," she finished, giving him a small smile before walking off.

He walked into the tent, not surprised this time by the expanding charms. There was a medical station to the side, where Madam Pomfrey and a healer he didn't know were quietly conversing. There were also couches present, but the rest of the tent was sparse. He walked into the middle where the other champions and their respective heads were standing.

"Excellent, you're all here," Bagman said, looking very excited. "Barty will now explain the task to each of you."

"As we are here, the stadium will be filling up with students and officials. The first task is simple. You must gather a golden egg, which is protected by a dragon…" Harry looked around to see that none of the other champions were surprised by this, showing that Daphne was right. However, it calmed his nerves to see that the other champions also looked quite anxious.

"You will have thirty minutes to complete the task. Now…" he said, pulling out a pouch. "There are four different miniature dragons here which represent the dragon you will be facing. Each dragon has a number, corresponding to the order that the champions will go," Crouch finished.

The selection went on. Harry obviously with the greatest luck chose the Hungarian Horntail. From all his research the day before, he knew that this dragon was the fiercest and strongest out there. Furthermore, if they were protecting their eggs, the dragon would be a female, and they were known for being more terrifying then their male counterparts.

"Now," Bagman said, clapping his hands together. "You will be judged on the amount of time it takes you to complete the task and the damage done to yourself and the eggs. Now do not fret. The eggs are not real dragon eggs, however if they break, you will lose points."

"I will be going now. The task starts in ten minutes." Looking to the headmasters, he continued, "You will be able to speak to your students for a few minutes, before you need to join me on the voting stage," Crouch said, before swiftly leaving with an animated Bagman by his side.

"Mr Diggory and Mr Potter," if you will, Dumbledore said, guiding them to a corner of the tent.

"Any advice sir?" Cedric asked nervously.

Dumbledore chuckled a bit. "I think both of you have had some preparation," the headmaster said, his eyes twinkling perceptively. Ignoring Harry and Cedric's surprised looks, he went on, "You are both highly gifted students, and I know to expect great things from both of you in these tasks. Most importantly, remember to trust your instincts. Only you can judge the situation when you're there and you must listen to yourselves. I believe greatly in both of you" he said, before joining the rest of the heads.

The cannon blast sounded a few minutes later. The anxiousness as he waited made Harry think about his first ever Quidditch match. The fright of playing a sport in front of hundreds of spectators had freaked him out as an eleven-year-old. But he was no longer eleven. He had done things that the most accomplished wizards would run away from. Each year, he was pushed to his extreme, but he had got through it. At those times it was luck, and a lack of training. But he had trained this time. He had tried his very hardest this year, and just like his previous years, he would get through this.

He relaxed a bit, focusing on his thoughts, ignoring Bagman's commentary, until he heard his name being shouted out. His legs wobbled as he stood up, but he steadied himself and walked out the tent.

The enclosure was oval shaped, the spectators on all sides. There was a huge protective ward in front of everyone who was watching to protect them from the dragon's fire. He didn't see the horntail at first. There were spirals of rocks all around him, with a small path. As he turned past the first rock, he saw her. She was at the other end of the enclosure. Her bright yellow eyes were focused on the eggs she was protecting with her wing. Her black spiked tail swung menacingly around her, and ever so often would collide into a rock and shatter it. Thick chains were lashed on the back of her legs, making it unable for her to move.

There was a path leading to the egg, and he started walking through it. At some point his fear was replaced by determination to finish his task. The Horntail finally roared viciously when she spotted him; breathing fire into the air as a warning. Moving slowly, he continued walking, but quickly had to dive behind a rock as the dragon shot flames towards him. The stadium was silent, as he made his next move.

His research last night led him to the fact that dragons weren't afraid of any creatures. However, they particularly delighted in eating some types of animals. Finally, he found a big enough rock to transfigure, praying that his practice yesterday would let him do it. He sighed in relief as the rock changed into a mountain goat, but costed him a few tedious minutes. However, he wasn't done. Quickly he levitated the animal far away from him, something that caught the dragon's eyes who shot out its front legs to snatch it, but the chains on her kept the Horntail from reaching.

When the goat was a sufficient distance away from him, he went onto the next part of his plan. Sending expansion charms, he increased the size of the goat until it was as large as an elephant. By now the dragon was wildly thrashing against her chains to reach such a large meal. He pushed down the nervousness as he proceeded. He had thought long and hard yesterday, and this was the only way he could think of getting the egg. His energy was not even depleted slightly from attempting such a complex transfiguration. All his training had paid off.

Aiming his wand at the dragon, he shouted "Bombarda," His aim was true and broke the chains off the dragon. Noticing her new freedom, she flew up and went straight towards her meal, her eggs forgotten momentarily in her pursuit for hunger. Ignoring the massive shrieks from the audience as the dragon flew, he sprinted towards the eggs, snatching the golden one in a second before turning around.

He miscalculated. Oh, he miscalculated immensely. In his planning, he believed he would have enough time to get the egg and run back to the tent while the dragon had her meal. However, the dragon had obviously not gotten the memo because she had finished and was now staring at an enemy who she believed had stolen one of her eggs.

She was blocking his exit, and the only way there was through the dragon. She moved forward quickly, swiping her tail towards him. He backed away and avoided it but couldn't dodge the flying rock debris which hit his chest, making a large gash through his shirt.

The dragon didn't seem to edge him back, scared off damaging her eggs. So, he was stuck in the same position, having to cover and duck behind rocks to avoid the Horntail's onslaught.

What did Daphne say. It takes twenty dragon handlers to stun a dragon. Well Potter, first time for everything. Raising his wand, he shot the most destructive spells he knew, but nothing pierced the armour. If anything, it just irritated her, but then he remembered something. Looks like killing a basilisk had been good training for this. All the books had said that the eyes were the weakest spot, but he realised she had another weak spot.

Avoiding the dragons latest breathe of fire, he shouted "DEPRIMO," shooting the spell at the dragon's chest. As usual, the spell only annoyed the dragon, who roared in response. The roar was all he needed. "CREPITUS MAXIMA"

He had learnt this last night. Well learnt wasn't the right word. The description itself was enough, and he was scared to perform such a spell on the room of requirement. He was pretty sure the book he read it from was something that belonged in the restricted area of the library, because the variety of curses and other spells in it were dark beyond belief. The spell was essentially meant to explode objects, but it was unbelievably powerful. It made the destructive spells taught in Hogwarts look like child play. However, for such a powerful spell the caster also had to be very powerful. The book warned that the majority of wizards and witches would enter a comatose state for days by just attempting it, and most would be very careless to even try.

The blue spell shot towards the dragon with dazzling speed, hitting the back of its mouth. The force of the explosion knocked him into the ground, but he kept a steadfast hold onto the egg. He got up, but his vision was blurry; the crash taking its toll. When his vision cleared, he felt sick. The explosion had torn the dragons head from its body, her nostrils inches from his feet, with smoke still rising through them. The rest of the mangled corpse had fallen to the ground, the weight of the dragon creating a small crater in the ground.

Not knowing how his legs were still operating, he went around the dragon, limping towards the exit. He walked straight through, ignoring Bagman's shouts to wait for his score. Moving to Madam Pomfrey, he collapsed before he could reach her, exhaustion taking over and the world blacking out.

"He just… he just killed a dragon," Tracey said, her mouth wide open.

"Not any dragon. He killed a Hungarian Horntail. Most powerful dragon out there," Blaise added. The usual stoic boy was unable to keep the shock from his features.

"Blaise," Tracey said, poking her friend. "Look at Draco," she snickered.

Blaise turned around to see the confidence of the Malfoy heir all gone, as he watched the corpse unbelievably pale. "I didn't think he could get any whiter," Blaise smirked, his eyes moving back to focus on the dragon.

He wasn't the only one. The rest of the audience stayed and watched with morbid curiosity. "Daphne, you never told me he was this strong… Daph?" Tracey asked, looking around for her friend.

"She must have gone," Blaise replied, as he also realised the girl was missing.

"Where on earth would she have gone now?" Tracey inquired.

"Well… Potter of course," Blaise smirked.

"GO ON HARRY," the twins and Lee Jordan shouted as Harry walked towards the exit. If he heard them, he paid no attention. The rest of Gryffindor was screaming wildly; chants of 'Potter' continuing well after he had left.

Hermione, however, did not join in with the 'festivities'. She would not look like a hooligan by chanting over Harry. She watched his entire task, getting angrier as he proceeded. Where had he learnt to do such complex transfiguration? That was NEWT level, and Harry was average at best. There was no way he could have pulled off such a feat. Yes, he may have been beating her through the year, but he still couldn't have done that by himself. 'He's probably getting help from the teachers' she thought to herself smugly.

Then he went and did that spell. He decapitated the head of a dragon. That was a dark spell. She knew it! She knew he was lying and was doing something dark. Finally, it explains how he kept beating her.

"Party in Gryffindor for Harry!" Fred Weasley shouted to their housemates, who cheered in response. Hermione wouldn't be going with them. First, she had to tell her suspicions to Ron who was sulking next to her. Then she and him would go to McGonagall and report it. Plus, the professor had seen it herself and had enough evidence to get him in trouble. She didn't care what Harry had told her before about getting involved in his life. If someone was breaking the rules, she had the right to tell them off to a teacher.

"Ughahs,"

"Well, Mr Potter that is no proper way to talk to a lady, but I guess I can let you off this time," Madam Pomfrey said sternly.

"Oh… sorry," Harry groaned. He tried to set himself up before a wave of pain hit him.

"Mr Potter, what do you think you're doing," Madam Pomfrey shrieked. "You have a concussion, a set of broken ribs, multiple abrasions across your body and the first thing your mind thinks to do is get up! If you move one inch, I will strap you to that bed," she said threateningly.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," Harry gulped. He had just faced a massive dragon, yet no made him fear more for his life than the school's healer.

She spent the next few minutes tending to his various ailments. She offered him a potion, which cleared his massive headache and concussion. She put an ointment on his cuts which slowly started to patch the skin together. Thankfully since his ribs were only broken and not disappeared, he didn't have to take any awful Skele-Gro. She sent a quick spell, and he physically felt his bones move to mend together.

"Perhaps next time, I may need to clarify what I mean when I say trust your instincts," a voice said amusedly to the right.

"Wow sir. Two visits to my hospitable when I'm injured in the last few month. Some may say you're showing some preferential treatment towards me," Harry said cheekily to the headmaster.

"Now Harry, if I was any other headmaster, you would have probably been expelled by now. So perhaps I do give you too much freedom," Dumbledore replied.

Harry laughed at this, before the events he just went through smashed into his conscious mind. "Sir, my score… how did I do?"

"You got a 34 Harry. You are in second place, behind Mr Diggory who got a 35."

"Second?" Harry said surprised.

"Absolutely. You were the fastest out of all the contestants, using only 22 minutes. However, the Horntail also managed to injure you quite a bit which lowered it. However, I am extremely proud to know that the top two are Hogwarts champions."

Harry nodded, before asking the question that was persisting in his mind. "Do you think how I approached the task was foolish?"

"My boy that is not the way to think. In fact, it is sometimes the most foolish of ideas that turn into the biggest successes because no one else expects it to work."

"But am I in trouble for killing the dragon?" Harry said guiltily.

"Not at all," Dumbledore replied. "In fact… Ahh he has arrived. Just on time, Mr Weasley."

Harry turned his head slowly, to see Charlie Weasley walk over towards them, looking worn out. "Hiya Harry. Never do things, easily do you?"

"Just wouldn't be exciting if I didn't put myself in mortal danger," Harry replied.

"I was just telling Harry here that he isn't in trouble for killing the dragon," Dumbledore said.

"You are not Harry. Under the terms of the Triwizard Tournament, the dragons did not belong to the Romanian sanctuary anymore. Therefore, when you killed it, you beat it under right of conquest, and so the dragon belongs to you."

"What would I even do with a massive dragon corpse?" Harry inquired.

"Quite a lot actually. Dragon meat is quite a delicacy, especially for the Goblins who would pay top Galleon for it. The hide can be used for armour, weapons and even jewellery. This stuff is like gold at the sanctuary but we've had a lack of funding in the last years so we haven't been able to purchase any," Charlie said.

"Wait, I have an idea Charlie. You keep the dragon,"

"What?" Charlie said confusedly, but Dumbledore smiled in the background, understand what Harry was doing.

"Well you said the dragon belonged to me. So then in my rights, I want to donate the entirety of it to you and the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary," Harry replied.

"No Harry I can't let you do that. That's way too generous… it's yours."

"Charlie, I do not need a whole dragon. You can probably make tons of gold for the sanctuary with this and give the other dragons better care. You're not going to win this argument," Harry said firmly.

"Harry mate... you don't understand how thankful I am for that. You're unbelievable! I've got to go give the news to the other guys. They're going to be ecstatic," the older Weasley boy said before leaving.

"That was very nice of you Harry," Dumbledore said. "But I do think later we'll need to have a talk about that spell you used."

"Yes sir," Harry answered resignedly. He knew that he would have to talk about using such a questionable spell.

"Now I better leave before Poppy gets back and sees that I'm exerting her patient," Dumbledore said.

"You're afraid of her too, aren't you?" Harry said bemusedly.

"Terrified,"

No matter how much he begged, Madam Pomfrey said that she would keep him until after dinner. The matron wouldn't even let him walk his way to the Hospital Wing. But of course, even after defeating a dragon, fate wouldn't be nice to him and made sure that Fred and George came at the exact time to see him being levitated on a stretcher. He had to endure their snickers, and their name calling, before he finally threatened to castrate them. They seemed to leave much faster after that.

"Now Mr Potter. I'm going for dinner. I will be back in twenty minutes to check your vitals and if everything is okay, I'll send you off," Madam Pomfrey said

"Why can't you just check my vitals now and let me go to dinner now?" Harry whined.

"Complain one more time Mr Potter and I'll keep you overnight."

"Fine," Harry huffed.

"Don't pout Mr Potter. Your visitor wouldn't want to see that," the matron said before walking off.

"What visitor?" Harry said confusedly, before his question was answered in the shape of Daphne Greengrass.

"Interesting tactic," was all she said, sitting on the chair next to his bed.

"Um… yeah," was all he said. He was unsure of how she was feeling. That damn impenetrable mask was on her face which made it impossible for him to discern her emotions.

"Well you idiot…," she said punching him lightly. "Tell me where you figured out all those spells?" she inquired, her face breaking into a relieved smile.

Harry laughed at this. It was so refreshing to have someone like Daphne in his life. She didn't scold him or tried to act like his parent unlike some other friends he knew. She was just so… Daphne; that was the only way to explain her. He proceeded to tell her how he planned the task after she had left the room of requirement the previous day.

"Hmm… so let's get this straight. What part of 'it takes many wizards to subdue a dragon' did you not understand?" she replied

"Hey! I got that, but like I said, I thought the dragon would take longer to eat that bloody goat."

"Potter you're just one crazy wizard," she said. It was true. She watched as he performed the most impressive show of magic she had ever seen. The amount of raw power it would have taken to use all those spells, and then finish of with that one. He was unbelievably strong and didn't even acknowledge it. He could actually win this whole damn tournament. She had left the task early, to just think about all those thoughts. She still didn't understand how someone her age could be that strong.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," he replied.

"It was meant to be," she laughed.

"So, do I not get a hug this time for my effort?" He didn't know why he said that. It just spilled out. He had caught that familiar scent of vanilla and before he knew it the words had spilled out of his mouth.

Daphne's laugh was replaced by a deep blush. She scolded herself internally for blushing, but she wouldn't let him have those last words. "Liked it, did you?" she answered, trying to not keep her voice from going an octave higher.

"I mean… it was… it was very great… I mean nice," his spluttering ended, when she enveloped him in a hug, her scent engulfing his senses.

Pulling back, she was amused greatly to see how red he had turned. She didn't understand why she did it. This time or the first time. But Harry was just a friend, and friends hug. She had seen him and Granger hug before, so this was nothing different. Hoping to change the subject, she asked, "so what about the golden egg?"

"Crap! Can't believe I forgot about that. With all the excitement of today I forgot about the main part of the stupid task."

He moved his hand to where he had kept the egg, on the floor next to the bed. Bringing it on the bed so Daphne could look, he turned the clasp and opened it…

Haha, why did I end it there? Because this egg isn't going to have the same features as canon. I told you guys I was going to do something different for the tasks in the future. You'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and hope you liked how I changed the first task around to make it something unique. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, followed and favourited.

Hope you guys continuing reviewing, they are super helpful!