Chapter 8

The First Task

The next morning I tried to go about my day like usual, however, the dragons were all I could think of. How in the world would my brother get past a full grown, brooding, dragon? I sincerely hoped that Sirius had a spell for Harry to practice to get him ready for the first task.

During Transfiguration classes Draco passed me a note. We were supposed to be working silently on a color changing charm. Quickly I opened the note which read: "Meet me after class by the owlery." I figured that he probably wanted to know what I saw last night. As long as he didn't tell anyone else about it, I saw no harm in letting him in on the secret.

After class was over, it was time for lunch, but instead of getting food I headed straight to the owlery to meet up with Draco. I arrived a few minutes before he did, so I decided that while I was there I would give Hedwig some treats. As she was pecking at the treats in my hand I heard someone enter the building. Turning around I locked eyes with Draco.

"Hey," he said with a small nod.

"Hello Draco." I greeted with a small smile. "Why did you want to meet up here?"

"I need to send an owl to my mother. She likes to hear what I've been up to in school. It's honestly really annoying, but she insists on a weekly owl." He rolled his eyes. He called out for his eagle owl and tied a letter to its leg and sent it on its way.

"That's sweet of you, my uncle and aunt literally do not care what happens here at school. It's nice to have someone that cares about you and what you are up to."

"I think I would prefer her to not care about what I am doing." He said with a shrug.

"So," I said, "What did you want to talk about?"

"You were out really late last night," He stated with a gesture of his hand. "I guess I was curious as to what you were up to."

"Can you keep it a secret?"

"Of course I can."

"It'll spoil what's coming up for the first task."

"I really don't care."

"Ok then, Harry and I met up with Hagrid and he took us into the forest." I recounted. "He showed us what the first task is going to be."

"What is it?" Draco pressed curiously.

"Dragons, it's freaking dragons." I sighed heavily. "How in the world is my brother supposed to face a dragon?" A rush of fear for my brother flooded my body.

"Dragons?" Draco pondered with a small chuckle. "He's definitely going to have a hard time facing a dragon. We haven't really learned anything in any of our classes that would help against a dragon."

"Very helpful Draco." I said sarcastically. "My brother very well could die in the first task."

"Yes, he could." There wasn't an ounce of sadness in his voice. I knew Draco didn't care for my brother, but he could at least consider how it affected me. After he saw my death glare he added, "I suppose you want me to say I hope he won't die?"

"That would be nice."

"I am not going to lie to you Chloe. I have no love for your brother. He's arrogant and stupid, but somehow through the last few years of danger he's managed to stay alive. It seems that he is a very lucky person." He gave me a small shrug.

"I suppose he has been very lucky." I couldn't really argue with Draco's perception of Harry. Sometimes he really could be stupid and arrogant, but that didn't mean I didn't love him or care for him.

"You know, now that I am thinking about it, maybe your brother has been able to overcome dangerous situations because you were there with him."

"I am not so sure that is true," I said thinking back to last year when it was Harry who saved Sirius and me from hundreds of dementors. Then I thought of the Chamber of Secrets where he slayed the basilisk while I was being told I would be different from my brother, that my destiny was different. These are all things I never once discussed with Draco and I wasn't sure I was ready to talk about them with him.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked as he tilted his head in curiosity.

"I.." My voice trailed off.

"Yes?" He took a step closer to me, I could feel his eyes burning my skull as he stared at me.

"I don't think I am ready to talk about it." I finally answered after a few moments of silence.

"Do you not trust me?" Draco asked, sounding a bit hurt.

"It's not that, although it is still hard for me to trust you after being ignored for two years."

"Then what is it?"

"I haven't been able to open up about it with anyone, including Harry. I don't want to be the bad twin, but.."

"But what?" he kept pressing.

"Listen Draco, if you want me to trust you enough to tell you what happened the last two years while you left me alone then you are going to have to let me do it on my own time." I finally blurted angrily. I stormed out of the owlery and headed to the Great Hall to get at least something small to eat before classes started again.

I avoided making eye contact with Draco for the rest of the day. My thoughts were racing between remembering the last two years and worrying about Harry facing a dragon. I made the decision to find Harry after dinner to ask him what Sirius had to say last night after we got back from seeing the dragons.

When dinner finally ended I rushed to find Harry. I caught up to him just as he was heading up the staircase towards the Gryffindor common room. I reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Harry," I said quietly. "Do you have a moment?"

"Chloe," He turned and looked at me. "I was just thinking about you. Do you want to hear what Sirius talked about last night?"

"That is exactly why I came and found you." I said with a smile. "It's almost like we share a mind." I added jokingly.

"Let's find an empty classroom." Harry said, looking around. He led me to the empty charms classroom.

"Alright, tell me everything." I said as I sat down on some cushions that were used for practicing the Banishing Charm.

"First off I told him everything that has been happening. How no one believed me about not entering the tournament, Rika Skeeter's article, not being able to walk down the corridor without people sneering at me, and how Ron won't believe me and that he is jealous." I felt a twinge of guilt for not being there more for my brother during this time.

"Harry," I started to say when he interrupted me.

"Let me finish. Sirius warned me about some things." He said looking me in the eyes. "He told me that Karkaroff was a Death Eater. That he got released after he gave more names to the Ministry of other Death Eaters, that he changed his way. Sirius said he has been teaching the Dark Arts to his students, so I should be careful of Krum."

"Ok, do we think he put your name in the Goblet?"

"Maybe, Sirius thinks some dark magic is at play. Moody was attacked just before the term started. Perhaps someone knew that their job would be easier without him here at the school. Thankfully it didn't work. However, the tournament is a good way to attack me and make it look like an accident." He sighed heavily. "It honestly might work. He told me not to use a stunning spell against the dragon, but he wasn't able to tell me how to defeat the dragon because our conversation was interrupted by Ron coming down to the common room, but he did say that a simple spell would be all I needed.."

"Ron interrupted you?" I said furiously. "I can't believe that because of Ron you didn't get to find out how to get past the dragon."

"Ron has been a real ass to me lately. He thinks I entered on purpose and didn't tell him how because I wanted the fame all to myself." Harry complained.

"I can take care of him for you." I said quickly. "Curse him with some jinx. Maybe even…"

"No," Harry interrupted me again. "I don't want you to do anything."

"But-" I started to complain.

"I said no. This is something that is between Ron and me, it has nothing to do with you." I felt hurt by his words. Harry always made it his business to tell me not to worry about Draco, that I shouldn't try to be his friend again, that I should forget him. Now when the tables are turned and it's his best friend being an ass, I am just supposed to stay silent on the matter?

"So you can tell me what to do when it came to my best friend, but I can't say anything about you and Ron?" I asked angrily.

"It's different." Harry said

"How is this any different?"

"Ron isn't like Draco, He'll come around. I know he will."

"You're right, Ron is nothing like Draco. Draco is at least making an attempt to make our friendship better." I spat out before realizing I hadn't told Harry yet that Draco and I were making amends.

"You're talking to Malfoy again?" He asked, taken aback. "Why would you do that?"

"He apologized." I said defensively

"And just like that you forgave him?" He gave me a look of disbelief

"I set some boundaries and told him it would take time to earn back my trust. I didn't just forget the last two years of him ignoring me."

"Chloe, he is a bad guy, a bad influence on you."

"He is the only person I feel like I can be myself around. You are always telling me to be nice and to calm down and watch what I say and do. I don't have to do that around him. I can let my anger out, I can be mean when I feel like it and not be judged by it."

"He enables you to do bad things. You are not a bad person Chloe, don't let him turn you into one."

"He isn't Harry," I snapped at him. "Maybe I am not supposed to be a good person. Maybe my destiny is different from yours."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, confused. I slipped up. I didn't mean to mention the stuff in the back of my head. What Voldemort had whispered to me during the fiasco of the Chamber of Secrets.

"I… I never told you this." I started to say slowly. I was unsure if I should continue or run out of the room to avoid this conversation.

"Chloe, you can tell me anything. What happened?" His voice changed to one of concern. I started rocking back and forth, trying to calm my nerves.

"Remember the Chamber? How I was being chased by the snake while you hurried to find a way to kill it? Just before you got the sword out of the hat?"

"Yes, I remember."

"I heard him, Harry. Taunting me, telling me things."

"Voldemort?" He asked.

"Yes." I looked down at my hands. I couldn't keep eye contact with him anymore. "He kept telling me I was different from you, that my destiny was different from yours." I sighed heavily. "He said I was going to change the world, with his help."

"He was just saying things to get under your skin." Harry tried to reassure me. "Chloe, you are not a bad person. You care about people, you helped save Ginny from Voldemort. You helped save Sirius last year."

"I did nothing but get in the way of you saving them, Harry." I said softly. "You killed the basilisk, you got rid of the dementors that were feeding off Sirius and me." I shook my head in despair. "I am not a hero."

"You don't have to be a hero to be a good person." Harry put his arm around my shoulders. I started to sob and he held me close until I was finished. After I finished Harry looked me in the eyes and I could tell he was worrying about me

"Harry, you should worry about me. You should focus on preparing yourself for the first task." I said as I stood up. I wiped my face from the tears I had produced, shook my head, and took a deep breath.

"How can I not worry about you? You are my sister." He also stood up with me. "I wish you would've told me all this before."

"I didn't think you would like to hear about it." I said simply.

"Chloe, I want to hear about everything. I want to support you, I want you to know and feel like you're loved."

"Thank you Harry." I gave him a small smile. "Now, let's go figure out what to do about your dragon."

It was Sunday morning and after breakfast Harry, Hermione, and I went out on the grounds to walk around the Black Lake. Harry had already filled Hermione in on the dragons and what Sirius said, so we were brainstorming ideas for a simple spell that would subdue a dragon. However, nothing came to mind after three laps around the lake.

We ended up going to the library to look through books for ideas. We weren't having much luck finding any information there either. "Dragons are extremely difficult to slay owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate." Hermione quoted from a book. "But Sirius said that a simple spell would work."

"Let's look for a spell instead then." Harry said as he stood up to go look for spell books.

The three of us searched through piles of books, and Hermione wouldn't stop brainstorming out loud. Which frustrated both Harry and me. Harry finally told Hermione to shut up and we continued in silence. That is until Krum came into the library to do some of his own reading. A gaggle of girls trailed behind him giggling and being rather annoying.

"Let's go," Hermione said as she glared in the direction of the loud girls.

"Where to?" I asked as I stood up to leave.

"I suppose the common room." Harry said. "Hermione and I can keep reading, you should probably get back to your common room."

"Alright," I said, "See you guys later."

I slowly made my way to the Slytherin common room, my mind reviewing all the spells I had just read up on in the library. By the time I reached it, my mind had gone blank. Too much information at once, it felt like I overloaded it. When I entered the common room I saw Pansy and Zabini hanging out on one of the couches by the fireplace. I walked over and sat down with them.

"Hey," I said with a small smile. "What did you all get up to today?"

"Not much, mainly worked on homework." Pansy answered with a small shrug. She seemed kind of annoyed.

"Is everything ok?" I asked

"Sure, not that you would notice." She answered, giving me a dirty look. I suppose I had been too busy worrying about and helping my brother, that I had forgotten to spend time with my other friends.

"Pansy, I am sorry for not really being here." I apologized. "I've been so preoccupied with my brother that I haven't really had time for much else."

"I noticed that you made time to talk to Draco a couple of times." She countered back. "I thought the two of you weren't speaking."

"We've decided to try and move on from the last two years." I answered, "I thought you'd be happy for us."

"It's not that I am unhappy about it, it's the fact that you are making time for him and not for me. I thought I was your friend too."

"I realize what I have done to hurt you, Pansy. I am truly sorry. I promise that I will be better at making time for the two of us." I said as sincerely as I could.

After a few seconds of silence, Pansy looked me in the eye and said, "Thanks, you better not disappoint me."

"I'll do my best." I gave her a smile, and she smiled back. This whole time Zabini had been sitting there in silence. I turned to look at him, "Zabini, I am also sorry I haven't taken the time to spend time with you either. You're my friend too, and I will do better at hanging out with you."

"I appreciate that Chloe." He gave me a small nod.

"There's still a couple of hours before we really need to get to bed. You guys wanna play with my set of gobstones?" I asked grinning. They both agreed happily, and for the next couple of hours I finally was able to relax and not worry about my brother.

Monday afternoon Harry approached me saying he had a talk with Moody about the dragons.

"You did what?" I asked, surprised. "How did he find out?"

"He heard me telling Diggory about them."

"Did you get in trouble?"

"No, he actually gave me advice. That I should play to my strengths, and to use a simple spell that will enable me to get what I need."

"Which means?"

"I need to learn how to do a Summoning charm by tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to be practicing with Hermione in the Charms classroom during lunch if you wanna join." After I agreed to help we headed straight to the empty classroom where Hermione was already preparing the cushions.

"Chloe, glad you could join us." She greeted me with a smile. We made Harry sit across the room from the cushions and made him practice summoning them. We took turns putting the cushions back on the other side of the room. Once lunch was over, Harry said he wanted to skip his Divination class to continue practicing. Hermione said she was not willing to skip her Arithmancy class.

"I have History of Magic coming up, I don't mind missing my class Harry." I offered.

"Thanks Chloe, I appreciate it." Harry gave me a warm smile. Hermione said her goodbyes and we continued to practice the summoning charm. The only reason we stopped was so we could go eat dinner, where we went our separate ways.

I went to bed that night knowing my brother had a chance at beating the dragon. So long as his summoning charm worked that is.

The next day was filled with an air of excitement. All the Slytherins were wondering out loud which of the champions would do best, always ranking my brother last. Many debated on what the task was even going to be. Only a handful of people, myself and Draco included, knew that the champions would be facing dragons. We only had to wait until midday for the task to start, lessons were to be canceled after lunch.

When lunch finally arrived, everyone was talking with enthusiasm. Just as I sat down at the Slytherin table, I noticed Professor McGonagal talking to Harry and then shortly after leading him away. I also noticed Professor Sprout leading Cedric in the same direction. I suppose they needed to get ready for the task.

It felt like hours went by before lunch was finally over and we could head down to the stands for the first task. I walked down with Pansy, Zabini, and Draco. Pansy and Zabini were talking about how they were hoping Harry would mess up and get seriously injured.

Pansy looked back at me, "Sorry Chloe, but a cheater has to be punished." She said with a shrug. A twinge of frustration went through my body because I knew my brother hadn't entered on his own. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my nerves and ignored Pansy and Zabini's conversation. Draco grabbed my arm, indicating that we should let Pansy and Zabini get a few feet ahead of us.

"Chloe," he said, looking me in the eyes. "Are you okay?" His voice was full of concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered.

"You worried about your brother?"

"Nah, he has a plan." I said while attempting to sound confident. By the look he gave me, I could tell Draco knew I was just trying to stay calm.

"Hmm," he said. "For your sake, I hope he isn't too badly injured."

"Do you mean that?" I asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see him fail. To publicly show that he really isn't the greatest person here like everyone thinks he is." He made air quotes when he said 'greatest'. "But I know that he means something to you, and for your sake I do mean it."

"Thanks Draco." I gave him a warm smile.

At long last we arrived at the stadium. The four of us followed our fellow Slytherins into the stands and found a bench to sit on. We anxiously awaited for the show to start. Dumbledor came out of a tent and explained to the crowd that the first task was dragons. The goal for the champions was to retrieve a golden egg that would be guarded by a dragon.

The first champion up was Cedric. He was facing the Swedish Short Snout. After taking in his surroundings Cedric lept into action. His strategy was to transfigure a rock into a labrador retriever. His dragon was unsure of who she should go for. The dog started barking and running around, while Cedric tried to make himself harder to see behind some other rocks. The dragon decided to go after the dog, and Cedric made his move. He ran up to the nest, and just as he was about to grab his egg, the dragon decided she would rather go after him. She turned and opened her mouth, Cedric grabbed his egg just as she let out a fiery breath that made contact with a part of Cedric's face.

Fleur was the second champion to go. She was going up against the Common Welsh Green. She used a charm that made the dragon go into a sleeping trance, surely a spell given to her from Madam Maxine. While she crept up to the dragon's nest, it let out a snore which was accompanied with a burst of flame. This flame caught Fleur's skirt on fire and she had to put it out with some water before she was able to secure her golden egg.

Krum was third, which meant Harry was going last. The Chinese Fireball was his dragon, and that only left the Hungarian Horntail for Harry. I groaned a bit, remembering how scary the Horntail was. Draco noticed my sigh and reached down for my hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting it go again.

We watched as Krum aimed his wand directly at the dragon's face and cast a conjunctivitis charm on her eyes. Now that the dragon could no longer see, she was stomping her feet everywhere. Krum had to dodge and somersault out of the way as he slowly made his way up to the nest. Eventually he was able to secure his golden egg.

Finally Harry came out of the tent. He looked around to get his bearings straight, then pointed his wand towards the castle and said, "Accio Firebolt!" He continued looking around, as if in a daze, waiting for his broom to arrive. As soon as it did, he wasted no time on mounting his broom and kicking off into the air. He flew in circles around the stadium, then started diving around the Horntail to distract it.

I could hear Bagman's commentary but I was too busy watching my brother to really pay attention. During a dive he was grazed by one of the spikes on the Horntails tail. Most of the crowd groaned, while some of the Slytherins gave a small cheer. Eventually Harry was able to make the dragon rear on her back feet and he took the opportunity to dive down and grab the golden egg. The crowd went crazy, Harry had been the fastest of the four champions.

AN: Thank you for reading this far! Please leave a review, it is very much appreciated!