The Serpent of Durmstrang
A/N: This is a rewrite of the Dragon of Durmstrang, where mistakes were made and are going to be corrected, while the story and writing will be improved. This is also my NaNoWriMo prep story, so all reviews are appreciated. Also, all my works are down at the moment. They will all be rewritten one at a time, so do not fret!
Chapter Ten
The day had been sunny, and had generally been a good day for everyone except for the respective champions of each school. The wand-weighing ceremony had been done relatively quick the week before, and now they were all gathered once more just by the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. The Ministry seemed to have built, quite quickly, a stadium to hold the first of the three tasks of the tournament. It was oval shaped, and about the size of a Quidditch pitch.
Before Harry had walked into the champion's tent, he could see how flimsy the stadium looked, and was surprised that it was able to be built in such a short time. Magic can do mind boggling and wondrous things, and this was definitely one of them.
Harry fought a shudder running through his body. He made sure to stay seated by one of the benches, opting not to stand like Cedric, who seemed to be pacing back and forth and muttering to himself. Fleur was also seated adjacent from him, seemingly staring really hard at the cold grassy ground.
The pressure in the room was intense, with Harry sweating and his palms clammy and white as a sheet. He was tapping his foot softly on a solitary pebble, making a random rhythm that even he would not remember by the time the event started. A soft breeze swept through the tent flaps, making Harry's stomach churn even more.
He had been practicing for this for the past few weeks. The bruises on his shoulders were a testament to that. While Professor Gregorovitch seemed to have taken their training to a whole new level, Harry was sure that he had been sapped out of all his magical reserved every after training. His lack of energy, and grogginess usually marked the end of every session. Overall, Harry was still not sure if he could do this, after all, dragons were not meant to be faced one on one.
As he watched Cedric pace back and forth, unconsciously scratching his head as he tapped his wand on his thigh. He was certain that Fleur had been preparing to face a dragon, since Madame Maxime had informed her subtly about the task. Highmaster Karkaroff has sent him books about the subject, which clued him quite blatantly. However, he wasn't sure how inclined the Hogwarts staff are at cheating. He had thought about telling the sandy-haired teen, but with all the training and some of the classes he had decided to still attend, he had forgotten about it all together.
"Gather around, champions," a man wearing a bowler-type hat entered the tent, along with the Heads of each school. Dumbledore went towards Cedric and patted the boy on the shoulder, while Madame Maxime favoured Fleur a rare smile. His own Highmaster merely stood beside him, as gaunt as ever.
"The first task is all about testing your courage in the face of tantamount adversity. In this bag," Crouch untied the small satchel hanging in his hip and gave it a shake, "are three miniature dragons. Each champion will take turns randomly choosing one. Whichever you choose will determine your turn placement."
Crouch paused, watching each of the competitors eyeing the small bag he had in his hand. However, he failed to see any surprise from any of them besides the Hogwarts champion. He shook his head, having some idea as to why, "You will face the dragon you have chosen, but your task is simply to take the golden egg in its nest. All magic save Dark or the Unforgivables are allowed. Now, if you'd please Mister Diggory?"
Cedric shuffled forward, and slowly reached into the bag. He winced, before seemingly grabbing onto one of the miniatures and pulling it out.
"Ah, the Swedish Short-snout. You'll go first, Mister Diggory," then turning to Fleur, Crouch continued, "Miss Delacour?"
Fleur eyed the small bag, and was hesitant to put her hands in. With a long breath, she finally reached in and quickly caught one.
"Oh ho! The Common Welsh Green, that'll be a challenge. You'll be in second," Crouch announced, before finally turning to Harry, "Last but not the least, Mister Potter."
Harry didn't hesitate at all, and simply snatched up the last occupant of the small bag. He felt a sting, and opened his enclosed palm revealing a spike-adorned dragon, menacingly roaring at everything.
"The Hungarian Horntail, you'll be the last one then, Mister Potter," Crouch looked at Harry his beady eyes, before rounding towards the rest of the group, "At the sound of the cannon-"
Boom!
"-the first contestant will make their way out," Crouch finished his sentence as though the cannon had not fired at all, "Mister Diggory, if you'd please," motioning for Cedric to get to the exit that led to the stadium.
Cedric took his place and stood by the tent flaps as the heads of the school plus Mister Crouch and a disgruntled looking Ludo Bagman walked out first to take their seats in the judge's podium.
"You alright, Fleur?"
Fleur glanced at Harry, giving him a small smile. Her eyes had bags under them, while her hair was messy, which was a sight not commonly seen with Fleur, who always looked immaculate. She had given up staring a hole through the ground, and instead was inspecting her wand and polishing it at the same time.
"Nervous...how about you?"
"Very nervous, my hands are shaking, see?" Harry opened his clenched palms to show just how pale they were, and the cold sweat that coated them, "We'd be stupid if we weren't nervous at all."
"That's true," Fleur gave Harry an uneasy smile, "Do you have a plan, at least?"
Harry nodded, "I've been trying to get it to work, hopefully it's successful."
"Wait, you're not sure?"
"Well," Harry scratched the back of his head, "everything will depend on circumstance, I suppose."
"Just...be safe, okay?"
"You too, Fleur," Harry replied, and with a nervous grin, he continued, "I'm not sure if it's just my nerves talking, but I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade sometime after this task?"
"Ask me that after you come back...alive," Fleur gave him a small smile, and Harry nodded enthusiastically. That was better than he had expected, and it gave him the motivation he will need to pull his strategy off. He needed to come back alive, after all.
There was a roar from the stadium, which Harry assumed was Diggory successfully getting the egg. Up until now, there had been no sound coming from the stadium, and the only other sounds that had been allowed to filter in was the cannon.
True enough, after a minute or so, the cannon shot blasted once again, and Fleur was immediately up on her feet. She gave Harry a small wave, before taking a deep breath and walking through the tent flaps that led to the stadium.
Harry watched her leave, and could see her steps were rigid. He couldn't blame her, facing a dragon was never meant to be a task for one witch or wizard. Harry couldn't shake the feeling of worry though, and had stood up and started pacing as he waited for the cheers and screams that went with Fleur successfully finishing the task. There was a tiny voice in the back of his mind that was telling him to take a peek, but he squashed it down immediately. The champions were instructed to not peek, or else face a huge penalty. Harry was not going to chance it, and put all of his faith in Fleur to finish the task safe and sound.
A loud cheer resounded through the tent once again, and Harry couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief. His heart had been pounding so hard that he felt it might just burst out of his chest as each minute went by waiting the cheers that told him Fleur had succeeded and survived.
Taking another deep breath, Harry stood up and started his way towards the exit. He started stretching his legs, loosening up the muscles as much as he can. With the plan he had in mind, he had to be in his best shape, or risk being barbecued at best, dragon food at worst.
"And here comes our final champion, Harry Potter!" Harry could hear the announcement by Ludo Bagman, and slowly made his way out of the the tent.
The sunlight hit Harry on the face, and he had to block it out with his left hand, while his right had his wand already at the ready. He could hear the crowd cheering and screaming as he finally stepped through the small opening into the stadium. From what he could see, the whole place was covered in rock outcrops, creating what looked like a jagged deathtrap.
Across from Harry, he could see the Hungarian Horntail, with it's shimmering black scaled, and yellow eyes with vertical pupils. The dragon had bronze horns and similarly coloured spikes that protrude from its long tail which Harry knew he had to watch out for. From what he could see, the dragon was observing his every move, watching with one of its eye as its head was turned sideways. Below the dragon, Harry could see the next with the golden eggs smack in the middle of it, surrounded by the other eggs of the dragon.
Slowly, Harry made his way to his right, keeping an eye on the dragon that seemed to be more interested in doing the same. He flicked his wand and quickly summoned his broom, before continuing his trek towards the bigger rock outcrops.
The Hungarian Horntail seemed to be interested in him, but was more preoccupied with guarding her eggs. Harry didn't complain, and instead started casting blasting curses at the huge boulders around him, dislodging some and making smaller chunks. This seemed to be too much for the dragon, especially with the huge explosive sounds reverberating around the stadium.
The Horntail finally stood up from its position, and faced Harry, placing herself in between her nest of eggs. Eyeing Harry, the dragon roared loudly, shaking Harry and making him stumble. He held onto a pillar of stone to keep himself up, and kept blasting the stone around as he kept moving.
Without warning, the dragon stood up on her hind legs and bellowed out loud. Harry was stunned for a moment, before realizing what was going to happen, and immediately ducked to take cover. In less than a second, the huge boulder he had taken refuge behind had become so hot that Harry had to disengage from it. As the dragon fire ebbed away, Harry could only steel himself as he saw the huge boulder had been melted halfway by the stream of dragon fire.
"This better work, or I'm definitely dead," Harry grumbled, as he used the dragon trying to recover herself from breathing a huge stream of fire to keep moving and blasting the rocks around him. He was leaving a trail of small to medium dislodged boulders as he went, and he was now halfway across the stadium from where he had started.
The Hungarian Horntail followed his every move, but not withholding any dragon fire. For Harry, it had felt like almost an hour had passed, but in reality only a few minutes have gone by since he had started his massive Bombarda spell chain. He was sweating really hard, his back was drench, and his front was no better. All the spell casting had taken a toll on his body, and his broomstick was nowhere in sight still.
Just then, a whistling sounds could be heard from above the stadium. Towards the Black Lake side, he could see his broom zooming towards him, and he could only hope that he had made enough rubble for the spell he had wanted to use.
On instinct, Harry held his hand out and his broom planted itself on his palm. His Firebolt was a sight for sore eyes, and quicker than ever, he mounted and zoomed up into the sky. From his vantage point, he could see the crowd had been cheering, at least in action because he could hear nothing from them. It seems there was a silencing barrier across the stadium, which deafened sound for the champions.
As Harry flew around the stadium, the dragons eyes never left him. With another roar, the Horntail suddenly reared back and shot another burst of flames at Harry, which he narrowly dodged as the held onto his broom with one hand, and the other still had his wand gripped tightly.
Harry finished his dodged roll, and quickly whipped his wand in a circular motion and shot his spell down into the pile of dislodged boulders and rock fragments. Slowly, the ground started shaking, and all the stones started levitating, and coming together in en masse. After connecting together, the stones became an elongated mass of boulders, which then started transfiguring into a giant serpent. The skin still resembled the stone it was transfigured from, retaining the mass, weight and composition. The snake head looked like a jigsaw puzzle of rocks and stones, but moved seamlessly as though it were not made of such material.
The giant stone snake reared its head at the dragon, and quicker than what most would think a creature of such size and weight could do, it slithered towards the dragons and started wrapping itself around the creature.
Harry watched with awe, as he finally performed the spell he had been preparing for the last few weeks. He had gotten the idea from Slytherin house, especially since he had been subjected to their crests every single week day. He had been tipped off by his Highmaster about the stadium and its specifics, which led to him realizing that he could use the stones and boulders to his advantage.
If someone asked Harry if this was possible a year ago, he would have probably said no. Transfiguring multiple objects into a single mass was supposedly impossible in the eyes of general Transfiguration practitioners. Now, with all of Petyr's tutelage, he had been proven wrong, and he was never happier.
As the snake finally coiled itself fully around the dragon, rendering it immobile, Harry flew down towards the nest and quickly snatched the golden egg that was situated in the middle of the nest.
The dragon was still eyeing him with rage as it thrashed around, trying to get free of the large stone snake that had it pinned down. The snake hissed violently in return, and squeezed harder, making the Horntail roar in misery.
Harry felt himself getting weak, so he got onto his broom once more, and zoomed towards the exit. Just as he touched down, he looked back and saw the dragon being subdued by twelve witches and wizards. The dragon keepers, if he was correct, from Romania. His own stone snake creation started crumbling, since its caster had little magical power left within him.
"You did good, Harry," Professor Gregorovitch smiled, before catching Harry as he lost feeling in his legs.
Harry returned the smile, "All thanks to you, professor."
"Move! Move!" a matronly nurse pushed herself into the tent and saw Harry leaning on his professor. She quickly motioned for them to follow her.
Petyr quickly had Harry lean on him as a crutch as the three of them started towards the tent next over. After walking into it, Harry could see a smiling Fleur, while Cedric seemed to be in bed with half his body wrapped in bandages.
"Over there, lie him down," the nurse pointed to the third and only unoccupied bed as she busied herself towards a medical cabinet.
Harry was gently seated onto the bed, and he lied down, his body thanking him for it. He couldn't even lift a finger at this point, and his eyes were being held open by sheer will. He glanced towards Fleur, who seemed to be in good shape except for the bandages around her ankle.
"Here, take this," the nurse handed him a green-ish potion, which he immediately drank. He had a few run-ins before with Pepper-up, and he never liked the taste, but he can't argue that the effects were astounding. In less than a few minutes, Harry felt his energy coming back, and he sat up, to the chagrin of the nurse.
"Magical exhaustion, Mister Potter," the nurse commented, as she checked his temperature, "You'll do well with some bed rest today and tomorrow."
Harry nodded, and the nurse quickly went towards a groaning Cedric. Harry propped himself up, and smiled at Fleur, "How did you do?"
"Not too bad. I was able to charm the dragon to sleep. But," Fleur pointed to her bandaged ankle, "the bastard snorted fire and burnt my uniform and my ankle in the process."
"Really?" Harry grinned, "Well, I beat you then! See, no injuries!"
"Magical exhaustion, Mister Potter," Fleur poked him on the chest, "that counts!"
"Nuh-uh!"
Fleur only shook her head, and a familiar silence came upon them. The task had been really dangerous, and from what had happened to Cedric, being unprepared was the worst thing that could happen to them. Fleur was glad that Madame Maxime had cheated and heavily hinted to her about the task. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she came into this task without knowing anything at all.
"So… Fleur…"
Fleur looked up to see a very hesitant Harry, who seemed to have started chewing his lip. She blushed herself, knowing what he was on about.
"Uhm, well...you said to ask you after the task, so…"
"Yes?"
"Yes?" Harry perked up.
"No, Harry, continue your thought," Fleur smirked at the blustering young man in front of her. She knew her answer already, but that didn't mean she was going to make it easy for him.
"Oh! I mean, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me again?" Harry was finally able to spit it out, heavily blushing at this point, all his confidence thrown out the window.
Fleur watched him stew for a moment, enjoying the sight of him squirming at the thought of her reply.
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Don't make me repeat myself, Harry," Fleur chided him, as she saw Harry smile a million watts. She couldn't help but feel just a bit lighter, and her heart fluttered just a little. Although she was not sure what this would lead, she was knew one thing though, and that was she had been waiting for this since their first trip to Hogsmeade, and she was looking forward for a repeat.