Chapter 82: Firework
As Hermione rebuttoned her blouse, Winky popped in with some food and water.
"Winky thought you could use some food as you missed dinner," Hermione blushed and thanked Winky.
"So do you have a plan for dealing with the dragon?" Hermione casually asked as she tried to make her hair look normal.
"I do," Harry said. "I'm not going to attack it head-on. I need to think a little like a Marauder."
"You're going to prank a dragon," Hermione's voice sounded skeptical.
"Maybe," Harry smiled mischievously. "But I'm also going to work on improving a few key charms that will help me along the way and there's one that I think I'll need your help in developing the spell for it."
"You have my attention," Hermione said. "And we are already in a classroom."
Two weeks later, Harry held out his hand for Hermione to depart the carriage. In front stood an erected stadium with a staircase up to the stands and a doorway on the ground level. Everything was sand beige with mahogany accents. In front of the door stood Professor McGonagall.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter," McGonagall smiled sadly. "You will be entering through here where you will receive instructions for the task to come. Miss Granger… you are supposed to head up to the stands.
"I'll be up in a minute," Hermione answered resolutely. McGonagall nodded and turned to Harry.
"I know you'll be fine," she said. "But should anything go wrong, we have a team ready to step in. I look forward to how you will do. You'll be great. I just know it. Best be sure you aren't missed, Miss Granger."
Harry turned away from McGonagall. As he opened the door, he noticed Hermione still by his side.
"Hermione," Harry admonished.
"I'm not going to stay long," Hermione said. "Something could go wrong and I want to spend as much time with you as possible. Please?"
Harry relented when she gave him her signature doe-eyed look and held the door for her as they entered the locker room. Around the chamber, the other three champions looked up and went back to what they were doing as Harry sat on one of the benches. Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder as Harry meditated, working on his occlumency barriers while they waited for everything to begin. Viktor did some stretches while Cedric leaned on one of the pillars holding up the tent. Fleur looked a little green as she paced up and down.
"You're going to wear a hole in the ground, Fleur," Luna's voice broke through. "Just wanted to drop by and wish you good luck."
"Zhank you," Fleur gave her a strained smile. "I 'ope I am good enough to survive."
"You are," Luna lifted herself up on her tip-toes to kiss the blonde Veela whose eyes were so wide it was a wonder they didn't roll out of her head. "That was to relax you and calm your mind. You'll do great."
A flash bulb went off, startling everyone.
"My what a touching scene," Rita's overly sweet voice sounded. "A reporter, or at least a girl playing at one, falling in love with one of the champions? What a juicy headline."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry leaned back on his palms, reclining on the bench somewhat. "I just saw the two of them talking, Luna following up on a story she was writing for the task."
"A picture is worth a thousand words, Mister Potter," Rita finished her sentence scathingly.
"It would be if you had any film in that camera," Harry smiled. The photographer paled and opened his camera to find there indeed was no film.
"On vith you," Krum said advanced on Skeeter, shooing her from the tent. "And if you publish anything, ve vill, all of us, make very public statements claiming it to be lies. How vill your career survive that one, Skeeter?"
"As the man said: leave," Cedric folded his arms at Rita.
Rita huffed, turned on her heel and stormed from the tent.
"Nice job, vanishing his film," Luna said to Hermione before turning back to Fleur. "Don't worry about it. I know I'm not your mate, though I do like you. I just wanted you to calm down so I can spend more time with you at the end of this."
Luna hugged Fleur fiercely and walked over to Harry as well.
"Please be safe, Harry," Luna's dreamy expression dropped in favor of a pleading one. "I'm sure you'll do great but please, please be safe. I can't lose the closet thing I have to a brother."
"I will, little sister," Harry stood so Luna could hug her. "You're going to write such a great piece."
"Come on, Hermione," Luna grabbed the brunette's hand. "The judges should be along shortly. We shouldn't be here when they arrive."
Hermione paused only to give Harry a heated kiss before leaving.
"I feel left out," Cedric said.
"I know," Krum nodded. "Fleur gets a kiss, Harry gets a kiss. Vhere's my kiss?"
"Come here and I'll give you one," Cedric joked.
"No," Krum politely declined. "Not my speed. Besides, I think there's a younger girl who you would prefer to kiss."
"How are things going with Faye?" Harry asked. "I saw you two together at Hogsmeade. Hopefully, it went better than Colin's date with Susan."
It had been Harry's disappointment to learn that Colin's nerves affected their date making it an awkward time for both. Colin hoped for another chance but for the time being, he was beating himself up about how he handled it all.
"It's been great," Cedric blushed. "She's a great girl. Sweet and very caring, great sense of humor. I'm sure she's going spare right about now."
Harry could only respond with a smile before the judges entered.
"Welcome champions to the first official event of the tournament," Bagman beamed around the room. Harry could swear his eyes glinted when he locked eyes with Harry. "Today's task is called a Trial of Fire. It will test your daring, innovation, and ability to think on your feet."
After Bagman's introduction, Crouch stepped forward with a bag clenched in his hand.
"Please reach into this bag and withdraw the first figurine you touch," Crouch instructed. "That will be the creature you will face, along with the paddock you will enter. Now step to, we don't have all day. Ladies first."
Fleur reached and drew a blue dragon with gold spikes, the number 2 hanging from its neck.
"The Swedish Short Snout," Crouch announced.
"A Welsh Green," Crouch said when Cedric withdrew a green dragon with the number one.
"The Chinese Fireball," Krum's red and gold dragon figurine crawled around in his hand, clearly the quickest of the three.
"That leaves you, Mr. Potter," Crouch relaxed his grip on the bag to let Harry reach in. "That Hungarian Horntail."
Harry gulped. He got the biggest dragon of the four and the most aggressive. He whispered a thank you to Buckbeak inadvertently alerting him to the danger he was about to face.
"There is a paddock corresponding to each of your dragons which also fits each dragon's natural environment. The task will start in 15 minutes with you, Mr. Diggory," Bagman said. "You will have a few minutes to confer with your headmasters regarding rules and judging."
Dumbledore quickly pulled the two boys aside.
"I know this is terrifying," Dumbledore said. "We have a legion of dragon handlers ready to step in should you be in trouble. Remember to tap your chest for Madam Pomfrey to activate your portkeys. I know each of you will have a plan in place and I am sure you will be great."
From there, each champion was taken down the hallway to a door with a number over the top, leading to an antechamber with a door leading to their paddock. Harry wished they remained together. Having nothing but his thoughts for however long it took each contestant to clear their task was going to be agony.
"Welcome Ladies and Gentleman to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman's augmented voice echoed across the valley. "Today's contest will be a Trial of Fire. Each contestant will have to retrieve a golden egg from a clutch of real ones guarded by a very real, very dangerous… DRAGON!"
Gasps and cheers reverberated down from the crowd, half aghast and half excited at what they were about to witness. Harry folded his knees underneath him and returned to meditate while Cedric stood in his antechamber. The iron door in front of him slid open, the heavy scraping sound ominous and terrifying all at once. Light flooded the doorway as Cedric stepped through into a green meadow with a pond and waterfall. At the edge of the pond was the Welsh Green dragon curled around her eggs. She spotted Cedric and stood, ready to defend her young.
Cedric opened with a basic transfiguration, transfiguring three rocks into dogs, sending them to the right while Cedric cautiously stepped to the left. He wished his Yellow and black robes were not made of dragonhide as he would have preferred to transfigure his clothes into something that would blend into the environment. The dragon's head followed the dogs as they sped toward her nest. The dragon brushed them all aside and returned her attention to Cedric. Cedric growled and conjured a few birds with some amphibians. The birds flew circles around the dragon's head while the frogs moved closer to the eggs. Cedric followed that up with a few rats, enlarging them to the size of a dog. Yet again, the dragon swatted the pests away but didn't move from her nest.
"Alright new strategy," Cedric said. "Accio Golden Egg."
The egg didn't move but Cedric didn't expect it to be that simple, but he doubted they would think to prevent what he was about to do.
"Accio egg," Cedric summoned one of the dragon's actual eggs to him. As he surmised, the egg did come toward him which got the dragon's full attention. The dragon roared, unfurled its wings, and charged toward Cedric. Cedric took the egg and banished it to the other side of the arena. True to her instincts, the dragon chased after the egg. Cedric cast a revulsion charm on the egg so it would retreat whenever the dragon got close along with durability and cushioning charms to keep the egg from breaking. With his dragon sufficiently distracted, Cedric sprinted for the rest of the eggs and grabbed the gold one. As he sprinted for the exit, the dragon roared again. Cedric felt the heat from behind him. Tucking his shoulder in, Cedric rolled under the fire that he felt coming. The fire singed his face and the shoulders of his robes but nothing severe.
Cedric knew a dragon needed time to recharge its fire breath so he sprinted as fast as he could for the exit. Thanks to his nose, he could smell the dragon approaching. Grabbing the golden egg with two hands, Cedric dove for the exit sliding through the door and under the claw swiping at him. A wrought-iron door slammed down with a resounding thud. Cedric rolled onto his back with a smile on his face and the egg in his hands.
Back in the arena, two handlers entered to return the missing egg to the nest while uncorking a potion to help calm the dragon to put the dragon into a sleepy state. With the dragon quelled, Fleur's door opened and she stepped into the arena.
"Great," Fleur complained at the snow-covered landscape. Fleur cast the strongest warming charm she could think of and stepped into the arena. With the arena covered as it was, Fleur scanned for the next and the dragon. After a moment, she spotted the next rigged up on the cliff but no dragon. Tensing her entire body to be ready for any strike that might come.
As with Cedric, she tried summoning the egg to no avail. To her right, a blur caught her attention. Fleur rolled to her left before a clawed arm landed where she stood as the blue dragon roared at her. Fleur waited until the dragon closed its snout and shot three incarcerous spells at its mouth. Once they locked into place around its mouth Fleur hardened them as much as she could to give her time. The dragon swiped at Fleur, forcing the Veela to evade. As she did, she conjured iron shackles around each leg with an iron stake which she drove deep into the ground.
As the dragon advanced again, it stumbled and fell, allowing Fleur to drop a conjured net on top of the dragon with iron stakes. With the dragon sufficiently contained, Fleur turned toward the nest. Taking care to keep her footing on the slick rock, Fleur used the Veela's Song to snare her golden egg. Cradling the egg with her left arm, Fleur heard the snapping of her cords around the dragon's snout. A burst of flame later and the net was smoldering ash, freeing the dragon to work on its shackles. With her golden whip still out, Fleur wrapped it around the dragon's snout and pushed her allure through the whip. The music filled the arena and the dragon's eyes drooped as Fleur walked backward toward the exit. As she found the exit, she canceled all her spells whereafter the dragon dropped like a stone, asleep in the enclosure. The audience fell silent before erupting in applause. Fleur smirked as the door slammed shut, thinking about her classmates who doubted her.
With the dragon already asleep, the handlers had nothing to do except cast stasis charms on the eggs to keep them from freezing.
The next enclosure over, Krum entered a fiery hellscape. It looked like he was to battle his dragon on the side of a volcano. Across from him, the Chinese Fireball expanded its yellow frills to spit fire, ending in a roar. Viktor took a glancing blow but kept from taking any actual damage. Krum shot his wand into the air, casting an overpowered Meteolojinx infused with as much ice as he could muster. Snow fell from the sky, cooling the arena to a more tolerable level. Sweat poured off Krum's face as his breath escaped in icy clouds. The Fireballs frills shook as she shook the cold ice off her neck.
Viktor aimed a Conjunctivitis curse at her eyes, hitting true with the spell. The dragon howled in pain, holding its black taloned, red-clad hand to its eye, stomping in agony to deal with the pain. A crunching and cracking sound echoed across the arena followed by gasps from the crowd. His dragon lifted its foot and Krum's heart dropped. Green slime covered the bottom of her foot along with the crushed remnants of the eggs. The gold egg remained, gleaming unmarred as a final insult to the dragon. Viktor's heart broke and he collapsed to his knees, an action matched by the dragon who no longer wished to roar, spit fire, or guard anything. She collapsed onto her stomach, sniffing the remains of her nest, nudging the golden egg out of the nest as if it was an affront to her agony. Cautiously, Viktor approached, tears in his eyes.
"I'm so sorry," Viktor tentatively extended a hand to stroke her snout. "I never intended this. I only vanted the fake one."
The dragon cuffed in the best approximation of a sob, Viktor bent down, picked up the egg and slouched out of the arena. As the door slid closed, he collapsed onto the bench and sobbed.
Harry heard Bagman's commentary on each contestant. He knew Cedric would use transfiguration, though he loved the idea of making the dragon chase an egg to allow him to get his prize. Fleur he again wished he could have watched as it sounded masterful but his heart went out to Krum. He knew how much he loved dragons.
"And finally, our final contestant," Bagman was the only one who appeared unfazed by what happened to the eggs, giving Harry an actual introduction. "The youngest champion; a champion who we all know his name but now we see what he can do. Welcome the Boy-Who-Lived, Fourth Champion, Seeker extraordinaire, Mr. Harry James POTTER!"
The door slid open and the crowd's cheers were muted though the jeers from his detractors gained momentum. Harry stepped forward into a rocky arena. Boulders were strewn across the paddock. Harry scanned the arena for his dragon, spotting nothing until one of the boulders moved.
"Holy shit," Hermione gasped and grabbed Neville's arm. At the same time, Neville held onto his hammer, deciding he needed something he could use all his strength on without breaking. Hannah held his other arm while Parvati and Lavender hugged each other tightly at the size of this dragon. Next to Hermione, Nancy firmly gripped Hermione's leg tight enough that Hermione knew she would leave a mark. Even Daphne's calm and collected mask was nowhere to be seen as he watched with Vinny, Crabbe and the rest of the Slytherins who were loyal to Harry.
"That can't be his dragon," Nancy moaned. "That's too big."
"It's okay," Hermione soothed, hoping it wasn't an empty platitude. In the media section, Luna narrowed her eyes as her quill sped across the page.
The Hungarian Horntail unfurled her wings and pushed up, glaring at Harry. After smelling the unique and tragic smell of her fellow dragon's destroyed eggs, she did not wish to take any chances. She advanced rapidly on Harry, baring her fangs, her horned tail smashing the boulders as she sped toward him.
"Accio rucksack," Harry quickly drew his wand before the dragon was on him. "Lumos Solaris."
White light obscured everyone's vision. Hermione was glad her spell worked but wished she could see as she was terrified of what happened to Harry. The Horntail was almost on him when he cast his charm. The light faded after which Harry was nowhere to be seen. The horntail rapidly scouted the arena, flaring her nostrils to find his scent.
"Oh my," Bagman was as confused as anyone else. "Has our youngest champion fled?"
Before Hermione could roll her eyes, a brown cloud exploded around the dragon's pointed snout. The dragon clawed at her nostrils as if trying to clear an offensive odor. Fireworks launched from two corners of the arena, color exploding at each side of the dragon at random intervals, her head flashing between each miasma of color as fireworks continued to shoot off. Hermione spotted two distinctly familiar blue fireballs hitting each wing of the dragon, the Horntail roaring in agony as the flames singed its soft tissue at the wing joint.
"See? Harry's still out there," Hermione leaned in to speak into Nancy's ear. Between the fireworks and the cacophony of the crowd confusedly wondering where Harry was, she could barely hear herself think. Bagman was equally clueless so his commentary wondering aloud where Harry was less than helpful.
"There he is," Hermione pointed to a slight shimmer as Harry sped toward the nest on his Firebolt. Hermione shot to her feet, leading the rest of their section to cheer as Harry canceled his disillusion, flying over the stands with the egg held aloft. The crowd exploded at his victory, the quickest of any of the champions thus far. At the noise, the now thoroughly confused dragon scanned the arena, her rage building. At last, she spotted her nest with an egg missing.
Rage turned to fury as the Horntail roared, trying to find the thief. With Harry circling above her vision, she turned her fury on the cheering crowd. If someone stole her egg, it must be one of them. With a roar and a burst of fire, the cheers morphed into screams as the dragon stampeded toward the stands. Hermione's group all drew wands, as did the judges but anything they wished to do was waylaid by the mass of students pressing backward toward the exits as the dragon reached the stands. They collapsed together as a group, mostly to avoid being trampled by the swarming crowd.
The Horntail raised up on her hind legs, rising up the level of the stands. She swiped her claws at the crowd, her head rapidly scanning from side to side for the person who stole one of her young. A golden shield erupted around the stands, pushing the Horntail back. Trying again, she swung her tail at the barrier which began to falter. Harry watched in terror as the dragon slammed her whole body into the barrier after the tail failed. Dumbledore stood with his wand, trying to reinforce the barrier but Harry could see the strain. Four handlers sprinted toward the dragon, their stunners glancing off her hide. The Horntail swiped at two with her wings and another who looked similar to Viktor narrowly avoided her claws thanks to a flaming mane of red hair pulling him back. Harry watched in horror as the barrier fell after another swipe of the tail. Front and center, trying to avoid the mass of students trying to escape, he spotted a bushy brunette mane and the long blonde hair of Neville.
Hermione and Neville fired stunners at the dragon with no effect. Hermione cringed as the dragon opened her mouth again, fire blossoming in her mouth, waiting for the exhale to come. Before she could spit fire, iron bars clamped her mouth shut. Hermione watched as Harry popped above the dragon, his golden egg in one arm and his wand in the other. Harry pulled his arm back, mustering as much magic as he could.
Thrusting forward, two stone spikes formed in midair, impaling the dragon through the soft tissue where the wing folded in. With the angle, the Horntail slammed back down onto the arena surface. In possibly his bravest move ever, Harry landed in front of the Horntail, cleared the remnants of the dungbomb from her nostrils and held the golden egg up.
"~It's a fake!~" Harry shouted, not realizing he shifted into Parseltongue. "~Sniff it, taste it. It's not even real gold! Your young are unharmed~"
A pink forked tongue slithered from the dragon's mouth as Harry removed the iron muzzle, tasting the egg.
"See?" Harry shifted back to his normal language. "Fake. But if you want to keep it, you can have it. Just don't hurt my friends. Please."
The Horntail gave the egg one last sniff and exhaled softly just as the handlers arrived, two of them cradling their arms into their sides. Knowing the danger had passed, Harry vanished the spikes and stumbled back onto his hindquarters, glad that everyone was out of harm's way.
