Harry Potter grinned somewhat deliriously, as he clutched the dragon egg with one hand while he guided his broom with the other. He was doing his best to ignore the spike in his shoulder that was leftover from the Hungarian Horntail that had tried to knock him away from its nest. This was being done by refusing to acknowledge that the warm feeling that was covering him was his blood and not just his muscles tensing up. He knew because he knew what it was to get hit with something and start bleeding out. He had learned exactly what that feeling was in his second year.
It had taken every bit of skill on a broom that he possessed and then some more to outfly the giant fire breathing, mythical, titan. There was a reason that dragons were supposed to be handled in teams. They were really and truly that dangerous for a person. Something that it seemed that the Ministry had forgotten in their eagerness shock and amaze people when bringing back the tournament. Personally he would like to set them up against this dragon and see what they could do against it. While he was pretty sure that Dumbledore could do it he had his doubts about the others. After they had each had their chance he would like to make Malfoy and everyone that had worn one of the Potter Stinks badges that had littered the school like free candy. Even some of the Gryffindors were sporting them.
He looked towards the dragon where a half dozen wizards were busy trying to chain the nesting mother back down. He shook his head glad that the task was finally over he wasn't sure that he would have been able to keep going for much longer. It also confirmed that when he needed to choose what type of career that he wanted, he was most assuredly not putting Dragon Handler on the list if he could help it. He grimaced as he realized that he was going to have to make the walk back towards the tent. It was then that Harry Potter made his life altering mistake.
Dragons were proud creatures, and having been flown around and then robbed by the small wizard was bad enough, but to then have him turn his back on the strongest of all the dragons around. It was too much for the dragon and she unfurled her wings and lashed out with her tail sending the dragon handlers scurrying away from her in fear. The dragon took a few steps and it was then over Harry.
The young wizard swallowed nervously as he noticed the shadow that was now over him. He then turned looked up at the now enraged dragon. "Merlin." The boy swore, as he got an even closer look at the mouthful of fangs than he had been expecting.
The dragon huffed and blew a stream of flame at the small creature that had dismissed her. The flames were white hot and they engulfed him. Everyone who was watching couldn't believe their eyes as the youngest champion the fabled boy-who-lived was consumed by the flames. Nothing could survive that kind of attack. They would be lucky if they would have anything to bury for the state funeral.
"Stupefy!" The dragon handlers all shouted out, as red bolts peppered the monstrosity. The dragon yelped and fell to the ground with a ground shaking thud that rattled the very bleachers themselves. Even with the flames no longer bathing the area, the ground was still glowing where the flames had been. The various wizards quickly began applying cooling charms to the area. Albus Dumbledore led the charge as he tried to return the ground to what it had been earlier. Steam rose from the ground blinding most people to what was down there. Everyone waited with baited breath, wondering just what it was that they would see when the steam finally faded away.
"Harry!" A bushy haired girl cried out in disbelief, as she tried to charge out on the field. Only the quick actions and powerful strength of Hagrid holding her off of her feet kept her from charging into the deadly steam. The witch tried to get at her wand, and when that didn't work she resorted to kicking and clawing while begging for the giant to let her go. His cheeks and eyes sparkled with tears that were falling down his face as he tried to see through the steam. Nothing human could have survived that.
Ron Weasley fell back into his seat in shock. 'This wasn't what was supposed to happen.' The red head told himself. 'The task wasn't supposed to kill Harry.' The boy that he thought of as another brother. He had been angry with him sure, but he hadn't wanted him dead. For the first time since the names had come out Ron Weasley started to think and realized that he had really and truly screwed up. His best mate was gone.
Dumbledore sighed as he saw that the steam was starting to lift. Soon he would be able to see if there was anything left of Harry. He had his doubts, but there was still a chance. The prophecy may mean that there was a chance. Perhaps Harry would be the one turned into some form of spirit this time much as Tom was. It could be a precursor to their battle coming closer. 'For neither could survive as the other lives.' Echoed through his mind. "Sir Nicholas, Bloody Baron attend me." He ordered. The two house ghosts flickered into being. Ghosts could travel outside of their haunting but it took power. As the Headmaster he could summon the spirits to him should he have need of them. It was something he rarely if ever did. Fortunately all Dumbledore needed of them was to scout the surrounding grounds. "Please search for survivors in there while we finish cooling things down." He requested of the pair.
The ghosts nodded and slowly moved into the cloud of steam. Everyone waited with bated breath, sure in the knowledge that they would bring, but still hoping against hope that the Potter boy would somehow pull off a miraculous survival. The adults could hear various students muttering about Quirrel, the Sorcerer Stone, the Forbidden Corridor, The Chamber of Secrets, Slytherians Monster, Lockhart, Dementors, werewolves, and Sirius Black. The mutterings were each more fantastic than the last and people began hoping to see a familiar mop of unruly hair. The steam finally cleared up, and everyone could see into it. There was no sign of Harry, all that seemed to remain was a strange glowing boulder that was sitting where Harry had been standing.
Albus frowned as he examined the boulder through his half-moon spectacles. Like Alastor's eye and Amelia Bones monocle his eye piece had been enchanted to see beyond what most could see. Sadly dragon flames had saturated the entire area with its special type of magic and made it impossible for him to tell if there was anything off. He didn't recall there being a boulder there. He would have to consult with his memories at a later date as he tried to determine what had gone wrong. It had been 37 years since he had last seen a dragon burn someone to death. The second time he had seen it in his life. This particular time was somewhat different than the last time though. He wasn't sure if that was because of the different dragon breeds or something else. A part of him had hoped for the something else. He looked away from the spot to glance at his fellow officials. Karkoff looked ashen but grim faced, Madame Maxime was pale and weak legged, Ludo had yet to move his shock having yet to wear off, and Barty Crouch had a face made out of granite. He wondered if any of them realized the true danger to each of them if Harry hadn't survived. Bagman, Crouch, and himself would be through. Politically and perhaps more. The others would never be allowed in the country again. All of that was if they were lucky.
The heat had polished the stone until it looked like a giant egg itself. It was as if it was a mocking monument to just what Harry had died for. There was sadly no sign of Mr. Potter himself. It would seem that he had failed James and Lily and by extension the Wizarding world.
His eyes scanned the crowd now, and saw that many had just as many looks of shock and disbelief as the judges did. He noticed that Miss Granger was still fighting Hagrid in her desperate attempt to come to the aide of Mr. Potter one more time. Sadly he didn't think that there was anything that anyone could do this time.
"Charles do get that beast out of here now before the crowd here demands its life in satisfaction." He hissed to the man.
The redhead stared at the headmaster for a moment as if considering whether or not he wanted to attack the beast himself before nodding his head in agreement and the dragon handlers moved the giant beast out of the arena as fast they could manage. Dumbledore figured that the Ministry would have to rush the creature out of the country if it was going to survive. He imagined that if nothing else some of the Pureblood families might want its head as a trophy. Whether they liked Mr. Potter or not would prove immaterial.
He looked over as Filius quickly joined them. As a half-goblin, he was one of the school authorities when it came to dragons. Only Hagrid might know more about the beasts. He knew that had Filius not proved so skilled with a wand that it was likely that the man would have ended up as a goblin dragon handler. Half breeds were not overly accepted in either society.
The hybrid was examining the rock he cocked his eye to the side as he waved his wand around the area performing a variety of detection charms. Many Albus recognized, although there were a few he had no idea what they did. "Albus we need to get this thing to Pompfrey at once." He informed the Headmaster in his squeaky voice.
Dumbledore looked at him with hope. Perhaps things were not as dire as he had at first suspected. "Why Filius?"
"There is a legend amongst my kin that those blessed by dragon fire will be reborn if certain condition are made." FIlius explained to him. "I do believe that Mr. Potter may have inadvertently met those conditions and is actually inside of this egg."
"Truly?" Dumbledore asked looking at the stone/egg with new appreciation.
Indeed, however we are going to have to work fast if we wish for him to live more than a few moments. Flitwick advised him. The pair of them flicked their wands lifting the item out of the ground that it had been embedded in and quickly took it to the medical tent. Once there they laid it on the ground in front of one of the cots.
"Albus?" The medic witch asked in confusion.
"We believe that Mr. Potter may in fact be inside of this construct." Dumbledore explained to the healer. "If so then it is truly a remarkable bit of magic. What do you think could have caused such a change?"
"Let's find out if I'm right before we begin celebrating Albus." Flitwick returned as he began running through a series of new spells. Spells that sounded like they were in the goblin native language
Dumbledore nodded somewhat reluctantly he did not appreciate being forced to wait while
There was a large cracking sound and suddenly the stone shards went flying all around them. They all yelped in surprise as the rocks came at them. Only the shields of Albus and FIlius saved the group from serious injuries. There was a roaring sound that actually caused the wind around them crackle with power. When the dust started to settle the shields were lowered and they could see just what had broken free of the egg. It was harry. Only this was not the Harry that he was used to seeing. His entire body appeared to be covered in muscles. Dumbledore could honestly say he had never seen a wizard with so many muscles. He knew it was something of a fad amongst muggles to have muscle. Harry had eyes that shown an almost unholy green, his body looked as if it was one of the sculptures of the long ago Greek gods. His skin had changed to a pale gray or black scaled look his hands and feet ended with wicked looking claws that looked like they could shred a person, his mouth was open slightly and one could see the flash of fangs, a tail as long as his body twitched and jerked small spines could be seen from Harry's back. Then there were the giant wings that looked so bat like, or perhaps dragon like was the more correct term to be used here. The creature finished stretching and then as suddenly as he had burst out of stone egg he collapsed.
Madame Pompfrey wasted no time as she scurried over to the teen and began working on trying to determine just what it was that had happened to him and what if any side affects that there might be to his body.
"Albus you need to leave." Flitwick ordered.
"What are you talking about? I must see to Harry."
"No, you need to leave that to Poppy and let her determine his health." Flitwick returned to him. "You need to get out there and insure that everyone else knows that he at least seems like he will survive even if he is currently in severe condition right now and will need to be left alone while he recovers."
Dumbledore looked conflicted obviously wanting to examine Mr. Potter on his own and determine just what it was that others found. He also knew that if he didn't appease the masses then it was likely that someone could enter and see Harry like this before he could determine what it was that had happened to him. "Very well." He finally agreed with his fellow professor.
Flitwick nodded in relief he then flicked his wand causing a curtain to appear between them. I'm sorry Albus but this isn't something that you can help him with. Obliviate." The man snapped, catching his friend off guard. "All you know is Harry is resting and unconscious." He told the man. "You are going outside to reassure everyone that Mr. Potter is recovering. That and you'll be asking Minerva to stand in for him as a representative for his point distribution."
Dumbledore looked slightly dazed but nodded as he moved towards the entrance of the tent.
Flitwick sighed with relief that he had actually managed to catch his friend off guard long enough to cast the spell. He might feel guilty if it wasn't for the fact that he knew just what it was that he was protecting. The Headmaster and his plans, within schemes, within a strategy could be just as dangerous if not more so than regular threats to a person.
He then looked over to Madame Pompfrey who was mumbling under her breath as she waved her wand over Mr. Potter. "What's wrong?" He asked curiously.
"His skin is just as resistant to magic as dragon skin is." She growled in annoyance. "It's making scanning him something of a trick."
Flitwick nodded his head in acceptance. "Do what you can. You know its likely magical exhaustion though."
"If it were a normal awakening I might agree with that." She returned to him tightly. "But this transformation was anything but normal. You also know as well as I do that this sort of thing isn't in his family line.
Flitwick nodded his head. It would appear that there were many things about Mr. Potter that they didn't know. He wondered just what other things that they would discover when he finally did wake up and they could explain what they could to him. He glanced towards the currently unconscious form of the boy. Yes, things were about to get very interesting. He wondered what would have happened if the Lords of Darkness were the ones in charge. Then again this was what happened when one dealt with Yokai and magic. There was always something interesting happening when either of the two crossed ones path. It was even more impressive though when the two crossed paths.
This is one that I've had sitting on my computer. for a while When I read Spirit of the Dragon by DZ2 I was shocked how similar and yet how different the two ideas were to each other. Even down to planning on using animes's as inspiration for parts of the fic without making it a true crossover fic. I was planning on using Rosario Vampire for my source. Have to admit I had to wonder if the two of us were sharing a brainwave or if one of us snuck into the files of the other. Anyways the shock of seeing this gave me enough of a push to finish this chapter.