Personal Rant (August 2021): People who did not get vaccinated for Covid 19 are crashing the hospital system around where I live. The ICU's are FULL! My mom is ill with other matters and we had to go through the Emergency Room to get her admitted and get treatment. (The Doctors and Nurses are GREAT!) But the scenes in the ER made me believe the zombie apocalypse novels are not terrible enough! Family first, Work second, Sleep third, and FanFiction comes in somewhere after that!
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This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
"Regular conversation."
Printed Word in letters and newspapers.
{Parseltongue conversation}
[Iggy talking with Harry and Neville.]
"The Sorting Hat speaking and pontificating."
****ff*
As the last contestant in the first task, Harry Potter, exited the tent and entered the arena to collect a golden egg from a nest of dragon eggs. The nest was guarded by an angry Hungarian Horntail mother dragon and no one knew what to expect. The tent flap folded back and many people saw Harry Potter step forward. He waved at the stands and for a moment became visible to everyone. The dragon stood up and let loose with a great roar and an impressively large flame above her head.
When everyone looked back at Potter, he had vanished. A moment later, he reappeared with the golden egg in his arms. He lifted it up for everyone to see and the dragon roared again. This time, Potter vanished and did not reappear.
"Well, that was anti-climactic," announced the government official at the microphone.
As the scores appeared with fives across the board, an extra score appeared and awarded Harry Potter fifty points.
"He cheated!" shouted Cedric's father. "How can he get fifty extra points?"
The judges agreed and announced that Harry Potter would not be awarded the magical fifty points. At that point the platform holding up the platform where the judges stood simply collapsed. Crouch, Ludman, and the three headmasters lay in the dust of the arena as the dragon handlers led the Horntail toward her pen to incubate her eggs for another night.
One of the handlers, Charlie Weasley came over to the pile of dusty wizards and giant headmistress and asked, "Which one of you idiots stole the Welch Green and her eggs?"
++***++ Earlier in the Week
[Heir Peverell, they have brought dragons to Hogwarts for the first task,] Iggy informed Harry and Neville in the afternoon three days before the First Task.
[Dragons!] exclaimed Neville while he looked at his brother who frowned.
"Hermione, what do we know about dragons?" Harry asked aloud.
"There are many different breeds of dragons," the brightest witch in the castle responded. She provided a book with illustrations and characteristics of the different breeds of dragons.
Ginny spoke up, "My brother is a dragon handler in Rumania. Ask an elf if he's around here and we can get all the information out of him."
In short order, a Hogwarts elf popped Charlie Weasley into the common room. The dragon handler sputtered, "Who brought me here? No one's supposed to know…"
"Too late," Ginny said. "Now spill, what dragons did you bring to Hogwarts?"
Shaking his head, Charlie explained that the dragon preserve provided three nesting female dragons, a Swedish Short-Snout, a Chinese Fireball, and a Hungarian Horntail."
"Nesting! You brought dragon eggs here! Real dragon eggs?" asked Neville. "Every thief in magical Britain will be here trying to steal those eggs."
Charlie frowned and said, "Headmaster Dumbledore promised us he had the strongest possible wards around the dragon pens in the Forbidden Forest."
Harry asked, "The same headmaster who promised that only three adults would be selected to participate in the tournament?"
"I'd count those eggs every five minutes," Ginny said.
"What about a fourth dragon?" asked Hermione.
"Some local wizards captured a Common Welch Green and she's got a nest with three eggs."
Harry Potter hissed with anger and said, "You're dealing with poachers! The Common Welch Greens are protected in Magical Britain!"
"She'll be taken back to Rumania and be safe there," Charlie said before he was popped back to the dragon pens. The Forbidden Forest was gloomy and dark but he reported the conversation with the leader of their group.
[Are you going to see the dragons?] asked Neville asked his brother.
Harry asked, [Of course! Want to come along?]
Iggy said, [Yeah, Heir Longbottom, come with us and bring your box of perfumes. We can bargain with the dragons with perfumes.]
[How do we talk to dragons?] asked Neville.
[Your brother has a 'parsel tongue' and he can talk to lizards, snakes and dragons. We'll start with the Welch Green. If she is one of your brother's dragons, he'll hunt the wizards who poached from the Potter Wood himself.]
The brothers vanished from the fourth-year boys dorm and reappeared just outside the pen where the green dragon slept with her eggs close to her belly to keep them warm. Having a platoon of house elves protecting the brothers provided them with some instantaneous transportation.
{Sister! Sister, wake up,} hissed the Chinese Fireball from the adjoining pen. {The thieves have returned.}
The Welch green woke instantly and hissed. Then she stared at Harry and Neville before hissing, {Warrior and Healer! Did the Centaurs send you?}
Harry bowed to the green dragon and said, {I am Harry Potter. The forest around my family manor is home to a family of Welch Green dragons. Where did the poachers catch you?}
Learning that the Centaurs had approached the pens every night with small gifts for the dragons, and hearing that they had exchanged stories about wizards, Harry understood why the Welch Green called them 'Warrior and Healer'. And the stories about the thieves infuriated the boy who called for the Hogwarts head elf and asked if she would assign elves to help protect the eggs. Then after talking to the Welch Green, the Chinese Fireball, and Swedish Short-Snout, Harry and Neville approached the pen set away from the others because the Hungarian Horntail was more territorial and ill-tempered.
{Go away wizards,} she hissed instantly. {I cannot sleep and I shall eat you!}
Harry asked, {Why can't you sleep? Are you injured?}
The dragon sighed and replied, {I need some gold to sleep upon. I absorb gold to fuel my magic and using my magic to protect my eggs, I shall lose my magic and die in another week of this prison.}
[Iggy, please ask Lady Hogwarts if there's any gold in her Room of Requirement we can give to this mother. She needs to be able to sleep to preserve her magic and save her babies.]
Iggy who had remained silent during all the conversations with the dragons, left Harry with the feeling of agreement. He 'returned' after a couple minutes and three elves appeared with large bags of gold that were levitated into the pen and poured over the dragon's back. Rather than bounce off, the pellets of gold appeared to be absorbed by the dragon and she purred with relief.
{Thank you, Wizard Potter,} she said before drawing her eggs close and dropping off to sleep.
[That was fun…not!] Iggy stated.
++***++ SCENE
The next day Harry Potter appeared before Cedric Diggory at the Hufflepuff table and asked to speak to him.
"You got nothing of importance to tell me Potter," Cedric said. "Are you scared about the First Task?"
"Diggory, I simply want to tell you they've brought dragons…"
"Ha! That won't work! No one uses dragons in contests!" Diggory replied, as if he dismissed Harry's warning. Walking away (and disappearing from view), Harry walked over to the Ravenclaw table and appeared at some distance from Fleur Delacour. The young witch pursed her lips in disapproval but waited until the boy bowed appropriately.
Now Harry said, "Miss Delacour, I wish you good morning. I felt it necessary to tell you that at the first task we will be challenged by dragons."
"Non!" she replied. "We do not face dragons… it is just hippogriffs."
Waving Harry away without any intention of listening further, Fleur went back to her breakfast as Potter once again vanished from sight.
At the Slytherin table, Victor Krum had watched Potter appear and approach Diggory. The Hufflepuff dismissed the boy's words. Then he watched the boy vanish and reappear as he approached Fleur who also dismissed whatever the message was. Now the boy-who-vanished appeared headed toward Slytherin and Krum's side. From across the table, Draco Malfoy, Heir Black, offered a piece of advice, "My cousin has news that he thinks is important. I suggest you listen carefully."
Indeed, Potter did stop, bow and speak, telling Krum about the dragons.
"Thank you, Heir Potter," Krum said. "May I ask if your Head of House only told you about the dragons this late in the calendar."
"My head of house?" asked Harry. "Professor McGonagall doesn't…"
Krum nodded his head and explained, "Headmaster Karkaroff told me about the dragons the same night my name was called out. I know from talking to them that Delacour and Diggory were also informed by Madame Maxime and Professor Sprout."
Harry's expression was unreadable but Heir Black hissed in anger and promised to write to his mother immediately. Harry glanced at his cousin and said, "Tell her to bring a camera. Padfoot and Mooney will be entertained by the photographs she can make that day."
After lunch on 24 November, the students hurried from the castle to the arena that had been set up some distance from Hogwarts but still within the wards of the castle. There were several wizards and two witches who attempted to apparate within these extended wards and ended up in the Black Lake. Dumbledore paid no attention to angry or wet wizards who stomped away with puddles of lake water spreading behind them.
The officials and three leaders of the schools gathered on a raised platform where they would act as judges for the contestants. In a tent set up inside the arena, the four champions gathered and under the watchful eye of Ludman, they drew lots for the order they would perform. Delacour drew a miniature Welch Green with #1 on a chain around its neck. Krum drew out the Chinese Fireball with #3. Diggory drew out the miniature Swedish Short-Snout with #2. And Harry drew out the Hungarian Horntail with #4.
++***++ Common Welch Green
The vela stepped from the tent slowly but steadily in her approach to the Common Welch Green dragon that sat on a large stone, about two meters from the nest with her three eggs. The dragon hissed, smoke pouring from her nostrils as she gathered herself to launch into the air and land on the creature approaching her eggs. The witch began casting calming and sleeping spells at the dragon. The continuous spells calmed the dragon and the eyes seemed to close as the dragon lay down and began dozing.
Confident now, Fleur Delacour stepped forward, looking for the glimmer of gold in the nest. But the golden egg was not in the nest but grasped tightly in the arms of the sleeping dragon.
On the judge's platform, Madam Maxime began slapping Dumbledore and Karkaroff about the head and shouting that they had cheated. The champion paused for a long moment before she began attempting to summon the golden egg. As the egg began to slip away from the Welch Green, the dragon woke and snarled at the vela, now not less than one meter from her snout. The snarl sounded very predatory and the vela reacted naturally; she transformed immediately into her magical form of a large creature covered with feathers that resembled a large chicken with extra-long legs. The vela's natural reaction was to run!
Several Hufflepuff students cast spells that imitated the sounds of hens running from a fox or dog as the Vela vanished through the gates from the stadium. After some more arguments in the judges' platform, Fleur Delacour was awarded '7' points from each judge for the charms that put the dragon to sleep and for her 'self-transfiguration' into the giant chicken form.
++***++ Chinese Fireball
Victor Krum strode from the tent and upon seeing his 'opponent', he bowed formally and deeply. The crowd fell silent as the dragon bowed back to the wizard before he began an intricate dance that left a distinctive set of runes in the sand of the arena. Faster and faster Victor moved through a set of steps and the dragon seemed hypnotized by his moving form. With his arms upraised, he began throwing up sparklers of blue, red, green and orange that filled the air with confetti that fell upon the dragon. Whatever the confetti was made from, apparently it tasted very good to the dragon as she spent the next twenty minutes licking every inch of her body and the surrounding rocks.
While she was distracted, Victor casually walked over the to the nest, carefully removed the golden egg and then hurried from the arena. The dragon handlers had to wait until the Fireball had completed her feast before they could prod her into moving back to her pen. Meanwhile every judge awarded Victor '10' points.
++***++ Swedish Short-Snout
Mr. and Mrs. Diggory cheered for their son as Cedric stepped from the tent. The Hufflepuff bowed toward the crowd but ignored his opponent–the Swedish Short-Snout sniffed as if she had just caught the scent of her favourite prey. Playing with the chain that held her on the rock, no one noticed that a large boulder had come loose. Cedric transfigured a large dog from the sand and sent it racing forward to distract the dragon while the wizard slipped closer to the nest. Most of the audience watched the Puff as he moved but The Daily Prophet had assigned three photographers to the event. One kept his camera locked on Cedric Diggory, the second focused all his attention on the faces in the crowd, and the third did the same with the dragon. The photographer shooting the dragon caught her flinging the boulder with the end of her chain onto the transfigured dog, smashing it back into sand. And the photos caught the dragon leap from the stones onto the sand just in front of Cedric who froze as the creature leaned in close to him and blew out a puff of smoke at the Hufflepuff wizard who fainted.
The screams from Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were lost among the thousand other voices who expected to see the dragon devour the wizard lying on the sand. But she turned away, dragging the boulder with her as she returned to her nest and waited for the handlers to escort her back to her pen. Cedric was revived by one of the handlers and slowly stood up to see his scores of '1' across the board.
Scene: Hungarian Horntail
The dragon recognized Harry the moment he stepped from the tent and remembering his generous gift of gold that night earlier in the week, she put on a great show of fire and smoke as he carefully removed the golden 'false' egg from her nest. The elves had returned with bags of gold for each dragon every night and all four of the mothers were in fine shape.
With her show over, the Horntail waited patiently as her handlers transported her eggs back to her pen and she managed to step heavily on the only thief attempting to get close under an invisibility cloak. The wizard expired with his internal organs smashed flat and it was two weeks before anyone noticed the smell in the now-deserted arena.
Harry was satisfied with his third-place finish. Without doubt Victor Krum had shown the most showmanship with his magical display of magic in enchanting the dragon with some mysterious food.
++***++ Disappearing Common Greens
The phalanx of Longbottom-Potter elves were supplemented by thirty other house elves who were pleased to repay the kindness of the Warrior-Healer in sharing the Breathe of Magic by helping 'hide' and then transport the green dragon and her eggs.
The Common Welch Green and her eggs were returned to her mate in the mountains of Wales and with several elven charms to help them hide, they moved into an abandoned coal mine where the eggs could be incubated safely. The pair would approach the Potter Wood once their hatchlings could fly and seek to join the dragons living there.
The wizarding family of Hatcher, long renowned as great hunters and often whispered about as poachers, experienced a run of bad luck as dragon fire caught them trying to raid nests, hippogriffs clawed at hunters trying to kill yearlings for their strong and flexible hide. Within three years they were reduced to two injured old men who would die alone without mourners.
++***++ End of Scene