Chapter 39: First Task
Thanks for all the reviews. Though I don't get as many as I would like on this fic, I do treasure the ones I get. It is not one of my well liked fics. Which is too bad, because it is one of my favorites. Remember it is the only payment I get.
Remember this is a fanfiction of a fanfiction. Go and read the original. Hers is much different than mine. You will enjoy it.
Also as of this chapter, I have over 50 stories on ffn, and 40 on AO3. For when there are lags in updates on this one.
HP-BTVS-HP-BTVS
Joyce was over the moon to realize that the other champions were magical Animagi. She knew that magic went wonky around Xander, and now she knew it went wonky around Harry too.
"You see, I told you so," she said a triumphant smile upon her face. She felt right proud of herself for being right about that.
"Yeah, yeah, you told me," Xander said, taking a seat next to her at the counter in the kitchen. They were simply sitting there, for lack of any better place to sit, since the living room was full of people trying to watch the telly. "You don't have to rub it in," he said, nudging her with his shoulder.
"Oh, but I feel vindicated," she said, nudging him back.
"Go ahead and gloat," he said, teasing her with a smile. It was good to see her so happy. He remembered the bad times back in Sunnydale when she was forever worried about Buffy. She had been so stressed back then. It was so hard to watch her be so upset about Buffy's calling. It could not have been easy being the mother of the Slayer.
"Okay, I'm done now," she said, still smiling that smile.
"So now that they're done training with us, we're just going to have them practice until the first task," he said, turning the topic to other things.
"Are you sure you're not going to teach them how to fly?" she asked.
"No, I'm going to keep that to myself and anything else that I learned," he said mysteriously.
"What else could you possibly learn?"
"The imagination goes wild," he said, making weird motions with his hands. And he picked up a spoon, and he bent it with his mind. It leaned one way then the other. Then just flopped down.
"Oh my," she said. "Wherever did you learn that?" she asked, very impressed with the feat.
"Picked it up from a movie," he said, straightening the spoon with his thoughts. "There are many things that I've picked up from movies. Don't tell Harry though. I don't want him to learn everything I know. I want him to learn things on his own, from watching the world around him. I've got a bunch of movies that I want him to start watching to see what he can think of with his own imagination."
"That's actually a really good idea if you can get the television away from the two soap opera fanatics," she said, jerking her head towards the living room where she could hear the two men arguing over the soap operas once again. The teens must have vacated the room.
"I was thinking of adding another room just for the kids. What do you think?" he said, looking at her pleadingly.
"Well, I am the magical embodiment of this school. I'm pretty sure I can add on another room," she said, giving him a wink.
"Thanks, Joyce, you're the best. What about adding on a movie room just for the students?" he suggested, going over something that had been running through his head for a while now.
"You mean for an extracurricular activity?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of a rewards program," he said.
"That's actually a very good idea. For Saturdays and Sundays?" she questioned, getting excited at the prospect.
"Yes, weekends."
"Well, we have the electricity so I don't see why we cannot," Joyce said, all but bouncing in her seat. She was much too dignified to do that, though.
"Well, how about someplace off the Great Hall," Xander suggested, thinking of the many places that might be the best place to have it. He wanted it were they could monitor it regularly. Not that there wasn't a place that Joyce couldn't see, but he wanted to make sure he could too.
"Alright, let's run it by Minerva and see what she says," the embodiment of Hogwarts stated, getting up and moving towards the door.
"Let's," the yellow-eyed man said, following behind her.
And with that, the two to track down the headmistress.
"Minerva, we have an idea that we wanna run by you," said Xander when they found her in the Head Office.
She was completely surrounded by parchmentwork. The Triwizard Tournament had increased her parchment work by threefold. He didn't understand why because there wasn't that much to be done about it. There were only three tasks. It wasn't like she had anything to do with them. But for some reason, it just seemed to bury her in parchmentwork.
"Oh," she said. "What could you possibly have to ask me about?" she asked, pushing aside her current piece of parchment.
"We wanted to have a movie night as a reward for those who have been behaving themselves during the week," Joy said, taking her perch on a chair in front of the desk.
"Movie," she said, rolling the words around on her tongue as if it were a foreign word to her.
"You know, picture show," Xander said, knowing she knew what a movie was, but just didn't seem to grasp that particular word.
"Ah," she said, like a light went off in her head. "Yes, I remember seeing those when I went into the muggle world. Did you want to show these to the children who have been behaving themselves? That sounds like an excellent idea. It would get them more adapted to the muggle culture."
"So, we have your permission to set up a room?" Xander asked. Though, he really didn't need her permission. It was his building. He wanted to make sure that he had her okay so that he didn't interfere with anything that was running the school.
"Yes, by all means."
"Alright. Joyce, set her up," the wolf-eyed man said, making a circular motion with one of his hands.
Joyce looked up at the ceiling for a minute and said, "Done."
"Okay, I'll go into the non-magical world and get the necessary equipment and be back in a jiff," said Xander.
And with that he winked away into the non-magical world and got the equipment that was needed to set up a regular theater. Along with as many films as he could snag. 15 BBFC and lower, with a few higher rated for the adults for later in the evening. That and there were quite a few people that were over 15. And if they were good enough, they would be able to watch them. He didn't want to shock anybody of the delicate nature. However, there were some that were okay enough to watch these shows. The Weasley twins came to mind, but their mother would die with shock if she knew.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
The theater was an instant hit for everybody who was not a diehard pureblood. Those that weren't supporters of pureblood supremacy thought it was an excellent idea and started behaving themselves. Homework suddenly was getting done in a timely manner and there were less fights in the halls.
The foreigners that were visiting Hogwarts were also able to enjoy the movies. They had a language barrier, of course, but they still enjoyed the films, what they could understand of them.
And time went on. The Weighing of the Wands happened. And it was quite a fiasco when Xander kicked Rita Skeeter out of the castle. Well, Joyce was the one who did the kicking, but Xander was the one that asked her to do it. Mostly because she wouldn't quit using her Quick Quotes Quill. He had asked her repeatedly not to use it. She contested, stating that it was the only quill that she had. He didn't believe her, so he kicked her out.
"That's going to come back and bite you in the ass," Joyce said, though she had taken great pleasure in kicking that woman out of her castle. She managed to put it into the wards that her Animagus was barred too. She didn't want that woman sneaking back in and getting her 'quotes'.
She knew all about her Animagus, of course, because she had done it here in the school when Joyce was half asleep. And just like James and his friends, Joyce knew everyone who had turned into an Animagus when they were here in the castle.
"And I'll come back and bite her in the ass," said Xander. He grimaced when he said that at the very thought because the woman was not an attractive woman.
"She is a member of the press," warned Sprout, who is there to support her champion.
"And I'm the Owner of Hogwarts, The King of the Goblins and the Guardian of the Boy Who Lived. I think I've got some clout too. I'm not too worried about some two-bit reporter," he said with a deep sneer.
"What is a two-bit reporter?" Sprout asked. Not familiar with the term.
"Don't worry about it," said Xander, waving away her question. "It just means she's not worth my time." If Rita decided she was going to make trouble, he would make sure that she knew not to mess with someone such as him.
And with that, the ceremony went on. Everybody's wand was in perfect order, so nothing happened outside of Bozo taking some pictures for the Daily Prophet. Though there would not be an article because Rita was not there, there would at least be some pictures and perhaps she could make something up, judging from the pictures.
Luna and Collin did an article for The Quibbler though.
The next day, Rita did slander him in the paper, and she did learn right quick that it was not the smart thing to do when he marched down into the office of the Daily Prophet and talked to Barnabas Cuffe.
"Hello, Barnabas," Xander said with a mirthful grin. He didn't even wait for the secretary to announce him. He just marched right in and sat in one of the chairs in one of Spike's boneless sprawls. He found people took him more seriously when he looked like he didn't have a care in the world.
"I know who you are," said Barnabas, trying to act tough and failing. There was just something about Xander that people just couldn't act more challenging than him. "And I don't want you in my office," he added, pointing a shaky finger at him.
"I don't think I really care what you want," said Xander, still in that boneless sprawl. "I want you to put a leash on your pet Animagus," he said, sitting up and taking notice. He leaned forward a little bit, just to make sure the other man was paying attention.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Cuffe, though there was shiftiness in his eyes.
"That's right, I said your Animagus, and if you don't keep a tight leash on her, I'm going to turn her in and you're going to lose your star reporter," Xander threatened. He knew that he was being a hypocrite and he also knew that there was jail time for unregistered Animagi.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Cuffe again. Now there is sweat forming on his brow.
"This is my last and final warning Cuffe. Keep her on the leash. I want a retraction printed in the paper tomorrow about my champion and myself or you're losing your star reporter by the end of the day. Do you understand me?" said Xander, getting up from the chair and heading towards the door. "And this is me being gentle. If this happens again, the cuffs are off."
He reached behind him and pulled out one of his larger knives and brandished it in front of him. Then he left the office, leaving the man sweating. The next day there was a retraction printed and there were no more discriminating articles after that. It seemed Cuffe took his threat seriously.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
The inhabitants of the 'house' got along better and better as the days went by. Thus far, it was Xander, Harry, Neville, Hermione, Luna, and Spike. Harry and Neville shared a room. Luna and Hermione shared a room. And Spike, of course, got the basement. And Xander, of course, got his own room.
Joyce, being the embodiment of Hogwarts, didn't need a room.
While Sal was a frequent visitor to the house, he did not stay in the house. He had his own set of rooms within Hogwarts which he was more than happy to stay in. It was set up by Joyce shortly after he joined the Hogwarts Staff. It was near the DADA classroom. He had a television there but enjoyed his fights with Spike too much to stay there in the evenings.
Now that the kids had their own TV room, where they could watch all of the videotapes that Xander had acquired, Spike and Sal were the only ones that argued over the soap operas in the living room. The teens were getting ideas off the films, just like Xander wanted.
Sirius and Remus were also constant visitors to the 'house'. They were both unemployed and had nothing better to do but visit Harry and his friends. They could only come on the weekends as to not disrupt classes. Remus lived in the village that was in the Forbidden Forest. While serious, lived in a house he purchased. He didn't live at #12 Grimmuald Place, but he kept it.
Tonks also came to visit once a month. She was still helping Harry with his Metamorphmagus. Even though he didn't really need it anymore, there were still some tricks of the trade that he needed to learn.
Xander and Amelia were still dating. They only got to go out at least twice a month instead of weekly. Both were rather busy with their careers. But they did get to speak on the phone as often as nightly. Though it was rather late at night as they both had very busy jobs.
And now it was time for the day of the first task. None of the champions looked overly worried. They still didn't know what the task was. Xander had forbade the two Heads to tell their contenders what it was. He made them take vows that they would not because he was not going to tell Cedric. He had caught them sneaking around the dragons and forced them to take vows. He wasn't going to let them cheat.
He had also nixed the use of real eggs in the task. He wanted to make sure that none of the unborn dragons were in danger. Yeah, it had been one hell of a fight between Crouch and him. He won due to his over dominating personality. Crouch was many things, but a coward was one of them. In the end.
"Alright, my little minions and guests, it is now time for the first task. Everybody get up and go out to the stadium that was built last night thanks to the wonders of magic," Xander said to the student body and the foreigners, after lunch was served and eaten.
"Yay," said a great deal of the students as they did just that. And everybody got up and started trooping out into the stadium that had been built.
"What do you think is going to happen?" asked Hermione as they walked the grounds with the other students.
"Well, since we're almost there, I can tell you right now that they're going to be facing dragons," said Harry, causing those around him to gasp.
"Dragons?" asked Neville, going pale at the thought.
"Yeah, dragons. Norberta has been telling me about them for ages," said Harry, with the casual shrug of his shoulders. He is quite used to hearing about them. By now he had been hearing about them for over a week.
"Norberta knows about them?" asked Hermione, looking in Harry's direction.
"Yeah, she's been flying out to the forest and talking to them ever since they've been here," said Harry. He didn't mention that Slinky was talking to them too, since Slinky was still a secret with the student body.
"How long have they been here?" asked Neville, still a bit pale at the thought that there were more dragons on the grounds of Hogwarts.
"About a week," said Harry, giving another casual shrug.
"And you didn't tell us?" inquired Hermione, a bit affronted that he didn't tell them. She thought he told them everything.
"I wasn't allowed to," said Harry, putting up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Xander swore me to secrecy." Which was completely true.
"Oh," the other two said, nodding their heads in understanding.
"Yeah, he told me that I wasn't allowed to tell anybody and to keep it a secret. So here we are, everybody's in the dark," said Harry.
"Do you think the champions know though?" asked Hermione, fretting with her hands.
"As far as I know, they do not," said Harry.
"Oh, that's gotta be awful," she said.
"It's supposed to make it much better," said Harry, though he didn't agree because if it was him, he'd want to know what he was facing right away and not go into the unknown.
"I don't see how that does," said Neville. "I'd hate to have to face something like that and not know about it," he added, echoing Harry's thoughts.
"I hear you," said Harry. They had reached the stadium at this point in time and went to find some seats. They found some way up high where they could see better, but everything in the stadium looked really, really small, so Harry got out his Omnioculars. Hermione and Neville didn't have any. But Harry said he would share his with them.
Luna was sitting with Xander today as part of the press. She was so excited to be a part of the Judges' booth.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
In the tent, Xander was with the three champions, along with Bagman and Crouch. The other judges were in the booth with Luna. Bagman was holding out a bag for the contestants to pick their dragons.
"Now we pick out what you will be facing for the first task," Bagman said with a mischievous grin, as if he had a secret that he was about to share. "Ladies first," he said, holding the bag to Fleur.
Fleur put her hand in the bag and picked out a dragon. She looked at it, and her hands started shaking. She had been studying creatures, but she didn't think she would be facing a dragon. She had been studying things like griffins and manticores. Hers was the #2. It was the Chinese Fireball.
The other two champions paled as well.
Krum put his hand into the bag and pulled out a dragon as well. His was #1. His was the Swedish Short-Snout.
Cedric put his hand in the bag, and he pulled out a #3. His was the Common Welsh Green.
"Yes, well now the champions have pulled out their dragons, we can get started," said Bagman, still grinning like a fool. "Your task is to get the golden egg away from the dragon. You do not have to kill the dragon or face it in combat in any way. You just have to sneak past it and grab the golden egg."
"See, you guys, a piece of cake," said Xander, clapping his hands together as if it were as simple as he was saying.
"Very well, champions, good luck to you," said Crouch as the two ministry officials left the tent.
"Don't worry, guys, you've got this. Remember what we've taught you," said Xander. He looked at them and they were all pale and shaky and said one more time, "Remember what we've taught you. You've got this." He looked each of them deeply in the eyes, as if reminding them one more time what they had been taught. He then left the tent.
That seemed to snap them out of their shock.
Viktor squared his shoulders and started thinking about how he was going to face his Swedish Short-Snout. There were many things he could do with phasing and winking that could help him survive the dragon.
When the cannon sounded, Viktor went out and faced the dragon. He stood at the entrance of the enclosure for a moment and looked at what he had to deal with. Then simply winked to the golden egg, picked it up, and winked back out before the dragon even knew he was there. He held up the golden egg to show that he had it and went back to the tent. And that was it. It was boring, so quick and simple.
The crowd went wild. Well, half of them booed for such a boring task and the other half went wild.
The judges simply blinked.
"How do we score that?" asked Bagman, still blinking at the suddenness of the end. He didn't even get to commentate; it was over so quickly. The mic was still on, so everybody heard their conversation.
"'e got the egg," said Madame Maxime, waving her many jeweled hands. To her it was a simple thing. He did his job. He did magic. He got a full score.
"He used magic," said Karkaroff. He agreed with Madame Maxime.
"We have to score him on his ability to get the egg without getting hurt," said Dumbledore. He agreed with them, but he was sorely disappointed in the champion's lack of style. If there was one thing Dumbledore was very much about, it was style.
"I say you give him a ten," said Xander, who was there as the owner of the school but not as a judge. Luna was sitting right next to him, jotting everything down with a pen. She wanted to make sure she captured everything so she could write it up in The Quibbler later.
"How can we give him a ten for something so lackluster?" said Crouch. "He was supposed to entertain the masses." He was obviously disappointed by the lack of entertainment.
"No, what he was supposed to do was get the egg. He got the egg. That is worth a ten," said Xander, turning his yellow eyes to the man's brown ones. He didn't like Crouch. He would never like Crouch. There was something very wrong with the man.
"Ze boy is right," said Madame Maxime, hoping to stave off yet another argument between the two.
"I'm not a boy," said Xander, grumbling under his breath.
"Neverzeless," the woman said, "Viktor Krum deserves ze ten."
"I could not agree more," said Karkaroff, he would have given his champion a ten whether he had done so well or not.
And with that, the two shot out a ten with their wands.
Dumbledore followed with a nine.
Crouch followed with a seven.
Bagman followed with a six, for which he got booed for.
Giving him a score of 42.
Fleur came out next. She used her telepathy and her Veela powers to put the dragon to sleep. She walked up and took the egg out of the nest. Again, another boring task. She too did not get hurt and simply walked out of the stadium.
The same argument was had, but she got a score of 43 because Bagman gave her a seven.
And then it was Cedric's turn. He decided to use phasing to see if the fire would go through him. This would turn out to be a bit of a mistake on his part, because while the fire did go through him, it was still very hot. So instead of trying that again, he started phasing through rocks. He started running through them while the dragon set them on fire. That got to be too hot too, so he too got the bright idea of winking to get to the egg and pulled a Viktor.
His score turned out to be a 41 because he got nine from Karkaroff and Maxime for almost getting hurt with the fire. Still, it was an entertaining task on his part compared to the other two.
So, with Fleur in the lead, the task was over. Everybody went back to the castle to celebrate. Nobody died, nor was anybody injured and even though the tasks were boring, they were over. Now all they had to do was send the dragons back to their reserves. And everybody would have a nice peaceful day.
"Dad, Norberta wants to go to the reserves," Harry told Xander later that night after dinner. They were sitting in the kitchen of the 'house'.
"Does she now?" Xander said. "Why does she want to do that?" he asked. He figured he'd knew the reason, but he wondered what Norberta had told Harry.
"She's bored here all by herself, with only Slinky and Fluffy to play with. She wants to be around her own kind," the teenage boy said, rubbing the side of his nose.
"If she goes, then Slinky will have nobody to talk to, except you and Sal," Xander pointed out.
"Slinky wants to go too."
"I think Slinky better talk to Sal about that," the wolf-eyed man said with a chuckle. He knew that wasn't going to happen.
"I don't know what to say. I don't want to lose my two friends," said Harry with a bit of melancholy.
"I can see Norberta going, but I don't think Slinky will be going anywhere," Xander said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He knew Harry hated losing people close to him, and to Harry, Norberta was people.
"Are you sure?" asked Harry. While he was happy for the dragon, he was sad to see her go.
"Yeah, it was fun having a dragon around, but she is rather lonely. Dragons are more communal creatures than I thought. While they're not pack animals, they do like to be around their own far more often than I thought they did," his father pointed out.
"Alright, I'll let her know that she can go back with them," Harry said, getting off the stool he'd been sitting on and heading towards the door.
"I'll talk to Charlie," said Xander, clapping his son on the back and heading towards the door too.
And the two went off to complete their tasks and soon enough Norberta was on her way off to the reserves with the rest of the dragons. Harry would very much miss his dragon. As would Hagrid. But at least she got to be around her own kind.