AN: All right. This is it. I tried my best to make it interesting and this is what I could do. Hopefully, you all will like it. Here it goes...

Ch 10 – The First task Ends

Harry's roar of fury died in his throat as he actually looked at the dragon and the reality of the situation finally dawned on him with full force.

As soon as he had entered the arena with Cedric at his side, the loud cheering noise of the tens of thousands of spectators had hit his senses suddenly, drowning away the loud bang behind him as the huge wooden doors closed on themselves.

"And here are the Hogwarts Champions…" came the loud voice of Ludo bagman from somewhere amongst the crowd.

There was a transparent shield separating the other four champions from them, each one gazing at the huge monstrosity awaiting him or her for Merlin knew how long.

Harry eyed his own large blue dragon in front of him critically and tried to make a comparison of the beast with the others he could see. Looks wise, Fleur's dragon was definitely more menacing than the one in front of him, perhaps because that one was already baring its large, pointy teeth. The Chinese fireball in the Durmstrang camp was the shortest amongst the three and his Swedish Short-Snout wasn't that short at all. At an approximation, it would be at the least thirty five feet tall.

Its long sharp tail sent shivers down Harry's spine as he noted that it was full of spikes, which were probably sharper than your average kitchen knife. His large yellow beady eyes glowed with an eerie intelligence and sentience that wasn't common in the normal animals, magical and non-magical alike.

The Dragon hadn't paid any attention to either of them as of that point and Harry wondered how they were going to approach it from there. It seemed the most relaxed out of the group, unlike the others who were already snarling at the petty humans that had dared to show their faces to them.

"Cedric?" Harry asked without taking his eyes off the dragon.

"Hmmm…?" the other boy replied doing the same.

A loud boom enveloped the stadium as the two Durmstrang champions started throwing spells at the now growling dragon in front of them and the crowd screamed. Neither Harry nor Cedric gave them any attention, content to delay the inevitable as long as they could.

"I was just wondering, you know…they threw me in this insanity against my will but what made you jump into this voluntarily?"

Cedric rubbed his smooth cheek. "Let's see…you met my father, didn't you?"

Harry grimaced, remembering that meeting before the world cup. "Yep."

"You know how he is then. Then there was Professor Sprout, lovely old cougar that she is…" Harry coughed suddenly. "…my friends, my girlfriend and my entire house in general. Hufflepuffs are a very competitive lot Harry, I am telling you."

"Yeah. So, you were thrown in it as well. I am sorry."

"I admit, it was kind of cool for the first couple of days when all the girls were vying for my attention, but that too became a pain when Cho found out."

Harry turned to face him finally. "Chang is your girlfriend…wait, I thought you were gay."

Cedric gave him a look. "Who told you so?"

"Umm…no one. I just thought…"

"Why?" growled Cedric, suddenly angry. "It's not like my skin shines and I am all gooey-gooey, is it? I just try to be nice and people think I am gay. Come on…"

"Calm down. I was just asking." said Harry, throwing his arms up.

Cedric took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Sorry. It's a sore spot. There are some guys who…spoil my reputation."

Harry nodded. "So…how do we do it?"

"What?"

Harry pointed a finger at the blue dragon.

"Oh yeah, that." Cedric said, suddenly realizing where he really was as Vlad Dumrov let out a pain filled cry of agony as one of the great balls of fire the dragon was throwing scorched his face. "Yeah, about that. I don't know. I didn't know it was a dragon beforehand either."

Harry nodded in understanding. "We both are pussies."

~X~X~X~

A little distance apart, two French girls were bickering as a huge Hungarian Horntail; a monstrous, ugly, scaly, black lizard with evil, yellow eyes; thrashed her spiked tail leaving huge yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground, licking her 'lips' with her large tongue as she eyed her food.

Yes, she was a female.

"What, afraid now Delacour? All your skill at magic left you at the sight of the monster?" asked the shorter looking witch in a scathing tone.

Fleur sighed. "I just thought I would take the role of the mature being and rest our fight for the time being so that we could work together." Then her eyes burned as she glared at the other witch. "But it seems this simple concept is below the understanding of a pigheaded girl like you."

"Shut up! You ugly whore – you are the one to talk about maturity. I haven't forgotten anything, you-"

~X~X~X~

"And Victor Krum throws a conjunctivitis at the angry dragon but he misses at the last moment and Dumrov gets a thrashing of the tail and he is flying through the air…and Ah, what is this, it looks like the ladies from the French contingent are fighting amongst themselves. Fleur Delacour viciously slaps Miss Monreau across the cheek, I wonder what's happening there and Hogwarts seems to be discussing something…"

~X~X~X~

"So that's how you met Chang…" said Harry, slapping Cedric on his back. "Cooool."

Cedric grinned.

~X~X~X~

"I am not the slut, you whore." spat Fleur as she glared at her fallen schoolmate. "You want to fight this thing alone? Fine, I'll just sit in a corner and let you burn to a crisp before lifting another finger in this damn task…"

Nicole's eyes widened as she realized she was in trouble but Fleur was a witch of her words. She promptly went to a corner and conjured a large spacious sofa to comfortably lie on and watch the show. A wave of her wand conjured a solid iron shield to stop any stray fiery attacks from the beast.

Nicole stood up on unsteady legs and scowled at Fleur with pure hatred dripping from her face.

She turned towards the Dragon she now had to face alone and her eyes widened as the Horntail roared and threw a scorching bright flame in her direction…

~X~X~X~

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Diggory, it would be better if you would start now…Why is the Short-Snout not attacking them keepers?" Cedric heard Bagman's voice and finally sighed as he looked at Harry.

"Harry, we have to…"

"I know, I know. Let's get on with it now…it just seems unfair to attack it when it's leaving us alone."

"Yeah…I think we got lucky on this one."

After ten minutes, Harry was throwing a dirty look at Cedric as both of them crouched behind a huge rock to save themselves from the Dragon's ire, gasping for breath as sweat dripped off them in litres.

"Lucky one…?" he hissed.

Cedric winced. "Sorry. I guess it was just waiting for us to open."

They had both been wrong in their estimations of the peaceful looking dragon. It was just looking that. It was just as angry and evil as the other two, what with trying to kill them so much…

They had both started by throwing a volley of as many stunners as they could manage at the Dragon, which had only served to irritate him and not making him, at least, drowsy as they had hoped for. The Dragon had bared its teeth and given the loudest of roars up until that time in the stadium. Every head had turned towards them at that point.

Harry hadn't stopped throwing his stunners while Cedric had gulped and pulled him out of the range of a hot burning flame just at the last moment. A flame freezing curse from the seventh year Hufflepuff directly in the mouth of the Dragon went unnoticed, managing to only anger the Dragon further who stood on its full height now and gave another large beastly roar.

They both managed to dodge the tail that came their way by jumping in the direction opposite and running out of the range of another attack as fast as they could.

The Dragon had then taken them by surprise by unfurling its wings. Harry had thought that it was about to fly over when it had started flapping its wings in quick succession not vertically, but horizontally, creating a strong gale of wind enough for both of them to lose their footing and fly ten feet in the air towards the hard wooden doors and crashing painfully against the smooth surface.

Harry groaned as he stood up first and moved towards Cedric to help the older boy who had no practice of being beaten in up in this fashion. He helped him up and growled angrily towards the dragon which was somehow successfully radiating a sense of smugness off him.

Leaving Cedric to gape towards him, Harry ran towards the dragon at full sprint and aiming his wand directly at one of its eye, snarled "Hasta Telum" once, twice, thrice and again.

A series of long iron spears rushed out of his wand at the beast with a great velocity but the Dragon turned its head and each one crashed against its rough skin uselessly. Harry gnashed his teeth in frustration and shouted, "Ascia Telum".

Another series of axes rained out of his wand at the dragon at speeds higher than he had managed before in any of his practices, but they too clattered to the ground uselessly.

The dragon turned its head to Harry again and eyed him menacingly. Great gouts of fire left its mouth and Harry hastily conjured a solid shield, amplifying his magic from the Hogwarts ley lines as Fleur had taught him and concentrated on keeping his will intact to limit the flow to only what he could channel safely.

His wand buckled under the pressure and he could feel the enormous heat on the other side of his shield, trying to burn him alive. Pain lanced his body as blisters grew on his skin but he persevered until the Dragon finally took a breather and stopped.

Cedric was on his side in a moment, throwing yet another series of Flame freezing curses at the dragon. He paused and started pulling an exhausted Harry backwards by his hand, simultaneously transfiguring the rocks lying around them into various birds and small animals and guiding them towards the dragon.

They finally reached a large boulder that could keep them safe form the blasts of flames from the Dragon for at least a few minutes.

This was how they found themselves in their current position.

"That dragon isn't a tame one by any stretch of the word." said Harry.

Cedric nodded. "We need a plan."

"Fucker. Fucker. Fucker. Fucker." Harry murmured in his breath.

"Who?" asked Cedric.

"All of them." Harry scowled. "Fucking Bagman. Fucking Fudge. Fucking Voldemort, who I am sure had everything to do with my name in the goblet."

Cedric's eyes widened comically. "Volde-…Vol…You-Know-Who is alive?"

Harry paused. "No. Not alive. He is just not fully dead. A small ugly monstrous child who is trying to gain his body back somehow."

"Ho-How do you know this?"

"Bastard has some connection with me." said Harry pointing to his scar. "Sends me nightmares sometimes."

Cedric had no answer to that and Harry just rested his head on the rock to get a little rest.

And then a blast of fire made it shudder.

"Fucker. This dragon as well."

~X~X~X~

"Miss Monreau seems to be trying to weave some kind of spell to disorient the angry dragon while trying to dodge its attacks simultaneously. She isn't having much success in either of her tasks. I wonder when Miss Delacour, who is currently lounging and eying Miss Monreau with a cruel and evil smirk, is going to help the poor girl. Oh dear, she seems to be crying now…Miss Monreau that is. Miss Delacour is just yawning."

~X~X~X~

"We need a plan." Cedric said, putting You-Know-Who off his mind for now and concentrating on the dragon.

"Yeah. We do." agreed Harry.

"So…?"

"So…?"

"Yeah…so?"

"What? You are the seventh year here, the real Hogwarts champion. You should think of something."

"Hey, I didn't commission those badges." said Cedric indignantly.

"Whatever." dismissed Harry with a wave of his hand. "I didn't mean it like that. We have to…"

They both jumped apart as their hideout finally gave up and the rock exploded outwards.

~X~X~X~

Nicole was crying.

Her eyes stung as she ran around from the monster like a three year child runs from her mother, that the mother isn't interested in eating the child is another matter entirely. It wasn't only due to the dust particles which were making her sneeze every now and then but also because of her shattering pride and a few of her bones.

Her body was aching top to bottom and she was sure to drop anytime now. Then the dragon would eat her savoring each and every drop of her blood.

And she wouldn't lift a finger, she had said.

She had tried every damn spell she knew. Fire, water, wind, earth, anything and everything, but she was weak, plain and simple. She wasn't like Delacour. She couldn't do just anything while lazing around. She had even tried that sleep spell Maxime had asked them to learn for some reason, but it wasn't working. Not when the dragon wasn't letting her stay still for more than ten seconds at a time.

She knew what she had to do.

She had no option but to swallow her pride and beg her enemy. Merlin, how she hated her for this.

Making up her mind, she turned around and ran towards the Veela who had a wide smile on her beautiful face. She absolutely knew what was happening.

"Please" Nicole said kneeling down in front of her as she gasped for breath. "Please help me."

Fleur's smirk, if anything, grew bigger. "What? I can't hear you."

"Please" Nicole shouted. "I am sorry. Please help me or I will die."

The dragon threw his leg on the ground, creating ripples in the earth, frightening the frightened girl even more.

Fleur thought for a bit. "Really? You are begging me? Me, a whore according to you, if I am correctly recalling?"

Nicole nodded glumly. "Sorry. I am sorry. I'll do whatever you want. Please save me."

Fleur nodded and Nicole relaxed but it wasn't so easy.

"Wait" Fleur said pointing her wand at Nicole. "Sonorus. Again. Beg me again."

Nicole glared hatefully at the vengeful girl and saw nothing but loathing reflected in her eyes. Another blast of fire shook the shield Fleur was lazily holding up, keeping them safe. "FINE. I AM SORRY. I BEG YOU. SAVE ME FROM THIS DRAGON."

Fleur appeared deep in thought. "Say you are a potato."

Nicole sighed.

"I AM POTATO. EVERYONE HERE IT. I AM A POTATO. MY NAME IS POTATO MONREAU. POTATO. POTATO. POTATO. OKAY NOW, HAPPY? I AM A VERY VERY FAT POTATO. SAVE ME NOW, YOU…"

Fleur raised an eyebrow.

"…MY DEAR. PLEASE." Nicole finished lamely as Fleur cancelled the charm on her. "Happy?"

Fleur nodded happily and stretched herself. "Very."

~X~X~X~

Harry glanced at his side as the dragon rammed its tail in him once again and followed with a gout of flame. He quickly rolled to the side this time instead of using his shield. He'll be sporting a lot of holes on his body if he survived this.

Cedric managed to take its attention away once again for some time.

They were doing pretty good as a team at the moment. They had decided to attack the dragon together from both sides. This way, one could hold onto it while the other recovered from an attack from the beast itself.

Harry looked through the transparent shield on his one side as he heard 'Potato' frantically declaring to everyone that she really was a Potato. He saw her kneeling in front of a very comfortable Fleur and sighed, amused at Fleur's antics as he understood everything happening there in a second.

It was exactly what she would do in a situation like this.

She finally stood up and walked calmly towards the Dragon.

Every head in the stadium except the two Durmstrang champions who had finally managed to maim their dragon with a well aimed conjunctivitis curse looked at her as she progressed.

There she stood before the scariest Dragon of the lot, whose image was enough for a grown up to piss in his pants, without any fear in her eyes and an extremely lazy stance.

Despite his situation, Harry was again hit with a wave of euphoria as he once more realized just how beautiful she was.

That euphoria evaporated as the huge black lizard opened her mouth and a great stream of pure raging hot fire rained on Fleur with an enormous velocity and she did…

…she did absolutely nothing to stop it.

The fire enveloped her entire form and she didn't even try to defend herself.

"FLEUR" Harry screamed and ran towards her, colliding against the invisible wards, even as he knew that he could do absolutely nothing to save her.

The entire stadium quieted. Not a man or a woman dared to even draw a breath as they faced the result of their actions…their fun and saw a beast burning an innocent girl, alive.

Tears of rage and frustration and sadness fell from Harry's eyes as he saw the girl he had come to care for, more than care for, burn in front of him. And he couldn't do a thing to save her.

Once again, Cedric shouted his name to warn him as he was picked up by the dragon's tail and smashed back in the wall but Harry didn't care. A few of his ribs cracked but he didn't care.

Fleur was no more.

Fleur was dead.

Fleur was…

And then the crowd roared.

The Hungarian Horntail had stopped throwing out his burning flames and was looking down at something with an oddly 'curious' look on her face. The dragon itself was bewildered by what she saw.

Harry looked down and his mouth fell open.

Their stood a Goddess. Covered from head to toe in fire and fire alone, Fleur was nothing less than that. He could see her still lazy stance and the perpetual smirk on her face. She was unmistakably, undoubtedly, his Fleur.

And she was covered in Fire.

And it wasn't hurting her.

What the hell?

His eyes only widened more as Fleur raised her hands and slowly raised herself from the ground. She was hovering above the earth.

No, she was flying.

With a sudden boost, she blasted herself up and flew into the air, whooping with joy. The flames left her trails behind her as she circled the still bewildered dragon once, twice and again.

The audience gawked and clapped and whistled.

The dragon finally came out of her stupor and fired more fire at Fleur and she intentionally allowed the flames to wash over her as if they energized her further.

When the Dragon saw no effect on her nemesis, she roared an unholy cry and started snapping her jaws at Fleur but she dodged her teeth without a care in the world and threw her own fireballs inside the nose of the dragon, instead of its mouth. Due to the close range, this one definitely hurt and the Dragon howled with pain.

"Harry…help here." Cedric shouted, breaking Harry from his show as he turned towards the bruised and tired Hufflepuff, who was now transfiguring dogs and crows and cats frantically to keep their Dragon occupied.

Harry stood up with a new determination and wiped his dried tears away. "Coming Partner."

~X~X~X~

"How the hell is she doing it? My, my, what magic is this? I haven't seen anything like this in years of my being in the Wizarding World. Ever. This girl is something else entirely. But let's not forget the others too. Krum has finally succeeded in completely blinding the dragon and Dumrov himself looks in bad shape. But do not stop Durmstrang. You have to bring the dragon down. Yes, they are shooting some dark curses there…but no unforgivables, remember. And what is Miss Delacour doing now…"

~X~X~X~

"Now. Listen Cedric. I have a plan." said Harry.

"What is it?"

"Just trust me on this."

~X~X~X~

Fleur hovered in the air in front of the vicious and angry dragon. She had been blasting the nose of the beast for quite some time now. The dragons were resistant to fire for the most part, but their noses, not so much. In fact, the oxygen they needed to breathe made it much more painful if the flames reached their insides, to the internal organs, past the glands in their throats that produced fire.

It had been fun but now it was getting boring and all the howls were getting to her ears.

It was time to finish it.

She concentrated, while dodging the occasional tail or wing, and produced a small fireball in her hands. She threw her energy into it as it grew larger and larger until it was double the size of the dragon's head.

With a final effort on her part, she flew towards the dragon and threw the huge fireball in her nose with all her strength.

The dragon howled with pain and one of its wings finally connected with her, throwing her to the ground forcefully.

Her own fire died down and she groaned painfully as something cracked. "Oops."

Half the audience groaned too, as they were hoping to see her assets after she would have dispelled the flames covering her body, but to their disappointment, her clothes were perfectly unharmed as she got herself up.

She had charmed her clothes beforehand knowing male psychology.

The dragon came down with a large thud.

The Chinese fireball howled as it was subjected to several dark cutting and slashing curses again and again.

Finally, it too gave up and came down with another thud.

Meanwhile, our hero was desperately praying that Dumbledore hadn't fucked him over as he threw waves of water at the resilient and irritating Dragon. It was just a normal augumenti charm, boosted with the power of the Hogwarts ley lines.

"NOW" He shouted at Cedric who was standing behind the Dragon at Harry's urging.

Harry stopped the water spell, and with all his might and the help of the Hogwarts wards, cast a full blown banisher at the ground below.

He was propelled with the speed of a cannon and shot towards the head of the dragon, missing it with just a foot.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Cedric intoned from below and caught Harry in his spell.

And then, he gently lowered the younger boy on the Dragon's back, releasing the spell.

The audience watched with baited breath as the Boy-Who-Lived grasped one of the dragon's scales and hung on its back.

Slowly, but steadily, Harry started climbing to the top of the dragon, pulling himself one step at a time. The Dragon was entirely unaware of his whereabouts as it looked from side to side trying to spot him or Cedric, who had cast a very poor disillusionment charm on himself and hidden somewhere by now.

Harry finally reached the top of the dragon's head and the dragon finally realized that something was crawling on him. It started shaking its head and howling like mad but Harry clenched his teeth and held for dear life.

He closed his eyes and thought back to that fight two years ago when he had slain Slytherin's basilisk with a single sword. That sword was special. Only a true Gryffindor could pull it out of the Sorting Hat and lift it.

Harry had no sorting hat as of that moment but he was still a Gryffindor. A true Gryffindor. Since he really was enjoying and partaking in this insanity now, as reflected in his crazed grin, even as the dragon kept trying to dislodge him from its head.

'Come to me, baby. Come to me. Hey Sword. I am the true Gryffindor. You can see it. You know it. Come to me damn it. I swear, Godric Gryffindor, I will haunt you in afterlife eternally if that blasted sword of yours isn't in my hands in three seconds. Come baby. Come to Papa.'

Harry's eyes widened and crazy laughter bubbled from him as the sword really appeared in one of his hands at the count of three. The blade was fashioned from pure silver and inset with rubies, the stone with Gryffindor's color, and Godric Gryffindor's name was engraved just beneath the hilt.

Harry grinned maniacally and wielded the sword in one hand, showing it to the entire stadium full of idiots who were called humans.

Pulling himself up a little with one hand, he thrust the blade in one of the dragon's eyes viciously. The dragon howled in pain as the venom imbued sword cut through him. It shook his head madly and Harry lost his balance as he fell forward but managed to maintain his grip on the hilt of the sword. He looked the angry dragon in his other eye as he dangled from the one he had pierced.

Again relying on only one of his hands to grip the sword, Harry took his wand in his other hand and intoned, "Hasta Telum" .

A spear from his wand pierced the other eye of the Dragon as well and it screeched, throwing more gouts of fire in its pain and madness.

Another two spears entered through its nose as Harry rested safely on its own snout now. He managed to take the sword out and land the last blow of the sword through it's snout with his own roar of victory.

Every man, woman, and child in the stadium watched as Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived slew a dragon in front of their very eyes.

The dragon slowly fell to the ground and stilled, the poison of the sword working on it along with the many injuries Harry had inflicted.

Harry jumped down tiredly and looked at the dead beast in sorrow, the crazed glint fading from his eyes. "Sorry, my friend. It was either you or me. And I prefer me for now."

Cedric came up behind him with a tired and grim face, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

"Cedric, that's why people think you are gay." said Harry with a faint smile.

Cedric snorted. "Don't get a big head, Potter. Even if I were gay, you wouldn't be my type."

"Yes, yes, I know. Let me tell…Dumbledore, right? Or better yet, Snape?"

Cedric gagged as if he was about to vomit. "Thanks for putting that image in my head, you bastard."

Harry chuckled. "Now, that's what a manly man says."

"Yeah. Yeah. Now come on, we aren't done." said Cedric, motioning to a door shaped hole that was now visible to take them to the next level.

Harry just sighed and put his sword on his shoulder.

~X~X~X~

"And all the six champions have now entered the next level. Miss Delacour even managed to bring the reluctant Miss Monreau with her forcefully. Here they are, my friends. Better than dragons. More vicious, more scary and more spectacular. The superior…"

Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing and his urge to kill the organizers of this event increased further.

"…Chimeras."

There were two in total. One clearly a male and the other a female. Mainly the front part was that of a lion or a lioness but the midsection had some properties of a goat as well, a head with two large horns protruding out of its back. The tail was a large ten feet snake that was looking over the other two heads and hissing maliciously.

"Ssstupid humansssssss, come here to die…"

"Food…tasssty flesh, humanssss are tasssty. It hasss beeen a long time sssince we ate one."

Harry understood what they were saying quite clearly.

The vicious blood thirsty creatures were circling the inner segment of the arena, clearly intent on killing anyone who might want to cross the boundary to the other side.

Harry looked around and his eyes met with Fleur who smiled at him. Even she looked a little pale at the display.

Harry motioned for her to come to his side and she nodded immediately.

She slowly made her way towards him, not daring to move any closer to the two beasts. Potato followed her grudgingly. To Harry's surprise, Krum and Dumrov edged closer to them as well.

As Fleur reached him, he took her in a hug without any hesitation. To his vast relief, she returned it without any unease on her part and wrapped her arms around him.

"I was worried." he murmured in her shoulder. "You were fried."

She chuckled.

"I didn't know you could fly." he said, maintaining his hold on her for a little longer.

"I am Veela, 'Arry. We throw fireballz in our other form."

"All Veela can do what you did?" he asked.

"We can absorb fire. So yes, eef you throw a Veela in front of a Dragon, we can do eet. But fire iz required first." she explained patiently.

Harry sighed. "I am glad."

He finally pulled apart reluctantly and grinned at her. "You were smokin' by the way."

Fleur smiled. "Thank you."

"Ahem…" someone interrupted. "If your reunion is complete, we might as well discuss what to do now."

Harry wondered if it was possible to peel a Potato with a Sword.

"Oui" Fleur sighed. "You did sooooo very much back there in front of ze dragon."

Potato flushed and fumed but quieted.

Harry turned to the two Durmstrang champions and raised his eyebrows.

Dumrov had faired the worse of the two. His shirt was in tatters and blood was seeping from the various cuts on his chest. A part of his face was scorched badly and one of his eyes was swollen. He was also nursing one of his shoulders which seemed to have been broken or disjoint. Even with all the thrashing he had been through, he looked more on the angry side than cowed. Krum, on the other hand, looked much like he had seen him in the tent except that he had a limp in his step.

Krum spoke. "Wee theenk that wee shooold work together on theese one."

Cedric agreed instantaneously. "Yeah. You go first. We will follow. Best of luck."

Krum shook his head. "I meeeen-"

Harry stopped him midway to stop the butchering of English in such a way. "We understood. We agree."

Harry turned to Cedric and raised his eyebrows questioningly. He just couldn't do one of them even now.

Cedric reddened. "Er…they know dark curses. I thought they could…you know, wear them out."

"And die in the process." Harry completed in a whisper with a scowl.

Cedric shrugged.

"You are a Hufflepuff, Cedric."

"Hey-"

"Besides" Fleur interjected. "Chimeras are immortal creatures."

"How do you know?" Cedric asked her, his eyes widening slightly.

"She is just great, believe me. She knows everything." said Harry.

Fleur snorted. "Thank you, 'Arry. I am flattered zat you zink of me like that."

Oh, Fleur. You don't know just how much I think of you…

"Chimera" Potato shouted.

Irritating girl.

"Yes. Chimera." said Harry. "Plans?"

Nobody said anything.

Harry sighed. "How exactly are they immortal?" he asked Fleur.

"They 'ave very 'igh regeneration abilities." she answered. "And eet iz very difficult to best them."

"Do they have any weaknesses?"

"I do not know 'Arry. Zere izn't a lot known about theze creatures."

"I think we should just attack…" said Cedric. "Its creepy how they are looking at us."

Harry turned and saw that Cedric was right. It seemed that the Chimeras were quickly getting on the verge of loosing their patience.

"I think we don't have any choice guys." said Harry gravely. "We don't know what exactly they are capable of. Just…just give your best. And I think we should-"

Before Harry could complete his sentence, Dumrov, sick and tired of everything, let loose a dark cutting curse towards the female Chimera who let a roar of anger as blood splattered from the large gash on her neck.

Krum, following his example, sent a curse at the other one who dodged with surprising agility for such a large creature and the battle finally started.

Harry's eyes widened as the large wound on Femara slowly knitted back and sealed itself. The wound slowly filled up and not even a scar remained. The Memara on the other hand, was running angrily towards a quickly backing Krum.

"Ramus segestre" Fleur cried pointing her wand at the Memara in a bid to save Krum from his fate.

Large vines sprouted out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the snarling creature in an effort to slow him down. The Memara gnashed his teeth cutting into them with ease but Fleur didn't let up, and new vines took their place at an amazing pace.

Meanwhile, the Femara had completely recovered by then. She opened her mouth, seeing her mate in trouble, and Harry's eyes widened as a bolt of lightning came out and struck Fleur head on.

The Veela screamed and fell down as shock went through each and every cell of her body.

Hot rage fuelled through Harry's veins as he glared at the creature with a hatred he had never ever felt before for anything living and went down to help Fleur up.

"Nicole, Cedric, cover." he shouted at the other two champions.

Cedric immediately sent a reductor at the femara while Nicole took control of the vines Fleur had created and which were now almost completely ripped apart by the Mimera, trying to stop him with little success.

Fleur was shaking uncontrollably on the ground as Harry took her head in his lap and tried to bring her back. "Fleur, come on, don't you dare die on me now. Get up."

Another bolt of lightning raced towards them but Harry was ready this time. Amplifying his magic with the help of Hogwarts wards, Harry created a solid reflecting shield this time and grunted as the lightning energy connected with it. With an enormous effort on his part, he managed to keep his shield up as the lightning raced back towards the surprised Femara who tried to dodge at the last second but howled as it connected with the head of the goat on its back.

"Fleur, get up. Control yourself." said Harry, panting for breath, and threw a spray of water at her for good measure.

A loud blood curdling scream filled the arena and his head automatically turned towards the source. It was Victor Krum.

Nicole was unable to keep the Mimera in check that had made short work of the vines with its teeth and claws. With a short sprint towards the original Durmstrang Champion, the Mimera had tore into one of his legs viciously and the smell of blood and gore filled the air as chunks of his flesh flew in the air and dropped to the ground.

Nicole screamed as she saw Victor Krum being brutally razed in front of her.

Cedric was the first one to act as he shouted "Accio Victor Krum" and Krum's screaming form flew towards him like a bullet, minus both of his legs.

Harry was speechless.

"'Ar-Arry. 'Arry. 'Arry." He finally heard her tired voice and looked down. "'elp me up." she said weakly and Harry promptly threw up on her.

Fleur wrinkled her nose in disgust and waved her wand to clean herself and Harry first, before getting up on her own.

She looked at Krum's screaming form near Cedric with wide eyes, who had a confused and terrified look on his face as if he had no clue what to do now, and stood up unsteadily.

The Mimera was eating Krum's legs with relish while the Fimera was slowly getting up once again.

Harry looked around and noticed that something, or rather someone, was missing.

"Where is Dumrov?" he asked no one in particular. "Where is Dumrov?"

"He went…" came Nicole's voice from beside him.

"What?" Harry shouted.

"He went inside." she repeated.

"That bastard." fumed Harry but he couldn't do anything else. The coward had left them behind and taken the easiest route when they were all busy tackling the two beasts. He hoped there was something much better on the other side.

Fleur had by now stunned Krum and was working on giving him some rudimentary healing that would hopefully let him live for some more time.

Harry saw as the Fimera got up and stood up himself. A sword in one of his hands and the wand in another, he faced the beast with nothing but determination in his heart. He had already slain one beast today. One more would be good for his ego.

The female Chimera growled and ran towards him, much more dangerous than a lioness could ever hope to be.

Harry raised his wand and roared, "Hasta glacius telum".

It was a variation of the curse he had used on the dragon. A single spear made of pure ice came from his wand and raced towards the snarling Chimera.

It dodged.

Seven more spears launched out of Harry's wand but the damningly agile beast dodged each and every one of them.

Harry's eyes grew large in horror as the beast finally took and pounced on him. His hand automatically tightened around the hilt of the sword and he swung it in front of him in a wide arc with all his might, hoping against hope for his luck to hold.

The immortal Beast and the great Sword collided in a display of power and the human watched amazed as the sword sliced through the beast, cutting it in two.

The female Chimera was sliced in half – a half lion and a half goat with a snake hissing venomously on its back - and both the parts landed just before Harry, as he took a step back.

"Duratus Congelo"

Harry heard Fleur's voice just before something hard and extremely heavy rammed into him from behind and sent him sprawling forward. He avoided landing his own neck on the sword by a centimeter and fell on his stomach as that something hard and extremely heavy thing fell on his back.

It was extremely cold as well.

"Fuck" Harry wheezed. "What is it?"

The weight was slowly removed from his back as Cedric answered. "The male Chimera. It was attacking you from behind. Fleur froze it."

Harry chuckled. "Probably angry that I killed his wife."

"No." Fleur said and Harry finally got up and turned to her. There it was, the frozen Mimera, with his jaws wide open ready to cut into him and tear him to pieces if Fleur was just a second late. She was still holding the spell somehow, even as she spoke. "They are immortals. And I cannot 'old zis for long."

"But I cut her-" Harry started but he took a step back as he saw what was in front of her.

The two sliced parts of the Fimera were slowly, but definitely, moving towards each other and simultaneously arranging themselves to reattach.

"God" Harry breathed. "We have to move."

"But how do we know what's on the other side?" asked Nicole. "What if it's something worse?"

Cedric snorted. "It definitely is. Might as well be a Nundu this time."

"We 'ave no choice" said Fleur, groaning due to the effort she was putting in the spell. "The task izn't over yet."

"Fleur is right. We have to move." decided Harry.

Everyone agreed this time as they saw that the Fimera was rapidly attaching itself back now.

Cedric levitated Krum's prone form in front of him and entered first. Then Nicole. Harry slowly guided Fleur by the hand towards the entrance as she held the spell on the frozen Chimera.

"Now" He shouted just as Fleur released her spell and they both jumped through the wards. A second later, the male Chimera crashed into those same wards with a deadly force.

No one noticed that the commentator and the audience were unusually quiet.

~X~X~X~

Vlad Dumrov was dead.

That much was clear as they saw his remains in front of them. Only one of his arms and a little of his head was left as the last beast savored its food with obvious relish and delight.

Nicole Monreau had fainted as soon as she had entered, not even entertaining the thought that they could defeat this monstrosity.

Cedric was again gaping like a fish, much like he had done in the tent. And soon retching like Harry did a few minutes ago.

Fleur had a grim look on her face.

And Harry. Harry Potter…was smiling. No, he was chuckling. No. no. no. He was having a full blown laughter. He was bloody hysterical.

Fleur and Cedric turned to him with wide eyes. Everyone turned to him with wide eyes.

Harry Potter had gone mad.

Or he had just seen that he would live.

Putting his wand on his throat, Harry muttered "Sonorus".

"HAGRID, I LOVE YOU."

After that proclamation to his half-giant friend, he cancelled the charm.

Cedric shook him by the shoulders after removing his vomit by the back of his hand. He was already too dirty to think of hygiene now. "Harry, don't go insane on us now please. Dumrov died. He died. He died. D. I. E. D. And we will too, soon. Why are you laughing?"

Harry continued his laughter until the entity in front of them finally turned towards them and all three of its heads growled dangerously.

Harry Potter waved. "Fluffy."

Fleur sighed. "You know zis Cerberus, right?"

Harry nodded merrily.

"You know how to defeat it?" asked Cedric hopefully.

Harry nodded again.

"How?" he asked.

"Fleur has to sing a sooooonggggg…" he said, in a singing voice.

"What?" Fleur asked incredulously.

"That's the only way. He likes music. He will sleep if you sing to him. Tada."

"Really?" Cedric asked skeptically.

Harry nodded happily and turned to Fleur. "Sing na Fleur." He said childishly even as the huge three headed dog prepared to attack them, snapping its jaws. "You have a beautiful voice. Please sing for us, Flower."

Fleur narrowed her eyes. "What did you call me?"

"Flooooweer." Harry sang. He had really gone round the bend with happiness this time. He would feel bad later that one of them had died and he had all but celebrated his death but that could wait. He was too sure now that he would live through this mess and come out whole. Thank Merlin for that. "My Fleur. My Flower. My lovely-"

"It is coming." Cedric yelled. "Fleur, sing."

Fleur glared at Harry but acquiesced after casting the amplifying charm on her throat.

And Harry's heart filled with flowers.

He didn't understand a word of what she was spouting, as it was all French, but it was so, so, sweet. It was beautiful. Her voice had a quality to it that he had seldom heard anywhere else. Enough to put a smile on even the most loathed dark lord's face on the planet.

It was better than what Fawkes did. Period.

It was peaceful, eternal and just…awesome. He so desperately wished he had at least a hint of what she was singing but he came up empty handed. He only knew that something called 'amour' came again and again in the song. What the hell is an amour? First thing first, check the library for French reference books after all this is over.

And then Fluffy was sleeping on the ground. Thankfully.

Harry saw as a shield rose up from somewhere where the dog was standing before. And a blur passed from his side.

Nicole was running towards the shield with full sprint.

"Petrificus Totalis" shouted Harry before he knew what he was doing, already on her tail but the girl dodged and continued forward. He was well aware that Cedric and Fleur were following him at a quick pace but he didn't turn around to catch up with them, throwing a couple of more hexes at the irritation in front of him, who dodged again.

Harry knew that he was the best runner amongst all the champions due the courtesy of one Dudley Dursley who had trained him well since his childhood. Thus he put all his effort into overcoming the French piece of shit and grabbing the shield first.

It wasn't easy though. His legs were hurting. He was very sure that a few of his bones were at the least cracked. And he was tired. So goddamn tired. But he pushed. He pushed himself harder than he had up until that point.

"Somnus Lento" Nicole shouted, turning around and aiming her wand at Harry who whirled on the spot, dodging the sleep spell Fleur had taught him. This particular spell was a tacky one. It was dissimilar to the stunner in many ways. The downside being that it would only disorient the victim for the first ten seconds or so and then sleep would claim him or her. The upside was that you couldn't revive the victim with a simple rennervate which was usually done in the case of the stunning spell. The spell must wear off itself. "Somnus Lento"

He heard a crash but didn't stop to see which one of his companions had fallen to the spell.

Harry gritted his teeth in annoyance as his aching muscles protested as he pushed them faster and faster but he wasn't going to let all his effort go to waste because of one stupid bimbo.

"Stupefy", "Stupefy", "Stupefy", Harry shot at her, again and again but failed to hit her even once. It was as if she had a spell on her that gave her a couple of eyes on her back as well. "Stop it, you dumb girl!"

'Just a little more, Just a little more, Just a little more', he kept saying in his head, trying to outrun Nicole. 'yes, yes, yes…'

"Aaaaaaah" Nicole screamed as Harry finally caught up with her and yanked on her hair viciously. "Let go…"

"No…that shield is mine." Harry snapped, pulling harder, even as the determined girl continued to drag herself forward while shrieking in pain.

"Non, non, non, I will win…" she said, turning around and trying to punch him in the face, what he dodged, or just scratching his face like a wild cat, what he couldn't.

Harry growled as she managed to slip from his grip but tackled her again by jumping on her back and wrestling her to the ground.

Nicole grunted in pain as her head smacked the ground with Harry putting all his weight on her from behind her.

He stood up unsteadily and kicked her in the ribs twice, making sure she wouldn't stand up again, and moved forward towards the glimmering shield with a victorious smile.

Laughing internally at the thought that he was about to win this thing even without putting his name in the Goblet, Harry reached forward and touched his prize just as he turned his head to look behind him.

Then, three things happened simultaneously.

First, his smile was washed off his face as he saw Fleur lying on the ground with Cedric on her side. He had thought that Cedric had taken Nicole's spell and Fleur must have dodged but he realized that he must have been mistaken.

Second, he saw that Nicole's head was up in her prone position and she was glaring at him hatefully, even as her wand shot a spell at him which he knew he couldn't dodge at this range.

Third, just as Nicole's spell touched him in the belly, Harry felt an unwelcome tug on his navel and darkness surrounded him.

What the fuck? was his last thought before Harry Potter was whisked away from the arena, leaving a gaping audience and a sleeping Veela behind.

Huh...Review this one at least. I am tired.

Who all saw that coming btw?