I would like to thank every one who read the first chapter loved it so much that you wanted to favorite it. I expected maybe one or two favorites with a couple dozen reads, I am truly blown away by the reaction.
I would like to first state that I am sorry that I could not get this chapter out sooner, I have been swamped. Graduate School started to pick up, on top of working full time at my programming job, and trying to find a house to buy. It's been hectic to say the least and my stress levels have been higher then I would like. I wanted to take my time and be happy with what I wrote.
Thank you everyone! Thank you so much! Also I know that Yellow Jackets don't live in Europe, but the mascot for both my Undergraduate and Graduate work are Yellow Jackets. 10 points to the first person to currently guess them both.
Gabrielle Delacour's eyes flickered back and forth as she watched a handful of wizards quickly scatter across the arena below her. She eyes followed them quickly as they began terraforming the arena landscape from its lush, green hilltops into a jagged mountain side. Slowly the green tops slid back into the ground as grey rocks slowly pushed their way towards the sky, leaving a growing stone pit in the middle of the arena.
Though Gabrielle wouldn't admit it aloud, she adored the subject of transfiguration and always found her attention drawn to these displays of transfiguration. She smiled to herself as she reflected back to her schooling at Beauxbatons, just last week her transfiguration teacher had pulled her side expressing her intention to help Gabrielle obtain a mastery in transfiguration by her twentieth birthday if she was willing. She almost said yes instantly, but asked if she could have time to think it over.
Gabrielle stared in continued fascination as they continued to transfigure the arena to match the native land of the final dragon, as they had done for the last three. When Gabrielle and her mother enter the arena two hours before the sight before them was quiet different. After being ushered from the Champion's Tent, Gabrielle and her mother Apolline made there way towards the main entrance merging their way into the traffic of students and on lookers. Passing through the entrance a short Wizard with a goblin like physique quickly approached them.
"Madam Delacour?", a timid voice squeaked.
"Que, Monsieur …" Apolline responded with slight unsureness in her voice.
"Flitwick ma'am, I am here to take you to the top box, which has been reserved for the judges and the family of the champions," Professor Flitwick quickly filled in.
"Zat would be wonderful, Monsieur Flitwick," Apolline nodded slightly as she placed a hand on Gabrielle's shoulder in guidance as they began to follow Flitwick. They made their way through the stadium, zigzagging though crowds of mingling students until they reach a box opposite of the Champion entrance. Entering the top box, Flitwick led them towards two plush seats in the front row.
"Here we are Madam Delacour, if you need anything please let me know" Flitwick said as he extended his hand towards the front two seats.
"I 'ave a question Monsieur," Gabrielle quickly piped in before Flitwick could get away, "I was wondering where 'Arry's family will be sitting?"
Professor Flitwick looked up at Gabrielle with a cold face and a look of fear and confusion in his eyes, "I am sorry Miss Delacour, but Mr. Potters family declined their invitation."
With that Flitwick, turned and walked towards the rear of the top box where he joined his fellow professors.
Disappointed by Professors Flitwick's response, Gabrielle followed her mothers example and took a seat and began studying her environment. As she looked around the arena, she noticed that the crowd seemed to be segregated by champion support sans Harry. To her left she could students wrapped wrapped in light blue clocks, proudly waving the blue and gold flag of her beloved Beauxbatons. Gabrielle smiled softly with pride as she watched her fellow students cheering for her deserving sister.
On her right, Gabrielle could see the students waving the blood-red flag of Durmstrang Institute chanting Krum's name. She noticed that this crowd seemed seemed to contain a mixture of students, some wearing the traditional grab of Drumstrong while others appeared to be wearing Hogwarts cloaks with a dark green trim. The side of her lip raised in curiosity, unsure to why Hogwarts students wouldn't be cheering for their own champions.
Finally Gabrielle looked forward, noticing the mass of Hogwarts sitting on the opposite side of the stadium. Like a sea of yellow jackets, students waved yellow and black flags with a badger displayed on the front. Gabrielle could barely hear them chanting the name of Cedric Diggory through the loud droning of the Durmstrang students. Finishing her examination of the arena, her face dropped as she realized the sister's statement was true.
Turning towards her mother, Gabrielle noticed a look of dismay plastered across her face, speaking softly she confronted her mother, "Fleur was right mother, none of the students are supporting Monsieur Harry. How could no one support him, the look of innocence was written on his face."
Apolline looked at her daughter with curiosity, never in her life had she remember Gabrielle getting worked up over a boy. Something was truly different about this Potter boy to gain her attention so quickly. "Remember child how easily people are blinded by the truth. Look at yourself and Fleur. Your both brilliant young witches, yet everyone see's you as an object due to our veela blood."
Not knowing what to say, Gabrielle simply nodded when a blusterous voice rang throughout the arena. "WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO THE FIRST EVENT OF THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!"
"My name is Ludo Bagman and I will be your host today as we watch our four Triwizard Champions discovering if they have the courage to face the unknown. This task will test their daring along with their wit and ability to think of their feet. All great qualities of a great Wizard or Witch!"
"While our teams prepare the arena, I will describe the details of this first challenge. In short, each champion must simply retrieve a golden egg which contains a clue to the next challenge these champions shall face in February. To retrieve their egg, each champion must discover a way to steal it from a dragon."
As soon as the word dragon reverberated through the stadium, the honorable roar of a Swedish Short-Snout erupted from the center of the arena as if had appeared via magic. Much of the following events where a blur to Gabrielle, she remembered Cedric transfiguring one of the rocks of the Swedish landscape into the mangiest mutt she had ever seen, to successful distract the dragon. The transfiguration worked until dragon caught on to Cedric's movements and burned him as he tried to make his escape with the egg.
Gabrielle stood proudly with the rest of her Beauxbatons classmates after Fleur enchanted the Common Welsh Green to sleep, but took note to tease her about the flaming skirt later. Finally Gabrielle remembered cringing when Victor's Chinese Fireball smashed half of her real eggs after being blinded by the conjunctivitis curse.
She stared off to space blankly forgetting about the wizards below, transfiguring the arena to suite the final competitor, until the ringing voice echoed once again through the Arena. "Time for our final champion, Harry Potter!"
She eyes snapped up, as she quickly sat up in her seat to gain a better view of the raven haired boy entering into the arena. She couldn't see much of his face but his body language hid the fear he must be facing she thought to herself. There was no way some could face a dragon and not be terrified, yet as she stared at the emerald eye boy she saw a stance of confidence and determination. "Merde," Gabrielle whispered softly as she watched him, little to did she notice her mother smirking from her daughters not so silent statement.
Harry stared at the sight before him, his eyes glistening with confusion has he tried to take in the image. From his time waiting inside the champion's tent, he had heard the echo of dragons rumbling through the arena into his tent, yet before him laid a dragon quiet as night. The Hungarian Horntail laid curled around the golden egg, as its gentle deep breaths provided a stress that Harry wasn't expecting. How was he suppose to gather the golden egg when the dragon refused to acknowledge his presence, sleeping during the tournament. The crowd stared down on him as he quickly re-evaluated his original game plan.
Harry, realizing that he had a moment, took a quick look around the arena, he found his "friends" sitting towards the Hogwarts section. Hermione Granger had a look of fear plastered to her face, while Ron, his first friend, proudly held his Hufflepuff flag. Anger flash across his eyes as he quickly turned his head towards the judges box unconscious stopping when his eyes locked with the dark blue eyes of Gabrielle Delacour. His breathe hitched, but he quickly threw it out of his mind as he mumbled to himself, "Concentrate Potter".
Harry pulled his phoenix feather wand from his wrist harness and pointed it towards the sky and in a loud, clear voice shouted "ACCIO FIREBOLT!"
His voice echoed through the silent arena as the crowd became looking around in confusion to Harry's first move. Knowing that he had roughly a half a minute before his firebolt made it to the arena, he quickly moved around the Horntail. He assumed that some sort of motion or movement would enrage the dragon, yet every move he made was ignored by the slumbering beast. Harry frown, realizing that his only option was to waken the dragon. A path he knew was dangerous.
Movement in the left most corner of his eye grab his attention, looking up he saw the outline of this firebolt bolting towards him. Bracing himself, Harry reach out and grab the broom as it careened towards him. Harry quickly mounted the broom and pushed off into the sky. Deciding it was best to examine the situation from the air before awakening the beast, he quickly made a slow lap around the arena. Looking down at the dragon, the realization of no other way to proceed hit and fear quickly coursed through his body. Looking up he once again locked eyes with his competitions younger sister, her lips curled into a small smile bringing a rush of memories as he recalled her words before the task. Feeling the confidence rushing back, Harry softly returned the smile and pulled his wand back out, pointing it towards the dragon.
"REDUCTO!" he shouted loudly, aiming towards the dragons head. The red bold leaped from his wand and sped towards its target, in a mater of milliseconds the light collided with the dragons head with a large crack.
The Hungarian snorted and slowly shook it's head as it awoke from the impact. Lifting her head the Horntail spotted Harry floating above her head with a wooden twig pointing towards her head. Angry, the dragon quickly rose to her hind feet and unfurled her wings as a violent roar erupted from the Horntail's throat into the still of the arena. The dragon quickly followed this with a blast of fire aimed towards Harry.
Quickly realizing the danger, Harry leaned into his broom pushing it quickly towards the right as he fired off two more reductos towards the dragon. His aim proved true as he heard the sub-sequential cracks and ferocious roars that followed. Hearing the force of air as the dragon pressed her wings towards the ground, Harry pulled his firebolt up and pushed it towards the heavens.
Pushing his broom faster, Harry felt his seeker sense kick in and rolled his broom towards the right as a fireball flared past him. Quickly turning his head around slightly, Harry noticed the Hungarian Horntail pursuing his movement and gaining on him quickly. Reacting quickly, he pushed his body into the frame of the firebolt and drove to the left trying to to break away form the Horntail.
After diving a few hundred feet, Harry pulled from the dive before lifting the broom and began a zero gravity roll as the dragon flew past him. Pulling out of the roll, Harry banked back towards the arena and held his body low as he pushed his broom to the limits as he sped towards the golden egg.
As he approached the arena, he could hear the roar of spectators curious to what the outcome of the task might be. Twisting his head back, he scanned the environment with his eyes seeking the location of the Hungarian Horntail. In the distance he could see the towers of the Quidditch Field piercing the sky, while the towers of Hogwarts rose towards the heaven from is cliffside base. His eyes flickered back and forth, yet they couldn't find any signs of the dragon.
"Perhaps I escaped it," Harry muttered to himself, as a roar erupted before him. Snapping his head back, Harry quickly rolled to miss flaming breath that grazed past his feet. "Shit" he stuttered as he gasp of the audience made it to his ears.
Realizing there was no escaping the Hungarian, Harry quickly re-evaluated his plan and pushed the firebolt towards the heavens while quickly reaching for his wand. Taking a quick glance back, Harry verified that the dragon was still following him before reaching back and firing off two conjunctivitis curse towards the dragon's eyes. Harry was quickly rewarded by screams of anger as the curses impacted the Horntail's eyes.
Pushing is broom down, Harry began rushing towards the rocky floor of the arena as the angry, poor sighted dragon pursued him. Harry grinned as he pointed his wand towards the rapidly gaining ground. Twisting his wand in a clockwise circle, then jabbing it towards the ground Harry shouted "Nubelus!"
As soon as the words left his lips, a black cloud began to expel from the end of Harry's wand filling the atmosphere and limiting both his and the dragons line of sight. Flicking his wand back, Harry canceled the spell.
Gabrielle watched in fear as Harry and the Dragon disappeared into the black fog, she leaned forward grabbing hold of the railing before her as she closing watched for some sort of movement. Seconds seemed like hours as her grip on the railing whitened her knuckles, finally a large crash reverberated through the arena silencing everyone. Her eyes fluttered trying to find a sign of life or anything.
"Over there!" One of the Judges shouted, pointing towards the location of the Golden Egg. The audience turned as one large collective and gasped at the site before them. Harry Potter stood proudly in the Hungarian Horntails nest with the Golden Egg under one arm and his firebolt swung over his shoulder. With his head held proudly, Harry slowly walked towards the the arena exit while the audience slightly watched. As Harry walked through the exit to the medical tent he swore he could hear the cheers of two individuals coming from the direction of the judge's box.
Gabrielle and Apolline watched in sure amazement as Harry Potter strolled out of the arena as if it was nothing. Coming to their senses they quickly gave a short cheers as he passed through the passageway. The audience sat in silence as the dark smoke cleared, showing the form of the Hungarian Horntail still upon the ground.
Gabrielle watched as the Dragon Tamers rushed towards the down Horntail, wands in hand. She watch as a tall redhead, reached the dragon first waving his wand in a strange pattern which see assumed were some sort of diagnostic spells. Quickly the rest of the tamers caught up to the redhead, seeing their presence he nodded slightly. Each tamer waved their wand and multiple beams hitting the Hungarian Horntail at one time. Slowly the dragon's body lifted into the air and the dragon tamers, led by the redhead, retreated with the dragon in tow.
Gabrielle looked towards her mother and utter a single word, "Merde".
Apolline looked back at her daughter, not sure if she should be angry at her word choice or lack her of proper word choice, "Fleur was right indeed, there is something truly different about him. Many will fear him even more due to his actions today, I fear"
Gabrielle's eyes flashed with understanding as she nodded in agreement "I believe you are correct mother. I don't believe there is anything to stop that however we can show him other wise."
Her mother smiled as she watched her daughter talk about a boy in a positive light, in her fifteen years of life Gabrielle never showed an ounce of interest in boys. Instead her daughter showed distain towards male in general, but this was the fate of a veela. She remember her own childhood when men would harass her daily, looking at her as a piece of meat. She shivered. She had the felt the same about men as Gabrielle until she met her husband at sixteen, that was when she realized that there were great people in the world.
Harry Potter stepped into the medical wing of the arena and was blinded by the sterile whiteness of the tent. To his right he could see Cedric laying on a white hospital bed with burns covering the right side his body, it seemed as if Madam Pomfrey has take care of the serious damages leaving behind nothing but red skin. In the next bed over, Harry could see Victor Krum relaxing with a golden stitch flying around his hand. Once a seeker always a seeker, he told himself as he chuckled lightly. Finally to his left, he could see Fleur sleeping lightly, she shared many of the qualities of her younger sister but she showed a colder side to him than Gabrielle.
Pomfrey quickly rushed towards Harry, fearing the worst, "Mr. Potter, why must you always find yourself in dangerous situations. Now follow me."
Harry quickly followed Pomfrey to the closest available bed, where she began performing an assortment of spells. A few minutes of these passed before she put down her wand and addressed Harry, "Well Mr. Potter either you're getting luckier or dragons are your forte. Your free to go after the results."
"Thank you Madam Pomfrey," Harry returned politely. As Pomfrey began walking away, Harry lifted his feet and began to relax in the hospital bed, smiling about the feat he just accomplished.
Harry had barely closed his eyes when the lovely voice of Severus Snape brought him to his senses. "If the Champions would follow me, I will take you to the Judge's Box where you will hear your result."
The four champions gently pulled themselves out of their respected hospital beads, their movements where slow and weary from their challenges, Snape however seemed to have other ideas, and set a quick pace for these champions. They snaked their way through the narrow corridors of the arena and up more stair cases then seemed necessary for reach their goal. Finally they reach a hallway where the sunlight beaconed them to their destination. Their footsteps were soft as they finally stepped into the Judge's Box.
As Ludo Bagman stood up to direct the four champion towards the front of the Judge's box, the crowed erupted in cheers for their respected Champions. Bagman attempted to gather the attention of the crowds, but its thunderous roars made any non-magical attempts to gain control impossible. Finally he placed his wand against his neck before casting a sonorus to increase the volume of his voice.
"Ladies and Gentlemen please calm down!" Bagman cried out, and paused as the audience began to simmer down, "Each of our four champions preformed brilliantly, and now it is time to reward them with their points. In forth place with a score of twenty-five due to their failure to avoid personal damage, Cedric Diggory"
Cedric stepped forward into the spotlight as the crowd cheered, his face glisten with disappointment for last place. He ground his teeth and held right hand in the air as the Hogwarts crowd erupted into chanting. After a few minutes of the cheering, Cedric stepped back so that Bagman could continue.
"In third place, due to the damage done to the dragon eggs and with a score of thirty, VICTOR KRUM", with this statement Victor stepped forward and basked in the glory of his fans. He smirked as he threw the snitch into the air, the snitches wings fluttered to life and bolted deep into the crowd. Refusing to wait for the crowd to die down, he turned and walked back to his position.
"In second place, due to her wonderful performance and ability to charm her dragon to sleep, Fleur Delacour with a score of thirty-four." Fleur elegantly flowed into the spotlight as the crowd roared to life, though it quickly died out has half the populous fell into a stupor trying to gain her attention and praise.
"Finally we have our first place champion," Bagman continued as Fleur stepped out of the spotlight, "His bravery not only helped him to gather the golden egg, but kept him safe and allowed him to outwit a Hungarian Horntail, one of the most intelligent species in the world. With a score of thirty-eight points the winner of this challenge is … HARRY POTTER"
Harry quickly stepped out onto the podium, expecting the silence to be deafening but slowly the crowed erupted to life as students and guest cheered for his success. Harry felt the taste of blood as he bite his lip in anger as the same students that had ridiculed and isolated him over the past month celebrated his triumph. He grimaced as he wished that the parading of the champion would end, finally after what felt like a lifetime the voice of Bagman echoed through out the arena, "Thank you everyone for attending, the next task will occur in early February, I hope you all have a great day"
Harry stepped down down from the spotlight as Bagman finished his spiel, behind him the students began shuffling towards the exits and towards their respected celebrations. Harry grimaced again as he realized there would most likely be some sort of celebration for him in the Gryffindor Common Room. He began to walk towards the exit when a silver mass of hair wrapped their arms around him pulling him into a tight hug. His body froze and blood began running towards his face.
"Congratulation's 'Arry! You did great!" Shouted Gabrielle excitedly as she released her hold on Harry.
"Thank you Gabrielle," Harry said we a slight stutter, his brilliant red face showed of confusion, "Why aren't you celebrating with your sister."
Gabrielle smiled causing Harry's heart to flutter softly, "I 'ave all day to celebrate with her, I want to make sure someone congratulated you!"
Returning her smiled, Harry looked her in the eyes, "Thank you, you don't know how much your support means to me. I hope you have fun celebrating with Fleur."
Locking eyes with Harry as he began to walk away Gabrielle called out sounding slightly more desperate then she meant, "Owl me 'Arry?"
"Of course, Gabrielle." He said softly has he turned away and walked out of the Judge's Box, not seeing the smile plastered to Gabrielle's face and the excitement in her eyes.
Harry made is way back down the snaking staircases until he made it back to the medical tent, on his bed he not only saw his treasured firebolt and the Golden Egg but he saw his bag which left in the Champion's tent. Opening the bag he saw he possessions were still there, including the miniature Hungarian Horntail romping around his sack. Pulling out his wand, Harry quickly shrank his firebolt and the egg and stowed them away into his sack before throwing it over his shoulder and headed outside.
Harry made his way up back towards the castle, avoiding the small groups of students that still remained outside. He assumed that the rest of the students had already found their way to the other celebrations, something he was hopping to avoid. As he stepped through the threshold a small, unconfident voice called out to him, "Harry!"
Harry quickly turned about seeing his fellow fourth year Neville Longbottom standing in the corner. He responded quietly to Neville, "Hey Neville, what's going on."
Neville looks unsure as he responded meekly, "I wanted to warn you that they are planning a party for you in the common room, you know in case you wanted to avoid them. I don't really agree with their behavior, but we weren't really close friends so I never said otherwise to their comments and beliefs. I realize I have been a terrible roommate and I should have spoken up, but I.."
Harry smiled as he listened to Neville ramble, maybe this year won't be as bad as he thought he said to himself. Stopping Neville's rant he quickly said, "Hey Neville, you hungry? Let's go to the kitchens."
"Sure," Neville responded as he turned to follow Harry towards the kitchens, people watching could hear to two laughing about the last three years as they made their way down the halls.
I wanted to apologize for the time in between chapters I hope that this doesn't not become a trend but do to the fact that I don't have beyond the next 2 chapters planned out it could happen. Thank you all for reading, I will post the next chapter as soon as I can.