Wow, I am sorry. It has been a long time, life got in the way. Anyway, chapter 4, coming right at ya.
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Fleur slammed the old book shut in frustration, a puff of dust rose and she coughed it away. She looked at the clock on the library wall and saw it read 2:37am back at her. She mentally screamed as the enormity of the task got to her. The in two days time she would be face to face with a dragon and she still had no ideas. Maybe she should have taken Madame Maxime's offer, too late for that now, she hadn't spoken to her in days.
Fleur heard another person moving around the library. So much for the early hours of the morning being quiet. She sighed as she realised it was most likely a Hogwarts student, hopefully not one of the guys, she felt like she might hex someone in the mood she was in if they were not careful. She thought the sound came from somewhere to her right and looked back down at her book, hoping not to be noticed. She wasn't hopeful however as she heard the sound get closer. She glanced to her right and saw a boy through the bookshelves, his raven hair facing towards her as he was looking at the titles on a bookshelf. She opened her book and looked down at the page, another champion trying to figure out the task, abide one that she had mixed feelings about.
"Oh hey Fleur, little late to be studying don't you think?" Harry arrived at the table.
"I zink you know zat I am not studying 'Arry." She looked up from her book. "And I get the feeling you aren't eizzer."
"You caught me. You know the first task is." Harry started.
"Dragons." Fleur finished. "Madame Maxime told me, 'ow did you know?"
"I was there when Madame Maxime saw them." Harry laughed. Fleur couldn't help but smile too. "She didn't seem me though."
"Yes well. It is better knowing I suppose." Fleur mused.
"So have you figured out what you are going to do yet?" Harry took a seat.
"Well, no." Fleur admitted. "None of ze books 'ere are really 'elping. 'Ave you?"
"I have an idea. I don't know if it will work though." Harry said, a look of worry flashed across his face.
"Well an idea is better zen no idea at all, no?" Fleur smiled at him. "You can run it past me if you like. I promise I won't steal it."
"I guess it couldn't hurt." Harry replied. "I am going to fly."
"Fly? 'Ow?" Fleur was curious.
"My broom of course. It is probably what I am best at and it will make me faster, harder to hit." Harry said.
"But you can't take it with you. We are only allowed our wands." Fleur tried to poke a hole in his logic.
"I am going to summon it." Harry smiled.
Fleur sighed to herself at the simplicity of his plan, it really couldn't go wrong. "I wish I could fly."
"Well what are you good at?" Harry asked.
"Charms." Fleur said, without hesitation.
"Well then that is your plan. Find a charm that will help you." Harry said, like it was obvious.
"'Arry, its not zat simple. A dragon is a magic resistant creature, and I don't zink charms were ever invented with ze intention of taking on a dragon. I am in trouble if I don't work this out." Fleur huffed as the reality of her situation sank in.
"Well, charms are not really used for combat. I don't think you should tackle the dragon head on. Perhaps there is a way to use charms so that you don't have to face the dragon at all." Harry said.
"It is an idea, zank you." Fleur smiled. "You should probably go to bed." Ze task is in two days."
"Perhaps I should." Harry said as he got up. "Goodluck with your studies."
"Goodluck with ze task." Fleur called after him as he turned to leave the library.
"You know Fleur, you are actually a better person than you lead people to believe." And with that he left.
Harry was wrong. She couldn't let people get close to her, not that they would be able to get close anyway, the jealousy or lust would get in the way long before they could get close.
She turned her attention back to the book in front of her, Enchantments and Charms: Volume 6, and opened to a random page. She had to do a double take at the answer in front of her. It was the answer she had been looking for all this time.
Fleur woke up gasping for air, her dream dragon incinerating her as she tried to enchant it to sleep.
"Its all their in my head." She said quietly to herself. She looked at the clock. It read 04:38am. Deciding that it wasn't time yet, she grabbed her blanket, rolled and shut her eyes.
Unfortunately sleep did not return. Her mind was racing at a million miles an hour. After an hour of lying in bed she decided she may as well get up. Early bird gets the worm, or so they say. In this case the early bird just ended up with a headache from being tired.
She got dressed and opened her door quietly, not wanting to disturb any of her classmates, who would be down to cheer her on, and perhaps watch her eventual death. Best not to think like that, Fleur thought to herself.
She tip toed past the dining room, only to see Zoé sitting in one of the chairs by herself.
"Zoé." Fleur hissed, motioning for her to follow.
Fleur led Zoé out into the fresh November air. It was getting very cold. Luckily both of them had rather oversized coats on.
"Why were you awake?" Fleur asked Zoé, as they walked beside the lake, the sun not yet up.
"Couldn't sleep. Why are you up?" Zoé asked back.
"Couldn't sleep either." Zoé raised a questioning eyebrow at this. Fleur laughed then continued. "Why do you think?"
"Yes well, I imagine I wouldn't be getting much sleep either. What time did you get in? I noticed you were not at dinner." Zoé sit down on a rock under one of the bigger trees around the lake.
"Maybe 3:30? I've only had about an hours sleep." Fleur replied.
"3:30!? Why so late?"
"I was in the library, trying to figure out the best way to do this task. Then Harry turned up and pointed me in the right direction." Fleur explained.
"Ooo Harry eh?" Zoé giggled and avoided the swat that flew her way.
"Oh please, he is about 14 years old. He just knew what the task was, as did I, and he just told me to focus on what I am good at, which happens to be charms."
"What is the task anyway? I didn't know that you had been given the information already?" Zoé added with an afterthought.
"We weren't given the information, Madame Maxime told me in secret. It is dragons." Fleur's voice faulted at the word.
"Dragons! Oh my god Fleur." Zoé paled and her hands flew to her mouth, as Fleur's did, when she found out about the task.
"Yeah, dragons." Fleur said as she stared out over the lake, still as the night that had just past. The sun was rising, the first rays coming over the snow capped mountains as the birds stared to sing in the distance. It felt wrong, she was being led to slaughter and the world around her continued as it had always been. She realised that she had subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself, it was little comfort to the sleep deprived, state of mind she was in.
"Zoe, I'm scared."
Zoe moved and protectively wrapped her arms around Fleur. "I know Fleur, I know."
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Fleur arrived at the tent rubbing her eyes. The walk down from breakfast at the castle was painful, as students chatted excitedly around her on their walk to watch the spectacle. Her friends walked with her but they didn't say much, they each gave a final hug and faire la bise before heading off to the stands. She took a final breath to compose herself then entered the tent.
It looked like she was the last to arrive as everybody and anybody was there, she had to laugh as at the same time she was entering, Dumbledore was pushing that ridiculous Skeeta woman out the tent door. Rita tried to grab Fleur for an interview but Fleur firmly shook her off and continued her way inside.
"Ah Miss Delacour, you have arrived, that means all of us are here and we can get onto explaining the task." Ludo Bagman beamed around the room.
"So in this bag I have here are your tasks. I want each of you to reach into the bag and take an.." Ludo paused for a second. "Item, and that will be your task."
"What do we say, ladies first hmm? How about you pick first Miss Delacour?" Ludo extended the bag towards her. She reached in, already knowing what she would find in there. A quick glance across the circle and Harry was grimacing too. She enclosed her hand around a mini reptile and pulled it out.
"Ah the Swedish Short Snout. An interesting choice." Ludo exclaimed.
Ludo passed the bag around to each of the other contestants but Fleur paid no attention, instead studying her dragon. It was blue in colour and had a number 1 around its neck. She looked up just in time to see Harry pull a little black dragon with the number 2 around its neck out of the the bag.
"And the Hungarian Horntail, a nasty dragon that!" Ludo looked like he was going to be overcome with glee. FLeur glared in his direction.
"Okay, so now that you know that the task will involve dragons, we should tell you what you have to do." He paused for dramatic effect. "All you have to do is slay your dragon."
Fleur was sure her head had never moved so fast in her life as she whipped it around to look at Madame Maxime. The giant lady had a look mixed between shock and horror on her face. That seemed to be the general consensus from the group. She looked at the other contestants. Cedric had turned green, Harry looked furious and although Krum was usually hard to read, he was also wearing a look of annoyance.
Dumbledore was the first to speak. "Ludo as you will recall, that was not the agreement that was made."
"Dumbledore, this is the task that has been set by the Triwizard committee." Ludo explained.
"We agreed that they would have to steal an egg from the dragon, not kill it." Igor was also furious.
"As I said, this is the task that has been set. There is not much we can do about it now." Ludo looked surprised everyone was taking it so hardly.
"Zen I will pull my student from ze task." Madame Maxime put her hand on Fleur's shoulder.
"You can't." Barty Crouch spoke from the corner. "She is a Triwizard champion and rules are rules."
"I think we should discuss this outside." Dumbledore offered. Ludo and Barty looked more than happy to discuss it away from the champions and so the four of them were left in the room by themselves.
"Kill a dragon? How on earth are we going to do that?" Cedric asked the group.
Outside they could hear the argument getting louder.
"The sponsors wanted a bigger spectacle, they forced us to change or they would pull money from the event." Ludo Bagman shouted.
"There are a few ways it could be done. I have some ideas." Krum mumbled as he paced the room.
"I am not going to do it." Fleur said defiantly. "I am not going to kill an innocent creature for people's entertainment in a stupid gladiatorial contest. It is not what I signed up for."
"You heard Bagman, we can't pull out." Cedric said.
"She is right though. It is wrong to kill this creature, it has done nothing wrong." Harry said.
"So then what are we going to do?" Krum asked.
"I do not know. But I am going to protest somehow." Fleur said but before she could get out another word the angry entourage re entered the tent.
"Now that that little misunderstanding has been settled. I will tell you the rest of the task. The task is simple, you slay your dragon, one the dragon is dead, the challenge is over. Points will be awarded for speed and style and subtracted for injury. If you feel at any time that you can not safely continue the fight, send red sparks into the air and you will be rescued, this will also end your challenge. Any questions?" Ludo got that out as quick as he could and as soon as he saw that he would not be challenged, he continued.
"Good, now then we will go to the judging platform. Miss Delacour, you are up first, please make your way to the arena, a cannon will sound when you are required to enter."
The judging panel left the room but before she did Madame Maxime apologised to Fleur, explaining that the Headmasters were not aware of the change of plans.
Fleur headed to the arena, butterflies in her stomach. She looked over at Harry, he returned her gaze and nodded as she lifted the room.
The stairs led her to a little curtain that she assumed was the entrance to the arena. She waited and waited. Finally a canon sounded, that seemed way too close for comfort and she strolled out onto a little platform. Before her stood an enormous Swedish Short Snout. Nothing in a book could have prepared her for this. However, luckily, with her plan she wouldn't need to. She touched her wand to her throat and whispered the spell. Suddenly her voice was booming out over the arena. She turned to the judging panel.
"This is wrong, I will not take part in this sick blood sport and slay an innocent animal for your a few people's benefit." She turned to look at the judging panel, raised her wand and shot red sparks into the air.
Suddenly dragon trainers flew in from everywhere to restrain the dragon. A rough looking red haired man with a tooth earring mouthed thanks to her as he went about his work. She was ushered over to the medical tent, which was quite ridiculous considering she hadn't done any fighting. A nurse checked over her and once clearing her of injury, let her go and collect her scores.
She went and sat on the champions platform as the judges got ready to announce their scores. She knew what to expect and had a chuckle at the thought.
Ludo Bagman was the first to show his score. He looked absolutely furious. He shot a ribbon out of his wand which manifested itself into a number 0. No surprises there. Next up was Dumbledore.
He pointed his wand up and the ribbons formed themselves into a 10. Fleur felt as though her jaw might hit the platform below her. A ten? Surely he had made a mistake. Dumbledore however smiled at her and made no effort to correct his score. Ludo Bagman looked even angrier, if that was possible.
Barty Crouch was next, he gave a 0. Back to normal then it seemed.
But Fleur was wrong as Madame Maxime and Igor Karkoroff both gave scores of 10.
Fleur was in a state of shock. It seemed that her protest was endorsed by the heads of the schools. 30/50 for protesting the task wasn't a bad result at all.
Suddenly the cannon sounded and harry emerged from the curtain. She gasped as he looked at the sponsors bench, didn't say a word and shot red sparks into the air. Some of the members of the crowd, seemed to have gotten over their shock at the nerve of the champions and started to boo. Harry was ushered off stage as the Dragon trainers came into the arena to take the big black Horntail away.
It took about 5 minutes for harry to come up to the viewing platform and Fleur was waiting for him. She threw her arms around his neck, then gave him a kiss on each cheek.
"Zankyou so much for standing with me." Fleur let go of him. He looked a little stunned at her actions for a second however he recovered well.
"I heard what you said to the judges. It was the right thing to do, they didn't deserve to die, especially not for entertainment." Harry said.
"Quick, zey will show your scores now."
Harry's scores played out exactly the same as Fleur's. Harry looked as shocked as she felt when she had actually gotten points. "My marks played out exactly ze same way."
"It is good to know that the Headmaster's are behind us with this.
Fleur and Harry watched as both Krum and Fleur repeated their actions and forfeited the challenge. Both received 30/50 marks to tie up the competition. The crowd booed loudly as the task was announced to be finished. Ludo was in the sponsors box in damage control, trying to contain their anger.
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The champions retreated to the tent where the teachers were waiting for them.
"Well I thought we did the right thing." Cedric said, trying to break any tension that would be in the air.
"You all did so well, we are very proud as …" Dumbledore couldn't finish as Ludo and Barty burst into the tent.
"Do you have any idea what you have just done? What were you all thinking? 3 years of planning has gone into this event and you all pull a stunt like that? You should be ashamed!" Ludo was turning purple as he shouted.
"I think actually, it is you who should be ashamed Mr Bagman, using the killing of creatures as entertainment. Perhaps you ought to rethink these challenges." Krum offered.
"The sponsors are furious, they are threatening to pull funding from the tournament. You have no idea what you have all done! None of you are worthy of calling yourself champions." Ludo stormed out of the tent, Barty following along behind him.
"Well, that was a bit over the top don't you think?" Harry said with a grin on his face.
"It is certainly going to be an interesting tournament. All of you go, enjoy tonights feast. Although I give you this warning. Some of your fellow students may not be quite so understanding of your actions, do not let it bother you, for you did the right thing today." Dumbledore said before leaving the tent.
Madame Maxime pulled Fleur into a big hug. "I am very proud of you you know, that was very brave. Go and celebrate."
Fleur smiled at her and left the tent to head towards the carriage. She felt good, although slightly worried about the reaction she would receive, not so much from everyone but her friends. She knew they wanted the champions spot too and she wasn't sure whether they would approve of her not fighting. She would have to wait and see though as she heard footsteps behind her.
"The booing was pretty loud. How do you think they will all take it." Harry asked her.
"Not well, not well at all. Maybe we will have to stick together a little more. Especially if we get alienated from the rest of our schools. I can't imagine they will react to kindly to the champions just 'giving up' like we did." Fleur smiled at him.
"I would like that." Harry replied.
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A/N I just want to apologise for leaving this a while. Life just got in the way. Uni got hectic, I moved to France. Really that was the only two things but it still got in the way. So since I will not be having any uni for a while I will try to pump these out more often.
Probably the first chapter that has deviated away from GOT a lot. But I plan for it to keep moving away from here. Let me know what you think, I am interested to know.
Thanks for reading :)