AN: Without further ado, here is the next chapter.
GreengrassRebel - Good catch on Neville! I went back and added him in for that last scene as soon as you commented, since I'd clearly forgotten where I placed him. So thanks! Yeah, short and sweet, but fits for what it was. I thought it was nice to show that some places are different to England and it was important for Remus to show that not only his closest friends/family will be fine with what he is. Hope you enjoy this chapter . . . and I like the picture of Sinestra looking like Yennifer. That's a good fit. Yeah, Rowling never did much with Astronomy. I don't intend to do a ton with it, but I do want to make it a bit more relevant.
Jet22345 - Thanks!
scrappy8 - Thanks! Yep, thought it was good to help develop Remus/Dora more, and also give Dora some happiness.
stars90 - He really does have the worst of luck, that's for sure.
Chapter 40
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Bagman exclaimed to the crowd. "Welcome to the Fifth Task of the Triwizard Tournament!"
The crowd cheered in excitement and Harry glanced around, a bit nervous for this one. He wasn't extremely confident that he had figured out what clues he'd been given. He and his friends had done what they could, and they had ideas, but clearly nobody was supposed to go into this Task completely knowing what was going to occur.
He could see his nerves reflected on his fellow champion's faces. Fleur sent him a wane smile which he returned. Cedric looked prepared, and Harry remembered the confidence Cedric had displayed when giving his hint to Harry. Perhaps Cedric was just committed to walking into the rest of the Tasks with confidence, regardless of the situation. It was certainly a trait that someone with Heracles's patronage would display . . . not something Athena would condone. Athena liked confidence, but she also felt nerves, wariness, even fear were necessary for you to fully accept a situation. Those who felt no fear when facing unknown odds and dangerous situations were either fools or arrogant beyond belief. Hades tended to favor the same mindset. Krum had his normal surly expression, but now that Harry knew Krum a bit better, he could see a certain tightness around the quidditch star's eyes. Yes, he was nervous too.
"Tonight, our champions face danger once again! Tonight, they will brave the dangers of the Forbidden Forest! Tonight, they will need every scrap of courage they can muster, every ounce of cunning they have, and every bit of magical ability and potential!"
Harry felt Astra lean into him, providing comfort. So far, Bagman hadn't said anything he didn't know, but something just told him that tonight would be different. Something wasn't going to go quite as planned. Perhaps it was his patrons looking out for him, but he knew tonight was a night to be careful. Tonight was a night for caution.
"Now, each champion is being given an item to help them find their target deep within the Forest. It is on the champion to discern how to use the object or choose to forgo it. The forest has many dangers that our champions will have to overcome. They have three hours to track down their target and return."
Harry eyed Mad-Eye who handed him a jewel of some sort, white, but sparkling. Mad-Eye gave away nothing with his bearing or his eyes. He only gave Harry the jewel and then nodded shortly in a show of support before he turned and made his back to where the rest of the judges and staff were.
Harry glanced back at the audience, wishing that Dora and Sirius were there, but he was heartened to see Remus, and of course his friends, ever present, were there cheering for him. Among the other adults, he was at an all time low though. Kingsley and Savage had both sent along a message, wishing him good luck and sending his support, but he was working and could not get off. Most of the rest of Dora's friends all had work or were off at various schools, though many of them had written him letters wishing him luck for the night and apologizing for not being able to make it, which made him feel good. Other than Remus, he had three supporters, two that surprised him slightly, but warmed his heart. He had Alexis, Siobhan, and Aisling sitting next to Remus cheering him on, with Aisling sitting on Alexis's lap.
"Now that our champions have their guides, let the Fifth Task begin!"
The cannon sounded and Harry moved into the woods, Astra at his side, unaware that two of the judges were already angrily discussing that he was cheating. The light from the stars and the torches from the audience's stand and the starting point fading as he moved, and he felt some measure of peace start filling him as he took a deep breath and truly felt his patron's element. Astra wagged her tail happily, moving away from him slightly and exploring their surroundings.
"Yeah, it feels good in here, doesn't it, girl?" Harry asked, smiling at his happy familiar before he turned his attention back to his white, crystalline object.
It was rather beautiful in a way, but he wasn't here to admire it. He pointed his wand at the crystal and said, "Revelio!"
Words appeared on the crystal. Words he was familiar with.
"A guiding light," he murmured, before he cast a nonverbal modified lumos charm that pushed the light from his wand into the crystal.
New words appeared
'I come in many forms, but I am not the same. When night falls, I appear without a sound, glowing softly until morning comes around.'
"So, light is the answer," Harry said, smiling, "but a different kind of light. Luce stellarum!"
He shot a bolt of starlight into the crystal and it lit up softly, and Harry gasped in wonderment as out of the crystal shot little bolts of starlight and above him the night sky formed, but more like it had been in the Room of Requirement . . . closer, brighter, more clear, and he could still see the trees above. It was like a mini galaxy above him, and as he looked closer, he realized it wasn't the night sky he was familiar with. It was, to an extent, but the constellations had been mixed up, some following after others, and he realized that they were pathways in different directions. The crystal held the constellations within . . . the guiding lights. A rather beautiful bit of charm work he could admit. Far more complicated than anything he'd seen before.
He gazed at the constellations for a moment before he glanced back down at the crystal and saw new words had appeared.
'The symbol of a ruler's position.'
He glanced back into the conjured stars and searched before he smiled, rather thankful that his friends had made him refresh on Astronomy. It took him a second, especially with the stars not in their normal locations, but he finally recognized Corona Borealis . . . the Northern Crown. To the left was Ursa Minor and to the right was Camelopardalis.
He would follow the path of the Crown and he figured probably near the tip of the crown he would receive new guidance. He glanced down at Astra, who was also gazing up at the stars.
"Ready, girl?"
Astra started moving in the direction they needed to go, which was enough of an answer for him. He followed, his wand at the ready, the crystal in his hand, even as the stars faded.
It wasn't long before they ran into their first trap, which was a squad of skeletons. He heard them before he sensed them, and Astra started growling as they were suddenly surrounded by nine of the vile creatures. Harry couldn't believe someone would use necromancy for the Tournament . . . but then he realized they wouldn't. He could also feel that Astra had no real hatred for these creatures. They were just an obstacle and danger to him. If they were real skeletons, bones animated by a dark wizard using a sacrifice and cursed to roam, his familiar would have been in a frenzy to rip them apart. They must be simply charmed.
That didn't make them any less dangerous and he quickly raised a dome shield over him and his familiar as the nine skeletons rushed him, and they started bashing on his dome shield, trying to break through so they could physically harm him.
Astra shadow traveled out of the dome and appeared behind one of the skeletons and she quickly crashed into the charmed object and it quickly fell apart under her onslaught. They clearly weren't strong . . . just designed to overwhelm with numbers. As four of the creatures stopped bashing on his shield in order to go after Astra, Harry dropped his barrier and whipped his wand horizontally, launching four blasts of energy at the four skeletons still trying to go for him, decimating all four easily. Then he turned back to the remaining four, which Astra had already taken down to two and effortlessly destroyed both with reductor curses.
He quickly reconjured his astral map with the crystal to verify his direction and then set off again.
**HP**
"Harry's doing really well," Siobhan said, and everyone around her nodded in agreement.
"He was nervous about this one," Angelina said, "but he seems to be in his element now."
"He is in his element," Katie said with a smirk, and Angelina rolled her eyes.
"Well, yes, but you know what I mean, Katie Kat."
"Dora and Sirius will be sorry they missed this," Remus said quietly.
"So far, nothing too challenging for any of them," Alicia remarked. "Krum struggled a bit with figuring out the map in the first place, and had a slow start, but he's been making up ground pretty well, and he decimated that zombie he encountered."
"Harry decimated those skeletons," Alexis said. "That was very well done too. So many others would have panicked."
"Fleur burned all that devil's snare to a crisp," Ginny said admiringly. "Didn't even bother to slow down for it."
"And Cedric was quite clever in overcoming that illusionary runic trap," Hermione added.
"And despite everything going on, the real drama is happening right in front of us," Katie said, eyeing the judges who were still in a heavy argument.
"As I have repeatedly said," Crouch said, sounding only a inch from losing his composure and all sense of propriety, "we did not state that Mr. Potter couldn't have his familiar with him for this Task, and since it was not forbidden, then he is not in breach of the rules. Now, I am done with this conversation."
"Goodo," Bagman said, "it's time to tell the audience."
Angelina looked around seeing the rest of her friends rolling their eyes at how trivial the foreign judges were being for this Task.
"Ladies and gentlemen, a complaint was raised against Mr. Potter for taking his familiar with him into the Forest, but the instructions and rules for this Task neither forbade nor warned against bringing whatever the champion deemed they needed to complete the Task. For this reason, Mr. Potter is not being penalized, nor punished, and his score will not be affected by his actions."
At the last words, Bagman glared at both Karkaroff and Maxime. Nobody could mistake the warning glance that Crouch and even Dumbledore also shot towards Karkaroff and Maxime, though most of it seemed focused on Karkaroff
Katie whistled, and Angelina smirked.
"It looks like the judges have taken that bias in the First Task really seriously," Alicia said. "I wondered why it never seemed like Karkaroff was insanely biased for the last Task. It looks like the Ministry judges threw their weight around."
"Well, at least they did one thing right," Hermione muttered.
"It's bad for the Ministry . . . all three Ministries if the scores are clearly biased," Remus said. "It reduces the prestige of the Tournament . . . and obviously this Tournament has already had problems."
"You can say that again," Alexis muttered, having heard a great many complaints at the Ministry because of Harry being a champion.
"Shit, Harry's fighting!" Ginny exclaimed.
**HP**
Harry had just barely managed to avoid the Centaur game trap thanks to Astra, but no sooner had he avoided the trap, but he found himself knocked flat on his back by some sort of blunted arrow.
He groaned in pain, rolling back onto stomach and then staggering up and raising a dome shield which deflected another four arrows. Astra got wrapped up in some sort of rope before she shadow traveled away, leaving the rope behind.
Harry glanced around, wincing slightly, noting the seven centaurs, who were clearly hunting him, but not looking to kill him. They must be part of the Task. They fired more arrows, and Harry's eyes widened as his shield collapsed, and he barely managed to avoid two of the arrows. They must be enchanted with some sort of Centaur magic.
Harry quickly raised another shield, and assessed the situation. Astra appeared next to him. He didn't want to fight the Centaurs, nor did he think that would help them out. If they were participating in this Task, then he knew they were either being paid in some way or had volunteered. He could certainly fight them, to an extent, but he knew causing any damage would not go well for him, which meant he was limited on what he could use. They knew this forest far better than he did as well, and if he truly angered them, he could be in great danger. Plus, he truly didn't know what the Centaurs were capable of, and he didn't really want to find out by fighting them.
So, he used his advantage and faded into darkness, dropping the shield, and Astra faded with him.
**HP**
"That's cheating!" Karkaroff exclaimed again. "I thought the wards would stop him from shadow traveling!"
Angelina's jaw tightened. She was getting rather tired of everyone calling Harry a cheater over and over again when they clearly didn't understand a thing.
"Arry's not a chter," Aisling said, her face set in a cute pout.
"No, of course not, sweetie," Siobhan said, smiling at her daughter before glancing up. "He's not cheating at all. That man is just a fool."
"A fool who needs to watch his mouth," Katie muttered.
"Karkaroff, the screen hasn't moved," Dumbledore said mildly. "The wards do stop him from shadow traveling. I think Harry has simply used an invisibility spell to hide himself, but he made it look like he traveled away to safety."
Ginny chuckled lowly as Dumbledore's prediction was proven true only a few short moments later when the Centaurs galloped off, and Harry dropped his invisibility spell so that he could recheck his bearing.
Karkaroff looked bitter and slightly embarrassed, and Angelina smirked at that.
"Harry's not out of the woods yet," Hermione said, "and I don't think Karkaroff is done yet."
"Oh, he's done," Siobhan said. "Look at Crouch, Bagman, and even Dumbledore and Maxime. No, Karkaroff won't be messing with Harry at all."
"No, he definitely won't," Alexis said smugly. "Crouch was given full permission to put Karkaroff in his place. Even Karkaroff's ministry isn't happy with him, since his bias brought bad publicity to their champion."
"Stupid blighter," Ron said with a snort. "It's nice to see the others putting him in his place."
"Forget that, I'll be happier once he's out of there," Alicia said, looking at Harry moving through the dark woods again.
"So will we all," Angelina agreed.
**HP**
Harry checked the crystal, now that he'd made it to the tip of the crown, and sure enough a new hint had appeared.
'A serpent's kin with mighty wings,
In epic tales, a hero brings
My downfall with a sword so bold,
For glory, fame, and treasures untold.'
Harry smiled, rather glad these riddles hadn't been nearly as difficult. He quickly looked on the astro map and found Draco, the dragon constellation. In different directions were Cepheus and Cassiopeia, the King and Queen constellations.
Suddenly, Astra tackled him to the ground, and he saw something with wings flap past where he'd been standing, moving with impressive speed.
"Lethifold," Harry murmured, suspecting that this was not a part of the Tournament, knowing just how dangerous Lethifolds were to anyone that wasn't capable of producing a patronus . . . or someone who wasn't a shadow mage.
Harry drew one of his throwing knives and waited for the creature to come back around. As it flew towards him, intent on smothering him death just as was in its nature, Harry threw his shadow blade into the front of the creature and it squealed as it faded and was absorbed into his blade. His blade continued out into the forest, but Harry quickly summoned it back to him, glad that the creature would now harm no one else.
Astra was already moving in the direction they needed to go, so smiling slightly, Harry followed his familiar.
They continued to make their way through the dark forest, periodically stopping to check their progress on the star map and dealing with traps or evading the Centaurs if Astra sensed them approaching, now that she knew to be wary of them.
The next hint was very straight forward, 'A creature of both sky and sea,' which Harry took to mean the Pegasus constellation, since horses were from Poseidon, but the wings took the creature into the sky's domain.
On and on, he and Astra continued, she often helping him to avoid traps, or helping to provide him early warning for possible confrontations with nearly anything. Finally, they reached one more hint, which was also fairly straightforward, but which Harry took some heart from, deciding it must be good luck. The hint was, 'the chained maiden,' which he knew was another name for the Andromeda constellation, from which Dora's mother had been named.
He continued to move through the forest and then finally started seeing the signs for what his target was . . . that which he'd hoped he and his friends had been wrong about. There were large webs periodically spread out throughout the forest. He stopped and reconjured the star map, but now the hint was gone, replaced now with the second part of the original hint about 'eight pallbearers,' which told him that he had reached the end of his journey with the map.
"Apare vestigium," Harry whispered and gold mist spread from his wand, and he got a look at the echo of what he was tracking down, and tracks appeared in the ground going further west than he had been.
Astra started sniffing around, and she growled lowly, and Harry nodded in agreement. He didn't like this either. Not at all. Still, he had a Task to complete. So, he cut down some of the web, and cast, "Avensegium," which caused the web to glow gold and start floating slowly off in the direction that the tracks went.
He made his way slowly, knowing it couldn't be that far, and he reached out with his Senses, but there were so many magical creatures in the forest, it was hard to differentiate them.
He kept moving slowly, glancing all around when he sensed something diving from high above him, and he quickly dived forward, just in time to dodge the creature that smashed down on where he had been.
Harry spun around and quickly cast the spider banishing charm, which threw the cart sized spider flying into a set of trees. Now that it was away from him though, he had the advantage. It was only one spider afterall.
Harry launched a powerful shadow bolt that sped towards the acromantula and then ripped through it in one strong blow, ending the fight. Harry smiled in relief, knowing he could now head back . . . and Astra could actually shadow travel him back to save time.
That's when he heard the scream, even further off to the west. Harry grimaced, but while he suspected the Tournament had to have some safety measures in play, the fact was that Acromantulas were incredibly dangerous, and there were no guarantees. He couldn't leave any of his fellow champions.
Harry raced off through the woods in the direction of Cedric's scream, Astra right on his heels and soon they could hear more voices, all of them casting spells with hints of panic in their voice. Harry broke through a set of trees and saw what was giving the other champions so much trouble . . . Aragog's family.
Cedric was already bound in silk, and was in the process of being carried off by a hoard of dog sized acromantula, while Krum and Fleur were both doing everything in their power to reach him, while keeping the other acromantula away from them. The problem was that there were hundreds of acromantula.
"Virga Flammae!" Harry yelled, and flames shot from his wand, engulfing several of the smaller spiders in front of him, and Fleur grabbed his fire, and then redirected it to take out several more.
Harry moved forward, casting blasting and explosive curses, which decimated the spiders nearest to him, while Astra disappeared and then reappeared, having landed on Cedric and pulling him back.
Krum started removing the webbing from Cedric while Harry and Fleur raised a fiery barrier around them, but the bigger acromantulas started moving in, so Harry conjured a large dome, which the spiders crashed into, and he stumbled to a knee, grimacing from the strain.
Quickly he dropped the first barrier and raised a shadow shield, feeling his magical strain release as he funneled the natural darkness to fuel the shield, but his eyes widened as his shield started dissolving and he realized that the acromantula were absorbing his magic. That was something he hadn't heard about.
"More fire, 'arry!" Fleur called out, and he nodded, casting several fire balls as Fleur worked his fire into her own elemental magic and created a stunning wall of flames. Some spiders tried to come from above, but Krum and Cedric, who was back in the fight, blasted them away.
"I can't 'old this forever," Fleur said with a grimace.
"We need to get out of here," Harry said, but he knew that Astra couldn't transport all of them, and whoever stayed would need to hold out long enough for Astra to return, which seemed more and more unlikely.
Astra started howling, and Harry glanced at his familiar again, having only heard that howl once before, and just as Fleur's fire faded away, leaving her panting tiredly, Harry saw dozens and dozens of hellhounds of various sizes appear.
Harry drew his sword, and then rushed into the fray, joining the forces of Hades in battling the monstrous creatures. The biggest hellhounds teamed together as a pack to go after the biggest acromantulas, while the smaller and younger pups started crushing the smaller ones, but the forces of Hades were outnumbered, so Harry intended to help balance out the side.
He sliced through several of the spiders that approached him with his blade before he used the energy absorbed to send a shadow bolt through one of the larger creatures that had just thrown off three hellhounds, all of whom were trying to fight off the smaller spiders that had swarmed them.
**HP**
"Albus, we have to do something," Remus said, glancing back at the boards, where Harry and the other champions were fighting for their lives. Krum, Fleur, and Cedric had joined with Harry and the forces of Hades, but Fleur was so exhausted, and Krum and Cedric were limiting their spell choice for fear of hitting one of the battling hellhounds.
"Stay out of this, werewolf," Crouch said with a scowl. "The Tournament's bounds have not yet been breached. If we interfere, all four champions will lose this Task. We cannot interfere."
"But this is not what you intended to happen!" Remus snarled back. "The Task was to kill one Acromantula each, and they've all killed the ones they were tasked to kill. They weren't sent to fight a whole horde!"
"It doesn't matter," Bagman said, hollowly. "We can't interfere or they will wish we hadn't."
Remus stomped back to the worried group of Harry's friends, who were all looking for him to just say the word.
"They're not doing anything," he said angrily.
"What?!" Angelina snapped. "How can they do nothing?! Look at that!"
Remus glanced back at the screen where Harry was still cutting spiders off of hounds, while Krum and Cedric worked to protect Fleur, whose flames were growing weaker and weaker by the moment.
The hellhounds were being pushed back, and he could already see that a few had fallen, likely never to rise again with how deadly acromantula venom could be. It only grew worse the bigger the acromantula got. The smaller ones that bit the hounds would impair them and weaken them, but the larger ones would kill. THey were easier to avoid, but more deadly if you didn't succeed.
"If Harry dies out there, I'm murdering both Crouch and Bagman," Katie said darkly. "So help me gods, those two are determined to see a death in this Tournament."
"I'll help," Angelina agreed.
"Just because they're not helping doesn't mean we shouldn't," Ginny said firmly. "Let's get out there! We know how to get there."
"It'll take us too much time," Remus said with a shake of his head. "If Albus won't lower the wards, there is nothing we can do. Not in what time they have left."
All around were hopeless looks. Siobhan had turned Aisling around so she wouldn't see, despite the little girl's cries and protests.
"We have to trust in Harry," Remus finally said softly. "That's all we can do."
**HP**
"Hades, give me strength," Harry muttered as he slashed through two more acromantulas with his blade.
"Fleur, Viktor, Cedric, I'm going to give us an opening," Harry called out. "The hounds will flee back behind my cover. When I'm done, generate as much fire as you can. We only need to last a couple more moments and the shadow hounds will get us out of here."
"You got it, Harry."
"Oui."
"Understood."
"Alright, now!" Harry roared as he let loose every bit of energy he'd gathered up, both from the slain spiders and from the environment, and all around sharp points of shadow rose from the ground or out from trees impaling spiders where they stood and he unleashed a wave of darkness which blasted the closest spiders away, and he slumped exhausted as a hound bounded into him and he faded into darkness, appearing next to Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric who had done as he asked and generated as much fire as they could. Fleur must have used everything she had left because she slumped to the ground unconscious, but her efforts were worth it, with a wall of flame appearing around them.
Astra and the other surviving hell hounds quickly gathered around the four students, a different hound attaching itself to each of the champions before they all faded into darkness, just as the fire faded and the remaining spiders lunged towards where they'd had been in a fury.
They appeared back where they started with the crowd gasping in shock and then cheering loudly as three of the four champions groaned and picked themselves off the ground. Harry quickly knelt down and checked on Fleur, and found her breathing softly, clearly just asleep and he sighed in relief. Next, he turned to their saviors.
Astra was limping slightly, but looked generally unharmed. Of the remaining ten hellhounds, they looked a little worse for wear, but seemed okay, but he knew that they'd lost some in that fight, and he mourned their loss for this stupid Tournament.
"Thank you, my friends," Harry said softly, approaching each hound, petting it softly on the head, and channeling some shadow energy into them to heal their wounds somewhat and provide some relief. He got many wags of tails for his efforts and he felt nudges at his mind, all signs of their acknowledgement before they faded away, leaving just his familiar.
"And what an end to the Fifth Task, ladies and gentlemen!" Bagman exclaimed excitedly, but while he got some cheers, those closest to the champions booed or only threw glares at the judges and Ministry workers. "And now, a moment for the judges to decide the marks," Bagman finished a bit nervously and far less enthusiastically, seeing how the crowd was slightly against him.
"Harry!"
Harry turned just to get engulfed in a mob of hugs from his friends and Remus. Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and Ginny all kissed his cheeks and hugged him hard. Hermione just smothered him in a hard hug, while Ron and the twins slapped him on the back, all three looking uncharacteristically worried. Remus, Siobhan, and Aisling brought up the rear, but seemed no less worried and relieved to see him safe and whole.
"You were brilliant out there, mate," Ron said, face pale. "All those spiders and everything, but you gave them the business."
"What happened?" Harry asked tiredly. "I'm not even sure what occurred."
"I think you're about to find out," Remus said, nodding towards where the judges had gathered.
"Alright, and now for the points!" Bagman said. "Cedric Diggory showed excellent use of judgment and reasoning throughout his journey to his target. However, he was unable to efficiently defeat his opponent and instead drove the creature off further into the woods where it attracted more of its brethren. He did slay his target in the end, but would have been taken by the acromantula if not for the aid of Mr. Potter. So, he is awarded 38 points. For our remaining champions, all demonstrated great resolve in slaying their targets, but the judges have decided to award equal points to all three champions for their resolve to help their fellow wizard. Mr. Krum was first to rush to Diggory's aid, with Ms. Delacour not far behind, and of course Mr. Potter came last into the fight, despite being in the clear to return to safety. All three champions have been awarded 45 points for their efforts."
There were cheers all around and that pronouncement.
"So, for our standings, in fourth place, with a score of 200 points, Mr. Viktor Krum of Durmstrang!"
Durmstrang all cheered for their champion and many of the quidditch fans of Hogwarts also joined in.
"In third place, with a score of 204 points, Mr. Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts!"
Hufflepuff roared in approval, as did most of the stands.
"In second place, with a score of 206 points, Mr. Harry Potter of Hogwarts!"
Harry's friends mobbed him again.
"And finally, in first place, with a score of 208 points, Ms. Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons!"
More cheers occurred especially since Fleur had been revived and was now waving weakly, but looking delighted to now be in the lead. She smiled at Harry, and he returned her smile.
"And now, this concludes the Fifth Task of the Triwizard Tournament! The Sixth Task will occur on Saturday, the 15th of May at noon. We have seen our champions rise together throughout this Tournament, and we have seen the comradery grow! The Sixth Task will test that bond. For the Sixth Task, each champion will pick a sport, event, or game and compete against their fellow champions in that chosen event. It will be four rounds, one for each chosen sport. Now, each champion will not reveal their sport to the other champions until the day of the event. Only the Games Council will know what was chosen in order to provide the necessary equipment. I think I'm with you all in looking forward to what our champions will choose. It's anyone's game still. Good night!"
"'Arry."
Harry turned from his friends to Fleur.
"Zank you for coming to our aid, once again," she said.
"Of course, Fleur," Harry said with a nod. "You can always count on me."
"I have started to realize zhat," she said with a wide smile before leaning and rubbing Astra's ears and head. "And zank you too ma petite cherie. We would all be doomed wizhout you."
Fleur stood back up.
"I don't know what you weel choose, but I can tell you zhat I will not pick anything inherently dangerous. I just want you to know."
"Don't worry, Fleur," Harry said with a grin. "I'm of the same mind."
Fleur smiled and moved forward and hugged Harry hard before she made her way back towards her other friends.
"So, only three weeks until the next Task," Angelina said, wrapping her arm around Harry's shoulders, and Harry put his arm around her waist.
"Yeah, but I don't think I have to be all that nervous for the next Task," Harry said with a grin. "I'm sure there will be some inherent risk, as there is with most sports, but I don't think we need to worry about acromantulas or dragons, and that will be a nice change."
"Makes you wonder what the last task will be like though," Ron muttered, and Ginny punched his arm at the same time the Twins did, and he yelped in pain.
Harry laughed.
"We'll find out when we find out. We've trained like crazy this year, and sure there's still more to learn, but I think we've earned a bit more break time when we can spare it. I don't think we need any extra training for this next task."
"Not likely," Katie said, before grinning, "but probably more flight time! I bet Krum chooses flying!"
"Cedric might as well," Angelina said thoughtfully.
"We do have three Quidditch players as champions," Ginny agreed.
"I wonder what Fleur will pick though," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Like I said. We'll find out when we find out," Harry said with a grin. "For now, it's time to celebrate."
"Enjoy your triumph," Remus said with a nod. "I'll write to Dora and Sirius, though Sirius will probably be back by the time it filters through his school's mail system. Still, I'm sure they'll want to hear about how well you did."
"And freak out," Harry said with a chuckle.
"And freak out," Remus agreed, grinning.
"Bye, 'arry," Aisling said, waving, and Harry grinned and waved at her as Siobhan bounced her slightly.
"Rick and King were really bummed to not make it to this," she said, "but I'll tell them how you did, and I know they'll be proud."
"I'll also get with the DRCMC about those acromantula," Alexis said seriously. "That should never have happened, and it won't happen again if I can help it."
Harry nodded, but his lips twitched slightly as Ron and Hermione both whispered, "Poor Hagrid."
"Thanks for coming," Harry told them. "It means a lot."
"Well, Dora's part of our team, which means so are you," Alexis said with a wink. "Someday, hopefully you'll be an active member of our team, at least if King, Rick, Dora, Sirius, Mad-Eye, and I have a say in it."
Harry laughed and nodded as the adults finally made their leave, and Harry then made his way back to Gryffindor Tower with his friends all around him, and he knew things would be okay.