AN: Here's the first task, it was a little hard to do, hope you enj it.
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Marvel
Chapter 26: The First Task.
Loki slammed her chamber door with such force the wall shook; Harry watched as she took her hat off and tossed it across the room, followed by her cape. Then Loki walked into the middle of the room, shifted into his male form, held his fist out at his sides, then shouted in anger as he let his magic loose; Harry backed up as the room got destroyed, shelves falling apart, books and trinkets flying everywhere, even the glass in the window broke with a shattering sound. Loki turned and began pacing back and forth, mumbling and ranting to himself.
"No, absolutely not," Loki said as Harry watched him. "No, I forbid it; my son is not going up against a dragon, no, not happening. Who do they think Harry is, Thor? Only Thor would be stupid enough to try to take on a dragon at such a young age."
"Loki," Harry said; he didn't appear to hear him, as he kept pacing and mumbling about Harry not going near any dragon and how stupid Thor was, though how Thor ended up in Loki's ramblings, Harry had no idea.
"I'll just go straight to the judges and tell them Harry will not be doing the first task." Loki decided, nodding his head as if agreeing with himself.
"You can't do that," Harry said, "I have to compete; you know what Crouch said."
Loki heard Harry this time, stopped pacing, and looked at him, his eyes full of concern, as he frowned in thought.
"Fine," Loki said, "You'll face the dragon, or at least they will think you're facing the dragon."
Harry watched in surprise as Loki shifted into him and just stood there staring at Harry with a smirk that looked out of place on Harry's face.
"Oh, that's not creepy at all," Harry said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"What?" Loki demanded, shocking Harry even further by speaking in Harry's voice. "It's a perfect plan; you can stay up here, far away from any dragons, while I, in this form, go and do the task for you."
"You're forgetting one thing," Harry said, "You're not me. You might fool the judges and even Dumbledore, but will it fool whatever magic is in that binding contract? Can we take the chance that I won't keel over the moment you take my place?"
"Damn," Loki mumbled, and to Harry's great relief, shifted back into himself and continued his pacing; just like the night Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, green magic started flowing from Loki's fingertips, and glowing green footprints left on the flood as Loki walked back and forth.
"Clones, then, that's it. I'll distract the dragons with a dozen clones of you; then the actual you can get passed." Loki mumbled. "But you also can not be seen. I'll cloak you with my magic; yes, that should work."
"No one is allowed to interfere," Harry said, dropping his arms, and he too started pacing, just like Loki was, but walking in a different direction. Then he and Loki turned simultaneously and continued walking back and forth, up and down in opposite directions. Harry ran a hand throw his hair, gently pulling on it in frustration.
"No, clones, I'll use an illusion," Loki said, "That's it, I'll cast an illusion of you getting past the dragons."
"We'll have the same problem of me having to be the one that does the task," Harry said. "And you can't interfere."
"No one will know it's me," Loki said, more to himself than Harry, "How could they?"
"Dumbledore might," Harry pointed out, "And the magic in that contract might know someone is interfering."
"Damn it." Loki cried; he walked over and sat in a chair, leaned over, and put his face in his hands. "I need Sirius here. I'm sure he could think of something, a spell, a hex, a curse, something that can help you against the beast."
"I'm not supposed to fight the dragon." Harry pointed out, "I have to get passed it, for what I have no idea, but your idea to distract it could work, but how would I not be noticed? Sirius has the invisibility cloak."
"Hang on, " Loki said. "Charlie Weasley said they wanted nesting mothers. Those bastards want you to steal one of the dragon's eggs, are they completely bunkos? That'll definitely get you killed."
Harry watched Loki stand and started pacing again while mumbling what Harry was sure were cuss words in some ancient language he didn't understand. Then suddenly stopped and turned to Harry.
"A Disillusionment charm, that should work," Loki said, grinning. Harry nodded; that could work, and he already knew how to do the charm Sirius taught him this past summer.
"Okay, now we need a way to distract the dragon," Harry said. "What about a Patronus? Will that work?"
"Perhaps." Loki frowned in thought. "Though I'm not sure if a dragon will care about a shimmering gold wolf. What you need is another you."
"You can't interfere, remember?" Harry said as Loki turned to him, grinning again.
"I do not mean I make the clone." Loki said, "You're going to do it."
"Me?" Harry demanded, "Did you forget we haven't gotten that far in my training yet?"
"I'll teach you, we'll work all weekend, and by Monday, you'll be able to do it," Loki said.
"Loki, you told me that cloning was extremely advanced and would be a while before we reached that level." Harry pointed out. Loki's look turned soft as he stepped forward and put his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"You are an extraordinary wizard, Harry; trust me, you can do this," Loki said.
"Loki-
"You can do it, Harry. I know you can," Loki said, "If not, we'll use your Patrnous idea as a backup, okay?"
"Okay," Harry replied; Loki grinned, then let go of Harry's shoulders and started pacing again.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
"You have to concentrate harder," Loki said, looking down at Harry, who was sitting in the middle of the floor, legs crossed in front of him, glaring up at Loki, it was evening, and Loki had been trying to help Harry make a clone of himself all day, only stopping for meals, Harry believed Loki was pushing him too hard. He was tired and wanted to stop for the day. But Loki wanted to keep going.
"We have been doing this all day," Harry complained.
"Just try again. We'll stop soon." Loki said; Harry took a breath and closed his eyes to try again, even though he knew it would be useless, but before he could try, there was a knock on the door, Loki signed in annoyance while shifting into her female form and walked over and jerked the door open, but no one was there.
"There's something on the door," Harry said; Loki looked and tore an envelope off the door. It was addressed to Harry Potter.
"It's for you," Loki said, opening the envelope and pulling out a letter, then unfolding it.
"What does it say?" Harry asked, standing and walking over to Loki.
"The first task is dragons." Loki said, "That's it, and it doesn't say who it's from, but the writing is the same handwriting of the person who put your name in the Goblet of Fire."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked.
"Positive," Loki replied. "Whoever put your name in the goblet is warning you about the dragons."
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Good question," Loki replied, narrowing her eyes.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Harry's Sunday went like Saturday; Loki kept him in his chambers and had Harry trying to make a clone of himself, with little to no luck.
"I can't do it," Harry said, "I might as well use a Patrnous."
"Just try a couple more times," Loki said. Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He challenged all his magic and concentrated while picturing himself standing next to him.
"Harry," Loki said, sounding excited. "Open your eyes, and look to your right."
Harry opened his eyes and looked, then slightly jumped as he saw himself standing there. "Did I-"
"You did," Loki said, grinning. Harry squealed in excitement, jumped up, and hugged Loki, shocking him. Loki laughed, pulled away from Harry, and turned him around to face his clone. "Now, I'll show you how to control it, do not worry; this is the easy part."
There were no classes on Monday, and Harry once again slept on Loki's sofa; the task wasn't until that evening, so Harry took the time to practice making clones of himself. Then at dinner time, they went to the Great Hall together. Loki joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. Harry sat staring at his plate, feeling like he might be sick; he was too nervous to eat, talk, look up, or do anything, Loki who was sitting next to him seemed to understand and kept quiet, not eating anything either because she was just as scared and nervous as Harry felt. It felt like they sat there for an eternity of silence when McGonagall came hurrying towards them.
"Potter, the champions have to come down to the grounds now. You have to get ready for your first task." McGonagall said.
Harry slowly stood, and Loki reached out and grabbed his arm; for a split second, Harry thought Loki was going to try and stop him from going until she stood.
"I'll walk him," Loki said.
"Of course," McGonagall said, then patted Harry's shoulder, "Good Luck, Potter."
She walked away, and Loki put her arm around his shoulder and led him out of the Great Hall, then out of the castle, and down to where the dragons were, around the forest's edge. When they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be visible. Harry saw that a tent had been put up, its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view. Loki opened the entrance to the tent, allowing Harry to walk through first.
Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a wooden stool, and she looked pale. Wanda Maximoff was seated next to Cedric Diggory, who looked like Harry felt, but Wanda, if she was scared, was doing a good job hiding it, and Bagman was sitting on a stool in the corner, his face lit up when he saw Harry.
"Harry, good," Bagman said. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home. Well, now we're all here; time to fill you in. When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" He held up a small sack of purple silk. "From which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face. There are different varieties; you see, your task is to collect the golden egg."
When Bagman stopped talking, Harry could hear hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet passing the tent, people talking, and Bagman opened the purple silk sack.
"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour; she put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny model of a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck; Bagman now turned the bag toward Wanda, who reached in and pulled out a model of the Chinese Fireball. It had a number three. Cedric put his hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. Loki groaned, knowing what was next; Harry reached into the bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail and the number four. It stretched its wings as he looked down at it and bared its fangs.
"Well, there you are!" Bagman said, "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I will have to leave you for a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first. Just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, right? Now, Harry, could I have a quick word? Outside?"
"Er, " Harry said, looking up from the dragon, confused as to why Bagman wanted to talk to him outside.
"Did you not just say you have a job to go do?" Loki demanded, pulling Harry away from him and, over on Loki's other side, narrowing her eyes at him; without another word, Bagman turned and rushed out of the tent. A few minutes later, the whistle blew, and Cedric left the tent; Loki had Harry sit on a nearby stool, then went over and peeped out of the tent flap, curious as to how he was going to get passed his dragon.
Harry tried not to listen to the crowds cheering, the dragon roaring, and Bagman's commentary, but he heard everything, which made him more nervous. He just wished this was over already.
"Clever move - pity it didn't work." Loki said, just as a whistle blew, and it was announced that Cedric had gotten his gold egg.
"One down, three to go!" Bagman yelled as the whistle blew again. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"
Loki stepped out of the way to allow Fleur to pass; then once again, she watched out of the tent flap, and Harry glanced over at Wanda to see her watching Loki intently; then, twenty minutes after Fleur left the tent, the whistle blew. Wanda was heading towards the entrance, curious about how Wanda planned to get past the dragon; Harry was able to stand and walk over to the entry, stood next to Loki, and peeped out.
Wanda pulled her wand out of her pocket and held it up, along with her other hand. A reddish color appeared as she slowly walked toward the dragon; it lifted its head and blew smoke from its nostrils as if warning her not to come nearer; Wanda didn't seem scared, though she said something under her breath; Harry couldn't hear what, but the dragon raised its head higher, it's eyes glowing a reddish color, and Wanda keeping her eye on the dragon, slowly walked towards the eggs, sitting in its front paws.
"I do believe Maximoff has used some kind of spell to put her dragon in a trance," Bagman said.
Harry watched in amazement as Wanda walked right up to the dragon, picked up the golden egg, and then took off running to the side, the whistle blew, and the crowd cheered.
"She's completely brilliant," Harry mumbled as Loki dropped the tent flap and turned to him.
"You're next, focus, remember what we practice; you're going to do great. I'm right here. Nothing is going to happen to you." Loki said; she hugged Harry tightly, and when the whistle blew, he had to force Loki to let go of him, then turn and opened the tent flap, took a deep breath, and suddenly there were two of him standing there, the clone Harry walked out of the tent, and over to the dragon, the Hungarian Horntail raised its head, watching clone Harry closely, Harry made a movement with his hand, and his clone started taunting the dragon.
"Hey, over here, you overgrown lizard." clone Harry yelled, waving its hands, "Come get me."
The Hungarian Horntail hissed almost like a snake, smoke coming from its nostrils. Clone Harry then started walking toward the back of the horntail. It raised higher and followed its movements; Harry could now see the eggs nestled in its arms and decided now would be the perfect time to get the gold egg.
"Be careful," Loki whispered; Harry gave her a nod, then cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, walked out of the tent, and slowly and as quietly as he could, he got closer to the dragon, who was getting angry at Harry's clone, and blew fire at it, the crowd screamed, as clone Harry dodged out of the way, Harry turned his attention back at the egg while part of his mind was still on his clone controlling it, the crowd gasped as the horntail swung its claw at Harry's clone, which dodged out of the way, and started making its way around the dragon. Harry pulled out his wand, pointed it toward the dragon eggs, and said.
"Accio golden egg."
The egg went zooming toward Harry, who caught it, no one noticed, too busy watching the horntail trying to catch Harry's clone, so he backed up away from the eggs, took a deep breath, and got ready to run because now he needed his clone to come this way, so he could drop the Disillusionment Charm, and show the judges he got the egg.
Harry had his clone run down the right side of the horntail, partly jumping, partly climbing over its leg. As it passed the eggs, he had it reach its arm out, making it look like he was grabbing for the gold egg. The moment the clone reached Harry, he dropped the Disillusionment Charm at the same time he made the clone disappear, then turned and started running back toward the tent.
"Harry, watch out!" Loki screamed just as Harry felt something slice across his back; his feet lifted off the ground, and he flew a few feet in the air and fell back down on the ground dropping the egg and rolling over on his back to see the Hungarian horntail looming above him, and looking pissed off.
"Great, Scott, get the dragon handlers down there now before that thing eats the boy who lived," Bagman yelled into his microphone.
Harry was frozen in fear as the dragon looked down at him and opened his mouth, showing sharp pointy giant fangs; it roared its head back and came at Harry as if trying to bite him, Harry rolled out of the way, and the horntail turned to him.
"Stop." Harry cried out as it dodged at him again but was stopped by green magic hitting it; Loki was suddenly there, having come out of the tent, looking pissed, both hands glowing green; as she threw green magic at the dragon, Harry sat up, and watched in amazement as the dragon started backing up.
"I don't care if you are some giant beast. No one comes after my son," Loki said, then held out both hands, and a large green blast of magic swirled the horntail, and it looked to be shirking when Loki's magic disappeared; the dragon was gone, sitting where it had been was a tiny white kitty instead.
"Meow," the Kitty said, and Harry's eyes widened in shock as Loki turned from it and came walking towards Harry, gripping him under his arms, and pulled Harry to his feet, then reached down and picked up the gold egg and handed it to Harry.
"You just turned a dragon into a cat," Harry said, just as the dragon handlers led by Charlie Weasley came running onto the area, then paused, staring at the kitty, who was still meowing.
"Is that? Did you turn our dragon into a cat?" Charlie demanded; he sounded mad.
"It was after my son," Loki answered, then scowled, "Do not give me that look; it should return to normal in a few hours." Loki gripped Harry by the arms and stirred him off the area and towards a different tent. At first, he had no idea why or what it was for until Madam Promfry came bursting out.
"Dragons!" she said, in a disgusted tone, opening the tent flap and allowing Harry and Loki to enter; Harry sat on the nearest bed, and Madam Pomfry had him remove his shirt, so she could examine Harry's back, talking furiously as she did so. "Last year dementors, this year dragons, what will they bring into this school next, those aliens that attacked muggle, New York? You're fortunate, Potter; it looks like the tips of the dragon's claws are all that got you; not very deep, but will likely leave scars; it'll need cleaning before I heal it up, though."
Harry looked up at Loki as Madam Pomfrey tended his cuts, she looked worried about something at first, but when she saw Harry looking at her, she smiled at him.
"Alright, Potter, all done; you just lay down and relax a moment until the time to get your score." Madam Pomfrey walked off to check on Cedric, who had gotten a burn on his shoulder. Fleur had hurt her ankle, and Wanda Maxmioff was the only champion that hadn't gotten injured.
"I did not know you could speak Parseltongue," Loki commented, helping Harry to lay back.
"I spoke Parseltongue ?" Harry asked.
"Yes, to the dragon," Loki said, "You told it to stop."
"You can understand Parseltongue?" Harry asked.
"Of course, I can," Loki replied, "I invented it."
"You invented it?" Harry asked.
"Thor and I did," Loki replied, "You see, Aagardains have this special gift called Allspeak with it, we can speak and understand every language in all nine realms, but sometimes it's a bad thing because you have no privacy. When Thor and I were children, we were close. As all close siblings do, we liked to keep secrets from our parents, well to talk in front of people freely; we had to come up with a way no one could understand us; both Thor and I love snakes, so copying them seemed like a good idea, Thor and I came up with different hisses for different words, and since hissing isn't talking no one could understand us. Once we grew older, we began to use it on the battlefield so our enemies didn't understand us, one day I realized we could talk to snakes that way, and they became the perfect spies during wars; Midgardain wizards somehow began to speak it, copied from us of course, and from there it became an actual language some wizards are born with, and I am very pleased you have the gift."
"What happened between you and Thor?" Harry asked. "Why do you hate each other now?"
"Odin," Loki replied. Harry didn't understand what Loki meant by that and didn't get to ask because, at that moment, Hermione and Ron came bursting into the tent.
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione said, "You didn't do anything flashy, but you, umm."
"That wasn't me, Hermione," Harry said, "It was a clone, I used a Disillusionment Charm on myself, and while the dragon was paying attention to my clone, I used a summoning charm to get the egg."
"Oh wow, brilliant idea, but-" Hermione looked to Loki.
"I didn't make the clone; Harry did," Loki said, voice full of pride, "Spent all weekend teaching him how."
"Wicked," Ron said, then held his arm out to Harry, who saw what looked like nail marks. "Next time you face a dragon, I'm not sitting next to Hermione and mate." He glanced at Loki, then back at Harry, "Your mum's scary than mine when angry, and that's saying something."
Loki chuckled as she conjured a clean shirt for Harry to put on, then helped Harry out of bed and followed him and his friends outside to see Harry's scores while Ron explained to him what the other champions did.
"Cedric did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground; turned it into a dog; he was trying to make the dragon go for the dog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it worked because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well. And that Fleur girl tried this charm, and I think she was trying to put it into a trance; well, that worked too. It went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire - she put it out with a bit of water out of her wand but fell. That redhead from Durmstrang did a much better job of putting her dragon in a trance. So far, she's in the led."
"It's marked out of ten from each one," Hermione explained as Madame Maxime walked out onto the field and raised her wand in the air. What looked like a long silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.
"Not bad!" said Ron as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks because you got scratched." Barry Crouch came next. He shot a number seven into the air.
"Well, guess it's not too bad," Harry said, shrugging as Dumbledore held up his wand and shot a ten in the air.
"I do believe Albus at least knows what you truly did," Loki said, clapping along with the crowd. Ludo Bagman gave Harry a nine. The last person to give Harry a score was Professor Schmidt, who gave Harry a seven.
After receiving his points, Harry had to return to the champion tents, Bagman requested it, and Loki went with him.
"Well done, all of you!" Bagman greeted them, "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February twenty-fourth, but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime. If you look down at those golden eggs, you're all holding, you will see they open. See the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg because it will tell you what the second task is and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then."
Loki and Harry left the tent and made their way back toward the castle; as they walked, Loki reached over and took the golden egg from him, and grinned.
"Do not worry, sweetheart, your mother is a genius; with me helping, we'll have the next clue solved in no time," Loki said, putting her arm around Harry's shoulders. Harry grinned back at her; maybe he was wrong. Maybe he wasn't going to die in this tournament after all.
AN: Wanda was using her powers when putting the dragon in a trance, she only pulled out the wand to make it look like she was using it, I hope you liked my story of Loki and Thor inventing Parseltongue together, I thought it was a neat idea, plus shows how they were close when they were younger.