Harry was busy chopping up his ingredients before double checking that he was following the steps properly to make his potion in Snape's class, something that prior to this year he never really bothered to do much besides go with the next step right away. But ever since Snape had been the one providing him with the Wolfsbane potion, he figured that he should at least attempt to be a better student then he had been before. Which really made a difference in the learning experience. Sure Snape would still be short with him but Harry didn't think it was unfairly earned, as sometimes he'd missed a crucial step because he was rushing just to complete the work. That wasn't Snape's fault but his own.

It was also possible that he was taking a greater interest in potions as one was now an integrated part of his life and he wanted to learn more, possibly to make improvements or use the potion as a basis for a complete cure. The greater investment of attention into the fine art seemed to have earned him some points with Snape personally.

The lesson was disturbed however by Minerva arriving. "Severus, I am here to collect Mr. Potter." Nodding to her colleague.

"But Professor McGonagall, the full moon isn't for a few more weeks and it's the middle of the day?" Harry questioned as to why he was going to be put in the cage so soon.

"Mr. Potter this is related to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, it is time for the weighing of the wands," Minerva answered her student's understandable inquiry. She loathed anytime she had to collect him to be caged up. Thankfully this was not one of those times.

"Potter, put a neutralizing agent of the class d variety in your cauldron and I will take care of the rest while you are gone," Severus stated knowing that Harry couldn't just leave his bubbling cauldron the way it was, so he would make sure that it caused no problems for however long his student would be out of the dungeons for. "I will give marks on where you had gotten in the time given."

"Class D, that's a-" Harry looked around his ingredients before grabbing a vial of mercury.

"Correct Mr. Potter," Snape nodded before watching Harry add one drop at a time the silvery metal to his cauldron until the concoction stilled. Once that was done Harry gathered the rest of his belongings that he could and left with his head of house.

"So Professor McGonagall, what's the weighing of the wands?" Wondering just what he was supposed to do for this tournament.

"It is where we ensure that all contestants' wands are in working order," Minerva answered as they took their leisurely stroll through the castle halls. "And before you get any bright ideas, having a broken wand will not disqualify you, I checked with Albus."

Hearing his head of house crack a joke sent Harry into a fit of giggles all the way to the tent on the grounds, but seeing all the people who did nothing about him being in the tournament only soured his disposition. That once the wands had been weighed, the reporter from the Daily Prophet just kept trying to get him to do an interview with her out of sight of everyone else.

"Ms. Skeeter, I really don't think I should be alone with you," Harry stepped back with the full intent to remain where there were more witnesses.

Not wanting to let him put too much distance between themselves, Rita stepped forward and ran her nails along Harry's shirt. "I'm not afraid of the big bad wolf, he's more like… a puppy isn't he," reaching up to pinch Harry's cheek.

Smacking away her hand, Harry tried to turn around before he was blinded by the flash of a camera going off in his face. Stumbling back at the light and sound, Rita positioned herself to have Harry fall on top of her. "Ohh such a beast," Rita squealed and shoved Harry off her body.

While everyone in the tent clearly saw what happened. Rita had already grabbed her bag and pulled her photographer with her.

In the days following Harry was on the receiving end of glares from many in the castle for his 'assault' on Rita Skeeter. More columns in the paper were dedicated to the angry letters from readers who demanded Harry's removal from the school if not his outright disposal by the ministry.

Harry didn't even bother with going to Hogsmeade the following weekend because he didn't want to see how the nearby town was going to react to him, that and the first task was just a few days away and he was still recovering from last night's transformation. He had no idea what he would be facing and didn't even know where to begin preparing.

"What about the confundus charm?" Tonks suggested to Harry as she brainstormed ideas for spells he could practice. "At the very least it would give you a second to figure out what you're fighting against."

Harry nodded and tried to think of things he could do himself, but the problem of not being able to speak meant he couldn't verbalize any of his thoughts.

"Damn shame it's not happening right now, you'd just tear apart whatever they put in front of you," Tonks chuckled.

Wheezing out his own laugh Harry flicked his ears over to the door before cautiously moving away from it. This was Tonks first clue that someone was coming. Cracking open the door, she looked out expecting to see one of the professors instead it was Ron and Hermione. "Come on you two, you know that you can't be here," sighing while opening the door slightly more so they could at least look into the room.

"We know, McGonagall still won't let us visit but Ron knows what the first task is," Hermione quickly said before nudging Ron to step up, he had gotten distracted by seeing Harry as a werewolf for the first time.

"Oh right, yeah so one of my brother's Charlie-" Ron stammered trying to keep his focus, while Harry stared at him from across the room.

"Charlie, how's he doing?" Tonks asked out loud.

It took Ron a few seconds before realizing just where he knew Tonks from. "Wait I remember you now, you and Charlie used to date."

"Yup, I was wondering when you'd put that together," Tonks smirked before her face fell. "And we only broke up because he was going to Romania to work with the dragons and if he's… bloody hell Harry," turning to face the werewolf.

"You're fighting a dragon."


Harry was sweating heavily as Tonks sent another torrent of fire his way. "Can't you go- a little easy on me?" He asked while egorging some rocks in front of him to block the flames.

"Not a chance, if anything I need to be more aggressive," Tonks shook her head before sending cutting curses into the rock much like a dragon would claw away the obstacles.

"But I don't even know what I have to do against it," Harry pleaded while ducking out of the way.

"This is just so you can survive the first five seconds, after that you'll be able to figure out what you can do," Tonks said while blasting more flames his way. Hours of ducking and dodging would pass before Tonks was sure that Harry wouldn't die immediately when the fight started.

Just before the sun started to set, he was already on his way back to the room with Tonks when Harry noticed a group of Hufflepuffs walking past him. "Tonks, I uh, could you do me a favor?"

"Sup Hare–Bear," Tonks inquired.

"Could you maybe get word to Cedric and the other champions what the first task is," Harry asked hopefully. "It's just that, well it's not fair that I know what it is because someone else told me."

Tonks chuckled before noticing that Harry was being serious. "You aren't joking."

"No I'm not," Harry sighed as he stepped into the cage.

"Harry you're severely disadvantaged in this whole bloody thing and not just because you're a fourth year. You miss out on nearly three days a month of training for this damn thing and it's just," Tonks reached through the bars and waited for Harry to lean into it. "It's not fair. You have to go through so much every year and now this."

Harry rested his head against Tonks hand and for the first time in a long while the transformation didn't hurt as much.

"Fine, I'll make sure the rest of them know," Tonks relented while avoiding looking Harry in his big puppy dog eyes. "Let me just get one of the professors to watch you for a few minutes."

"Hey Ced, come with me," Tonks said as she strode through the great hall, having bopped him on the head to get his attention.

Fixing his hair he got off the bench without much fuss since Tonks had been one of his seniors for a few years he still felt the need to listen to her beyond her being an auror. "Sure thing, something going on?"

"Sort of, just doing a favor for Harry," smirking back as she continued down the line to the Ravenclaw table and tapped Fleur on the shoulder. "Need you to come with me."

That just left getting Viktor from the Slytherin table. "Superstar, you're needed elsewhere."

It wasn't exactly hard to figure out that the other Tri-Wizard champions were being gathered, so they all went along with this out of curiosity.

After leading the three to an out of the way room, Tonks clapped her hands together. "So I'm here to tell you what the first task is."

"Wait, you're part of the tournament staff?" Cedric questioned because he hadn't heard of that change yet.

"Nope, just as I said doing a favor to Harry, he figured out what you all will be facing in a few days and didn't think it would be fair to keep it to himself," offering a shrug in response. "So it's dragons."

Cedric's eyes widened in shock at the knowledge of what they would be put up against. He didn't think Tonks would make a prank like this. "But that's suicide."

"Hey, I didn't make the challenges and why aren't you two surprised?" Turning her head to look at the Bulgarian and French champions. "Because you two already knew."

"Yes," Viktor admitted. "My headmaster he came to me last night and told me what the task was. I did not want him to cheat for me, but he did so anyway and I had no way to stop him."

Fleur blushed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "My headmistress did the same, she said that your school's groundskeeper showed them to her."

"And I'm the only one who didn't know?" Cedric gasped. "Well how the hell did Harry figure that out?"

"Ron Weasley saw his brother Charlie on the grounds earlier," Tonks gave a sorry smile in response. "Since Charlie works at a Romanian dragon preserve it wasn't exactly that hard to figure out why he would suddenly be here."

"But why tell us this instead of keeping it to himself. He could have thought he had the advantage in the event?" Viktor inquired because he did not consider telling the other champions nor had Fleur come and told him.

Tonks just shrugged. "He's just like that. If he thought he had an unfair advantage he'd try to level the playing field as much as he could."

"But he's the one at the most disadvantage," Fleur responded in confusion that the youngest champion would not use everything he could to win.

"Ehh if he's still understating the things he told me he's done, you all might be surprised at what he can do," Tonks chuckled knowingly since Harry had been telling her what he had been getting up to the last couple of years. "Well I did my favor for the walking rug, gotta go back to keep him company and save him from whatever professor was sicced on him while I was gone."

"Oh you poor baby," Tonks cooed after shooing Sybil Trelawny out of the room. Harry just faked pained whimpers from having to be left alone with the drunken seer. "Did the mean old lush tell you the future?"

Harry nodded his head. "Such a rotten old witch. But I did tell Cedric, Fleur and Viktor about the dragons so you can rest easy knowing that at least they all know." Forgoing informing him that two of the other champions did already know what the task was.

It was a surprise to himself that the three real champions as he saw it had begun to take a shine to him. They greeted him happily in the morning of the task like a friend and chose to sit with him at breakfast saying they wanted to show comradery with each other in the tournament. That did quite a lot to calm his nerves about the trial he would be facing in a few hours.


So even though he ended up choosing the most dangerous type of dragon Harry was fairly confident about his chances going into the arena to steal the golden egg.

Apparently the dragon didn't get that memo about what Harry thought his chances were because this massive fire breathing beast charged at him the moment he stepped into the arena. The crowd was screaming and cheering at every duck and dodge from Harry. Until the screams of excitement turned into horror and panic when the chain keeping the dragon bound to the arena came apart with an audible snap.

It was only thanks to the training he had been putting himself through and his own reflexes that saved him from being trampled, but now the dragon had placed itself between him and the escape, so if he turned to grab the egg the massive beast would get him in the back and if he tried to flee he would have to do so by going through a dragon.

Clearly this creature was far more dangerous because it was clever, it was able to plan. It had a hatred for the wizards who had caged it and taken its eggs.

Harry started to crouch lower to the ground and kept his stare matching the reptile's. "What is he up to?" Tonks wondered having been invited to sit with the professors during the task.

"I believe he's challenging the dragon," Minerva answered. "He's feeling threatened and the dragon doesn't want him around her clutch."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Tonks stated nervously while watching Harry slow himself to a standstill.

Everything in the arena quieted down, and the only sound that could be heard was one's own breathing and the soft scraping of the large reptile's talons on the rocks. Then like a crack Harry lunged forward, drawing his wand and flinging a spell at the creature. The dragon roared and swung its dangerous spiked tail that Harry leaped over, landing in a roll to end up under the beast. "Depulso," Harry shouted and forced the spell out.

A concussive blast erupted from the tip, and knocked the dragon over, where it roared and clawed into the stone to gain purchase. Harry looked at the golden egg, his goal for the task, but the wolf in him saw weakness. "Harry no!" Tonks shouted to try and stop Harry before he went back into the fight.

Either he didn't hear her or he ignored it when he climbed on top of the dragon and started raining spellfire down on its defenseless body. The dragon writhed on the ground before stilling as it couldn't get up with the onslaught of spells it was under. Harry stood triumphantly on the dragon which laid its head on the rocks awaiting its demise. Pulling his wand back to deliver the final blow he stopped when he heard Nymphadora screaming his name.

"Harry please," Nymphadora screamed. "Don't do this."

Harry blinked his eyes and then looked away from the dragon to see the terror in Tonks' eyes as he finally realized what he was doing. Stepping off the dragon he slowly walked over to the nest and heard the dragon whimpering, the massive beast worried about what would be done to its eggs. Harry just picked up the golden egg and shuffled his way out of the arena.