Monday came around and Harry tried to pay attention in classes, but it simply wasn't working. He had more important things to be doing, such as studying for the task coming up on Sunday.

He was barely able to pay attention to Snape and his lecture on poisons and antidotes. Hermione was next to him, not by his choice, but he didn't really mind.

They were still not talking, but the friendship was on the bottom of his 'to do' list. Ron was sitting with Dean and Seamus, and Neville was on Harry's other side.

In between Neville attempts to not kill himself (only moderately successful) and Hermione's attempts to make Snape hate her even more (very successful), the door opened and one of Harry's least favorite people entered the door; Colin Creevey.

The younger kid walked straight up to Snape's desk, nervousness pouring from his body.

"Sir -?"

"Yes?" Snape asked impatiently.

"Harry Potter is needed upstairs." Colin said quickly.

"Potter has another hour of potions to complete. If he survives the hour, then he can go."

"But, Sir, Mr. Bagman has requested all the champions –"

"Very Well! Potter, I want you back here after to test you antidote."

"But Professor, Mr. Bagman has-" Creevey interrupted.

"Fine! Potter, take you bags and get out of my sight! Enjoy your publicity."

Harry gathered up his gear, ignoring the looks of the other students, some with 'POTTER STINKS!' badges, and followed Creevey out the door.

Harry thanked Merlin for the distraction; he wasn't in the mood to be poisoned by Snape today. He had hoped that the walk to wherever he was going would be quiet, but it was not to be.

"It's amazing, isn't it? You being champion and all."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry dismissed him, "Where are we going?"

"Photoshoot for the Daily Prophet."

"Lovely." Harry stated with sarcasm. Harry tuned out the kids annoying prattling, and they finally arrived at a door.

He went inside after waving Colin an insincere good bye. There were quite a few people in the room.

Ludo Bagman spotted him entering and immedietly ushered him next to the other champions."Great! The last champion is here so now we can get started."

Harry noticed several people he recognized, and several he didn't. Dumbledore was there, as was Maxime and Karkaroff, Bagman and Crouch, and hiding in the corner he spotted Ollivander. There were also several other people he did not recognize, but he assumed them to be the press if the cameras and quills were anything to go by.

Mr. Crouch spoke up next. "Tradition dictates that all champions must participate in the Weighing of the Wands to ensure their wand is in serviceable condition. It would not do to have a Champion with a faulty wand. Pictures will be taken after the Weighing. Mr. Ollivander, if you will?"

From his corner Ollivander emerged. A few of the reporters obviously didn't notice he was there and were startled.

"As the preeminent wandcrafter of England, the Ministry has asked me to inspect all the Champions' wands. I remind you that it is a great honor to be in your positions. But I also must remind you that each Champion is limited to one wand, and the wand they use in the tasks must be the same wand I am inspecting today."

Ollivander went on to explain a little history behind wands and their importance to modern society, which frankly Harry did not care about. After about ten minutes, Ollivander finally said. "Ladies first. Mademoiselle Delacour, if I may see your wand."

Fleur got up from her seat and strode over to where Ollivander was standing in front of a makeshift table.

Harry couldn't help but watch her walk, and it was as if he was noticing exactly how hot she was for the first time.

Ollivander took Fleur's wand in his hand and started to inspect it. He spun the wand around in his fingers, emitting an assortment of different colored lights. He then stopped and inspected it visually, and if Harry was not mistaken, smelling it as well.

"Intersting…. Hmmm… nine and a half inches… inflexible… rosewood… and oh my? Is that –"

"An 'air from ze 'ead of a veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmuzzer's."

That got Harry's attention. 'So she is a veela! Damn'! That got Krum's attention as well, who was attempting to polish his wand with his robe.

'I wouldn't mind her polishing my wand. Nine and a half inches indeed.' Harry thought lecherously. She was incredibly beautiful. Long, platinum blonde hair, moderately tall, slender legs and hips, small, tight ass, and large, spectacularly shaped breasts. The Beauxbatons robes were much better than Hogwarts robes. Of course, she was not without fault. The first of which was their three year age difference and the way she treated him the previous week. And then there was the biggest flaw, and that was the fact that she is French.

Still, despite her Frenchyness, he would hit that six ways 'till Sunday.

"Yes," said Mr. Ollivander, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands...however, to each their own, and if this suits you..."

Mr. Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, "Orchideous!" and a bunch of flowers burst from the wand tip.

Every male in the room watched Fleur as she walked back and sat down on the other side of Krum.

Incidentally, it was also Krum's turn to have his wand inspected. Harry made it a point to not look at Fleur, who was sitting a mere two feet away now.

Krum's wand weighing wasn't nearly as interesting in Fleur's, being made by a guy name Gregorovich, ten and a quarter inches, hornbeam and dragon heartstring.

Harry daydreamed of veela for the whole five minutes where Ollivander and Krum were talking before he was jostled awake and standing before the old wandmaker himself.

"Harry Potter." The old man stated. "I remember this wand well. One of my best works… eleven inches, holly, phoenix feather."

Ollivander inspected the wand much more closely than the others. He wafted the smell of the wand into his face as if it were a fine wine. He twirled the wand between his nimble fingers in a blur, and a different note of sound came out of each finger.

The notes of Ollivander's phoenix song had a profound effect on everyone in the room. Ollivander had a pleased smiled on his face. Karkaroff and one of the reporters wearing horribly tacky clothes had a look of disgust.

Dumbledore seemed very happy, too happy, if the tenting of his robes was anything to judge by. Fleur seemed to be humming to the sound of the tune, which in itself was a beautiful sound. Krum seemed bored of the whole affair.

Harry felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He felt refreshed and renewed, and felt like he had a legitimate chance of conquering the first task, whatever it was.

Ollivander finished his display by conjuring a wine glass, holding it in his left hand and shooting a precise stream of wine out of Harry's wand and into the glass. He then handed the glass of wine off to Madame Maxime.

She swirled it under her nose before taking a sip. "Divine," she commented before finishing the glass off.

"Your wand is in excellent working condition, Mr. Potter. Good Luck."

Harry took his wand back from the wandcrafter and felt the comfortable warmth of magic in his hand once more.

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." Dumbledore stated. "Now, I believe classes are just about to end, so perhaps you would like to go straight to dinner instead –"

"Photos!" Bagman cried. "Don't forget about the photos!"

"Ah, yes, very well." Dumbledore complied.

The impartial judges and the champions lined up against one side while one of the journalists, Rita Skeeter, and her photographer shuffled them around.

Maxime was in the back of every photo, her tall frame dwarfing them all in every shot. Krum tried his best to seem inconspicuous. Rita kept pulling Harry to the front, but the photographer kept putting the part-veela in the center of the shot.

Eventually after what seemed like eternity, the photos were done. Harry left immedietly, ignoring the calls from one of the reporters to do an interview. He walked through the halls aimlessly, not really wanting to do much of anything except get away from the magical paparazzi.

Before he knew it, he found himself in the library. There were very few other students, none of which Harry recognized. They were all older students, so Harry chose a table far away.

He looked for a book to pass the time with, and he picked out "Artifacts of Power, Wealth and Glory" once more.

Harry enjoyed reading about artifacts that had more power than should be possible. The Amulet of Cain, Mjöllnir, and Excalibur. But there were also magical items as well Rhyllasi; the Branch of Yggdrassil, the Wand of Destiny, and the Philosopher's Stone were just a few.

By the time Harry had gotten halfway through the book, he realized that he had missed dinner. He quickly stuffed the book on the shelf from where he found it and headed out in the hallway. If he was lucky, the tables might not be cleared yet.

He took a rarely used shortcut behind a suit of armor that lead him quickly down to the second floor. From there it was the hallway until the main stairs.

However just as he turned a corner, he ran into the two walls of the Gryffindor Beaters, George and Fred Weasley.

"Well, isn't it the man of the week! Look what we caught ourselves, Fred."

"I see, dear brother. And what would the Hogwarts Champion be doing roaming the halls at this hour?"

"Er, I was going down to dinner to see if there is anything left."

"Tough luck kid, Ron ate everything, as usual."

"But fear not, we know a place. Isn't that right George?"

"Indeed Fred. Come with us, little Harry. We'll get you more food than you'll know what do with."

The twins picked up Harry from under his arms, dragged him down several flights of stairs, and down into subfloor one. They stopped in front of a portrait of a pair. Harry quirked an eyebrow as the pear laughed when the twins tickled it.

The portrait opened on a hinge, revealing a door behind it. The twins motioned for Harry to go down first, so he did.

The room he entered was not at all what he was expecting. The room was absolutely massive. On one side was a series of kitchens, and in the middle were four long tables, identical in length to the ones in the great hall. And in the room, dozens of house elves worked furiously on anything and everything.

"Wow." Harry said, astonished.

"Welcome to the Hogwarts Kitchens." Fred and/or George replied. All at once, the house elves seemed to notice them and all scampered over to where they were standing.

"What get we get for sirs?" An elf asked. "We serve anything!"

"Dinner?" Harry asked.

"Easy peasy!"

All the elves scattered, and within minute Harry, Fred and George were at a table eating a massive feast.

"How often do you come down here?" Harry asked.

"Now and then." George answered evasively.

"Food and drink for parties has to come from somewhere." Fred answered with a shrug.

"Oh, I thought you guys snuck down into Hogsmede for the drink."

"There is that too." Fred confirmed.

"That reminds me of something. Tell him Fred."

"Oh right. We were down in Hogsmede during the weekend, not doing anything illegal I assure you, and we ran into someone we were not expecting."

"Who?"

"Our brother, Charlie."

"Doesn't he work with dragons in Romania?" Harry asked bewildered.

"Precisely."

"So what is he doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's here for the Tournament."

"Are you suggesting that the first task involves dragons?" Harry said in astonishment.

"See George? He is smarter than he looks."

"Perhaps not, he is going to be facing down a dragon in a week's time."

"To true." Fred replied.

"How am I supposed to defeat a dragon?"

The twins shrugged. "The eyes are its weak spot. Good luck with that."

"Thanks for telling me. You've just helped me more than you could possibly know."

"No problem. Mum would kill us if you died in this thing."

Harry grinned as they made their way out of the kitchens and back up to the Gryffindor common room. They took every secret passage they could in true Marauder style.

They parted ways, Harry heading up to his room while the twins stayed in the common room, probably to peddle some of their joke products.

Harry wanted to get to bed early, because he knew it would take forever to fall asleep, what with dragons in his near future. He was too stressed to have a restful night sleep, so he solved that after putting proper silencing charms on his curtains and put his right hand into action.

888

After getting ready for a day of schooling, after a trip to the owlery, after breakfast with Viktor, Harry found himself in nap time, or rather, History of Magic.

History usually didn't appeal much to Harry. Well, only specific parts of history, and more specifically, the parts that Binns taught, such as the endless amount of identical Goblin rebellions, or occasional witch hunt.

As the ghostly professor prattled on about the goblin rebellion of 1622, he suddenly remembered something he read only a few days ago, and his curiosity got peaked.
Harry raised his hand, but the ghost didn't notice until he called out."Er, excuse me, Professor Binns?"

Binns turned around from the board and looked momentarily startled that someone was actually asking a question. Everyone (who was awake) was focusing on Harry now, Hermione in particular.

"You have a question… Henry is it?"

"Harry, actually. These are the same goblins that sought Rhyllasi, are they not?"

"Yes they are, and they found it in 1633."

"Wait, so it's not just a Viking legend? Why did they want it anyway?"

"Who wouldn't want it? Do you know what it can do?" Binns asked. Harry shook his head, just to keep it interesting. "It's a branch from the mythical World Tree, the Tree of Life."
"But the tree has never been found." Harry replied.

"Correct. Just like the Fountain of Youth, Atlantis and El Dorado. And like those, the Tree has its fare share of stories surrounding it. Legends state that location is secret to all but a Viking Chief, but unlike the other legends, we have proof of its existence in several of its branches. Rhyllasi is just one branch, but rumor it that wands and staves have been made from other branches."

"But what does the branch do?"

"The goblins have been a race struggling to survive for centuries. In a population that is ninety percent male, and couple with low birthrates, and even lower survival rates, the continuation of their race is important to them. The branch, Rhyllasi, enhances fertility and promotes life. It has slowly brought the goblins back from the brink of extinction, so its magic is very real, and very potent."

"So where is it?"

"Where else but Gringotts of course. There is a reason why I preach on about goblins. They control all of our money, and run our world behind the scenes. They own our history as well. They keep countless ancient artifacts in their vault, from all over the Earth. Excalibur, Hrunting, Fragarach, Gandiva, Ancile… The goblins own all these and more."

"He who controls the past, commands the future." Harry quoted.

"Right you are, Harvey."

Just then the clock chimed, signaling the end of the class. Everyone walked out of the room in a somber mood, having perhaps actually learned something for the first time since second year and the chamber of secrets.

Harry and the other students had an hour before the next class, so he headed off to the library to find out about dragons.

The library housed lots of books about dragons, Harry knew that already. He had seen Hagrid take out a bunch of them in first year. Dragons are just as popular of a subject in the wizarding word as they are in the muggle world, expect that the wizarding world has hard facts.

Harry only browsed for five minutes before Astoria showed up at his elbow. "Ohhh, dragons. That is a pretty picture." She said, pointing to a fire breathing Hungarian Horntail.

"Pretty right up until the minute it eats you."

"Uh-huh. I take it you are not looking at dragons out of boredom?"

"You would be correct."

"So you have to fight a dragon, one way or another?"

"I'd imagine so."

"Well, I think defense would be the most prudent think to worry about first. Claws, tail swipes, fire breathing, and wind buffets."

"Stopping dragon fire doesn't sound easy."

"If you can't stop it, then I suggest dodging it. Or taking cover behind a rock. But, if all that fails, then there is a flame freezing charm. I don't know it, but Daphne probably does. If not… well, this is the library."

"Ok, flame-freezing charm. What about its tail and claws?"

"Don't get hit by them." Astoria said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. To be fair, it was.

"So how would I go about beating one? I've heard that the eyes are the weakpoint."

"Hit it in the eyes then." Astoria shrugged.

"Yeah, but, well, they are not very big, and to get a good shot, I'm going to have to get close, and that means within fire, claws, and tail range."

"If fighting a dragon was easy, everyone would be doing it. You know it takes a dozen handlers to control one, right?"

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"If you don't want to confront it directly, then perhaps you could use a distraction. Maybe transfigure something into its favorite meal."

"And what would that be?"

"Sheep probably. Or maybe humans. Or, you could transfigure something into its predator."

"Name one thing that feeds on dragons." Harry challenged.

"Erm, well, there are probably things that feed on baby dragons…"

"I don't think I will be facing a baby dragon."

"I agree, but unless you can transfigure something into a basilisk or a nundu, scaring a dragon isn't going to be easy."

"What's a nundu?" Harry asked.

"It's a giant poison breathing cat." Daphne replied, walking up from behind. "Why are you talking about dragons?"

"Because that's what Harry will be facing." Astoria answered.

"Interesting."

"Do you know how to defeat one? Its eyes are its weakest spot apparently."

"Knowing how to defeat one and actually defeating one are two different things. The killing curse will take one down no problem."

"It's illegal" Harry responded, pointing out the obvious.

"Only when used on humans."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't feel right using a spell like that. Not to mention I don't think I would be able to learn it in under a week, unless you know it? I really don't want to kill a dragon unless I have to."

Daphne shrugged. "There's not many other spells that can get through its hide easily. So you will have to use something like the Conjunctivitis Curse on its eyes."

"Great. You can help me learn that along with the flame-freezing charm. And then I just have to figure out how to dodge its claws and tail."

"It will be hard to outmaneuver a dragon, unless you have your broom or something, but you are not allowed to bring outside items."

"That's brilliant." Harry responded.

"What?"

"Bringing my broom. I can't bring it with me, but I can fetch it after the event starts, with a summoning charm."

"Harry, that's… that's brilliant. And devious. I like it." And in conjunction with her words, Daphne tapped Harry's lion lapel pin, transfiguring it into a snake pin.

"That is high praise. But, I do have to learn these spells."

"I'll help. I don't know these spells either, so we can learn them together. I'm sure Astoria will want to as well, because that's what Astoria does."

"Great. When can we start?"

Daphne looked up at the clock. "Well, Slytherins have Charms next, and then we have Potions with you after lunch. How about after dinner?"

"Works for me. I can't express how much I appreciate you doing this with me."

"Just make sure I don't waste my time." Daphne replied.

The break finished and they went their spate ways. Harry had care of magical creatures, featuring blast ended skrewts once again. He had lunch with Neville. Potions he was paired up with Neville as well, because Daphne always chose Tracey Davis as her partner. Dinner was the same, and then he used the Marauders Map to locate the two Greengrass sisters.

They were in an old charms classroom. The room is not really old, as it is exactly the same age as every other room in the castle. It's old because it is unused, and it is unused because there are not that as many students in the current years then their used to be before all the recent wars. Their used to be a charms master teaching the older students, while their apprentice would teach the beginning years, but that hasn't happened since Dumbledore was a fledgling sorcerer.

Harry entered through the door and saw the two Slytherin witches at the front of the room. Astoria was sitting cross-legged on top of the teacher's desk, while Daphne's legs were hanging off the side.

"Hello!" Harry waved to them. They waved back. Harry grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the desk. "What have we got on the agenda?"

"The flame-freezing charm harks back to the days of witch burning, which hasn't happened in many centuries so it is not actively taught anymore. However, it is still in our year two spellbook, and it's not very difficult. The summoning charm is actually in this year's spellbook, and we are to learn it sometime in the spring. The Conjunctivitis Curse is not in any spellbooks, at it is a pain inducing curse. It's really more of a mild irritant, but when used on a sensitive body part like the eyes, it is quite annoying. That being said, it is a fairly common spell and it did not take long to find."

"Wow, Daphne, that is really helpful. When did you find these books?"

"Astoria found the flame-freezing charm because she remembered seeing it in her book a few days ago. I knew about the summoning charm already, and the conjunctivitis curse took all of five minutes to find in the library."

Astoria beamed at her sisters praise. "I think we should start with the flame-freezing charm because it is the easiest, and the least lethal if you mess it up. It only works on fire."

Harry and the girls spent the next hour throwing fireballs and other incendiary spells at each other, and freezing them with the charm. It would have been a handy spell to know in first year when he attempted to get the Philosopher's Stone. He could have used the charm instead of having to drink Snape's pisswater potion.

Harry had hopes that the charm would work like the book said; dissipates pretty much anything short of Fiendfyre, whatever that is. Harry didn't know if dragon fire was more or less powerful than that spell, but there was no way to find out.

They called it a night after mastering the spell, so Harry went off to bed, excited that he finally accomplished something, and more important, accomplished it without Hermione's help.