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Edited by the amazing pazed!

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Chapter 9

Sirius bolted from his place in the stands, as the dragon handlers took to the field and retrieved the female dragon. Pandemonium had once again descended on the crowd. Amelia leaned closer to Dumbledore, and spoke directly into his ear. "This is your fault, and you will answer for it!" Turning on her heel she began the trip down to the pitch.

The elder wizard was pale, his skin clammy, sweat beaded on his forehead, and he had a strange numb sensation in his left arm. He sat still in the sea of panic, lost in his own thoughts as the crowd around him grew louder, the returned savior of their world was gone once again.

On the field Sirius looked franticly around from the spot he had last seen Harry, but found no trace. No blood, no burnt clothing… nothing. He twisted around to face the direction of the remaining dragon handlers that were now removing the eggs from the nest, and called out, "Do any of you see him?"

They looked at him confused. "Who?"

"Harry! The Champion that fought the horntail! Weren't you watching?!" he shouted back.

They looked at each other then at Sirius. "No," the young red head answered. "Only the senior handler was watching, and he's up near the stands. We were alerted, by a charm, when the champion's egg left the stadium!"

"Left the stadium!" he repeated. His head snapped to the only other entrance, beyond it stood the champions' tent. Suddenly he was moving for it faster than he would have thought possible. As soon he ran inside he spotted him, Harry sat smiling at the mediwitch as she ran her wand over him. He seemed well enough, his red and white suit was once again tied at his waist, he seemed relaxed and not in any pain, and surprisingly, next to him sat a golden egg.

"Harry! How?" He moved to his side, and gathered him into a hug. "Poppy. How is he?" he asked as he backed away and looked back and forth between them.

"He is perfectly fine, not a scratch." Amelia finally caught up with them as Madam Pomfrey gave her pronouncement. "I suggest you get a good night's rest and a hot meal, you have had quite a day young man."

"Yes ma'am." He looked shocked for a moment and then grabbed his bag, plunging his hand inside and pulling out his wallet and rummaged through it. "Great," he said hanging his head, "eleven dollars and my paycheck, I knew I should have gone to the bank last night, but oh no Tannim and Shar just had to be late…" He looked up at the pair that had entered. "I don't suppose…"

Sirius chuckled. "I think we can work something out," he said with a large grin, then giving him a dour expression. "How did you get the egg? You said you don't have a wand."

"Hmmm…?" came from him as he placed his fire gloves and wallet back in the bag. "Oh, this thing," he said flipping his thumb at the golden egg. "Meh… It wasn't so hard." Their eyes widened at his flippant attitude. "I got bored watching you all argue, so I walked over and picked it up."

Their jaws dropped… literally. Their mouths hung open wide enough that Harry was sure a pool ball would fit with room to spare. He started laughing, "Wow the looks on your faces are great." He hopped down from the exam table, grabbed his bag and the egg. "Lead on McDuff! I'm a hungry teenager, you're lucky I haven't eaten this tent."

"Harry, how…?" Sirius stammered out.

"Food, come on move it," he said shoving the gaping man toward the door. "Come on you too Officer Bones."

As they were about to exit the judges led by the head fool entered. "Harry!" said the old man, as he strode across the room his eyes widening at the golden egg under his arm. "You completed the task…." His voice stumbled to a stop, "How?"

"That is something I would like to know as well!" said Minister Fudge. "We never saw you attempt the task! And yet here you are with one of the champion's eggs! Explain how that is!"

Harry looked the man up and down. "Not my fault you were distracted, I completed the task." He began to brush past the gathered group, a hand landed firmly on his upper arm and jerked him to a halt.

The toad in a pink sweater glared at him. "You will tell us how you completed the task!"

"Let go!" Harry yanked his arm loose. "Your lack of focus is not my problem." He leaned closer to her, "Touch me again and it will be most unpleasant."

She stepped back from the glare he was giving her. "I am the Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic! You will do as you are told! You have cheated somehow, and I will…"

"Will you shut up! Y'all couldn't stay focused on your task. Not. MY. Problem."

"You will answer, or you will receive no score, and we will count it as a forfeit!" she sneered at him.

"It was a timed event," he looked over her shoulder at Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch. "Isn't that what you said? Time started on your mark and ended when the egg was off the pitch? At least that is how you explained it to me."

The others looked over at Barty expectantly. "Mr. Potter is correct, it is a timed event. With up to a possible ten style points from each of the four selected event judges, that would be subtracted from the total time, and of course the winner is the competitor with the lowest adjusted time."

Albus asked the obvious question, "And what were the champions' times?"

Ludo lifted his score book. "Delacour 8:40 she received 28 points from today's four randomly selected judges for a total of, each point is worth ten seconds, a time of four minutes exactly. A very respectable time."

"Krum 7:54, he received 32 additional points… unfortunately a mandatory penalty is to be added for accidental destruction of some of the eggs, for a total time of… 5:44. It is too bad about the rotten luck." He smiled at the young man and went back to his book.

"Diggory 8:26, 21 additional points... probably due to his needing to try a couple of different times... for a total of 4:56. Very good Mr. Diggory, Amos will be proud!" He gave him a solid clap on the shoulder.

"Mr. Potter… Oh MY!" His eyes went wide, he pulled out his wand and ran it over the book several times, then spoke. "Mr. Potter's time was 4:41 seconds. No points added or penalties."

Silence permeated the tent. Albus was the first to turn to Harry, whose face held a wide grin. "You said you have no wand…"

Harry nodded, "Nope!" He looked at the pink horror, "Officer Bones and Mr. Black can verify, I haven't got one."

"Then how…" Albus moved closer, "How did you do it then Harry?" His eyes twinkled, as he approached.

Harry just smiled brightly. "That's a good question." He turned to Sirius, "About that food... the tent walls are looking really good about now." He brushed past the congregated group and into the evening air.

"Harry?" Albus asked following after the smaller group that had begun to walk up the hill, "Where are you going?"

"Lunch… Well technically I guess it would be supper here. Mr. Bl-" Harry began to answer.

"Sirius, Harry. Please call me Sirius."

"Right." He smiled at the man next to him, "Sirius and Officer Bones said we could find me some food, and a place to crash till someone can get here and I can head on home."

That odd numbness had returned, Albus ignored it. "A feast will be served in the Great Hall shortly you are welcome to join us. I am also sure we can offer you a place to clean up, and possibly some other clothing or have what you are wearing cleaned." He smiled his best grandfatherly smile.

Harry looked at his companions. "Did they say how long it would take for them to get here?"

Sirius shook his head, "No they didn't know yet and said it would be a couple of hours till they knew. My friend, Remus, will get in contact with us soon with the details."

Harry nodded his understanding, "I could probably use a shower."

Amelia spoke up, "I'm sure we could figure something out for you to wear, for the moment. It may not be what you are used to, but…"

"When in Rome… Yeah I get it. Alright food and a shower."

Post Note: Ok, nobody jump down my throat! I will reveal how Harry did the first task soon; it just doesn't fit the story flow at the moment. Sorry to keep you in suspense… wait no I'm not… I'm an author! It's my job to make both my hero and audience squirm!

And on that note one more reason to scream at me. I'm off on a vacation soon, two weeks in Alaska, and I promised no computer so… it will be an extra week possibly two or so till the new chapter is up (depends on work when I'm back).