A/N - Obligatory disclaimer regarding the ownership of the entity that is Harry Potter and the wizarding world. I.e., it isnae me!

Chapter 6 - Time Doesn't Stand Still

When it came, Harry's introduction to Hogwarts potions was something of an anticlimax. His father had given him what he thought was a subtle warning (a description his mother may disagree with) about the potions professor, but Harry was determined to go in with an open mind.

Along with Hermione he made his way to the dungeons and took a seat at a station beside her as they all waited for Severus Snape to make his appearance. They didn't have to wait long before the bat-like professor swept into the class, his robes billowing behind him. Despite himself, Harry was impressed, that was a charm which he'd like to learn, just for shits and giggles as much as anything else.

Snape stood at the lectern and let his eyes swoop over the class, clearly pausing when they saw Harry sitting beside Hermione. Trademark sneer firmly in place he opened his mouth. "I see we have our newest celebrity with us. Whilst I am sure that Potter will fully expect me to single him out for special treatment, rest assured he will be treated exactly the same as the rest of you, I do not expect him to prove to be any more competent than the worst of you. Now, books out, page 42, the wit-sharpening potion, something many of you here so desperately need. Make sure you have a towel ready if you need one. Read, understand, collect your ingredients and BREW!"

Harry almost laughed. He was used to his mother teaching him potions, she would explain what each of the ingredients did, outline the steps, often go into detail why each step was important, and what could go wrong if any steps were missed or incorrectly executed. The thought that she would point him at a book and tell him to get on with it was laughable. Fortunately for Harry, the wit-sharpening potion was one he had already done, so after a review of the ingredients and process he sauntered off to the ingredients annexe (after getting Hermione to confirm where it was!) and started to quietly gather his ingredients. He was aware of the professor lurking just outside, but chose to ignore him as he made his way back to his station.

"I see the great Harry Potter thinks that a cursory glance at the book is all he needs." Snape's voice was just loud enough to carry throughout the classroom.

Harry looked at him and just shrugged. "Seems straightforward enough" was his only answer before he started to carefully cut his ginger root and add it, one chunk at a time to the potion base, noting with some satisfaction that the colour changed as he anticipated. Once the correct shade of green had been achieved he added the armadillo bile just as slowly.

Snape was watching him closely, waiting to jump on an excuse to criticise the son of that bastard James Potter who had the temerity to look at him with Lily's eyes. As the potion turned a textbook blue, he snorted. "It is just as well that this is such a simple potion, if even Potter can manage something which is bordering on being marginally acceptable, there's no excuse for the rest of you." Casting an eye around, he saw Ron Weasley thrown in a ladle of bile to a potion which already had too much ginger root and with an almost satisfied scowl, waited on the inevitable reaction. When Ron's cauldron started to bubble and foam he was over like a shot. "WEASLEY! Once again your incompetence astounds me. 10 points from Gryffindor for wasting valuable ingredients."

Ron's face darkened but after three full years of potions he knew better than to challenge Snape in any way. The class concluded in a similar vein, Snape was annoyed at Harry and Hermione both producing potions which exactly matched the textbook, and had found excuses to deduct more points from Gryffindor.

As they were exiting, Ron couldn't help but have a dig at Harry and Hermione. "Snape was right, bet you were expecting him to kiss your arse like all the other teachers have. Might explain why the know-it-all is hanging around with you, anything to get her tongue further up the teacher's arses too."

Hermione reddened with anger and embarrassment but Harry stopped her from responding with a look. "Jealousy will get you nowhere, Weasley. I'd refute your dumb assertions point by point but to be honest you just aren't worth the mental effort." At that Harry turned his back on Ron, a supreme insult in the wizarding world - it indicated that you didn't care that they had a wand which could be pointed at your back as you didn't think they had the wherewithal to do any damage with it. "We have free periods for the rest of the day, don't we?" he asked Hermione, completely cutting off Ron.

"Hey Potter, I wasn't done talking to you, you ignorant cunt!"

WIth a sigh, Harry looked at Hermione. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. For as much as my dad swears, that's one word he hardly ever uses."

Hermione nodded. "It's not your fault, Ron has always been... "

"I've always been fucking better than you is what I've always been" the red-head was starting to get enraged.

Again, Hermione was prevented from responding by Harry, this time by him placing his hand on her arm and giving an almost imperceptible shake of his head. Harry had noticed that save his lieutenants Finnegan and Thomas, everyone had backed away, fully expecting Ron to lose control.

"I see some people have delusions of grandeur" Harry said to Hermone, still ignoring Ron. "So, anyway, you want to…" he was cut off by a now screaming Ron.

"Don't fucking ignore me you absolute fucki…" This time Ron was cut off. Moving like quicksilver Harry had spun around and in one fluid move grabbed Ron by the throat and forced him against the wall. The slight upward motion Harry had made meant that Ron was having to stand on his tip toes.

"Now, I'm a guest here, so I'm not going to break the school rules which prevent magic in the corridor" he paused for a second and added "again" before continuing "but what I am going to do is give you a warning. Although if your little boyfriend on my right makes one more move I may reconsider." Harry had not moved his eyes from Ron's meaning Seamus was at a loss to figure out how Harry had sensed him moving toward him, that alone was enough to scare him into stillness.

The volume of Harry's voice was at the level of normal conversation but that was all that could be called normal about it. The tone and timbre had that voice laced with the promise of extreme retribution. "So far, the only people who have really pissed me off are you, Snape and Malfoy. Malfoy and his little coterie of idiots will get theirs, and after that, you are rapidly becoming numbers four, five and six on my shit-list. I'm not unreasonable though, so consider this your one and only warning. Leave me alone. Leave Hermione alone. Do that, and I don't have to leave you crying in the ashes of what used to be your life."

"You… you ca... can't … threat… threaten… me" Ron eventually managed to gasp out.

"No threat, Weasley. Not even a promise. Just a statement. A prediction if you will. Now, fuck off." This time Harry's voice was colder than ice. WIth a look of utter disinterest Harry let go of the gangly red-head who dropped to the ground. Once again turning his back on him, Harry's cold eyes scanned the rest of the group who had backed off even further. Not one of them would meet his gaze. He looked at Hermione, his eyes losing their cold sheen and returning to their normal sparkle as they caught hers, his voice once again warm and friendly. "So, want to go get something to eat before we decide what would be the plan for the rest of the day?"

Hermione could only nod as she contemplated what happened. She knew that Weasley, like most wizards, was no great shakes physically. The magical community relied on magic for almost everything so physical conditioning wasn't that much of a thing. Even quidditch players only focussed on their arm and grip strength as it was the broom after all which did all the heavy lifting. Magical metabolism also meant that most average wizards didn't have to worry about their weight until they got well into their 80s or 90s where they were prone to succumb to the magical equivalent of 'middle age spread'. Even so she was amazed at the speed Harry had moved and the ease with which he had dominated the slightly taller Ron. She was also astounded at how quickly Harry's entire demeanour changed. Hermione had questions.

Harry had picked up on this and tried to pre-empt some of them as they walked to the great hall. "I don't like bullies" he started "and Weasley certainly looks like he could be one. He sees himself as one of the Alpha males in his year, I'm pretty sure the rest of them seeing him shaking like a shitting dog will change at least some perceptions of him. Add to that the family history and you can see I have a bit of a short fuse. It's a shame, because from what I can gather, the two oldest Weasleys are pretty decent. They both moved away as soon as they were old enough from what dad told me. He kept in touch with what was going on in the UK when we were away."

As they took their seats for lunch, the two chatted away, Hermone asked the questions she thought she would get away with and Harry answered them honestly. Before long they had strayed away from the incident and were deep in conversation about magic, one which continued all the way back to the head suite. When they got there they found it unoccupied, but sat down and kept talking anyway.

The suite was empty for two reasons. Firstly, Lily was meeting with Amelia to try and work out a strategy for the reintegration of the Potters into magical society (at least on a temporary basis) whilst James had gone for a wander, not really caring about the whole societal thing, despite being brought up as an integral part of it. He had taken a trip down memory lane and was currently meandering the grounds, instinct and muscle memory silently steering him in the direction of Hagrid's garden.

Hagrid's garden was legendary in Hogwarts for two reasons. Firstly, the variety and size of plants and vegetables grown there were spectacular even by magical standards and secondly, said giant plants offered plenty of hiding places meaning it was an eternally popular location for courting couples. The plants coming to the end of their bloom were not the only things regularly deflowered in Hagrid's garden. James of course had never taken advantage of anyone although he did enjoy a few clandestine trips with Lily once they had started dating. For all his brusque manner James was in many ways a gentleman. Before his proposal he had never gone further than some seriously epic kissing and his wedding night with Lily was his first experience of a naked witch, unlike his best friend, his brother in all but blood, Sirius Black, self proclaimed lothario, playboy, rake, you name it.

James was snapped out of his reverie by the booming voice of Hagrid himself. "James! Good t' see yer! I'd 'eard 'bout you comin' back."

A smile automatically crept across James' face as he welcomed the oversized groundskeeper. "Hagrid! You have not changed in the least! I was out wandering and found myself here, I'm so glad I did though, how have you been my friend?

"Ahhhh, ya know, stressed with all this tournament stuff"

"Why are you stressed?"

"Yer know, I can't right say, 'less I give summat away, but yea, tryin' to shift the pens around for the fourth drag…" A large hand clamped itself over an equally large mouth. "See, I shouldn' 'ave said that!"

James' eyes widened. "You were about to say dragons, weren't you?"

Hagrid looked like he was going to cry. "I shouldn' 'ave said anythin'. I'll get into trouble."

"No you won't. I'm certainly not going to say anything." The wheels were turning in James' mind. "Although, if I was to presume that there were no dragons here a few weeks ago, and there won't be any dragons here in a few weeks time, would I be too far off the mark?"

Hagrid just shuffled his feet and looked at the ground. "Well, I can't right say…"

"It's ok my friend, I understand. I will say no more! Now, how about a cup of tea and a catch up?" In reality, James was desperate to get back to the castle the process what he had learned, but knowing that Harry was in class and Lily was off doing, well, whatever, he forced himself to spend an hour in Harid's hut, making small talk that he would later not be able to recall in any way, shape or form. There was one word which kept rattling around his mind.

"Dragons."

When James returned to the suite he wasn't surprised to see Harry and Hermione talking animatedly about charms, a subject both loved. Harry looked up and immediately saw that something was troubling his dad. "What is it?"

James looked at the two and managed a small smile. "Hermione, please don't think I'm being rude, but there's something I need to speak to Harry about. Would you mind?"

Hermione had also picked up on James' demeanour and instantly stood, saying that it wasn't a problem. She looked at Harry who shrugged. "I'll get in touch later" he said.

"How?"

A smirk from Harry. "Wait and see!"

After Hermione had left, James called for Trixie. "Where's Lily?"

"Mistress Lily is with Ami, Master James. Does Master James need Mistress Lily?"

James nodded. "Please, can you get word to her to floo back as soon as."

Harry interjected before the house elf could disappear. "Trixie, can you also do me a favour when you can?" Trixie had spent almost half her life at Hogwarts and had often seen how students treated house elves, more often than not as glorified butlers at best, or as slaves at worst. Both James and Lily had instilled a deep rooted respect for house elves into Harry, something which made summers a glorious time for the Potter elf, a time where she could meet up with her master and mistress as she wasn't needed at the castle. She had watched Harry grow up, had watched him become powerful and thrilled in being surrounded by the young future-master's magic. She had been with the Potters when poor Dobby had dropped his bombshell at the feet of Harry, before dropping himself. She had felt the visceral reaction that the young future-master had at the death of the elf he barely knew. Trixie would obey her master and mistress regardless, it was the duty of a good elf after all, but she would find a way to re-float Leshp if it would make her young future-master happy.

"Oh course Master Harry." She blushed at the pained look on Harry's face every time she called him 'master'. It was part of the magic, she couldn't help herself and know that Harry understood, even if it made him uncomfortable.

"Can you keep an eye on Hermione, or arrange with any other Gryffindor loyal elfs to help you?"

"Of course Master Harry. Would this be to make sure that the Weasel doesn't hurt Miss Hermione?"

James almost forgot about the dragon at this. With a pointed look at his son, he asked what the elf was talking about. Harry gave his father a quick summary of the incident outside potions as Trixie popped off on her mission to retrieve Lily.

"So what's this all about?" Harry's curiosity was always at the front of things.

"When your mum gets here we will talk."

It took 15 minutes for LIly to reappear. She took one look at her husband before her opening statement mirrored her son's from earlier. "What is it?"

"I think I know what the first task is going to be. It's fucking dragons. The bastards are going to make the champions face fucking dragons."

Lily paled and Harry looked blank. "How do you know?" asked the witch.

James then recounted his conversation with Hagrid, adding in his own thoughts. "From what Hagrid said, the dragons have been brought early to acclimatise, and there are plans in place to have them returned to the dragon sanctuary after the task, so that rules out having to actually fight one to the death, it's more likely that the champions will have to… Know what, I don't fucking know."

Lily had sat down with a thump. Her mind racing. "Gringotts use dragons as guards, protection. Maybe they are going to be guarding something? The task being to retrieve that something?"

"Possible. We are going to have to see if we can find anything out, but we can't be obvious about it."

Harry spoke for the first time since his mother reappeared. "Hermione can help." His voice was quiet as the magnitude of the task he was going to have to face washed over him. "She and I can research in the library, see if there's a potted history of the tri-wizard tournament, lists of tasks and the like."

James looked like he was about to disagree when his wife spoke up. "A good idea. The girl is a knowledge machine, I'm growing to like her, but you have spent more time with her. Can you trust her?"

Harry looked his mum straight in the eye. "Yes,"

- oOoOoOo -

The day after the fraught conversation with his parents Harry had told Hermione about what they had discussed. Hermione looked like she was going to cry before steeling herself and pledging her help to Harry and the rest of the Potters. In the intervening weeks, life had settled into a kind of routine. Harry and Hermione were side by side in most classes except History of Magic which Hermione had dropped in favour of extra time in Runes and Arithmancy, her argument being that Professor Binns wasn't teaching anything which couldn't be picked up from a book, and that her time would be better spent on other things. . For his part, Harry had taken to the classes well, potions he thought was a joke, but his favourite had rapidly become Defence, with former auror Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody. The gnarled old professor threw hexes and curses around with abandon, his class was almost wholly practical, his assertion that 'if all you princesses want to read how to fight, you can do it on your own time'.

Harry's two principle nemeses had been keeping themselves to themselves. Malfoy had been wary since being outclassed in their impromptu duel, whilst true to Harry's prediction, Ron's standing in Gryffindor had taken a bit of a beating. Both were hoping that the interloper would get his arse handed to him during the first task.

The three Potters and Hermione had been looking through histories of the tournament which had cemented the idea that they would have to retrieve a prize from the dragon. For his part, Harry had been trying to engage with others, with some limited success with the Ravenclaws and of course, Neville. It was during a walk with Neville, Hermione being in one of her extra classes, that Harry found himself going down to the quidditch pitch. Organised quidditch had been cancelled, but there had been talk of a pick-up game. The two boys were milling around when they heard one of the players.

"The problem is we are short a seeker. Cho can't make it, she's got a thing on with… actually I don't know."

Harry spoke before he could stop himself. "I've played seeker before. Just in bounce games with a bunch of people including my dad…"

The first boy to speak spun round to see who had answered his prayers. His face fell a little when he saw it was Potter but nonetheless, any seeker was better than none. The rest of the Ravenclaw team was playing a make-up team of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, so they should be able to stretch it out enough to have some fun, even if Potter was rubbish.

"I'm Roger Davies, captain of the Ravenclaw team." Harry automatically held out his hand in introduction which Davies just as automatically shook. "Look, I know this is just a pickup game, but we take quidditch seriously here."

"I know, my dad won the cup as a chaser for Gryffindor when he was at Hogwarts."

Davies looked like he was still torn. "Ok, grab a jersey and we need to get you a broom…"

"TRIXIE" The house elf popped into being beside her favourite person.

"Yes Master Harry?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Would you mind getting my broom, please? Dad brought it with him, it's in the room somewhere." The assembled throng were either open jawed or sniggering at the way Harry was speaking to a house elf.

Trixie nodded and returned moments later with Harry's broom in hand. Davies looked over it approvingly.

"Firebolt. That's some broom. Most of us have Nimbus 2001 or Cleansweep nines or tens."

"I had a Nimbus 2000 before this."

Harry was quickly introduced to the rest of the Ravenclaw team, and to the opposition who included the opposing seeker, a certain Cedric Diggory. The two champions had not spoken since the night of the drawing, Hufflepuff in general was giving Harry the cold shoulder for, as they put it, stealing the thunder of their 'real' champion. Harry didn't care, but didn't go out of his way to antagonise any of them.

"So you decided you had to take me on here too?" Harry couldn't tell if the older seeker was joking or pissed so just shrugged.

"I just said I can play seeker, didn't know who was playing."

Diggory nodded. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because you are also a champion."

"Fine with me. I'm used to it, when I play bounce games the others seem to forget it's not the world cup."

The time for small talk was over, and the teams took their positions on the pitch before the balls were released and the game was under way. Harry had lost track of time as he both shadowed and was shadowed by the other seeker. The game raging around them was fairly even, both teams had spells in the ascendency and as far as Harry could work out, it was around 140 each. He thought the game had been going for 90 minutes or so, but couldn't be sure, when he decided to cut loose a little on his broom. Until then he'd been almost literally playing it by the book, cycling through standard search patterns. Time to see what this Diggory was made of, he thought.

Harry pushed his magic into the broom and shot off toward the Hufflepuff goal. Diggory followed, thinking that Harry had seen something, a feeling reinforced when Harry dropped out of the sky and tore toward the ground at a rate of knots. The older seeker was hot on his heels as Harry continued his crazy descent, flattening out into a barrel-roll and then pulling back up at the last minute. The older seeker had been piling on the speed to keep up with the younger, lighter and marginally faster boy and couldn't quite pull up in time. He hit the ground almost horizontally and was thrown from his broom. He couldn't believe what had happened. Potter had pulled off a Wronski Feint. A modified one at that! After a couple of minutes to check that nothing was broken, Diggory re-mounted his broom and took back to the skies.

"Where the fuck did you learn that?" Diggory had rejoined the other seeker and was part pissed off, part incredulous and part impressed.

"I saw it done in a game I watched with my dad, I reckoned I could do it, so I had a go next time I was on my broom. I made a complete arse of it, broke both arms and a leg. Mum was pissed!" Harry's eyes had never stopped scanning the pitch as he was talking and they had caught a glimpse of gold. Without a pause he flattened himself along the shaft of the broom and took off toward the Ravenclaw goal. Diggory paused for a fraction of a second but that was all it took for Harry to have a lead on the snitch. The little golden winged ball fluttered back and forth but Harry's focus was laser like. The snitch tried flying up and behind a goal post, but the green eyed seeker was relentless. The opposition beaters firing a bludger at him barely registered as he homed in on his target. One final burst of speed and a hand flashed out before Harry shot straight up, one arm raised in triumph, one beaten snitch in his hand.

The rest of the Ravenclaw team roared in triumph as Harry flew lazily back toward the group, intercepting Diggory on the way. The Hufflepuff was magnanimous. "That was some flying Potter. Not going to lie, I'm glad you aren't on a house team."

Harry smiled at the older boy and came to a snap decision. "Hey, Diggory before we go back. Do you know what the first task is?" Diggory looked suspicious but shook his head.

"Go out way past the magical creatures reserve, there's a vale out there. There should be four dragon pens. They are there for the first task. We think we are going to have to steal something from one of them."

Diggory looked stunned. "Are you shitting me?"

"Nope. Dad was speaking to Hagrid who let it slip." That was enough to make Diggory take notice. Hagrid's lack of filter was legendary.

"Ok I will see if I can sneak out. Why are you telling me this?"

"It seemed fair. Dad found out more or less by accident, so it would be unfair to keep that to myself, especially given that I don't give a damn about the tournament." Diggory stopped for a second, contemplating his young opponent. If what Potter had just said was true, he would be at an advantage. Diggory may have been a Hufflepuff, raised to see the value of loyalty and fair play, but he was also Amos Diggory's son, and thus taught from the pram that any advantage freely given should be exploited.

As he caught up with Harry, the two seekers rejoined the rest of the group which had been enlarged by the addition of more students and a few adults. Four of those in question were known to Harry. Seeing mirth in his father's eyes, annoyance and a hint of anger in his mother's and something he couldn't quite place in Hermione's he made his excluses and ambled over to where the trio and Neville were waiting.

Surprisingly, it wasn't his mother who was first to comment. "HARRY POTTER what were you doing?" Hermione's yell was unexpected and caused James to have to bite his lip to stop from laughing. "I was looking for you and bumped into your parents, they said that you had got your broom so must be flying. We got here just in time to see you fall out of the sky! I thought you were going to crash into the ground and kill yourself!" Harry was expecting a verbal onslaught although he was sure it would be his mum who delivered it. What he wasn't expecting was to find his arms locked to his side and his vision obscured by a mass of hair. As soon as he was in range, Hermione had pinned him into a hug.

A few seconds later he was released and both teens automatically blushed. James had a broad smile and was still trying to stifle his laugh, whilst Lily was looking open mouthed at the two teens. She had planned to shout at Harry, her choice of words wouldn't have been too much different from Hermione's but she had been beaten to it. That wasn't going to stop her having her say though, no matter how flushed the two youngsters looked.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself young man? Hermione asked a question. What do you think you were doing?"

'That's more like it' Harry thought. "It's the first time I'd played such an organised game, even if it was a bounce game. I needed to see what level I was up against. They were good, very good. Diggory almost flew out of the feint."

This earned Harry a half hearted cuff on the shoulder from his mum before she too pulled him into a hug. It was James who had developed a thoughtful look on his face who spoke next however. "Come on, let's go back to the room, I've had a thought…"

- oOoOoOo -

It seemed like no time at all had passed before the morning of November 24th came around. The date of the first task. On the evening of the 23rd, five individuals went to their respective beds in Hogwarts and promptly proceed to fail to get much in the way of sleep. The same was true on the Durmstrang ship and the Beauxbatons carriage.

Four of the Hogwarts contingent met for a simple breakfast in the suite. Harry looked pale, as did his parents. Hermione when she joined them looked just as bad. Each had a redness to their eyes which confirmed the mutual troubles the previous evening. Conversation was sparse. The four had spent much time discussing plans, options, the best way to get Harry through the upcoming trial.

The silence was broken by a knock at the door. James rose to open it to find Professor McGonagall. Bidding her enter, a stifled sob escaped from the younger of the two other witches in the room. WIth a sad look around Minerva spoke. "Mr Potter, it is time."

Harry steeled himself and gave a curt nod. Making sure he had his wand, the only magical item he was allowed to walk into the arena with, he looked over at his parents. Lily stood and pulled him into a hug.

"Don't do anything stupid!" Harry just nodded.

Hermione was next. Since her first, very public hug, the young witch had given Harry other, less intense hugs from time to time, but this one was crushing. "Come back in one piece Harry. Please?" Harry nodded again.

"I will."

His father reached out and grasped his shoulder, also pulling him into a manly hug. "Do what you need to son. I'm proud of you."

Knowing words would fail him, Harry nodded for a third time and followed the deputy headmistress out of the room, not failing to notice that both women left behind were now sobbing.

The task itself wasn't for a couple of hours yet but the champions had to be corralled to receive their instructions along with their specially designed tournament robes. Krum's featured a brown tunic and trousers with a scarlet robe over the top. Delacour's clothes were all slight variations of the powder blue they wore on their arrival, the outer robes being a shade darker than the tunic and trousers. Diggory's were essentially a copy of the normal Hufflepuff robes, instead of being lined yellow, Diggory's tunic was a mustard colour, his trousers a few shades darker and his robes a brown-grey.

Harry had no school affiliation, no house affiliation, nothing to base a colour palette on. As a result his tunic and trousers were dark grey, his robes jet black. When he got into the changing room he didn't look into the mirror until he had fully changed. He startled at the figure looking back at him. The tunic was tight but free fitting, obviously charmed to allow maximum movement. The trousers similarly were fitted close to his legs, whilst the robe completed the ensemble. The figure looking back at Harry Potter resembled a warrior.

Returning to the communal area, Ludo Bagman gave the instructions. "Right, gather round chaps. Now, this is the first task. To complete the task, you must retrieve one of these!" WIth a flourish, he flicked a fabric cover off the table beside him to expose a golden egg. "Now this one is a dummy. In the arena, there are four real golden eggs. Each is being guarded by a nesting dragon." Bagman stopped to look around at the four competitors, expecting to find horror and terror. What he found was resignation and determination. "Erm, well, yes. Your task will be to retrieve the egg. The task will be complete once you have the egg and have returned past the start line. Any questions?" Silence. "No, good. A tent has been set up at the arena, when we get there you will draw the dragon you will face. There will be four model dragons, on the bottom of each model is a number. The model will represent the species, the number the position you will take, first to fourth. Good luck."

Four silent competitors trooped out of the room they were in and made their way to the tent which had a central room with four ante-rooms around the edge, one for each champion to sit in, compose their minds, make any last minute plans. Time ceased to have any meaning for the four of them. Harry was vaguely aware of the noise from outside increasing as the stands filled up. He heard Bagman's voice amplified introducing the task, the judges and finally the competitors. That was the cue to return to the central area.

As soon as Harry left the room he was in the noise increased. Bagman was holding some sort of microphone and a wizard Harry had never seen before was holding some kind of omniocular device.

"Excellent! The champions are here. Now for the drawing of the dragons! Ladies first, Miss Delacour, if you will?"

Fleur's hand entered the bag and came back out. "The Common Welsh Green. The number on the bottom is… TWO! Miss Delacour will be the second champion to attempt the task."

Fleur stepped back. "Next up is Mr Krum. Your dragon if you will!" Krum drew a Chinese Fireball with the number three underneath.

Cedric Diggory drew a Swedish Short-Snout with one on the bottom meaning he would be first to attempt the task. That meant there was one dragon, one champion and one position left.

"Mr Potter, if you would be so kind."

Harry grabbed the last remaining figure in the bag. "Oh, Mr Potter has really drawn the short straw! He will go fourth, but will be facing a Hungarian Horntail, reputedly one of the most fearsome dragons known, second only to the fabled and quite possibly mythical Draco Nobilis!"

Even in the tent, Harry could hear the gasps as he drew what was, without a doubt, a grade A bastard of a dragon. Up in the stands, in the area reserved for the special guests, James Potter was enraged, his wife distraught. Another witch currently in the Gryffindor section of the crowd was equally distressed. Unfortunately for the witch in question, she was within earshot of Ron Weasley.

"Ha! Potter is going to be fucking toast. That dragon will make mince out of him. It will take him in as potatoes and spit him out as chips." He caught Hermione out of the corner of his eye. "HEY BOOKWORM, hope you kissed your pissy boyfriend goodbye""

"Shut it Ron, you are making an arse of yourself and making the rest of us look bad." Neville had enough of Ron's taunting.

"Fuck off squib, just cause you want a ride at the liar who lived too." Fortunately for all concerned, Ron's ranting was cut off by the roar of the crowd as Cedric Diggory exited the tent and made his way to the start line.

The first task was about to begin.