Harry sat in quiet contemplation, preparing himself for the dragon. He had drawn the Hungarian Horntail once more and was again going to be the fourth champion to enter the arena. He smiled considering the old gladiatorial fights against creatures. Because sadly that is what this was. Once upon a time, Dragons, as the ancient draconian race, had been intelligent beings. They could reason and dragon magic was the root behind elemental manipulation. That said, most great dragons had died off. The reason that most of the modern dragons breathed fire was due to this.

The great ice dragons were reclusive and lived in harsh environments. As their homes were in the extreme elements of cold, their bodies worked in reverse of most lizards. They needed cold for energy. As such, they had flourished during the Ice Age the earth had faced, but as time moved on, they slowly receded to the far north and south. It was well believed that ice dragons no longer existed.

The great water dragons, as expected, came from the great oceans. It was believed that explorers who had seen great sea beasts had actually found sea dragons. Of course, just as the muggle world had hunted whales, wizarding vessels had laid claim to a large portion of sea dragons for their hide, as it was beneficial to individuals seeking to traverse beneath the waves. Earth dragons had faced a similar fate, hunted from their caves and the like. As parseltongue was already seen as a trait of a dark wizard, no one was willing to admit they could speak it and therefore no one could speak to the great dragons. With a lack of communication, war was started. And at the time, wizards were experts in killing dragons.

And that gave Harry an idea.

Harry heard Cedric, Victor, and finally Fleur move to take their dragons as he sat in his meditative state. Harry had informed each of the Dragon task well ahead of the task this go round. When asked how he knew, Harry mentioned a friend had a brother who worked on a dragon preserve. The brother had informed them after the Quidditch World Cup that he would be seeing them again soon. Since the first task of the tournament was notorious for dealing with dangerous magical beasts. All three seemed skeptical of his advice.

Three days later, after Harry had been invited to go with Hagrid to visit the dragons, all three came by to apologize and thank Harry for the advice. Harry took the time to thank Cedric for not calling him a liar, regardless of his oath. When Cedric attempted to brush off the praise, Harry reminded him that other students, including Hufflepuffs, who had all seen his oath, still wore the badge. An embarrassed Cedric nodded his acknowledgement.

So the three had faced their dragons, all seeming nervous or scared, and Harry was unsure of how exactly he could support them. He gave each a smile as they left the tent. Cedric grinned right back and Victor gave him a grunt and nodded. He was still amused at Harry's handling of Rita Skeeter.

Fleur was different. She looked to be in tears and jumped when her name was called. While Harry knew he had been distracted in the previous attempt, he wondered if she had reacted this poorly then. He stood and moved to her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Fleur? I know this is a stupid question, but are you alright?" She snorted as his statement, something he found odd coming from the poised half vela.

"Oui, or as ready as I can be for this event." She stood, albeit on shaky legs, so Harry stopped her once more.

"Fleur, you can do this. I promise. Show that dragon why you were chosen as a Champion." Harry did his best to portray strength and faith in the look he gave his fellow champion. She took a moment before looking at him and Harry could see tears forming in her eyes. When their eyes met, Harry almost felt her gasp before her eyes took on their own steely glint. She stood, once more with her head held high and a haughty look to her before relaxing and giving Harry a smile.

"Thank you, Meester Potter."

"Call me Harry, please."

"Oui."

And with that, she had left the tent to defeat her own dragon. All three of age champions faced down their own beasts and got their eggs. Fleur and Cedric received minor injuries while Victor walked away unscathed. That in mind, he did manage to get the dragon to crush a few of its own eggs.

And then Harry's name was called. He reviewed his plan once more before calmly, or at least he hoped he looked calm, stepping through into the Arena. As he once more saw the Hungarian Horntail before him, he smiled and muttered to himself while looking at the judges table.

"Ave, Emperator, morituri te salutant."1

Harry had carefully considered his plan, and it was now time to put it into action. One thing many did not know about dragons was they created their nests from materials associated with their elements. Ice dragons made nests from their own ice. Earth Dragons manipulated the earth surrounding them to worm nests, while Water Dragons needed materials grown and nurtured by their own water. And for Harry's plan to work, he would need those materials.

A Quick glance around the rock he had shifted to hide behind informed him that he was in luck, a new experience for Harry who always felt he was the unluckiest lucky guy to ever have lived. There, beneath the dragon and sticking out, was exactly what Harry needed. He cast a quick summoning charm which drew the materials to him.

Of course the dragon saw his head and wand poke from behind the rock. The Hungarian Horntail was not having a good day. She had been drugged, dragged to a foreign area with her new eggs, and had not been properly fed for the past three days. There were plenty of possible snacks all around, but the chains kept her from feeding. And as she saw a small snack enter the area, her only thought was safety for her nest and to eat. As such, when the little pile of meat waved his wooden stick to pull things from her nest, she did her best to attack.

Harry could feel the heat from the fire from behind his rock, so he began to work quickly.

Hermione sat in the stands. After Harry's actions in the great hall, Daphne had become more open about being friends with the two of them and as such, she was sitting beside him. The three had spent a lot of time pursuing the Hogwarts library as well as using the Room of Requirement to attempt to solve the trouble that was the first task. Ultimately, they had not come up with a plan they all liked, so the decision had been reached to have Harry summon his Firebolt and outfly the dragon.

Hermione thought back to the conversation. Harry seemed overly confident he could manage to outfly the dragon, a beast of the air, for some ridiculous reason. As such, she and Daphne had both begged him not to and yelled and stamped their feet. But seeing as no one had a better solution, they eventually gave in, asking him to be beyond careful.

What they did not know was Harry had out flown the dragon once before.

And What Harry did not know was that there had been liquid luck in his meal that morning. The dragon, had it not escaped its chain and followed him, would have instead gone on to attack the crowd the instant the preserve wizards approached. And had the dragon not hit Harry with its tail, Harry would have lost control of his broom due to the excess magic flowing from him and driven at extreme speed headfirst into the arena wall.

This time the fake Moody had not given Harry Liquid Luck.

Not that it mattered. Harry's reflections on the Dragon slayers of old, who were where legends of elemental magic came from, had given him the idea of how he could manage this.

Harry calmly stepped from around the stone and quickly dropped his treasurers in a circular pattern. He faced the dragon just in time to throw his final piece directly at the dragon itself, into the stream of fire as required.

As Harry stood, seemingly ready to be engulfed by fire, the crowd was silent. Hermione and Daphne were clinging to one another in terror. Harry, in order to focus on the task, had shut Hermione out of their mental link. It was something she had planned to rudely remind him was unacceptable later. For now, she just needed him to survive.

Daphne watched in pure horror. Harry had come to be a very good friend. She could even say she had grown to love him, though the ice queen had difficulty admitting that. As Harry stood ready to be engulfed in flame, she screamed just as hysterically as Hermione, the two cutting into one another's arms with their finger nails as they clung together in fear for their friend/husband.

While most of the crowd sat in terror, no one saw the smile which graced both Dumbledore and Moody's faces, though they were for very different reasons.

The shock wave of magic which erupted as the flame's met Harry caused everyone to collapse back into their seats. The shock and the flash took a moment to wear off, so it was an incredibly shocked group that watched as Harry simply walked over to the nest, lifted the golden egg, and walked away. The dragon spit fire a few more times, which seemed to have no effect, and attempted to crush this bug. Unfortunately, Harry's seeker reflexes did give him the advantage on the ground as he rolled and avoided being stomped on.

Just as Harry reached the edge of the arena, the Dragon suddenly became free of its bonds. As Harry heard the snap, he quickly sat the egg down and turned just in time to see the dragon moving to attack the crowd.

Harry, knowing he was too far away to get to the crowd in time by running, drew his wand and cast a switching spell on himself. He knew this was dangerous and had a high possibility of failing, but he had few other options.

Luckily for both him and the crowd, it worked. Harry was suddenly witting on the arena wall directly in front of Daphne and Hermione. As the dragon began to breathe its fire, Harry clapped his hand together, his arms fully extended. As he did, flames erupted from his hands and moved to form a wall. The flames were hot, and the crowd could feel the heat. It did not burn, but it was enough to be uncomfortable. Still, it was better than the flames of a dragon hitting them.

The entire arena watched in shock as the flames seemingly cast in a wandless manner by Harry Potter ate the flames from the dragon. The dragon kept blowing until it truly wore itself out, collapsing on the ground.

As the wall Harry formed dissipated, there was a slight pause before the crowd erupted in cheers. Harry heard none of this. The wall had disappeared because he fainted. Daphne and Hermione barely had time to grab him before he fell.

VXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVX

Harry woke with a screaming headache. His whole body hurt, but he could not feel burns anywhere. He searched deep within for his magic and felt a small flicker. That meant he had depleted his magical core.

He could feel he was in a bed, which suggested the infirmary. In addition, he could feel two someones holding his hand while there was arguing in the background. He noted the voices being between the various judges. They seemed to be arguing about points. There was a debate if Harry should receive points for having used a ritual during the task, something well known to be illegal in Britain. The judges still deciding that probably meant he was still in the medical tent.

As Harry listened, he became aware of sniffling from either side of him. With a slight groan, he opened his eyes. That was all it took as all noise in the tent stopped. Harry turned to his right, finding Hermione's bushy hair there. He felt her place his glasses on his face and smiled appreciatively at her as he reopened his mind to thank her.

HARRY JAMES POTTER! DON'T YOU EVER DARE EVEN THINK OF TRYING TO DO THAT TO ME EVER AGAIN! YOU ARROGANT OBNOXIOUS ARSE!

At this point the young witch broke down in tears and hugged him.

"I love you Harry. I can't lose you. Please don't let me lose you."

Harry hugged her back with one arm.

"I won't, my love. I love you, always and forever."

Harry suddenly became aware of the grip on his other hand and looked over to see a teary eyed Daphne sitting there. He offered her a smile before he was drawn back to the rest of the room.

"Mr. Potter, there seems to be some debate about what exactly you did out there. Would you mind sharing with us?" The twinkle was back in Dumbledore's eye full force and Harry had to keep himself from laughing.

"No problem at all, Headmaster. I was considering the history of the great dragons and how they were hunted to near extinction by wizarding kind. Many do not realize just what is required to take down a dragon. Earth Dragons could manipulate earth, Water Dragons to water, and Ice Dragons over ice. Today, great dragons no longer exist because they were killed off by us, but considering the number of dragons required just to corral a dragon today who are nowhere near as powerful as the ancient great dragons, how could they stand up to it.

"Well, that is where the idea of elemental mages comes from. There was a ritual which would grant the caster abilities over dragon magic. In the case of a fire dragon, ability to control dragon fire and to be impervious to dragon flame."

"But if this is possible, why would no one use this magic on the preserves?" This came from Hermione, back in learning mode and rather upset that Harry had not shared such knowledge with her.

"Well, a few reasons really. First, you need some serious materials to complete the ritual. It takes carving of the runes in materials from that dragon. For example, to cast it over an ice dragon, you must carve the runes into pieces of ice from the ice dragon. In this case, I needed obsidian formed by the dragon. It just so happens this was a material used in the dragon's nest.

"You also must carve the runes just before the ritual. At that point, the material is still imbued with elemental energy, which is also known as dragon magic. The longer the material is away from the dragon, the energy fades. So I took a chance that this nest was created by the Hungarian Horntail. Luckily for me, it was." This earned Harry a slap on the shoulder from both Hermione and Daphne as well as gasps from around the room as they heard about this.

"The final component of the ritual is a transmutation rune which must be powered by the dragon itself. Hence this would only work if the final rune was cast into the dragon fire before returning to my runic circle. Should any element of that failed, I would have been burnt to a crisp.

"And finally, as for why it is a rarely seen ritual these days, besides the inherent danger. It is a ritual only found in ancient family grimoires. The Potter's happen to be renowned fire elementals once upon a time. This ritual happens to be how witches and wizards are able to gain elemental magic. And since it is family magic, it can only be shared once you become a member of the family."

While there was still much more discussion and clarification, it was decided that since this was a task and since Harry had used family magic, he could not be punished for it. This did not, of course, stop Karkaroff from only giving Harry two points, claiming it was his fault that the chains broke due to the magic from the ritual. When all was said and done, Harry received 42 points, getting perfect scores from every other judge, even if it did include warnings to not be so foolhardy in the future.

After being released by the school healer, Harry was dragged to the Room of Requirement by both Hermione and Daphne. As soon as they arrived, Hermione situated herself in his lap and proceeded to kiss him silly. There was a silly grin on his face as she left. It was to the point that he did not see the nod from Hermione nor Daphne moving in. He did not really register anything until their lips met.

Daphne had been just as worried for Harry as Hermione. She had been pacing and scared. And, for her sake, Hermione had noticed. After a long, heated discussion where Hermione demanded to know how Daphne felt about Harry and the Slytherin admitting she had deep feelings for the green-eyed one, Hermione made her case.

"I don't know what will happen in the future, but right now he needs all the love and caring he can get. He is, apparently, my husband, but he needs to know how much you care. And he cares for you too. So here is the plan…"

That plan had led them here, with Daphne kissing Harry. Hermione watched in awe as a bright light erupted from the two of them as they kissed and a magical energy washed over her. She felt oddly satisfied with this.

In another place, a young blond felt a stronger pull this time, yet contentment.

Dumbledore, Ollivander, Ragnok, and Dobby smiled once more, feeling another element of their defender of magic come to fruition.

Harry and Daphne pulled apart, a smile on both their faces.

"Wow." Harry grinned as the usually poised young witch seemed at a loss for words. It was a gasp from Hermione which drew their attention.

"Yes wow, and look at this!"

There, sitting on the table near them that the room had provided, sat a letter addressed to each Daphne and Harry. Harry, still holding Daphne's hand, picked up one of the envelopes.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"You should open it and see Harry." Hermione prodded him. Harry did so, to find another letter addressed to him, recognizing his bond and therefore marriage to Daphne Ann Potteer nee Greengrass.

Shite. Daphne is going to kill me.

"Why would I kill you Harry?" Daphne had not yet seen the letter. She was still slightly distracted by the kiss. Hearing those words brought her around though.

Daphne, look at me please? Harry thought. He was hoping she would notice the difference. He saw her bring her eyes to meet his and he could hear her own chaotic thoughts.

Well I did enjoy that kiss, but he is apparently married to Hermione. This was just to show him I care. I need to get over it. No, stop. It was just a kiss. Her eyes met his.

"It was not just a kiss, Daphne Ann." It was a magically wonderfully astounding kiss. One which, with your permission, I hope to repeat.

Daphne smiled at the last before she noted his lips were not moving.

"What…"

Harry simply handed her the letter. Not knowing how else to respond, as Daphne reached the end of the letter, she fainted.

1 – Hail Emperor, those who are about to die salute you