Editing update, book 6 is just under a 3rd finished editing. Many thanks to those who've reviewed, excellent notions brought up and much appreciated praise. Please R&R, and as always enjoy! ~F

Chapter Eight

Task of Fire

Harry paced the length of the common room, still mulling about what Hagrid had shown him. Dragons… The first task was to get past dragons. Eventually he grew frustrated with the very notion and threw himself into an armchair in front of the fire. The room was in semidarkness; the flames were the only source of light.

Faykan was reading in the chair opposite him, but lowered the book as the flame hissed at them. They both turned to look, and saw Sirius's head sitting in the fire. If Harry hadn't seen Mr. Diggory do exactly this back in the Weasleys' kitchen over the summer, it would have scared him out of his wits. Instead, his face breaking into the first smile he had worn for days, he scrambled out of his chair quickly followed by Faykan, crouched down by the hearth, and said, "Sirius… how're you doing?"

Sirius looked different from Harry's memory of him. When they had said goodbye, Sirius's face had been gaunt and sunken, surrounded by a quantity of long, black, matted hair. Now, the hair was short and clean, Sirius's face was fuller, and he looked younger; much more like the only photograph Harry had of him, which had been taken at the Potters' wedding.

"Never mind me, how are you?" said Sirius seriously.

"I'm…" For a second, Harry tried to say "fine," but he couldn't do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he'd talked in days, about how no one believed they hadn't entered the tournament on their own, how Rita Skeeter had lied about him in the Daily Prophet, how he couldn't walk down a corridor without being sneered at, and about Ron, Ron not believing him, Ron's jealousy... Faykan put his arm around Harry and softly rubbed his shoulders, urging him silently to let his emotions out.

"...and now Hagrid's just shown me what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, Sirius, and I'm a goner," he finished desperately.

Sirius looked at him, eyes full of concern, eyes that had not yet lost the look that Azkaban had given them, that deadened, haunted look he had let Harry talk himself into silence without interruption, but now he said, "Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we'll get to that in a minute, and I haven't got long here... I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about."

"What?" said Harry, feeling his spirits slip a further few notches... Surely there could be nothing worse than dragons coming?

"Karkaroff," said Sirius. "Harry, he was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you?"

"Yes… he, what?" Harry replied quickly.

Sirius' explination was grim, "He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year, to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place." Faykan looked skeptical, but said nothing.

"Karkaroff got released?" Harry said slowly, his brain seemed to be struggling to absorb yet another piece of shocking information. "Why did they release him?"

"He did a deal with the Ministry of Magic," said Sirius bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names... he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place... He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."

"Okay," said Harry slowly. "But... are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor, he seemed furious about it. He wanted to stop either of us from competing."

"We know he's a good actor," said Sirius, "because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he? Now, I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet, Harry..."

"…you and the rest of the world," said Faykan bitterly.

Sirius ignored him and pressed on, "…and reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm," Sirius said hastily, seeing Harry about to speak, "but I don't think so, somehow. I think someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."

"So... what are you saying?" said Harry slowly. "Karkaroff's trying to kill me? But… why?"

Sirius hesitated.

"I've been hearing some very strange things," he said slowly. "The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch World Cup, didn't they? Someone set off the Dark Mark... and then, did you hear about that Ministry of Magic witch who's gone missing?"

"Bertha Jorkins?" said Harry.

"Exactly... she disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was rumored to be last... and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, but... it's not very likely she'd have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?" said Harry.

"I wouldn't be surprised…" Faykan commented.

"Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius grimly. "She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot; very nosy, and no brains… none at all. It's not a good combination, Harry. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."

"So... so Voldemort could have found out about the tournament?" said Harry. "Is that what you mean? You think Karkaroff might be here on his orders?"

"I don't know," said Sirius slowly, "I just don't know... Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your names in that goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."

"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," said Harry grinning bleakly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff."

"Right… these dragons," said Sirius, speaking very quickly now. "There's a way, Harry. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell, dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out by a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon…"

"Yeah, I know, I just saw," said Harry.

"But you can do it alone," said Sirius. "There is away, and a simple spell's all you need. Just…"

But Faykan held up a hand to silence him. Harry's heart suddenly started pounding as though it would burst. He could hear footsteps coming down the spiral staircase behind him.

"Go!" they hissed at Sirius. "Go! There's someone coming!"

Harry scrambled to his feet, hiding the fire; if someone saw Sirius's face within the walls of Hogwarts, they would raise an almighty uproar, the Ministry would get dragged in, and they would be questioned about Sirius's whereabouts. Harry heard a tiny 'pop' in the fire behind him and knew Sirius had gone. He watched the bottom of the spiral staircase. Who had decided to go for a stroll at one o'clock in the morning, and stopped Sirius from telling him how to get past a dragon? Faykan stood just as whomever it was turn the last corner of the spiral stairs to the boy's dormitories.

It was Ron. Dressed in his maroon paisley pajamas, Ron stopped dead facing Harry and Faykan across the room, and looked around.

"Who were you talking to?" he said.

"What's that got to do with you?" Harry snarled. "What are you doing down here at this time of night?"

"I just wondered where you…" Ron broke off, shrugging, "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."

"Good, you do that, and leave us alone." Faykan said, returning to his seat while glaring at Ron.

"Sorry about that," said Ron, his face reddening with anger, "Should've realized you didn't want to be disturbed. I'll let you get on with practicing for your next interviews in peace."

The book Faykan had been read suddenly went flying across the room, smacking into Ron's face with a heavy thump. Ron staggered back, clutching his blackened eye. "Piss off Ronald!" Faykan said loudly.

Ron glared back with his good eye, and then stomped up the stars in a huff. Faykan summoned the book back and sat heavily, turning back to Harry. "Well, since we were so rudely interrupted with Sirius, we'll just need to plan your strategy to get past your dragon ourselves."

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Draco glanced across the Great Hall at Harry, Hermione and Faykan, who were sitting at the Gryffindor table with Ginny Weasley. It looked like Harry wasn't eating again, even with Faykan constantly pushing plates of food towards him. Draco's eyes unfortunately, kept trailing towards Ginny, the familiar rising feeling returned, and Draco felt himself blushing slightly. Before any of the other Slytherin's noticed, Draco returned his attention to his food.

The next time he could muster the courage to discreetly look, Harry was dragging Hermione and Faykan out of the hall by the arm. Draco finished off his last bites and followed, hoping that Harry might just be eager for more training.

He caught up to then as they crossed the third floor. Harry filled him in on the first task, and Draco understood his agitation. Faykan and Hermione kept giving Harry suggestions as to how to fight his dragon. "Whatever you do, you can't show off you new skills, if we want to catch whoever is trying to kill you, we don't want them thinking your as powerful as you are," Faykan was advising.

"What do you plan to do for the task, Fay?" Draco asked.

"Haven't thought about me yet," Faykan replied, shrugging, "I'm more concerned with Harry right now; whomever entered me knows that I'm powerful, therefore I don't have too many limits on what I can or can't do."

A familiar clunk caused them all to turn. Mad-Eye Moody was emerging from a nearby classroom.

"Come with me, Potter," he growled, "The rest of you, off you go."

Harry stared apprehensively at Moody. Draco wondered if he had overheard them. Moody beckoned him over, and Harry slowly followed him back down towards the Defense classroom.

"What do you reckon Moody wants with Harry?" Draco asked absently as the pair turned out of sight.

"No, idea, but I don't trust him." Faykan replied. "C'mon, let's get up to the room."

Moody didn't keep Harry for long. He came bursting into the room only an hour later, "I need to learn the summoning charm by Tuesday afternoon."

Faykan raised his eyebrows curiously, "What's your plan Harry?" he asked, grinning slightly. Harry explained that Moody had wanted to give Harry some tips on facing the dragons; his plan was to summon his Firebolt and out fly the dragon on it.

Faykan pondered for several seconds, then declared, "It's perfect Harry, a fourth year spell, and a skill everyone already knows you possess, I can't believe we didn't think of it before. Let's start now."

Between Draco, Hermione and Faykan, Harry was able to master the spell relatively quickly, but insisted on practicing until he could do the spell both silently and wandlessly, even though he would verbalize the spell during the task and use his wand.

"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to Hermione, so he could try again, "threaten me with a dragon. Right..." He raised his hand and closed his fingers slightly, like he was making a fist.

The heavy book soared out of Hermione's hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it.

"Harry, I really think you've got it!" said Hermione delightedly.

"Just as long as it works during the task," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be out there on the grounds..."

"That doesn't matter," said Faykan firmly." Just as long as you're concentrating really hard on it, it'll come."

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Severus had received Undol's note to meet the night before the first task, and he made sure he was prepared for another emotional breakdown with several Calming Daunts, just in case. Thankfully, the boy appeared to be in much brighter spirits, almost swaggering through the door with his stupid overconfident grin plastered on his face. "Hello Professor." He greeted cheerfully. Severus just nodded, setting aside the current round of essays he was attempting to grade. They boy sat down, and just stared at Severus for several moments, smiling like he hadn't a care in the world.

"Well, Mr. Undol… you requested to meet me tonight, do you expect me to start the conversation as well?" Severus asked finally, becoming annoyed. Undol's smile faded as he returned to the world around him, "Oh… yes, sorry Professor." The boys face contorted, as if he was thinking how best to phrase what he wanted to say.

"Why are you and Dumbledore having me watched?" he asked finally. Severus didn't even blink, having expected this question to eventually come up. "I mean," Undol clarified, "why are Moody and those three Ravenclaws watching me all the time. I'm not stupid Sir; I see the way they look at me..."

"I do not presume to know all the reasoning's of Headmaster Dumbledore; however, I personally asked the Ravenclaws to watch you on the off chance that you or, more importantly, Mr. Potter got into anymore dangerous situations. You need not concern yourself with those three." Severus said. It was a half-truth, but then, if it made Undol less agitated, all the better.

"Then why did Moody pull Harry aside two days ago and basically form his plan for the first task for him?" this actually managed to surprise Severus. He was under the impression that Albus was all for 'fairness and good sportsmanship' like any golden Gryffindor.

"That I do not know Undol; I would suspect that Professor Moody had his own reasons for helping Potter." Severus said honestly.

"I don't trust Moody," Undol said abruptly.

Severus grinned to himself, "I'm sure he'd be pleased that you're taking his lessons to heart then."

Faykan laughed halfheartedly, and then sobered, "I'm sure you know that Sirius communicates with me and Harry, right?"

Severus was aware; thanks to Albus' near draconic monitoring of the floo connections in Hogwarts, those damnably silvery instruments of his were set to so many things it was a wonder that there were quiet moments in his office at all.

"I am," Severus said, slightly irritated. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear about Black, but he had agreed to talk with Undol, and Slytherins kept their word, better even than Gryffindors.

"Well, he fire called a few days ago, to talk to Harry… and, he warned us about the signs that have been cropping up, the upsurge of Death Eaters, the Dark Mark at the World Cup, Bertha Jorkins' disappearance, all pointing to something big about to happen."

Severus nodded, silently agreeing, but kept his opinions to himself. Undol waited for a few moments, clearly hoping that Severus would tell him things he didn't need to know. Finally he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Well, um… I uh… I should probably get to bed, first task tomorrow… Need to be ready to face those dragons…" and Undol got up and left.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

"Potter, Undol, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now... You have to get ready for your first task."

"Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter. He felt restless, yet ready at the same time.

"Good luck," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"

Both Harry and Faykan nodded their thanks to her before leaving the Great Hall after Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself either, Harry noticed; in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione. As she walked him down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head... We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand... The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you... Are you all right?"

"Yes," Harry heard himself say. "Yes, I'm fine."

She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.

"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall in a rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turns. Mr. Bagman is in there. He'll be telling you both the… the procedure... Good luck."

"Thank you Professor," Faykan said, and she left them both at the entrance of the tent.

Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a low wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Harry supposed was his way of showing nerves.

"Harry! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him and Faykan as they entered. "Come in, come in, make yourselves at home!"

Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing amid all the pale faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again.

"Well, now we're all here, time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag," he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them, "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different… err, varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too... ah; yes... your task is to collect the golden egg!"

Harry glanced around. Faykan looked bored at the information, as if he had knew beforehand, then began to spin his wand in his fingers absently. Fleur Delacour and Krum hadn't reacted at all. Perhaps they thought they might be sick if they opened their mouth; that was certainly how Harry felt. But they, at least, had volunteered for this…

And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking... Harry felt as separate from the crowd as though they were a different species. And then, it seemed like about a second later to Harry, Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.

"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour.

She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon, a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck And Harry knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was coming.

The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the Swedish Short-Snout. It had a number one around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.

Faykan put his hand into the bag, and out came the Hungarian Horntail, the number four tied around its neck. Knowing what was left; Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Chinese Fireball, and the number three.

"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Krum, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now... Harry... could I have a quick word? Outside?"

"Err... yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with Bagman, who walked him a short distance away, into the trees, and then turned to him with a fatherly expression on his face.

"Feeling all right, Harry? Anything I can get you?"

"What?" said Harry, "I… no, nothing."

"Got a plan?" said Bagman, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know. I mean," Bagman continued, lowering his voice still further, "you're the underdog here, Harry... Anything I can do to help..."

"No," said Harry so quickly he knew he had sounded rude, "no… I-I know what I'm going to do, thanks."

"Nobody would know, Harry," said Bagman, winking at him.

"No, I'm fine," said Harry, wondering why he kept telling people this, and wondering whether he had ever been less fine. "I've got a plan worked out, I…"

A whistle had blown somewhere.

"Good lord, I've got to run!" said Bagman in alarm, and he hurried off.

Harry walked back to the tent and saw Krum emerging from it. Harry tried to wish him luck as he walked past, but all that came out of his mouth was a sort of hoarse grunt.

Harry went back inside to Fleur and Faykan. Seconds later, they heard the roar of the crowd, which meant Krum had entered the enclosure and was now face-to-face with the living counterpart of his model.

"Very daring!" Bagman was yelling, and Harry heard the Swedish Short-Snout emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing, and, yes, he's got the egg!"

Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Krum had finished.

"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

Fleur was trembling from head to foot; Harry felt more warmly toward her than he had done so far as she heft the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her wand. He and Faykan were alone.

The same process started again... "Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Bagman shouting gleefully. "Oh... nearly! Careful now... good lord, I thought she'd had it then!"

Ten minutes later, Harry heard the crowd erupt into applause once more... Fleur must have been successful too. A pause, while Fleur's marks were being shown... more clapping... then, for the third time, the whistle.

"And here comes Mr. Potter!" cried Bagman as the whistle blew, and Harry nervously made his way to the tent's entrance.

Faykan caught Harry's arm just before he left, "You'll be fine Harry, just remember how we practiced…" he reassured, giving Harry a gentle shove toward the entrance.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Hermione watched as Harry flew around the Chinese Fireball, taunting it into pulling away from the eggs, then diving beneath it like an arrow, seizing the egg and pulling up and away. Hermione had screamed when the Fireball had hit Harry with its tail, but it appeared to have done minimal damage.

"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"

Harry landed and Hermione saw Hagrid, Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody rush over to check on him. She watched as the judges gave their scores. Madam Maxime gave Harry an eight, Mr. Crouch a nine, same as Dumbledore. Mr. Bagman awarded Harry full marks, and Karkaroff gave him a measly four.

Hermione wanted to run and check on Harry in the medical tent, but Faykan was next.

"And now our final champion!" Bagman announced as the whistle blew for the last time. Faykan appeared at the edge of the enclosure, facing down the Horntail and its eggs.

Hermione held her breath as Faykan slowly advanced, wand raised and pointing at the dragon. The Horntail waited until Faykan was just too close, then roared and spit a gust of fire at the wizard. Faykan didn't try to evade the jet of flames, but instead slashed his wand in a high arc around his head, which caused the dragon-fire to curve, bending around Faykan's body and flying back at the Horntail.

The dragon roared in anger, but didn't seem to be harmed by its own fire. Its next attack was to swing it giant tail at Faykan, but Faykan dodged out of the way, still advancing on the Horntail. Finally Faykan broke out into a run at the dragon, unsheathing his sword, and it glowed with blue fire in the presence of the Horntail.

Bellowing loudly, it reared, plunging down, trying to crush Faykan beneath its weight, but Faykan leap beneath the dragon's slashing claws, avoided its head as it attempted to devour him, and stabbed upward, striking the soft underbelly of the great creature.

It howled in agony, moving around to get a view of the creature below it, careful to step around its eggs. Faykan struck again, slashing at a hind leg while sending blasting curses into the wings. Roaring again, the Horntail twisted, lashing at Faykan again with its tail, catching him in the torso and sending him flying towards the pile of eggs.

Faykan landed hard, feet away from the golden egg. But the Horntail blasted him with flames again, the air scorching as the fire blazed toward him.

"Pinquelek en' i' orod." Faykan yelled, and streams of frost and snow blasted from his wand, battling the spout of fire from the Horntail. Steam erupted where ice met fire, but the dragon was slowly gaining ground, forcing Faykan back toward the golden egg. Suddenly, Faykan canceled his spell, at the same time deflecting the blast of flames away from him and the eggs, then raised his wand and free hand, "khelek en' Caradhras," he commanded. Pillars of ice erupted around the Horntail, trapping it between the huge shards. The beast roared again and thrashed against the ice, furious, but it could not shatter the crystals.

Faykan turned and picked up the golden egg, causing the crowd to go berserk. Hermione was impressed, Faykan had shown he was powerful before, but this was a new level above anything he had done previously.

Professor Snape guided Faykan into the medical tent while dragon handlers worked to stun the Horntail and collect the normal eggs. Hermione raced to the tent, Ron and Draco right behind her. Faykan was sitting on a stool next to Harry as Madam Pomfrey tended to a massive cut across his chest from the Horntail's spikes.

"Harry, Faykan, you were both brilliant!" Hermione said squeakily.

"You were amazing! You really were!" added Draco.

But both Faykan and Harry was looking at Ron, who was very white and staring at them as though they were ghosts.

Finally he said, very seriously, "Whoever put your names in that goblet, I… I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

"Caught on, have you?" said Faykan coldly, "Took you long enough."

Hermione stood nervously between them, looking from one to the other. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly.

"It's okay," Harry said, before Ron could get any words out. "Forget it."

"No," said Ron, "I shouldn't've…"

"Forget it, "Harry said.

Ron grinned nervously at him, and Harry grinned back

Hermione burst into tears. Boys were so stupid sometimes.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Albus was not surprised by Faykan's performance. He had expected that a dragon wouldn't be enough to do the boy in, but he had hoped that he was wrong. The points had been rather favorable to the boy; he was in third place behind Harry and Mr. Krum, who were tied for first. But Albus was cunning, there were two tasks left to break the boy with, and if those failed, he had a backup plan to shatter the boy's mind and allow him to fall into the perfect place for Albus to manipulate Harry into the inevitable confrontation with Voldemort.

Alastor reported that Harry was working out the tasks with Faykan, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy. That was good, Harry would need all the help he could get, but Albus couldn't be caught offering direct assistance to Harry, so he would rely on the power of their friendship to pull Harry through to the end of this ordeal.

Severus commented once that Undol had sought him out for a confidant, to talk to on occasion and relieve his stresses. Furthermore, their first 'session' had ended with an emotional breakdown from the boy, which pleased Albus greatly. The sooner the boy was out of the way or under his thumb, the better Albus would sleep at night.

The stranger thing was the mystery of the disappearing Goblet of Fire. It was discovered after the wand weighing that the real goblet had gone, a perfect copy in its place, and the Ministry was scrambling to search for it, secretly of course.

Albus did not care personally, he had more important things to tend to, such as thinking up who would fit as the hostage for Mr. Undol in the next task. Ideally, Harry would have been the best choice, but as Harry was also a champion that was out of the question. Faykan was not that close to Mr. Weasley or Miss Granger, so that left Albus with one choice of candidate. Mr. Malfoy would have to join Mr. Weasley and Miss Delacour's younger sister in the lake. That only left Mr. Krum. Well, Albus figured that the Yule Ball would reveal a prime choice for the Bulgarian to seek in the watery depths.

pinquelek en' i' orod : frost of the mountain

khelek en' Caradhras : ice of redhorn

Potential Spoilers Ahead, You Have Been Warned!

Not much that needed to be added or swapped here, as it was primarily an action chapter, but the section mentioning the disappearance of the Goblet of Fire is key toward the future subplot that I'm brewing. 3 guesses who took it, first 2 don't count... again, thanks for the reviews, until next time! ~F