Alright, it was so long since I've posted the previous chapter, but the real life had been too troublesome to do any writing until the last couple of days... And so, without more further ado, here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy! I will also try to update all my other stories before the New Year, but I'm not really promising all that. Though "Antifreeze fox" will definitely have an update within a couple of days.

oh, and Merry Christmas, everyone!

* Review response:
nopparitari, The Sinful, sasha1213, god of all, emarald777, WritinGod05, ElementalMaster16, shugokage, Naginator, Joe Lawyer, JPElles, McGeezel, acrazysmile, Lord Xantos A. Fowl, Artela, dwarfinator, FractiousDay, Vukk, Grimjowx, twilightnemo, CMVreud, Penny is wise, icyheadsh0t, Zobx, ReaperxClown, Gruffard, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Zarosian Chaos, true, though it isn't always like that: "Champions champion" is entirely about Harry getting out of the tournament.
kaazmiz, here you go, a longer chapter. But, most likely, it will be a one-time occurrence. It's just I neither had enough for two standard chapters, nor did I want to split whatever I had into two parts.
Wyrtha, he has to do his best. It's all about how good his best is...
The Swordslinger, to be honest, I have no plans for Snape, nor do I foresee them appearing anytime soon.., Snape here is a minor character.
Toby860, I do not plan for any other "Freezing" characters to appear there. As for Voldemort... I have some plans for dealing with him, but it's not the time for you to know those plans =) in other words, no spoilers!

and to my anonymous hater: such flames make me LAUGH. Honestly, do they not teach it in the school anymore that everyone is a bigot of some kind? You aren't pure either, so your accusations mean little to nothing to me.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form. Same with "Freezing" anime/manga series.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"
messages

Chapter 59: November 1994

The Saturday that week was on a Hogsmeade weekend, and Harry decided that with everything that had happened to him in the last several days he deserved a chance to relax and act like he didn't have problems up to his neck. And what is a better way to do that than visiting the village with his not-girlfriend? True, it was more of just an outing than an actual date, but the green-eyed wizard still enjoyed his morning with Draconica very much.

Just like pretty much all students who visited Hogsmeade, the two of them, joined from time to time by their Slytherin girl friends, made a round through the local shops... Eventually, it was time for some lunch and the not-couple headed to the 'Three Broomsticks, which, in both of their eyes, was the only alright pub in the village. Like always, it was quite crowded with the Hogwarts youths, but they still somehow managed to get a table just for themselves – a very welcome happening as it allowed them to continue talking more or less freely.

Of course, most of the things Harry and Draconica talked about were no more private than the next couple's small talk, but it was still very nice... Eventually, just as their lunch was ending, their conversation shifted from random topics to something much more serious. Something that the blond beauty wanted to know ever since that little misunderstanding over the contract had been cleared:

"Say, Harry, how did you manage to convince my father to accept your... proposal? Potters aren't exactly of good standing in his eyes. Actually... How did you manage to make your proposal at all without revealing your family name?" She asked while 'hugging' his right leg in between hers under the table. The green-eyed boy-wonder just 'hmm'ed' in response, causing 'Nica to glare at him halfheartedly while tightening her 'hold' on his leg.

"U-Uh, the later question is easier to answer." Harry said, giving in to the Malfoy heiress' gentle pestering. "It all was just a spell – or, rather, an enhancement – which is commonly referred to as 'recall-me-not'. You can guess what it does yourself." Getting a nod from the blonde, he continued: "Well, that's it... Thankfully, there were no precedents of using such magics on contracts in the Magical Britain – in eastern Asia, where this spell is originating from, something like this would have instantly invalidated the deal." The green-eyed teen finished smiling sheepishly.

"...Alright." Draconica continued after a pause. "And what about you being a lord of a 'house of a good standing'? Like I've said before, my father doesn't think that Potters are such house."

"And who said that we're talking about House Potter?" The dark haired teen-wizard replied with a smile, confusing the blonde beauty. Answering the question that she had on her mind, he laid his hand on the table in front of her and willed the Slytherin ring to become visible. It actually took 'Nica a couple of moments to recognize the ring.

"It's real..." She whispered, gently tracing the ring's interlacing bands of white and green gold with her slender fingers... The news that she was going to be a lady of an Ancient and Noble House shocked the blond girl into completely forgetting that she also ought to be angry at Harry for keeping this from her until now. "How?" The blond beauty asked in a whisper.

"U-Uh, well..." The green-eyed Potter began uneasily: this wasn't exactly the topic that he wanted to discuss during his 'date', but he knew he owed Draconica an explanation. After all, he did withhold some information from his friends back then in the second year... "As you may remember, the one behind the Chamber of Secrets attacks – if by proxy of his own sentient diary – was Tom Marvolo Riddle. We all know his other alias: Voldemort." The Malfoy heiress nodded, already understanding what was to come – the Dark Lord had been know as the last heir of the Slytherin line for quite some time after all.

"The right of conquest?" 'Nica asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from Harry in response.

"Yes. And it was my victory over that diary thing that allowed me to gain this lordship." Seeing confusion in the blond beauty's eyes, he elaborated: "Even by the right of conquest, Slytherin lordship can be passed only onto a male with both parents being magical... And no matter what people may say, it was my mother, who had defeated the Dark Lord back then..." He fell silent and Draconica, seeing that it still was not easy for him to talk about the night of his parents' murder, quickly nodded, before changing the topic:

"I see... And what about the tournament? Had anyone already let out what the first task will be?" Alright, maybe this topic wasn't much better, but... The young Potter shook his head.

"Surprisingly, they managed to keep everything under the wraps so far. And with everything that was going on this week, I haven't had time to look up the history of the tournament – somehow I don't think that they will break the trend, so it may give me a good idea of what to expect." The soon-to-be lade Slytherin nodded, before finishing her bottle of the butter-beer.

"If you want, I can help you with that." The green-eyed teen nodded back:

"Thank you, I'll really appreciate your help." He replied, before finishing his own butter-beer. "Say, do you need anything else in the village, or are we heading back to the castle?" The young Potter asked then. Draconica thought about it for a moment.

"What about a nice walk just outside the village?" She asked back, looking at him with her big gray eyes while cocking her head to the side cutely. Harry sighed quietly, silently wondering whether or not he will ever be able to say 'no' to her when she is like that, before offering her a hand as the two of them walked out of the 'Three Broomsticks'.

~/ *** \~

Whereas Saturday had been a day of relaxation for Harry, his Sunday morning was devoted to quidditch as Katie, who had adapted well to her captaincy, decided that they weren't going to waste time just because of the excitement over the Triwizard champions' selection was still running high.

Just it had been for the past three years, the practice started with a talk about the strategies, but unlike how it had been with Wood, this theoretical part was so much shorter now: Katie had no delusions about any kind of detailed strategy surviving a contact with an opposing team. So, she just told her team what general tactics she wanted them to use against the other three houses' teams.

That done, the brunette had everyone fly to the pitch and do the practical drills. Those turned out to be just as demanding as Harry remembered Oliver's to be, though, thankfully, Katie allowed him to coach the team's new seeker the way he thought was the best, instead of imposing some exercises of her own choice upon them.

After thinking about this for a moment, the young Potter decided that he should teach his protege the more aggressive flying techniques. Thus, after telling Arnold to try and keep up with him, the green-eyed teen started zooming around the pitch following some ridiculously complex trajectory at a breakneck speed...

The younger boy, despite having a slower broom and less experience with flying was doing an adequate job of tailing him, sometimes even going through the same semi-professional moves as he did. This made Harry very pleased with the thought that he had made the right choice when he chose Arnold as the team's new seeker...

After the lunch Harry and the three real champions were summoned by the tournament officials for the 'wand weighting' ceremony, which turned out to be nothing more than Mr. Olivanders making sure that their wands were working properly. Alas, as soon as the ceremony was finished, the four champions' were attacked by Rita Skeeter who wanted some interviews...

Thankfully, it looked like the witch was told that the 'Daily Prophet' didn't want another visit from the L. Bridgets and so she reigned her enthusiasm when it came to the young Potter, letting him slip from her 'grasp' when he told her that he will not give any interviews without his barrister present.

Not really knowing what to do for the rest of the day as for once all of his homework was already done, the green-eyed teen headed to the library in hopes of finding some interesting and useful magics – somehow, he didn't feel like digging though the tournament history at the moment... In the end, he settled for a tome about enchantments which was written by Constantinople mages maybe a just decade before the fall of the Lower Empire.

"Mr. Potter? Can I have a word vith you?" A voice from behind asked, causing the green-eyed teen to look away from the book. Victor Krum was standing there with his usual frown on his face. But... Did the interviewing already finish? Glancing briefly at his pocket watch, Harry saw that it already was almost an hour and a half since he had escaped from that Skeeter reporter.

"Yes?" To be honest, the young Potter was quite surprised that the Bulgarian quidditch star wanted to talk to him. Bookmarking the page he had been reading, the fourth champion closed the tome and gestured to the chair across the table from him, inviting Victor to sit there. The older teen, though, 'politely' rejected this offer with a shake of his head and remained standing.

"First ov all, I vant to thank you both for resolving the situation vith the tournament the way you did: like headmistress Maxime had said, it vas very considerate of you. And I also vant to thank you for revealing that ...fact about the contract with the Goblet. I've asked my barrister to contact yours. Hopefully together they can get something from the organizers for not mentioning this." The ever-frowning Bulgarian made a short pause. "I haven't spoken to mademoiselle Delacour or mister Diggory yet, but I think that they vill join this quest for justice as well." Harry nodded – he was actually planning to call for such cooperation himself, but was yet to do that for various reasons.

"And I thank you for your desire to help in resolving this... situation with the officials keeping back some important information from us." Having had a glimpse into how the law in Magical Britain worked, the young Potter didn't think that he could get any positive results from this quickly on his own. Now, though, with the conflict becoming an international one, the chances were, the Ministry will give in if only to save its face.

"Also. Today I saw your team training." Victor continued. "There are some pretty good fliers out there, and you vere the best of them, Mr. Potter." The younger wizard was momentary stunned by this compliment.

"Thank you, but I don't play. Not anymore. I'm just couching the new seeker. And to be honest, playing quidditch never truly was my choice for the future job." Harry replied, and for a moment Krum looked more surly than usual.

"Shame. I could have used a strong opposing seeker in my games." There was a long and rather uneasy pause as the green-eyed teen was not sure how he should respond to this... "This is all that I vanted to say and I shall not take any more of your time. Have a good evening, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you, and I wish the same for you." Victor nodded a 'thank you' and, turning around, walked away... For about a minute Harry just sat there without really doing anything. Then, shaking his head, he returned to reading the book: there still was a couple of hours before the dinner, and learning various tidbits about enchantments seemed to be by far the most productive way to spend this time.

~/ *** \~

Just after the dinner Harry was approached by Cedric. The Hufflepuff seventh year wanted to join the efforts for making the Ministry pay the champions' the compensation for keeping back some information about the tournament. And while his family, being of a middle class, didn't have any personal barristers, the Hogwarts champion promised that the Diggories will, if needed, pay half of the cost of L Bridget's services. The young Potter politely accepted this offer.

The next morning he also received an owl from Violet in which the blond witch was telling him that she had indeed been contacted by Victor Krum's barrister. She was also asking about what level of cooperation she should have with that man during her works related to the Ministry's fuck up with the Triwizard Tournament. Harry quickly penned Ms. L Bridget a reply, in which he mentioned that it was possible that another barrister will join the 'coalition' and promised to owl her, should that happen...

The rest of Monday passed without anything worth mentioning happening, though the dark-haired teen did make himself read a book about the early tournaments. Tuesday morning started uneventful as well, but it changed at the beginning of lunch when headmistress Maxime caught him by the Great hall doors:

"Monsieur Potter, a word with you if you will?" The French headmistress 'asked' politely. Knowing that he wasn't given an option of refusal, Harry nodded and stepped aside so that he wouldn't be creating a 'blockade' in the doors. "Thank you... Now, monsieur Krum had approached myself and mademoiselle Delacour, asking whether or not we wanted to join your collaborative efforts in getting compensations for having the champions misinformed about the nature of the contract with the Goblet of Fire." The green-eyed wizard nodded again: the Bulgarian seeker did tell him that he was going to speak with the Beauxbaton champion after all.

"Yes, Mister Krum had more or less organized the whole thing." The young Potter replied. "I was planning to do something similar, but he was faster about it." The Beauxbaton headmistress nodded: having seen how the young man in front of her fought to bring some justice back into the tournament, she wasn't at all surprised about this.

"Very well then, monsieur Potter." Madam Maxime said. "Your barrister is still mademoiselle L Bridget, right?" Upon his nod of confirmation, she continued: "Then I shall have my school's attorney contact her and join her on this ...quest for justice."

"Thank you, madam." The dark-haired teen replied with a small bow. "Your help will be most appreciated." The 'sizable' witch nodded, before dismissing him with a gesture of her hand. Harry thanked her for the promise of help again, before walking into the Great hall to finally get some lunch.

In the late afternoon, after all of his classes that day were finished, the young Potter headed to the library, just like Draconica had asked him to during their Arithmancy lesson. He wasn't the first one to arrive there, though: the Malfoy heiress got there before him, and so did Daphne and Tracey who were sharing the table with their blonde housemate. And had the green-eyed teen been surprised by the presence of the later two witches, he didn't show that... Greeting his three Slytherin girl friends with a slight bow of his head, he took an empty seat across from his 'Nica.

"Harry, we..." The blonde nodded towards the two other girls at the table. "...Have researched the past tournaments a bit, and it appears that the first task almost always has something to do with dangerous magical beasts. The task themselves may vary from bypass to capture to kill, but..." The young Potter nodded – this fit with what he himself had discovered. Then again, they were using copies of the same book in their researches, so it'd be rather strange if they got different results...

"Well, that certainly explains, why Hagrid had been in a good mood in the past days. He got new beasties to play with after all." Becoming serious again, he continued: "To be honest, the organizers make it sound like this tournament is watered down compared to the past ones, so I doubt they will have us capture or kill something really dangerous... Yet, somehow I don't think that they will refrain from using some flashy creatures to entertain the audience. So my bet is that we will have to pass by something with five 'x' in the Ministry classification."

"That certainly does sound like something that we can expect from the organizers." Daphne confirmed. There was a short pause, before she continued: "So, Harry, do you need us to couch you up for the upcoming challenge?" The Greengrass girl asked. Both Draconica and Tracey nodded, signifying that they were willing to help as well.

"Thank you, ladies, but I don't think that until we get to know more about the monsters I am to face I can do much more than learning general purpose spells to prepare myself for the upcoming task." Alas, it was indeed like that: pretty much every beast that had more than four 'x' in its Ministry classification required special approach... The Slytherin girls all nodded grimly, as they too understood this.

So, for the next forty-something minutes the four of them discussed the various ways they could find out exactly what Harry had to face on November twenty-seventh. And they all agreed that asking Hagrid will likely give them the information they needed as the half-giant seemed to be incapable of keeping a secret...

~/ *** \~

The week passed almost like a blur for the young Potter as he found himself once again buried to his neck with the homework, no to mention that he still needed to get ready for whatever monsters the tournament organizers had prepared for the first task. Of course, he wasn't alone there, and the Slytherin girls as well as Hermione and Neville and, sometimes, even Katie were helping him, but they still hadn't made much progress. Especially since Hagrid seemed to be much more tight-lipped these days. Thus, so far none the teens hadn't managed to get what sort of a creature Harry will be facing for the first task of that damned tournament...

The memories that the green-eyed wizard had received from the horcrux were of little use to him as well: Voldemort was never a fan of dealing with creatures, besides snakes and dementors, so his knowledge on how to handle the big beasties was not much greater than Harry's own.

Still, even if most of his being was concentrated on finding a way to survive the first task alive and with his magic intact, the young Potter couldn't help but notice that in the recent days Katie was behaving rather unusually around him: it was like she wanted to get closer, yet always stopped herself before she really did anything. And the green-eyed teen, even if was worried about his one-time girlfriend, didn't do anything about it right now – the brunette's behavior didn't appear to be harmful or dangerous, and he himself was quite busy with other things. Maybe he wasn't really a good friend, but... Oh well...

~/ *** \~

It was the Saturday a week before the first task, and the Gryffindor quidditch team (plus Harry) had an afternoon practice. Though, from what the green-eyed teen could see, the nervousness that was tormenting Katie in the recent weeks had reached new heights and was making it hard for the brunette to concentrate on training her team. Yet, she was doing her best to make sure that everything went as normal as possible, and the young Potter silently admired her for that.

Still, it seemed that whatever was troubling Katie was too much for the girl to handle, and a little past four in the afternoon – and less than three hours after its start – she called for the end the practice. The team, seeing that their captain was not at her best, agreed that continuing training today might not be the best idea, and so everyone headed back to the locker rooms...

Whatever was going on with his friend was quite serious if it was affecting her this much, the dark-haired wizard thought as he stood under the shower. And yet, instead of trying to help Katie with whatever was bothering her, he had spent his time making some guesswork about the tournament's first task... He really was such a bad friend...

Shaking his head, the green-eyed Potter looked around and noticed that he was the only one in the showers. Apparently, he got rather lost in his dark musings and the other boys had left the locker rooms already. He faintly remembered the Weasley twins leaving the showers as they discussed the prank they had planned for this evening; and Arnold had left soon after, claiming that he needed to finish his transfiguration essay...

Sighing, Harry silently vowed to at least try to find out what was troubling his friend so much – it was not like he had anything concrete about the first task, so he could as well do something good and useful instead of wasting his time on trying to prepare to face an unknown beasts... The dark-haired teen was about to reach for the tap and close the water when he heard a knock on the showers' door.

"A-Are you there, Harry?" A very nervous Katie asked. "C-Can we talk?"

'Here we go... Let's hope I don't mess it up and make it all even worse for her...' The young Potter thought. Then, closing the water, he replied: "Yeah, wait a moment, I'll get decent." Hearing the brunette mumble something like 'alright', he reached for a towel and wrapped it around his privates. "So, what did you want to... talk about?" The sight that greeted him when he opened the door almost made him lose his thoughts: here, just several feet away from him, stood flushed and prettily shy Katie with nothing but a towel on her frame.

Harry was approaching the front doors of the castle on his way from the quidditch pitch back to the Gryffindor tower, when he overheard Hagrid and professor Sprout talking to each other. Those two were discussing fertilizers – not exactly the topic that would make the green-eyed wizard stay and listen, if not for the fact that the Herbology mistress had commented about the fresh manure that they were getting at the moment.

"Yeah, it's great." The gentle half-giant agreed. "Just like those beauties that produce it. I 'ope they will let me teh show them to ma students for the classes." Now it was clear that the topic was shifting towards whatever beasts were brought there for the tournament, and the young Potter wasn't going to let such a clue about what he was going to face in the first task to slip by, so he decided to spy a bit on the two professors.

"Yes, those beasts are sure majestic, but are you sure it's a good idea to bring your students near them, Hagrid?" Professor Sprout asked. "I think that showing hippogriffs to them was quite enough; they don't need a live dragon." So, at least one of those monsters was a dragon, Harry concluded. This perspective sure didn't make him happy, but at least now he knew what was in store for him, and so he could prepare accordingly.

Yet, something was making the dark-haired teen think that the dragons won't be the only beasts for the first task: the organizers definitely were trying to make the whole thing as spectacular as possible and having the champions face more than one kind of extremely dangerous magical creatures certainly would help in achieving that...

"Maybe you're right, Pomona." Hagrid replied. "Professor Dumbledore told me dat some parents were not happy with me bringing their kids so close to, wot they called, were dangerous creatures. Honestly, hippogriffs are nice and kind if you don't insult them first, and I think children should be familiar with them and other such beauties, but I don't want to cause problems for professor Dumbledore." The Herbology mistress of Hogwarts just nodded, not wanting to upset the gentle giant with anything she might say on the matter. Then the plump witch looked up at the clock tower.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed. "It's almost six, and I'm supposed to have a meeting with my first year badgers in a couple of minutes. See you after the dinner, Hagrid, we still have those three garden-beds of yours to finish." With those words she turned around and headed towards the Hufflepuff den. The half-giant of the gamekeeper stood there for another ten or so seconds, before going towards his hut.

Harry sighed. It appeared that there will be at least one dragon that the champions will have to face for their first task. Possibly, there were other creatures as well, but he had no confirmation for that. Of course, the green-eyed Gryffindor thought to himself, he could always try using his invisibility cloak to sneak around and gather more information about the first task, but he quickly decided against it: should he get caught, the things will turn really ugly for him, even if it was highly likely that other champions already knew what they will be facing in one week time...

As it was Saturday, the dark-haired wizard decided that he could stay up late tonight and observe the Forbidden forest from the dormitory window: maybe, he'll be able to catch a glimpse of something that would give him a hint about other creatures that might have been brought for the first task by the tournament organizers.

And since he had been slacking off on his self-studies for quite some time now, the young Potter chose to spend his evening with his tomes on magical medicine. After he was done with his homework, of course... Sometime around the midnight and after almost everyone in the Gryffindor tower went to bed, Harry finally decided that it was time to start his observations and so, gathering his books, he headed back to the fourth year boys' dormitory. Putting his things back to their appropriate places in his trunk, the green-eyed wizard sat onto the windowsill and started observing the Forbidden forest...

Maybe, he should have thought things out a little bit better, as it was at least half an hour before he finally saw the dark shapes of the forest trees getting illuminated with some fire for a couple of seconds. The illumination happened once more in a couple of seconds, and then the forest was all dark again like nothing interesting was hidden there... Still, that was enough for Harry to be sure that there will be some dragons in the first task.

Deciding that he had accomplished the task he had set before himself for the night, the green-eyed wizard got off the windowsill and headed to his bed. Had he stayed for another minute, he would have noticed trees shaking from powerful gusts of wind and several lightning bolts rising above them towards the skies...

~/ *** \~

On Sunday afternoon Harry and his friends met again in 'their' corner of the library. Though, this time it was just him, Draconica and Hermione; Neville had been asked by professor Sprout to help her in the greenhouses, while Daphne and Tracey were finishing their Potions essays back in the Slytherin dungeons...

"So, you're saying that there will be dragons?!" The blond beauty asked rather loudly, both her face and her voice betraying her worry for her fiance. Next to her, the bushy-haired witch, while somehow remaining quiet, was showing the same if not greater concern about her friend having to face one of those mighty beasts. Sure, they all agreed that dragons might be the monsters for the first task, but back then it was just a guesswork. Now that it was confirmed, it all was quite different... Recomposing herself, 'Nica continued: "What are you planning to do about it, Harry?" The green-eyed teen was quiet for a couple of moments, before answering:

"Yeah, there will be some dragons, but I still say that it is possible that they aren't the only beasts I may have to face." Having had some time to get used to the idea that the tournament organizers had brought one of the most dangerous magical creatures for the first task, he was much calmer than the girls about the whole thing. "As for what I plan to do?.. Well, I think that my main objective will be to stay alive and in one piece, so... I will have to find a way to complete this damned task without being harmed – or, better yet, even seen – by those beasts." The Malfoy heiress nodded, quite liking the way her Harry was thinking.

"So, you need to master the disillusionment charm in a week?" Hermione asked. "And I think you already know how to silence you footsteps – God knows, you boys like to sneak around in the night." The young Potter just shrugged while smiling sheepishly. "Any other spells you think you need to know for the task?" The Gryffindor witch asked then. The dark-haired wizard thought about it for a couple of seconds.

"Well, since we don't really know how magical beasts perceive the world, those camouflage spells might not really work... I will need something else to keep myself safe. A good shielding charm or, maybe, a way to transfigure a lasting wall in front of myself. Flame freezing charm would be nice too, as well as something to counteract venom." This sounded about right. Sure, he had Voldemort's knowledge about the spells to achieve most of those things, but he had never cast those before and so had no idea how they will work for him... The girls were quite agreeable with his plans; hell, Hermione appeared to be writing a schedule for his training already...

"Alright then." 'Nica said. "I shall inform Daphne and Tracey about this: they might know some magics that could be useful." After a moment of silence she continued: "And right now, why don't we find out how good you can get at casting disillusionment charm today, Harry?" She asked with a playful sparkle in her eyes.

That's all, folks!
Leave me a review.