Chapter 8

Harry dodged behind a boulder the moment he entered the arena, just in case flames were shot at him right away. Thankfully this was not needed as the dragon had not noticed him yet. Peering around the rock Harry took a look around the arena. It was easily hundred to a hundred fifty feet across. In the center about fifty feet from him was the Hungarian Horntail. Around the outside edge of the arena were large boulders and rocks that would provide relatively good cover, but anything within twenty feet of the dragon was completely flat.

"Well, that makes it easier if I need to use a broom, now where is that egg," Harry said to himself, looking for a glint of gold by the dragon's paws.

But he did not see anything. So, moving forward around the edge of the arena, he began to search for the egg under the dragon. Soon he was able to spot the clutch of eggs, with in the center of it the golden egg, slightly bigger than the others. Channeling his magic into his hand, skipping the use of his wand, he focused on a Levitation Charm. The golden egg began to glow a light green with a touch of blue.

But before he could then bring it towards him, the dragon noticed him. Harry was forced to release the spell on the egg as he hid behind a rock, as the dragon roared and released a column of flames at him. Around the rock's edge he saw flames billow and dissipate, before they appeared again. Harry quickly used his magic and put up a shield to protect him from the heat and flames.

"Oh, that was a close one, good job using that shield spell in time," a loud voice said, echoing out over the arena.

Harry looked up and realized he was near what had to be the judges' box. The flames then blocked his view of it again, so he could not see who was sitting where. But as the flames washed over his shield again, he figured it was best not to worry about those details. When the dragon finally stopped attacking his position, Harry peered around the rock again to see what it was doing.

As Harry moved around a little more, not letting his shield fall, he noticed that the rock was glowing a very dull red, showing that the dragon's flames were a lot more powerful than he had thought. Either that, or someone had used a spell on the dragon to make its flames stronger. Next he noticed the dragon was still watching him, but had not done anything yet, even as he showed more of his body. Perhaps the dragon thought it had given him a good warning.

He then checked the nest and sighed. The dragon had moved its tail and not only was it blocking the nest from view, it looked to him like her tail was resting lightly on top of the eggs as well, giving them further protection.

Harry groaned as he realized this meant that summoning the egg away would take more magic than before, if it was even possible. That did not mean he would just give up on plan A, he would at least try once more. Quickly he focused his magic again, and pictured the egg in his mind. Harry watched as the tail shifted and soon an object flew out from it towards Harry, but before it could completely clear the range of the dragon's own paws, Harry's magic lost control of it and the egg came crashing to the stony ground.

"Come on," Harry growled out, before dodging behind the stone again, throwing up a shield as the dragon sent another blast of flames his way.

"It seems Harry lost control of his magic," Ludo Bagman said, not having seen Harry use wandless magic.

Harry rolled his eyes; he had not lost control of his magic. Someone had either cast a spell, or activated a rune making his magical control of the egg end. But when he was able to peek out again, he noticed that the dragon had not tried to recollect the egg as its own. That meant he just had to get close enough to grab the egg and run away with it, instead of getting it away from the dragon. He debated if he should try and summon the egg again, he knew there was a good chance that whatever had blocked his spell before would block it again. But he wasn't about to give up on an easy win that fast.

Harry decided it was at least worth one last try, but as his magic surrounded the egg to pick it up, the magic was blasted off of it. Harry was not sure how this had happened; maybe a rune activated so the egg could not be magically summoned past a certain point or something like that. But now he knew he would need to use his backup plan.

Giving another silent thanks to Rainbow Dash, Harry cast another Summoning Charm, this time focusing on his broom. He smirked as he heard the sound it of cutting through the air, and not a second later it was floating right in front of him. Leaping onto it, he sent his magic through the broom and took off in a blur.

As he flew away, the dragon shot another column of flame at him. It missed Harry, but it hit the judges' box. Harry grinned seeing the shocked looks of the judges even if the shield protecting the box dealt with the flames just fine. Harry soared up high into the air and, looking back down at the dragon, knew this was now his game, and his rules. He decided it was time for him to try something on his broom, that he never had a reason for before to try. The Wronski Feint, a move he had read about before, though in this case he would not have someone chasing him.

Harry climbed on till he could just make out the dragon lying on the ground. From this distance he could also just make out the golden speck that was the egg he had to retrieve. At once he turned his broom on end and dove straight towards the ground, pushing his broom faster, increasing his speed with magic as well.

Harry's plan at this point was simple: since the dragon no longer seemed to be focusing on him, he would dive and simply grab the egg and be gone before the dragon could react. He knew that Luna and Night were going to yell at him later, but this was going to be one of the few clean shots he was going to get at grabbing the egg. And in some ways it was safer than trying to bait the dragon away from its nest just to dive in and risk getting hit by its claws.

But before he could even get close enough to enter the stands, let alone grab the egg, the dragon seemed to spot him and turned its head towards him before unleashing a blast of flames right along where he was going to be flying. Harry at once swerved clean out of the way and began climbing high into the air again. It seemed the dragon was keeping a closer eye on him than Harry had thought. Harry flew up higher than before, and slowed his broom to a stop. Looking down from this height he tried to assess the situation and see if there was another way to grab the egg.

Then an idea popped into his head, about Rainbow Dash to be precise. Harry remembered Night telling him how a young filly had won a competition and saved a friend by performing what was known as a Sonic Rainboom. While Harry was not sure he could pull off this move fully, he was sure using the same long dive he could gain enough speed to strike before the dragon even had time to spot or react to him.

With this in mind, Harry pointed his broom skyward and pushed it forward climbing rapidly. He knew that while this speed would be more than enough for the dragon to be unable to react to in time, it was also very possible that the same could be true for himself. But still, he did not have many other options that he could think of, that would work without putting him at the same or greater amount of risk. He would have to fly by feel and magic alone.

So onward and upward he kept climbing till even Hogwarts was merely a speck on the ground. This high up Harry was finding it a little hard to breathe. He knew it was now or never. He turned straight down towards the ground and started pushing his magic once again into his broom.

Down by the stands, Night, Luna and Hermione were staring up into the sky confused at what Harry was trying. Rainbow though was the first one to figure it out and at once started muttering under her breath, shaking her head in worry. Applejack, hearing this, looked at Rainbow and blinked in surprise at the look of sheer worry on her face.

"RD, what's the matter?" Applejack asked.

"I can't believe he's going to try that!" Rainbow said, her voice filled with worry.

"Try what?" Applejack asked confused, drawing the attention of the other ponies.

"He's going to try for a Sonic Rainboom!" Rainbow said, looking up suddenly as she spotted Harry heading towards the stadium, being the only one who actually could currently.

"Harry you fool, don't do this!" Night said, fear filling her voice, as she heard what Rainbow said.

They had good reason to worry. Not only was Harry trying something that was considered next to impossible in their own world, but he was also trying it in a place where he would have to make a hairpin turn, just to avoid killing himself on the ground. Still, there was nothing they could do about it now, except hope for the best.

As Harry drew closer to the stands, everyone was able to finally spot him, thanks to a weird glow that seemed to surround him, just barely visible in the daylight. Then, without warning, he suddenly picked up speed even more than before, leaving a weird glow trailing behind him like a long rope. Faster than their eyes could follow he swooped low and grabbed the egg before speeding away as the sound of a sonic boom was heard, shaking the entire stands and scaring many of the occupants seated in them. Harry used his speed and sped away from the arena making a wide loop while trying to slow himself down. Then as he turned back towards the stands he slowed himself more and spotted the tent that would be the one where he needed to end this task.

Lying low on his broom the egg held firmly in his hand Harry slowed his flying down as he approached the stands. He then dove for a few seconds and put the brakes on, slowing his broom rapidly right before he would enter into the tent, leveling out as he did so. He entered into the tent, stopping with his broom's end just half a foot inside the tent flaps.

Harry floated there for a few seconds as he calmed his thumping heart before he finally dismounted his broom. Madam Pomfrey walked over to him and grabbed his broom from his hand before steering him over to a bed to be checked over. Before Harry could even protest she had already started a scanning spell. She nodded happily, before grabbing his hand and arm, the one he had used to grab the egg, checking it carefully for signs of damage.

Pomfrey gained a very confused look, but then said, "Okay, you are free to go."

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked, noticing her confusion.

"Well, you just passed the speed of sound, before grabbing an egg off a gravel covered ground unharmed. Anyone with any sense of reason in them, would have realized or thought you had been hurt by either the air pressure or by hitting the ground. But then again, this is you I am talking about, and you seem to like defying logic at times," Pomfrey said, before walking off muttering something about crazy people and their plans.

Harry laughed lightly at this before getting up and looking around the tent that acted as their finishing point. He noticed it was empty except for Madam Pomfrey, which meant the other Champions had made it through without being majorly injured. As he looked about for the exit, Hermione appeared through, what had to have been another tent door, and probably the exit, and quickly pulled him into a hug while telling him how good he had been in the first part of the Tournament.

It took Harry a good couple of minutes to calm down Hermione, who blushed a little bit for losing her normal calm that badly. She then took Harry out of the tent so they could see Harry's score. From the tent exit Harry could see the judges' stand just fine. It seemed Dumbledore sat at the far left, followed by Igor Karkaroff, the Durmstrang Headmaster, and Madam Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons. Next was Ludo Bagman, then was Barty Crouch, both of whom were department heads at the Ministry of Magic.

Harry's score was three nines, a ten from Ludo, and a seven from Igor. Hermione told him that put him currently in the lead, Fleur and Cedric behind him currently tied at forty while Krum was in last with only thirty. Harry shook his head at this. It did not really matter what they had given him, he had survived through the first challenge, that was what mattered.

Hermione smiled as she went to leave with Harry to see the others, but before they could Ludo Bagman came running over, saying he needed to see the Champions for a few moments, before they left and celebrated the great wins. Once they all had been gathered back in the tent they had started in, Ludo looked around at them all, his eyes filled with joy and praise.

"That was a truly great job today," Ludo said, as if he was talking to his team.

"Thanks, I guess," Harry said, speaking for the group.

"Now, the next task will not take place till February, but don't think that gives you time to slack off. Now, this last task as you know tested your courage and cunning in the face of danger. This next task will test your knowhow and understanding of the world. As such we have given you a clue that has all you need to complete it," Ludo said.

The four champions looked rather confused, before Krum figured it out and spoke up, "The eggs. They have some hidden message."

"Yes, if you notice at the top is a latch. No, don't open it yet, trust me, but when you open it, it will tell you what you need to know," Ludo said, with a knowing tone as the four looked at their egg closely for a few seconds, before Ludo sent them on their way.

Harry met up with Hermione outside the tent and told her what Ludo had told him. Hermione shrugged as not far in front of them appeared a woman that Harry would soon recognize anywhere he went. Beside her was floating a piece of paper and a quill, and Harry and Hermione guessed she was a reporter really quickly.

This was confirmed in about three seconds as she spoke, "Rita Skeeter, Head Journalist for the Daily Prophet."

"Nice to meet you," Harry said.

"Same I think," Hermione said, looking at the woman closely, she had heard things about Rita Skeeter before, none good either.

"If I may, could I have an interview with you two, and a few of your friends?" Rita asked, smiling.

"I think I'd rather not currently," Harry said honestly.

"That's a shame. But I will let you decide later after looking at this photo, then you will have three days to contact me, before I write what I want," Rita said, handing them a envelope before walking off.

Harry looked at it before opening the envelope carefully and looking at the picture within it. The picture was surprisingly in full color, but that is not what caught Harry's attention. The content did. It was of him sitting on a cloud, and not far from him were two of his pony friends. Both Luna and Night were right by him. This wasn't a big worry, as everyone at school already knew those two. But when Rainbow flew into the picture he realized just how much trouble this photo could cause, as he could explain away Night and Luna, but Rainbow was another matter entirely.

"Well, we are in trouble again," Harry said, summing the entire situation up in a few words.