Chapter 11: The First Task

Harry entered the Champion's tent and was greeted by the sight of the three other champions already inside. The first thing he noticed was Cedric pacing back and forth towards the middle of the tent, his face as white as a ghost. He understood the older champion's but knew that the extra nerves of knowing what was waiting for them outside the tent was a much better prospect than him being the only one without any idea about the dragons. Cedric looked up and saw Harry's glance at him, before dipping his head in a slight nod before returning to his pacing.

Next, Harry's gaze fell on the Durmstrang champion, only to notice that Krum was already looking his way. There was a certain determination about his stare which made Harry slightly more nervous but figured it was just the professional Quidditch player's competitive side coming out.

Harry also noticed that did not appear to be as nervous as Cedric or he himself was. Harry had heard the stories of Durmstrang teaching darker magic at their school, but he couldn't imagine that anything that Krum could've learned would be extra helpful against a nesting dragon.

Lastly, his eyes fell upon Fleur. No other person in the castle confused him as much as Fleur Delacour, except maybe Ron. Harry had initially been put off by her "leetle boy" comment but had eventually gotten over it when he realized that he was indeed over his head when it came to the tournament.

What confused him the most, was the behavior of the Beauxbatons champion. A few times during meals in the Great Hall or when happening upon her in a corridor, he would catch her staring at him with an unknown expression on her face. Even more interesting, was her attitude when they would rarely converse with each other. To Harry, it seemed as though she wasn't sure whether or not to dislike him, be indifferent towards him, or be nice to him as her demeanor seemed to change with every interaction. Even now, she had her critical gaze directed at him, as if she was judging him on his actions.

He decided to let the matter drop and began gazing around the rest of the tent. He noticed a few chairs scattered around the tent for the champions to sit on and the occasional table which had a few small morsels to eat. The size of the tent he noticed, was much bigger than it looked on the outside, having obviously been enchanted like the Weasley's tent from the World Cup. It wasn't until he heard a whisper coming from the edge of the tent, that he noticed the shadow of a person on the outside, and decided to head towards it.

"Harry? Is that you?"

Hermione. Of course it was her. She was probably the only person more stressed out than he was about the whole tournament. They had practiced the Summoning Charm every day since Professor Moody had given Harry the hint about how to handle his dragon. Hermione had continually tried to convince him that the plan would work, but still an inclining of doubt she inhabited Harry's mind.

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?" Harry simply stayed silent, hoping that she would get the hint that he was extremely nervous.

"Remember all the training we've done. You've just got to concentrate. All you need to do then is-"

"Battle a dragon," he said cutting her off. If this was her way of trying to make him less nervous, she wasn't helping.

He suddenly saw the tent flap being frantically pulled back before seeing Hermione launch herself at him into one of her trademark fierce hugs. He could tell that she was trying to put all her reassurance into the hug and he immediately returned it, before the flash of a camera bulb caught their attention.

"Young love. How very… stirring," came the voice of Rita Skeeter as the two disentangled themselves from each other. The reporter looked ready to pounce before Krum insisted she leave the tent. Shortly after that, Hermione decided that it was best that she head back to the stands but not before thanking Krum and wishing Harry luck one last time. As she left, Harry noticed that Krum's gaze followed her out, and that his expression became much sourer after having seen Harry and Hermione together.

"A fan girl coming to wish you luck?"

Harry turned around to see that it was Fleur who spoke, once again looking at him with a critical eye.

"No, that was just my friend Hermione. She just thought I'd be nervous so she came to try and help me calm down a bit."

"You do not look very nervous Monsieur Potter."

"Oh I'm terrified. I have no clue if I'll even be able to beat a dragon."

Her eyebrows raised up as she was caught off guard by his declaration. "So you know about ze dragons?"

"Yes and I know that you and Krum both knew about it as well, which is why I told Cedric about them."

This only appeared to increase Fleur's confusion further. "You told him about the dragons?" Harry nodded at her, and gave her an incredulous look. "Why would you tell your competition?"

Harry let out an exasperated sigh. He knew where this conversation was going. "Look. I know you don't believe me but I never wanted to be in this bloody tournament."

"You are right monsieur, I don't believe you. All ze stories I 'ave 'eard about you and your adventures means that you want all the attention for yourself."

"Well I guess you wouldn't know what it's like to have everyone against you and to have all these stories told about you." He dropped his head as the truth of what these others at Hogwarts thought of him had hit him like a ton of bricks. If he would've looked up at that moment, he would've seen a brief look of sympathy cross Fleur's face before returning to her previous cold stare.

-HP-

It was several minutes after Krum had exited the tent to face his own dragon, before the roar of the crowd and the voice of Ludo Bagman informed Harry that it was almost his turn.

'Of course I get the most aggressive of all the dragons. That's just my luck' were just some of the thoughts that coursed through his mind as he waited for what seemed to be an eternity for his turn. The odds were definitely not stacked in his favor. Though he wasn't sure of how long it took the older champions to defeat their dragons exactly, he understood that it took a tremendous amount of time, and judging by the noises coming from the crowd, was not easy in the slightest.

"And now may I introduce our final and youngest champion…HARRY POTTER!"

Sighing, he made his way through the entrance of the tent and was immediately blinded by the incoming sunlight. He hadn't realized that the inside of the tent was that dim and was forced to shield his eyes. As his sight adjusted, he peered up at the stands, looking to see any familiar faces.

His gaze immediately fell upon Draco Malfoy and his cronies, who had taken it upon themselves to immediately start heckling him. The looks of utter anticipation unnerved Harry slightly so he continued his gaze around before finally settling on Hermione. She also had an anticipating look on her face,, but it was out of fear for her closest friend. It was a few seconds before he noticed that Ron was standing next to her.

Before that train of thought could continue any further, a movement at the edge of his vision caught his eye, as he was only just able to duck out of the way of an incoming boulder. Whipping his head in the direction of the source, Harry came face to face with his dragon. The first thought that entered his mind was that the miniature that he had back in the tent did not do the great beast enough justice. Said figure made all the dragons look to be a similar size. Having already seen the other dragons previously, he knew that the Horntail had to be at least twice the size of the others.

"Your wand Harry! Your wand!"

Hermione's words reached him an broke him of his fear induced stupor enough for him to pull his wand out

"Accio Firebolt"

Now Harry had to buy time and hope that the spell did indeed work. This was easier said than done as the dragon clawed its way forward and shot a jet of flames at Harry, searing the edges of his robes.

He quickly dodged, slid, and rolled his way from rock to rock, trying to keep the Horntail off balance and get some breathing room, but the dragon would simply lift itself into the air and maneuver for a better angle to attack.

After catapulting himself behind what seemed like the tenth rock, Harry heard a roar and cautiously peered over top the rock. The Hungarian Horntail had started getting annoyed by its prey and took to the air and was coming down nearly on top of him. Harry reacted quickly enough managing to launch himself out of the way.

He had begun to give up hope when familiar whooshing sound of a broom caught his ears. Looking towards the castle, he saw his Firebolt barreling towards him. Seeing this sight, he couldn't stop the sigh from escaping his lips before noticing a small problem.

The broom wasn't slowing down, meaning that it would fly right passed him and he would lose the element of surprise. Throwing caution to the wind, Harry tried to tap into his enhanced agility before leaping off the rock he was currently hiding behind and onto his broom, barely missing the closing jaws of the dragon.

Taking to the air, all Harry's nerves vanished as he was now in his element. The Horntail was just another Quidditch player that he had to outmaneuver, so he resorted to similar tactics. He began taunting the dragon by buzzing around it, hoping it would give chase and leave open the Golden egg. He could vaguely hear the roar of the crowd and commentary of Bagman, but paid it all no mind as he tried to remain focused.

He made for another swoop down towards the nest when he saw the beast's tail coming towards him. Instinctively, he rolled out of the way, but was unable to avoid getting caught in the shoulder by the spikes on the tail. He didn't even acknowledge the pain as the Horntail reared up in annoyance, wanting to get rid of the pest that was aggravating it.

Seeing his chance, Harry forced as much speed as he could into a downward descent towards the nest. As he got increasingly closer, he heard the gasp of the crowd, momentarily taking his eyes off the egg, before a sickening pain overtook his senses and he blacked out.

-HP-

Hermione watched with baited breath as Harry's plan seemed to work out and he began his deep dive towards the egg. Her nerves began increasing tenfold as he grew closer to the Dragon's nest before she saw its great wing began to move. Her and much of the crowd noticed and began to cry out, but they couldn't prevent the wing from sending Harry off of is broom and into the side of the enclosure with a sickening crack.

She was now close to hysterics as she saw her friends limp body laying just twenty meters from the enormous dragon.

"Someone get the Dragon handlers out there!" came the voice of Ludo Bagman, but the dragon seemed to have now turned his attention to the crowd, the loud noises they made enthralling it.

Hermione couldn't take watching any further and buried her head in her hands. 'If only I could've helped him more. All that studying I was doing to try to help him make it through the tournament and none of it has helped.' She heard a gasp come from next to her and felt a hand start to roughly nudge her to get her attention.

Looking up she saw Ron with a horrified look on his face, pointing back into the arena. She didn't want to see what could possibly have scared him so much, but she forced her head to turn, before gasping just as loudly as Ron had.

Down in the arena they saw that Harry was now on his hands and knees. How he'd found the strength to get up off the ground was beyond her but here he was, making his way back to his feet with an almost absent look on his face. It seemed natural to her that after a hit like that, Harry would be out of it. That was until he lifted his head up and she got a good look at his eyes.

His eyes were glowing, faintly enough that if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't even notice. His ragged breath was just another telling sign that Harry's control had slipped and now the beast inside was unleashed.

Sensing that its former prey was up again turned about to face him and let out a mighty roar. The two stared each other down briefly, waiting for the other to break the standoff. A few moments later the dragon got tired of waiting and let out another roar, signaling its attack. At the same time, Harry opened his mouth to roar, the dragon's roar drowning out the sound of his, and charged forward towards the dragon.

A stream of flame exited its mouth, flying straight for the Boy-Who-Lived, but it was easily sidestepped, Harry not losing his stride and continued forward. Changing tactics, the Horntail whipped around to use its tail as a bludgeoning weapon, but that too was dodged with little to no exertion.

Hermione could only watch in fear as Harry neared the dragon's snout, showing no sign that he was afraid or slowing down in the slightest. She gasped when the dragon moved its head forward and attempted to devour Harry. He simply jumped into the air as the bite came forward, landing on the dragon's head, then starting to run down its length.

Finally, in a show of swiftness that no one was aware he possessed, Harry slid down the hind legs of the great beast, jutting underneath it and grabbing the egg, before making a swift get away towards the exit. He was almost out before the crowd finally grasped that he had accomplished his task and gave him a round of thunderous applause.

Hermione only had her sights set on Harry. Hurrying towards the medical tent, with Ron in tow, she found Harry standing in solitude, his eyes unseeing. She took a few tentative steps forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Harry?"

As if he was waiting for some kind of cue, Harry immediately passed out and fell to the crowd with a loud thump, causing Hermione, Madam Pomfrey, and many other teachers to rush forward to assist him.

Author's Note:

Hey long time no see. Sorry about the two weeks of radio silence, the only excuse I have is that The Taken King came out and that has ruled my life for that period of time. I hope to try to get back up to two updates a week or at the very least once a week.

I've been eager to get to this chapter since the very beginning of this fic so I hope it is satisfactory. After this, the meta-plot of this story should really get going here soon.

As always, Thanks for Reading.