Life Debt
Harry just about ignored everyone when he walked through the hallways to return to Gryffindor Tower. Harry stayed silent and walked through the common room in silence, getting to his dorm and immediately going to his bed. Harry closed the curtains around himself and put up a silencing charm before he finally yelled out in absolute frustration over the fact he'd been chosen to compete and he didn't even want to.
Harry didn't have a choice in this if he wanted to keep his magic, but he really was tired of everything that happened to him. This had to be some elaborate plan by Voldemort, or one of his followers; it was the only thing that made sense after what went down at the Quidditch World Cup. It had been about two weeks since he was chosen as a Tri-Wizard Champion and everyone seemed against him.
Sure, Harry knew he had support from Remus, Sirius, Albus, Minerva, and some of his other teachers. Hermione was kind of there for him still, but Ron was angry as ever and felt it was just a stunt for glory. The two of them had argued the next day and at the great hall too. Anyone in there had seen Harry and Ron argue, then Harry stormed out.
Others from his house were giving him the cold shoulder too, and the rest of the school basically called him a cheat, that Cedric was the true Hogwarts champion. Harry had enough of everything and the competition hadn't even really started yet. Harry was avoiding everyone, and had been quiet unless he had to talk.
Remus and Sirius tried to speak to him via floo and letters, but Harry never replied. Harry spent his time in the hidden places of the school to do his work and study. Harry didn't even talk to Minerva, who had pulled him aside to ask if he was alright. Harry only told her that it didn't matter before respectfully walking away from her. The only thing that seemed odd was Severus not giving him dirty looks or a hard time in potions class.
Harry spent his nights lying awake and unable to sleep much. During meals, he never really ate anything. The other champions were surprisingly trying to keep his spirits up, but it didn't work. Harry felt alone and angry; his mind never strayed far from what he said in Albus's office two weeks ago. Maybe he should just let Voldemort kill him? Or not bother trying in the tournament. Harry was slipping into himself, farther and farther as each day passed.
During the week, Harry only focused himself on classes, ignoring and avoiding everyone else. Today was the 11th of November, the first task would be held at the end of the month and since they weren't told until the day of; it only made Harry more anxious to not be able to prepare. At the same time, he still hadn't decided if he even should try. It's not like anyone would care at this point.
Harry walked the courtyard alone, keeping his eyes down as he went to his next hidden spot. Harry didn't pay mind to those who passed him, or whispered about him.
"Well, well. If it isn't the fake champion." Came Draco Malfoy's voice. Harry ignored it, but he did see Draco sitting in a tree. "My father and I have a bet going. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees, he says you won't last five."
"Good for you two." Harry replied.
Draco jumped down, only a little surprised that Harry wasn't reacting like he always did when they shot insults at one another. Draco got in front of Harry now, pushing him back. "Come on, Potter. Don't be so glum," He stated.
"I'm just trying to go do my work in peace, Malfoy. Get out of my way." Harry stated.
It wasn't angering Draco so much as it was making him curious. There'd been rumors going around that Harry had closed himself off, and nothing really got to him anymore. Draco happened to overhear a conversation between Severus and some of the other teachers how they were becoming concerned for Harry's well-being in both a mental and physical sense. Harry really did look like he hadn't slept, and his eyes seemed so full of sadness. Like he'd given up.
"You really didn't want to take part in this tournament, did you?" Draco asked.
"Wow, you really are smarter than you let on." Harry snarked.
Draco withheld from flinching. "Watch it, Potter," He sneered and shoved Harry back some.
"Keep your hands off me…" Harry warned.
"Or what?" Draco smirked.
"Or else…" Harry said as he rammed his arm against Draco to knock him to the side as he started to walk away.
"How dare you touch me! My father will hear about this!" Draco snapped.
"Good. Run along and tell your daddy that I was mean to you." Harry countered as Draco stared at him. "I don't care what you do, Malfoy. Go, tell him. I'd like to see him try anything against me. I don't give a damn what you or your father thinks about me. Your father is vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic if you have nothing better to do than give me a hard time. Everyone is on me about the attention I get, then stop giving me the attention. I don't bloody want it. I never wanted it." Harry glared.
"I don't give a damn what anyone thinks anymore. I didn't do anything wrong and I didn't want this. I've never wanted the fame, the glory…The anything. I didn't want it. I just wanted to be plain old Harry Potter. But I guess we don't all get what we want, do we? Not everyone's life is as perfect as yours, Malfoy. Now, I am not in the mood for your Malfoy-ness today. Get out of my way and leave me the hell alone."
Draco actually stepped to the side to let Harry walk by him, watching the entire time until the boy left his sight. "What the hell, Draco? Did you just stand down to Potter?" Vincent Crabbe asked.
"Shut up. I'm just disengaging from a confrontation. Professor Snape is over there, I'm not getting in trouble for fighting with Potter." Draco scoffed before he glanced at his godfather, who gave him a look of questioning. Draco gave one right back that clearly said Harry wasn't okay.
"Mr. Malfoy…" Severus stated, walking over.
"Yes, Professor?" Draco responded.
"Leave Mr. Potter alone." Severus told him.
"Yes, sir," Draco replied, surprised that Severus of all people said to leave Harry alone.
Severus walked away as Draco ended up leaving with his friends and shockingly, the only thing on his mind was Harry and how the boy he just talked to wasn't the one he met four years ago. Harry wasn't just angry, he was scared and depressed.
. . .
The time of the first task had come and Harry managed to figure out what it was about a week before now. Dragons. Harry decided to tip the other champions off about it; maybe they couldn't get help from outsiders…But there were no rules against helping each other if they found out on their own. Harry managed to follow Hagrid into the forbidden forest under his cloak and saw the dragons being unloaded. Harry had still kept to himself since the encounter with Draco, but since then; Draco left him alone. Harry was currently gathered in the tent with Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor as officials came in with a sack.
"In here is your first challenge, so right on with it." Albus informed.
Each of them picked out a mini dragon from the sack and were told there was a larger one outside for them to face. Their task was to get the golden egg the dragon would be guarding. Harry picked a Hungarian Horntail, and of course, would be going after the other three. For hours, Harry sat there debating how the hell he was going to fight a literal fire-breathing dragon with only his wand. Harry was finally announced to come out and as expected, the arena was silent. Harry kept his wand in his sleeve as he walked forward and was able to see the egg right away.
"It's too easy…" Harry said to himself. The egg was supposed to be guarded by a dragon. So where was the dragon? It was too easy that the egg would just be there.
"What's he doing?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Who knows." Neville replied to her.
Harry had already spotted Sirius and Remus sitting with Albus, Minerva and a few others. The judges were also sitting together. Harry saw Sirius and Remus with their hands together, pleading with their eyes for him to take it seriously. Harry narrowed his eyes slightly and scoffed before looking back at the egg, then he closed his eyes to refocus himself. Harry listened close and heard the light clink of metal just past the egg. Harry tilted his head slightly and let his wand slip down into his hand before opening his eyes and looking at a large rock to the left of the egg.
"There you are…" Harry stated before flicking his wand towards the rock and causing it to explode into pieces. Immediately, the dragon rose and walked over the remaining rubble to look at him. The dragon growled and opened its mouth to fire.
"Your wand, Harry! Use your wand!" Hermione screamed at him with concern.
The stream of fire shot at Harry, but he swiped his wand across his body from the lower left to upper right, creating a shield of water to protect him. The dragon stalked closer to him as Harry stood his ground.
"Harry, for the love of Merlin…DO SOMETHING!" Sirius yelled.
Harry ignored his godfather. As the dragon neared Harry, he kept his wand at his side. "I do not wish to harm you." Harry spoke. Again, the ring silenced. Harry was speaking parseltongue! "Can you understand me?"
The dragon looked at Harry, pausing its movements forward. "I understand you human boy." The dragon huffed back.
"Good to know my parseltongue speaks to all members of the reptile family." Harry said. "I wish you no harm, dragon. I only need that golden egg among your nest."
"It is my hatchling. I will not give it to you…I must protect them." The dragon responded.
"The golden egg among yours is not a hatchling. It's not a real egg. It was placed there for us to fight dragons and take them by force. I do not desire to fight you and I promise no harm to your hatchlings. What must I do to prove myself truthful to you?" Harry asked.
"I will not trust you unless you trust me. You've not harmed me, human…Do you trust I shall not harm you if you were to turn your back?" The dragon inquired.
"I do." Harry set his wand down on the rock and stepped away from it. Harry turned his back to the dragon and closed his eyes.
"You're a brave boy. Not many would turn their backs on a dragon, nor leave themselves without a weapon. You have proven you are different from those who have hurt us to get what they want. I trust your words that the golden egg is not my own. I will give it to you, if you'll do something for me in turn?" The dragon stated calmly.
"Whatever you desire," Harry turned back around and bowed to the creature lightly.
"I desire to be free…With my hatchlings. Can you sever this chain that keeps me here?" The dragon shook its neck to reveal the chain in place.
"I can. You have a deal, my friend." Harry nodded.
"Very well." The dragon moved towards the golden egg, grabbing it with its mouth gently and then turning towards Harry, being only inches away from him.
Harry took the egg from the dragon carefully and then lightly rubbed the dragon's face and snout. "Thank you." Harry smiled some. "And now I'll keep up my end. How will you carry your eggs?" The dragon moved over the nest and gathered her real eggs in her mouth, or claws carefully. Harry got his wand and pointed it at the chain. "Reducto!" Harry cast as the chain around its neck shattered and fell to the ground.
The dragon roared out a thank you to Harry, then lightly butting its head to Harry's contently before taking to the sky and flying off quickly. Harry held the egg up with one hand as everyone just stared. Harry gave an amused snort before turning around and getting back into the cave that led him to the champion's tent.
"What the actual bloody hell just happened?" Ron spoke, heard by almost everyone.
"He…He used his ability to talk to snakes to get the dragon to give him the egg…" Draco stared. "Is that allowed?! Was it really that easy for him?"
"The rules were to retrieve the egg from the dragon, there were no specifications on gifts used. No one else could use it, Potter is the only parselmouth known since Salazar Slytherin and the dark lord." Severus told his godson.
Back in the tent, Harry set the egg down on his cot and just waited for the mad rush of people coming in to speak to him. This occurred just ten minutes later.
"Harry, what did you do?" Albus asked.
"Completed the task, was that not what we were supposed to do?" Harry responded. "I have the egg. Was that all?"
"You were supposed to fight the dragon." Barty said.
"There was nothing said about having to fight, just get the egg from the dragon guarding it." Harry said. "There were no rules on how to achieve that. I had a wand and my ability to speak to snakes, which apparently goes to all of the reptile family. Who knew. Are we done?" He asked again.
"He did complete the task…" Albus said to Barty.
"Very well. Yes, Harry, we're done for now." Barty nodded.
"Good." Harry held his egg and prepared to leave.
"Harry, come back." Sirius tried. "We want to celebrate your victory."
"It wasn't a victory, Uncle Sirius. It was getting a dragon to trust me and making a deal that if I got the egg from it; I'd set it free with its hatchlings. No fighting, no near death experience. I don't want to celebrate. I want to go to the tower and sleep. I want this whole tournament over so that I can either finish fourth year, or be attacked by Voldemort before the year ends. I wish I didn't have to feel the way I do about such a thing, but there's nothing to say otherwise. It's just a little too convenient for me that the dark mark was summoned during the Quidditch world cup by his followers and now I'm in a tournament I didn't even want to be in." Harry remarked.
"Surely you people all realized by now that Voldemort wasn't destroyed thirteen years ago, and he's trying to get his body back to make a full return. Whatever, though. But right now, all I am is the boy who lived and somehow, cheated to get into the tournament that I actually want nothing to do with. I just wanted one, just one normal year at school and it's clear to me that's never gonna happen. I'm not fighting to stay alive."
"I'm not giving up to die either…I'm just seeing what happens. This time I survived, next time…I might not and I really don't care either way. This is where I'm at right now…This is me forced into something I didn't want to be part of because of some stupid rules that say I can't back out considering I never entered myself into this. This is me hated by all the houses, including my own. This is me done with everything…" Harry told them.
Without another word, Harry held the egg against him with an arm around and departed the tent.
"This is getting worse…" Remus looked at Sirius.
"I know, Moony," Sirius frowned. "What do we do?"
"All he wants is to be out of the tournament and we can't do that…" Remus sighed. "I don't like seeing him like this; it's not the Harry we know and love. This is Harry…Obliviated and given a whole new idea about life."
"They're right, Albus…Potter is deteriorating, physically and mentally. The constant threat of he who must not be named, this tournament, people turning their backs on him…He's hurt and angry." Minerva looked to the Headmaster.
"We can't remove him from the tournament…All we can do is watch him, try to raise his spirits." Albus told them.
Harry made his way out of the tent and ignored the people he passed to get back inside the castle. Harry went right to Gryffindor Tower, setting his egg away and then going to the bathroom to shower. After all that, Harry just got into bed, not caring what time it was. Classes were canceled today for the task anyway, so who cared if he went to sleep? It could be a nap. Harry finally relaxed and closed his eyes; he drifted off to sleep and just prayed the tournament would be over soon.
Supposedly, it would take most of the year. Next was Christmas, then the second task would be after that. There would be a break in the months again, then the third task was supposedly held towards the end of the year. Harry just wanted it over, he wanted this whole year over. It was clear he wouldn't be enjoying any part of it, so he wanted it done and maybe next year would be better.