I do not own…
Chapter Fifty: The First Task
In the last few days all the champions have been preparing for the first tournament. From what Harry told Vanessa, the other two headmasters already knew what the first task was so that meant Viktor and Fluer knew as well. Vanessa had already told Hunter the next day as he was the only one that didn't know what it was. After that, all champions have been researching and forming plans for the tournament.
When the final day came Vanessa (who was in uniform that represented her house color and last names) was placing Danica in her enchanted trunk. The young dragon was now the size of an elephant. The creature has seen and been around the other dragons with the guidance of Dumbledore, Hagrid, Charlie Weasley and Vanessa. It was Charlie's idea as he believed Danica should be around other dragons. She was okay around four of the dragons but when they came near the Hungarian Horntail the two started to fight. The two female dragons couldn't be around each other at all. It took all of them to break them apart. Danica was much like her owner, as she would never back down from a challenge and demonstrate her alpha side. Vanessa was worried that Danica would be protected and bust in the tournament to fight off the dragon. Danica knew something was up and didn't want to be locked up.
"It's okay, Danica. It's just for a few hours and you'll be free to roam around again." Vanessa said
Danica growled and grunted in protest. Then whined when Vanessa gave her a stern look. Vanessa was the only being that the dragon will obey. So the dragon laid down on the floor, sulking. Vanessa gave her sad smile and hugged her neck.
"I'll be fine. I promise." She said softly before kissing her rough scaly head. "Be a good girl."
She climbed out of the trunk and closed the door before locking it up with a spell.
After making sure she had everything she needed, Vanessa headed off and hurried towards the tents where champions were. She only stopped when she heard a familiar bell ringing in the air.
"Tink?" She said
Flying over towards the princess was the little fairy.
"Vanessa!"
Running towards her were Pandora, Jordan, Ella and Jane.
"You guys came." Vanessa smiled
"The others wanted to come for support, but…you know how they are about…non-magical people." Jordan said
"But don't worry everybody will be watching it in Auradon, mom was able to connect to the magical network." Jane said
"Yeah, in NeverLand too. Dad and the Lost Boys are so jealous about this." Pandora smirked
Vanessa rolled her eyes at that with a smirk.
"I can't believe how packed this place is. I think Hades invited every God in Olympus to support Hunter." Ella said "And I think your dad brought the whole vampire coven to support you."
"What? Really?" Vanessa said in shocked
The girls nodded and showed her. At the stadium, it was more than just the three school students. There were some people from the Ministry, Hades and a few Gods, Vlad and a few vampires from her fathers coven.
"Hey Vanessa, why does it look like your dad is ready to kill that other vampire Lord up there." Pandora asked
Vanessa looked were her father was and saw him giving a murderous look to another vampire with long blonde hair, who was sitting with a younger man that looked like he could be his son.
"I have no idea." She said "Okay…I got to go."
The girls nodded and all gave her a good luck hug before heading off to the stands. She waved them good-bye before heading inside the champion tent.
"Your dad brought some of your relatives." Vanessa said to Hunter as walked over to him.
"I saw. I think I saw uncle Zeus sitting up there eating one of those gigantic cotton candies." Hunter smirked "Neverous?"
"A bit. You?" She asked
"Same." He said
Suddenly a photo flash silenced everyone and they saw that Rita came in the tent and her cameraman took a picture of Hermione hugging Harry.
"Why is she here?" Vanessa sighed
"Young love." Rita said before giving Hermione a look. "How…disturbing. If…the tournament doesn't go too badly today. Maybe you two would make the first page."
Before Vanessa could do or say anything it was Viktor that took the stand.
"You 'ave no businezz zere. This tent iz for championz and friendz." He said
Rita looked between Harry, Hermione and Viktor with a grin on her face and went to leave. But not before having her cameraman take a picture of Viktor. Vanessa was gonna destroy the camera but Ludo Bagman got in her way.
"Well, now we're all here…time to fill you in!" Bagman said brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag…" He held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them. "...from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different …er…varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too…ah, yes…your task is to collect the golden egg!"
Bagman opened the neck of the purple silk sack.
"Ladies first." He said, offering it to Fleur Delacour.
She put her hand inside and pulled the Welsh Green dragon that had a number two around its neck. Next was Vanessa and she had pulled out a small version of the Ukrainian Ironbelly that had a number four. After her was Krum. He had pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball that had a number three around its neck. Next up was Hunter and he pulled out the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, with a number one tied around its neck. The last one was Harry and he knew what was the last dragon in the bag. He placed his hand in the bag and just like he thought he had the Hungarian Horntail and it had a number five around its neck.
"Well, there you are!" Bagman said "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Hades, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right?"
When he was finished everyone walked away. Vanessa glared at Bagman as he pulled Harry aside. From what she could hear he was trying to give Harry a few pointers but Harry wouldn't take them and walked away.
It wasn't long till a whistle had blown.
Vanessa and Harry looked over at Hunter. He looked a bit pale but he gave Vanessa a reassuring smile before walking out of the tent. Vanessa wanted to but had to remain in the tent with the others. It didn't help when Bagman announced a few things that made her nervous. After a few more minutes she heard cheering and Bagman announced Hunter had gotten the golden egg. The whistle blew again and up next was Fleur's turn. After that Krum was next. Then the whistle was blown again and it was Vanessas' turn. Harry hugged her and wished her luck before she left the tent.
She carefully walked out to the arena. The Ironbelly dragon growled before letting out a deafening roar that echoed around. Vanessa took a slow deep breath before cracking her knuckles and took out her wand. The two made eye contact. Neither blinked or showed any signs of backing down. The witch princess got into a stance before running forward. The creature growled before inhaling and breathed out fire at her. Vanessa nonverbally cast a shield spell before casting the spell she needed.
'Edgebonoutoosis!'
"Would you look at that! Ms. Potter is using the cloning spell on herself!" Bagman announced "I have never seen such a perfect cloning spell ever!"
There were about fifteen Vanessa clones running in different directions, casting different spells. This just angered the dragon as it swaged its tail at a few that were close but they were able to dodge. Then it got even more angry that it spit out more fire all around the arena. Doing everything it can to protect its eggs.
Everyone in the crowd gasped, screamed and ducked away when the creature set the area on fire. They saw all the clones get hit but didn't see where the real Vanessa was. Rain had her eyes closed as she hid her face behind Malcome's shoulder.
"Rain! Up there!" He said
She and everyone else looked up. They saw her floating in the air on a huge rock.
"Now this is amazing!" Bagman yelled "I haven't seen anything like this before in my life!"
With her next plan in mind Vanessa knew that like most large creatures won't go after anything small. So with a swift of her wand she summoned the rocks from the ground and transfigured them into large birds. Then she sended them towards the dragon to peck at its face to distract it. Next, Vanessa took out a vile that said 'Drink Me" and drank it before jumping off the rock. Everyone saw her shirking to only 3 inches. One of the birds flew towards her and she landed on its back before directing it towards the golden egg. Since she was too small for the dragon to notice it didn't even bother to go after her. When the bird flew near the egg Vanessa jumped off the bird and landed on the ground. She mently cursed herself for not landing next to the eggs. In her small form it looked like she was a mile away from it but in her normal size maybe only two or three steps. So she took out a cookie that said "Eat Me" and took about two bites. She ended up growing back and now she was her normal size again. Before she could grab the egg the dragon saw her and spit fire at her. Either on instincts or because of the sense of danger nearby, Vanessa's medallion glowed and her appearance started to change. Vanessa just held out her hand and a shield was placed up. The fire didn't hit her but stayed in place while it rolled up and stayed in her hand.
Everyone was in awe at what she did and from her transformation. Vanessa was bothered too as she never transformed without taking the medallion off but she would worry about that later. She needed to focus on the task. With all her power she threw the fireball back at the dragon. The fire turned white and it hit the dragon hard. It was thrown a few inches from where it stood. When the dragon got back up it stood on its back feet and about to breathe fire again but Vanessa was quick. She ran towards it with her quick speed and summoned a long iron chain before wrapping it around the dragon. The young witch ended up chaining its mouth and hog tying the creature. When she pulled on the chain it made the dragon fall to the ground, leaving a cloud of dust filling the arena. Everyone stood up trying to see where Vanessa was or what's' happening next. When it cleared out a little some of them saw a shadowy figure walking out of the dust.
"Ms. Potter has the egg!"
A gust of wind blew their way and cleared the arena from the dust. Everyone stood up and cheered at her success. She didn't get a scratch on her and the rest of the eggs were okay as well. Pandora and the other girls jumped up and down with their banner that said "Vanessa For The Win!" Vlad was able to calm down as he was worried for a moment and cheered with the rest of his coven. Dude did his little dance next to Artism, Malcolm, Fred, George and Rain who screamed and cheered the loudest for their friend.
Vanessa had looked up at the crowd with a smile on her face and held up the egg for a moment before exiting out of the arena. She wasn't hurt or exhausted. Actually, she felt like she could go a few more rounds but she knew that she should be checked by Madam Pomfery. She nearly got knocked down when Rain, Pandora and the other girls piled on her and hugged her.
"That was amazing!"
"The cloning spell was brilliant!"
"Brilliant job with the shrinking and growing potion."
They continued to congratulate her on how she handled the dragon as they headed towards the infirmary tent. Hunter was standing by the entrance as he wanted to congratulate her for her win. She was worried for him when she saw hand was wrapped in bandages.
"Don't worry about it. It's just second degree burns. Madam Pomfrey patched up and said it would fully heal in an hour." He said
Madam Pomfrey checked on Vanessa while Hunter told her how he did with his task and the girls told her how the other two did on their task. Once she was good she and the others headed out to get her scores from the judges. The first of the judges that stood up was Madame Maxine. She raised her wand in the air and a long silver ribbon shot out of it and twisted itself into a large figure eight.
"Hey, not bad." Pandora said
Mr. Crouch came next and he shot a number ten.
"Really. I didn't expect that from someone like him." Vanessa muttered
"Yes! Now we're talking." Jordan smiled
Dumbledore was next and up at nine as well.
With Ludo Bagman was also a nine.
The last one was Karkaroff. Vanessa had a feeling that he wasn't gonna be fair. But to herself he shot out an eight.
"You're tied for first place." Rain said
Vanessa hugged her friends before walking towards her boyfriend. They wrapped an arm around each other and they all headed out. They wanted to see Harry's task. They were about to walk up the stairs until they were stopped by Lord Magnusson with his son Mikael.
"Lady Vanessa Tepes Potter." Einar said as he bowed his head. "I am Lord Einar Magnusson of the Northern Coven. It is an honor to finally meet you."
"Hello." She said and bowed back in respect.
"And this is my son Mikael." Einar said
The young man was an exact replica of his father. He has long platinum blonde hair, bright sapphire blue eyes, and unnatural beautiful pale skin.
"Hello." Mikeal said and bowed his head too.
Pandora, Jordan, Jade and Ella sighed in awe and were swoon when he spoke. Rain and Vanessa were the only ones that didn't. Vanessa was half vampire so she wasn't hit hard by his vampire charm. Rain…well…she was just Rain and was somehow immune to his vampire charm.
Einar looked over at Hunter with hate in his eyes and nearly growled when he saw the boys hand wrapped around her waist.
"And you must be…Hunter." He said with an icy tone.
"Yes." Hunter said "How can we help you gentlemen?"
"Nothing from you human. We just need to speak with Vanessa." Einar said
"That won't be necessary."
Vlad had suddenly appeared and stood between them, glaring at Einar.
"Vanessa, Hunter, girls, why don't you all head up with the others, Harrys' turn is about to start." Vlad said
Everyone could feel the hate the two vampire lords have for each other. So they just headed off up to the stadium. Vanessa wanted to stop half way and hide but her father knew she was there and told her in her mind to leave. She nearly jumped when he did that but she did as she was told.
"Don't even try it, Einar. I'm warning you. Stay away…from my daughter." Vlad glared "I already told you that I won't let your son marry her."
"You would rather her marry a human." Einar glared
"They are young. Marriage is far from their mind right now." Vlad said "Leave."
Einar gave him one last glare before he left with his son right behind him.
Harry had won his task with ease as he used a summoning spell to summon his Firebolt. Vanessa wasn't surprised as he is a natural on a broom. After getting the dragon to move away from the eggs he was able to get the golden egg. His shoulder got a little burn but he was fine. When he entered the infirmary he and Ron were able to make up their friendship. After he was patched up he headed out to see his scores. Most of his scores were decent. The only bad score he had was from Karkaroff.
After that he, Vanessa, Fleur, Hunter and Krum had all gathered together again as Bagman needed to speak to him.
"Well done, all of you!" He said "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth…but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open…see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg…because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"
.
.
.
When everyone had headed back to the castle Hunter had to separate from Vanessa. The Slytherins held a party for Hunter's victory and the Gryffindors held one for Vanessa and Harry. In the Gryffindor common room there were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface. Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so the air was thick with stars and sparks. Dean Thomas, who is very good at drawing, had put up some very impressive new banners of both Vanessa and Harry facing off their dragons.
"Blimey, this is heavy." Lee Jordan said, picking up one of the golden eggs. "Hey Harry, Vanessa why don't one of you two open yours."
"They're supposed to work out the clue on their own." Hermione said "It's in the tournament rules…"
"I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own too." Harry muttered to Hermione.
That shut her up.
Everyone pleaded and cheered for one of them to open their eggs. Harry decided to do it and grabbed his egg. He opened the hatch that was from the top. The moment he opened it, loud and screechy wailing, filled the room. It was the most horrible noise anyone has ever heard.
"Shut it!" Vanessa yelled, her hands were over her ears. She was still in her vampire form so this was much worse for her.
Harry quickly shut it close.
"What was that?" Seamus Finnigan asked "Sounded like a banshee…Maybe you guys have to get past one of those next."
"It was someone being tortured!" Neville said "You're going to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"
"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal." George said "They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the Champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing…maybe you guys got to attack him while he's in the shower."
"Want a jam tart, Hermione?" Fred said
Hermione looked doubtfully at the plate he was offering her.
Fred grinned.
"It's all right." He said "I haven't done anything to them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch…"
Neville, who had just bitten into a custard cream, choked and spat it out.
Fred laughed.
"Just my little joke, Neville…"
Hermione took a jam tart.
"Did you get all this from the kitchen, Fred?" She asked
"Yup." Fred grinned before speaking like a squeaky house-elf. "Anything we can get you sir, anything at all!" Then spoke normally. "They're dead helpful…get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish."
Hermione tried to act innocent and asked Fred how to get to the kitchen. Fred told her half way until he realized why she wanted to know. He knew she was still raging off about house-elf rights. The tension was broken when Neville turned into a large canary.
"Oh…sorry, Neville!" Fred shouted over the laughter. "I forgot…it was the custard creams we hexed…"
After a few minutes Neville had molted, and once his feathers had fallen off, he reappeared looking entirely normal. He even joined in laughing.
"Canary Cream!" Fred shouted to the excitable crowd. "George and I invented them…seven Sickles each, a bargain!"
While everyone was laughing and buying off the Canary Cream the twins were giving out Jay walked over to Vanessa and slipped her a note.
"From Hunter." He whispered before grabbing a butterbeer and walked over to talk to Katie Bell.
Vanessa opened the note and it said to get him at their usual spot at 12. Hunter was able to find a place for them to meet up without getting caught by anyone. It was on the seventh floor and all they had to do was pace back and forth and think of the room they wanted it to be. The room was a myth that everyone had heard but could never find it. They call it the coming and going room.
"I love it when I see your hair like this." Hunter said
The two had met up in the room that night and had slept with each other. When they were done they just lay down next to each other and he was running his hand through her still white hair.
"You really like this side of me?" She asked
"Of course, though I do miss your red dyed hair." He said
"Well, if this is permitted, maybe Dizzy could put some red tips or something." She said
"You think things will be different now?" He asked
"I'm not sure how bad it will be. Though everyone in the wizardry world knew who my father was, why wouldn't they think I wouldn't have vampire blood in them." She said
"You know that I will be by your side. As well as all of our friends. If any of the Slytherins have anything to say, leave them to me." He said
This made her smile and the two kissed.