Greetings everybody, another chapter up, and this time it didn't take me an age to write. truthfully it was almost finished about 3 days ago, but i had a minor case of writer's block, so i couldn't think too straight. Hopefully everybody enjoys the newest of my chapter's almost as much as the last have been enjoyed and remember, if you want to put in a suggestion, the only way i can know is by reviews so review review review!
This chapter is brought to you by Moonlight Ace, sorry but i'm not going to go through not having any sponsors again, it makes me sad not to have any yet :(... Enjoy!
Harry couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious for the first task to happen. Sure, he had done it once before, and he knew a lot more advanced magic at this stage, but he was now going with a new strategy completely. He and the other champions had decided that, in order to keep things interesting this time around, they should all go with different strategies for at least the first two tasks, something Harry was feeling somewhat regretful of now. Of course, he still had things to do after the task that had his anxiety even worse. The fake Moody had once more tried to help Harry with the task in his subtle ways, and it was all Harry could do to stop him from trying out the Shrapnel Curse on him. Harry had a plan that he and Fleur had been working on for the false Moody, but they would wait until the conclusion of the first task. Still, Harry was anxious about how well he would do against the dragon this time.
"Potter, the champions have to come down into the grounds now…you have to get ready for your first task," said Professor McGonagall, in a broken sort of voice, as though afraid for his safety. Harry was surprised at how quickly the morning had passed once more, though his anxiety lingered, he had also developed a sense of excitement.
"Good luck Harry," whispered Hermione, as he left his seat. "You'll be fine!"
"Thanks Mione, I know it'll work out," grinned Harry, surprising his Head of House with the confidence in his voice. And something else that sounded almost like… excitement? Harry followed Professor McGonagall down the stone steps towards the dragon enclosure, seeing Cedric following Professor Sprout out of the corner of his eye. Cedric noticed him and grinned at him, giving him thumbs up, which Harry returned in full force. Professor McGonagall continued to go over the safety measures and kept stressing that he keep a cool head. It seemed everybody thought he didn't have a cool head, which was, admittedly, probably true. They reached the champions tent where a very shaky Professor McGonagall bade him farewell and good luck. Harry entered the tent, instantly seeing the difference in the atmosphere from last time. Krum was leaning against a pole in deep thought, though he nodded respectfully at Harry as he entered, Cedric was shuffling a pack of cards absentmindedly, and Fleur had been grinning evilly from her perch on a couch, though she leapt up and hugged him tightly upon his entrance, amusing both other boys, while Bagman looked somewhat surprised by this, though he quickly dismissed it before greeting Harry. Just as Harry remembered, he was wearing his old Wasp's robes again, the black and yellow reminding him of a rather fat bee.
"Harry! Good-oh! Come in, make yourself at home," he announced happily, somewhat disturbed though, seeing all the champions looking not at all anxious, as though they had no idea what awaited them.
"Well, now that 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" – the held up a small sack of purple silk, shaking it at them a little – "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different – er – varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too… ah yes…your task is to collect the golden egg!"
Harry looked around. Cedric was still shuffling his cards, though he nodded once to show his understanding. Krum smirked confidently, while Fleur was looking very hopeful about something. Soon enough, the audience had arrived, and Bagman was offering the neck of the bag to Fleur.
"Ladies first," he said jovially. Fleur reached her hand inside the bag and pulled out a tiny, living model of a Welsh Green, the number 'two' around its neck. Harry saw Fleur licking her lips in anticipation, remembering their conversation recently. Harry could have sworn he had seen the model dragon flinch.
"Feel sorry for that poor dragon," muttered Harry, so that only Fleur heard him. She grinned at him, as she continued to look excited. Next was Krum, who surprised him by drawing the squirming model of the Swedish Short-Snout, the dragon Cedric had previously faced, a number 'one' around its neck. Krum was also looking surprised, though he hit it well. Cedric was next, and Harry almost groaned when he pulled out the Chinese Fireball, a number 'three' around its neck. Cedric grinned at him, knowing what he was getting. And sure enough, Harry pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, which bared its tiny fangs at him.
"Well, there we are!" said an ever jovial 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 for 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?"
"Sure Mr Bagman," replied Harry, getting up and outside the tent with Bagman. He knew what the man was doing.
"May as well make the most of it," thought Harry.
"Feeling all right, Harry? Anything I can get you?" asked Bagman once they got a little ways from the tent.
"If it's not too much trouble Mr Bagman, sir, I have a strategy to deal with my dragon, but I'm feeling quite nervous, and I think Cedric and Miss Delacour are as well. I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't suppose you could grab us a drink, and maybe a couple of chocolate frogs? To calm down a bit?" asked Harry, doing his very best to sound nervous and frightened, while also trying not to laugh.
"Of course Harry, I'll go get some refreshments, but is there anything you need help with your dragon?" replied Bagman with a fatherly tone.
"No thank you Mr Bagman, sir, thank you very much sir," said Harry, pretending to look relieved. "I'll do my very best to win," he added, much to Bagman's delight. Bagman quickly called for a house elf to bring out some refreshments, who returned moments later with a cooler filled with ice, which had four Butterbeers in it, as well as a dozen Chocolate Frogs. Suddenly, a whistle went off somewhere.
"Good lord, I've got to run! Good luck with the task Harry!" called Bagman, as he hurried off. Harry smirked as he returned to the tent, the cooler in his arms. The other champions raised their eyebrows at him.
"Bagman wanted to offer me help, and I let slip that I was feeling nervous and in need of refreshment," said a grinning Harry in answer to their unasked question. Cedric grinned at him as he tossed him a Butterbeer, while Krum snorted in appreciation at Harry's way of doing things, also accepting a Butterbeer with a grateful smile. Fleur helped him set the cooler down, before she took a bottle, as well as a couple of chocolate frogs. They all clinked their Butterbeers together in cheers before drinking deeply.
"Everybody got their viewing orbs ready?" asked Harry, getting affirmative nods from everybody. The day before, they all got together and designed crystal ball's that could be used to see what the commentator could see, so long as they had stuck an orb on him, which Krum had managed to by shrinking the orb to an almost invisible size and placing both a Notice-Me-Not Charm and a timed Sticking Charm, which was timed to release after the first task had ended. This way, they were able to see what each of the champions was doing against their respective dragon. Suddenly, the whistle went off again, and Krum stepped up. They all wished him good luck before he exited the tent. They all turned on their viewing orbs, seeing from Bagman's point of view.
"Hey guys, wasp cam," joked Harry, getting laughs from his fellow champions about Bagman's choice of clothing. They all turned their attention to their fellow champion.
Krum stood out in the enclosure, looking up into the eyes of the Swedish Short-Snout. Truly it was a marvellous creature, at roughly 25 feet long, its body a silvery blue colour. Its beady eyes watched Krum, as he walked through the gate and into the enclosure, where the crowd cheered for the Quidditch star. Krum could see the golden egg amongst the real ones, its surface reflecting the sunlight. He stared up at his dragon, which belched a line of brilliant blue flames into the air.
"Ladies and gentlemen, students and teachers, we welcome each and every one of you to the opening of the Triwizard Tournament's First Task," came the voice of Bagman, amplified by his wand. "Each of our competitors will have to get past their respective dragon and retrieve a golden egg from the dragon's nest, after which they will be judged. We will be starting with Mr Viktor Krum, and his opponent, the Swedish Short-Snout! Let the task BEGIN!" thundered Bagman, just as the cannon went off, and Krum stepped into the enclosure proper. Krum wasn't taking any chances with this dragon, he immediately conjured a slab of marble, excellently blocking a blast of fire sent from the Short-Snout. Going over his plan in his head, Krum banished the scorched marble at the dragon's head and ran closer towards the dragon, which had just bitten the marble into dust, which was just what Krum was hoping for.
"Vis aeris!" yelled Krum, conjuring a tornado and sending it into the dust storm that had been created from the remains of the marble from earlier. The tornado wrapped around the dust and became a dust twister, which was sent into the face of the dragon, affecting its sense of smell as well as its vision, though it was not enough to pain it, only enough to irritate it.
"Oh, an excellent display of magic by Mr Krum," came the voice of the commentator, while the crowd cheered wildly. The dragon shook its great head, attempting to clear its eyes and nose, while Krum ran around it, attempting to get to the egg, but was continually blocked by its whip like tail. Realising he would have to go with plan B, Krum headed towards its feet, causing many people to gasp.
"What's Mr Krum doing?" yelled Bagman in his amplified voice, while Karkaroff gripped the edge of his seat in anxiousness. Krum reached the ground at the dragon's feet and began using his wand to cut gouges into the ground, making a drawing of some description into the ground near the dragon. A ball of blue fire shot out of the dragon's nose in an attempt to get some of the dust out, the fireball impacting with the side of Krum's jacket. He quickly backed off, his work finished, before putting the fire out with water from his wand. He pointed his wand at the gouges in the ground.
"Terra carcer!" shouted Krum, causing bars of earth to shoot out of the carvings on the ground, effectively trapping the dragon's legs, since despite its best efforts, the dragon was unable to move either way. Using the Vis aeris spell again, Krum launched himself over the dragon and quickly scooped up his egg, much to the astonishment of the Hogwarts students and the elation of the Durmstrang ones, who all began stamping their feet in wild excitement.
"How about that folks! Mr Krum has just retrieved his egg in six minutes and twenty three seconds!" shouted Bagman, shock and amazement in his voice, though few heard it over the wild cheering of the Durmstrang students and their overjoyed Headmaster.
Meanwhile, the other champions were sitting in the tent, nibbling on chocolate frogs as they watched Krum finish against his dragon.
"Well, that certainly was impressive," said Cedric, watching as Krum went to the medical tent to be checked for injuries. "But personally, I think he made it rather flashy, I think he'll be getting an interview or two about this," Cedric grinned at this, while Harry felt sorry for Krum.
"Quiet, ze judges are going to give im is score," hissed Fleur, sitting once more across Harry's lap. The three watched as Krum stepped out to see his score. Madame Maxime was first to judge, a silvery ribbon shooting out of her wand and twisting to form a large eight.
"Pretty decent, but I guess she took marks off for getting burned," said Cedric, watching as Crouch shot a nine into the air, while Dumbledore surprised them by shooting up a ten.
"E certainly marks with more fairness zen Karkaroff," mused Fleur, watching as Bagman gave him a nine as well. They didn't need to see Karkaroff's score to see the ten that he had given him.
"Well, I guess that was bound to happen," said Harry, shrugging slightly as Fleur rested her beautiful head against his chest. The whistle sounding told them that Fleur was up. Fleur pouted slightly, but got off of Harry and began walking to the tent entrance.
"Good luck Fleur," chorused the remaining champions. Fleur turned back to look at them, before grinning evilly.
"I do not zink it is moi that you should be giving your luck to," she said, before exiting. Harry winced, feeling the evil just rolling off that smile, while Cedric shuddered.
"That poor dragon," said Harry, shaking his head, while Cedric sent a silent prayer for the poor reptile.
Fleur grinned up at her dragon, an evil glint present in her blue eyes. The great Welsh Green looked down at her in puzzlement, since not many humans looked upon it with such a look. It was actually starting to creep out the dragon. The Beauxbatons students cried out in encouragement to Fleur, while Bagman presented again.
"Let the second round BEGIN!" he yelled, as the gate unlocked and Fleur stepped into the enclosure. Meanwhile, both Harry and Cedric were watching in fear for the dragon, as the Beauxbatons champion forwent her wand, instead transforming into her true Veela form, sprouting feathers on her arms as her body became surrounded in fire. The girl used her new speed to try and get to her egg, but the dragon was faster and was able to stop her, much to Fleur's annoyance. She held out her hand and formed a fireball in it, before hurling it at the dragon's head. As the crowd watched, the fireball split into five separate attacks and simultaneously hit the dragon in the chin, causing it to let out a bellow of pain and anger. Cedric winced at the dragon's treatment, before turning to Harry.
"Forget protecting the champions, who's going to protect the dragon?" he joked weakly, while Harry nodded numbly. It wasn't his first time having seen her transformation, since she had also transformed when she found out about Bill's cheating. Except that time it had been harsher, and Bill had ended up in St Mungo's being treated for burns in very sensitive areas. Harry could have sworn he had seen her release about ten fireballs in about 5 seconds. Wincing, Harry looked back at the match. Fleur had returned to normal, though she looked tired and her dragon looked, for lack of better description, pretty bloody scared of the beautiful girl.
"With good reason too," thought Harry, watching as Fleur pulled out her wand.
"Vis aeris!" cried Fleur, pointing her wand at the dragon's head. With that, air rushed in all directions around the dragon's head, snuffing out the fire it was getting ready to launch, as well as giving it slight oxygen starvation, causing the dragon to become dazed and confused. The Welsh Green was so dazed that it didn't even see Fleur creep between its legs and grab the golden egg, causing massive cheering from the Beauxbatons students.
"And thus ends the second champion's match against her dragon, rescuing her egg in five minutes and fifty two seconds!" announced Bagman, over the cheers of the audience, prominent were Madame Maxime's cries of joy for her student's spectacular performance.
Harry and Cedric watched as Fleur returned from the medical tent with a bandage on her leg, as she went to receive her marks.
"Sure hope we don't come back in time again. Now that she's been hit by the dragon again, I don't think the dragon would survive a third match against her," whispered Cedric to Harry, who chuckled.
"Yeah, its just as well we made her promise not to use those other spells we've been learning, she would have roasted the poor bugger in about ten seconds," he replied, thinking about what would have happened if she had tried Kido on it. They turned their attention back to their viewing orbs, watching Fleur receive her marks. She got a nine from Maxime, a nine from Crouch, a ten from Dumbledore and Bagman, and a six from Karkaroff.
"He's not going to be popular," muttered Harry. He was right, everybody from both Beauxbatons and Hogwarts were now booing at the Durmstrang headmaster.
"Well, looks like my turn then Harry. Wish me luck," said Cedric, walking to the tent entrance when the whistle sounded.
"Good luck, and try not to make it too boring," said Harry with a smirk. Cedric rolled his eyes and flipped him the bird before leaving for the dragon enclosure.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, our third match, with Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, against the fearsome Chinese Fireball!" bellowed Bagman, as a tumult of noise came from the Hogwarts students, the Hufflepuff's in particular. Cedric waved to his friends in the stands, before stepping into the ring as the cannon went off. Cedric wasn't showing it, but he was very nervous now. He had based his strategy on the dragon he had gotten last time, but he was now facing a different breed, so he was forced to think up a new strategy. He dodged a blast of crimson fire, before tossing several of his playing cards at the dragon, which flashed briefly and exploded into a smokescreen, giving Cedric time to get closer to the dragon, as it attempted to blow the smoke away.
"So, that's what the cards were for," mused Harry in the tent, grinning at his friend's resourcefulness. Thinking fast, Cedric took aim at the dragon's chest.
"Lancea fulgur!" he shouted, a bolt of lightning shooting from his wand before splitting and striking the dragon from behind, sending the dragon lurching forward several steps.
"Mr Diggory has pulled the dragon away from its eggs, and what a display of astounding magic as well!" shouted Bagman into the audience, where several girls screamed their adoration for Cedric. Meanwhile, Cedric was trying to get past the dragon, but it was proving no easy task. He conjured another wall of earth to block some fire as he tried to remember what he knew about the oriental dragon, when he remembered something from Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them.
"Of course, Chinese Fireballs are the most aggressive types of dragons," thought Cedric, running out from his cover while pointing his wand at the ground near the enclosure gate where he came in.
"Signum draconis!" yelled Cedric, causing a giant boulder to sprout from the ground and begin forming into something else. Cedric finished the transfiguration, as the Chinese Fireball gave a bellow of rage and began lumbering towards the giant stone statue of the Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon that had been bewitched to have the same colour as the dragon and to also roar. Cedric took his chance and began running at the eggs, hearing the sounds of stone being broken and a bellow from the dragon statue. The Chinese Fireball realised it had been tricked, but too late, as Cedric scooped up his egg, causing the crowd to go wild at the amazing performance.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Diggory has completed his challenge and collected his egg, at seven minutes and two seconds!" roared Bagman, with the Hufflepuff section of the crowd erupting in wild cheering. Cedric was somewhat disappointed that he had taken the longest, but felt good that he had come out of it without a giant burn like last time, though he could feel a bruise or two on his arms from the flying debris.
"And now, Mr Diggory will be scored by our judges," proclaimed Bagman, as Cedric stepped out of the medical tent. Cedric received a nine from Maxime, a ten from Crouch, a ten from Dumbledore, a nine from Bagman and a six from Karkaroff.
"And now, the last round of the first task, Mr Potter!" shouted Bagman, as the whistle was blown for the final time.
Harry stowed his viewing orb into his pocket as he walked out into the dragon enclosure.
"Well, well we meet again," said Harry quietly, smirking at the Hungarian Horntail, who roared at him and lashed its spiked tail in response.
"And now, the final round of the first task will begin, with our youngest champion, Mr Harry Potter, against the Hungarian Horntail!" shouted an over excited Bagman, amongst the loud noise of the crowd. Harry didn't care if they cheering for him or the Horntail, but he knew that if they were cheering for the dragon, there would be a lot of disappointment soon.
"Let the final round BEGIN!" yelled Bagman, as the cannon finally went off, and the Horntail was released. Harry immediately conjured a large wall of stone to protect him, as he gathered his magical reserves to use the next few spells. It was almost 3 minutes afterwards that Harry's power was enough to use the required spells, just as the Horntail smashed through the wall with its tail.
"Ingens aggere terrae!" yelled Harry, as a surge of magical energy flowed out through his wand and hit the ground. A few seconds later, as the crowd began to wonder if he had made a mistake, everybody gasped in wonder, as a giant wall of earth surrounded the dragon in four directions, completely trapping it. But Harry was far from done.
"Accio lake!" he shouted next, as a huge surge of water came flying out of the Black Lake, causing many peoples eyes to widen, including that of the Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick.
"Remarkable!" squeaked the tiny professor to his colleague, a stunned Professor McGonagall. "To be able to summon such a huge amount of anything without additional aid… I can honestly say that boy will be a fine wizard one day," said Professor Flitwick, quite proud of his student, while McGonagall could only nod. Harry directed the huge wave in the air and over the earth prison, where the dragon was scratching at the walls, attempting to break them. He then dumped the huge mass of water over the cage, while at the same time, shouting out another spell to finish it.
"Ferro glaciem!" he cried, the spell freezing the falling water into the shape of a dome around both the dragon and the wall, the end result creating a giant prison around the dragon, which could be heard roaring and breathing fire, trying to get out, but to no avail. Those spells wouldn't last long against the dragon's fire, but ten minutes easily. With that done, Harry made his way to the golden egg and picked it up, amidst the cheering of the amazed audience.
"THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! In a spectacular display of magical prowess, Mr Potter has gained his egg in five minutes and fifty seconds, beating Miss Delacour's record by a mere two seconds and becoming the fastest champion to reach their egg! That'll certainly shorten the odds on Mr Potter!" yelled an ecstatic Bagman, as the audience cheered wildly, the Gryffindor's especially.
Harry was wept into a tumult of noise and cheering, as he was congratulated by practically half the school, though there were only two people he really wanted to speak to, those being his red-haired friend and a silver haired beauty. Finally, Harry was hoisted into the medical tent by a disgruntled Madam Pomfrey, though he caught the imposter Moody's eye, which looked startled from the level of magic he had displayed.
"Dragons," said Madam Pomfrey in disgust, as she checked him over. Finding no injuries, she let him get up to get his scores. He was almost out of the tent when an excitable Hermione shot into the tent, followed by a very pale looking Ron. Harry stared at Ron, while Hermione kept going on about the level of magic he had used, how it had amazed everybody. Finally, Ron opened his mouth, struggling to form words.
"Harry, whoever put your name in that goblet – I – I reckon they're trying to do you in!" he finally managed, looking down.
"Caught on have you?" asked Harry coldly. He had to at least pretend that he was a bit bitter. Ron opened his mouth, though Harry knew he was trying to apologise, when Harry held up his hand to stop him.
"It's ok, just forget it," he said, a weary smile making it onto his face.
"No," Ron started, "I shouldn't have –"
"Forget it," Harry grinned at his friend for the first time in weeks. Ron grinned back, albeit a little nervously. Hermione typically burst into tears, so Harry hugged her, still smiling, while Ron just shook his head, muttering about women. They made their way out of the tent to see Harry get scored, the whole time Ron was talking very fast about what the other champions had done, though Harry didn't tell him he had seen what they had done. Madame Maxime went first, raising her wand and shooting out a ribbon which twisted into a large ten. The crowd applauded wildly at this. Harry smirked when he saw Madame Maxime sit down, knowing that she had scored him based on his knowledge of spells that shouldn't be able to be used by a fourth year. Crouch was next, also shooting a ten, making the crowd cheer even louder.
"Looking good mate!" yelled Ron above the cheers, as Dumbledore stepped forward. Harry caught his eye, which was twinkling, as he shot up a large figure eight. This got many cheers as well, though they were slightly confused, since Dumbledore had not given his student full marks. Bagman predictably gave him a ten as well, causing many more cheers to erupt from the students. Lastly came Karkaroff, who looked as though he had been forced to swallow a lemon, when he shot a large figure eight into the air.
"Probably the lowest he could give me without me getting a higher score than Krum," thought Harry amusedly, while the crowd continued to cheer. Ron said he would wait, as Harry left for the champion's tent to receive information for the second task. Upon entering the tent, Bagman had not yet arrived, which was the only thing he had time to notice before Fleur was hugging him half to death.
"Arry, congratulations!" she yelled happily, squeezing him tightly, while Cedric and Krum chuckled in the background.
"You too Fleur, I kind of feel sorry for your dragon though," he replied, grinning a bit at her embarrassed blush.
"Ze reptile ad it coming," she defended weakly, as Bagman entered the tent. Bagman proceeded to congratulate them all, before giving them the information about the eggs and sending them off. Harry was walking back with Fleur, Cedric and Krum when Cedric asked him a question.
"So Harry, what do we have planned next? We have a while until the next task," he asked seriously, while the other two nodded their agreement. Harry stopped and looked at them.
"I already have a plan to deal with the fake Moody, but I need Dumbledore's help with it, so we don't need to worry about that for now. But I do have something I need to do now that this is finished, if you wanted to give me a hand with that," he said, looking around at them.
"You know we're here to help," said Cedric, grinning at him, while Krum nodded his agreement.
"Tell us what you need Arry, we will elp you owever we can," said Fleur, leaning on his arm. Harry grinned at all of them.
"In that case, how would you all like to come on a little trip with me this weekend?" he asked, getting puzzled looks from his fellow champions. "We're going on a Horcrux hunt."
And hooray! another chapter finished! please let me know how everybody enjoyed the new First Task, i was unsure while writing it to be perfectly honest. I have also realised that i have neglected to include translations for spells for most of the story, so i'll just quickly stick in here.
Reprimenda del cielo = Heaven's Rebuke (Spanish)
Alquilar de serpiente = Serpent's Rend (Spanish)
Espejo de disparo = Mirror of Shot (Spanish)
Adversus Sepulchrum = Reverse Gravity (Latin)
Sanguine furtur = Steal Blood (Latin)
Testa ferri = Shrapnel (Latin) (not completely sure about that)
Lancea fulgur = Lance of Lightning (Latin)
Bakudo no Yon: Hainawa : Way of Binding 4 = Rope of Light (Japanese)
Hado no Juuichi: Tsuzuri Raiden = Way of Destruction 11: Bound Lightning
Hado no Rokujusan: Souen Soukatsui = Way of Destruction 63 : Twin shot of Crashing Blue Flames (Japanese)
Vis aeris = Force of the Wind (Latin)
Terra carcer = Earth Prison (Latin)
Signum Draconis = Dragon Statue (Latin)
Ingens aggere terrae = Giant Earth Rampart (Latin)
Ferro glaciem = Glacier dome (Latin)
first off i can;t take credit for a couple of these, i got a couple from tyro12's story 'Circumstances', while the Japanese ones are, as i mentioned previously, from Bleach, but i did make the last few myself, even if i cant remember which site i used to translate them :P this is probably my last chapter for a little while, since i'm back at class soon, but i will hopefully do another chapter between now and when i finish, but no promises. thanks all and remember, review :D