Chapter 83: The Brave and the Bold
As Harry slumped onto the ground, the red-maned handler stopped in front of him.
"That was either incredibly brave," the man offered his hand to help Harry stand back up. "Or incredibly stupid."
"That could be the title of my autobiography," Harry smiled at the man as the man heaved Harry to his feet. "I saw the shield fail and my friends had nowhere to go; I had to do something."
"Fred and George said you were different, but I didn't believe it until now," Harry looked at the man who suddenly looked like a more grown-up version of Ron Weasley. "Charlie Weasley."
"I remember meeting you at the World Cup," Harry said. "Makes sense you're here since you work with dragons."
"It's good to see you again," Charlie pulled the man next to him over. "This is my partner Nikola."
"Viktor's brother?" Harry asked.
"He mentioned me?" Nikola's dark eyebrows shot toward his hairline.
"Yes," Harry beamed. "You're the catalyst to his Patronus."
"He can cast a Patronus?"
"He can now. Just learned it two weeks ago. It's good to meet you both."
"It's you we should be thanking," Charlie said. "You calmed a raging dragon. A dragon in a rage none of us has ever encountered. I don't know how but you did."
"She just was concerned for her young," Harry shrugged. "I think she thought someone in the crowd stole the egg. After Krum's dragon smashed the eggs, it must have set her on edge."
"I vant to talk vith Viktor," Nikola said. "Dragons are his favorite; he must be devastated."
"Now that everyone's back in their seat," Bagman's distressed voice interrupted them. "If the champions could make their way to the platform at the center of the hallway, you will receive your scores."
"Gotta go," Harry turned away from the duo.
"Let's catch up next weekend in Hogsmeade," Charlie said. "I heard a rumor about a Basilisk and I want to hear the story."
"We'll catch up then," Harry said as he hoisted the golden egg into his arm and walked through the exit. As he entered his antechamber, the door to the hallway slid open. Exiting into the hallway, a light on the floor lit up, guiding him to the right. He passed the door with a number 3 wherein Krum sat on the bench with his head in his hands.
"Viktor?" Harry called out.
"Leave me here," the boy said.
"Come on," Harry crossed into the room and offered his hand.
"No!" Krum jerked away. "I don't vant a score, I don't vant anything but peace and quiet. I got my egg but that dragon vill probably die. I saw it in her eyes. She has nothing to live for."
"It'll be okay," Harry gently consoled his fellow Seeker. "Your brother says hi by the way."
"Nikola?" Krum looked up for the first time. "You saw him?"
"Talked to him and another handler," Harry said. "Come on. Let's do our song-and-dance and then you can meet up with your brother."
"Okay," Krum relented, grabbed Harry's arm and pulled himself up.
When they arrived at the circle at the center of the hallway, Fleur and Cedric were waiting anxiously.
"We were worried," Cedric said. "I thought one of the dragons got loose."
"She tried to," Harry said. "It's complicated."
Before Harry could explain, the circular platform began to spin and rise. A hatch opened above them, spilling light down below. Harry subtly palmed his wand, still on edge about anything that might happen, wary of any potential attempts on his life. Cedric noticed his demeanor change, drew his wand and covered his backside.
When the dais came to a stop, they were standing at the top of the stands in front of the judges' table.
"How about a round of applause for all our champions?" Bagman gestured toward the crowd. The cacophony was overbearing, threatening to deafen them all.
"Wave to the crowd, champions!" Bagman instructed. Harry, still fatigued used the bulk of Krum to steady himself to give the crowd a half-hearted wave. Fleur seemed the most into the crowd, beaming as she waved.
"Excellent job all four of you!" Bagman said. "Special thanks to our youngest champion who risked life and limb to quell a raging dragon and probably saved a few lives."
The other three gaped at Harry who just shrugged sheepishly. He shuddered at what Hermione was going to do to him when next she saw him.
"First up, we have scores to administer and then a quick press availability before you can celebrate with your classmates," Bagman's voice covered Harry's groan.
"Cedric Diggory used a delightful combination of conjuration and transfiguration to distract his dragon, ultimately summoning one of the dragon's own eggs to distract the dragon. He was only singed with fire, taking 15 minutes, 31 seconds to complete their task. Let's take it to the judges."
Crouch thrust his wand up snaking into the figure of an 8; Madam Maxime's formed at 7, Dumbledore an 8, Karkaroff a 4 and Bagman finished with a 9.
"The Hero of Hufflepuff finishes the task with 36 points," Bagman announced and the crowd applauded again.
"Next up the Delectable Beauty of Beauxbatons," Fleur's eyes narrowed and her cheeks darkened at her given nickname. "Miss Delacour used a rather clever combination of binding spells and transfiguration to restrain her dragon, spells so effective that she put her dragon to sleep. She finished in 10 minutes and 24 seconds."
The scores read 9 from Crouch, 10 for Maxime, 10 from Dumbledore, 5 from Karkaroff and 10 from Bagman.
"Vaulting into first place, Champion Delacour finishes the task with 44 points."
Another brace of cheers echoed across the mountain.
"Next we have the Hero of the World Cup, the Demon from Durmstrang, Viktor Krum," Krum barely waved, his red-rimmed eyes showing his true mood.
"Mr. Krum used a clever Metelojinx to cool the battlefield and his dragon," Bagman said. "He then used his superior reflexes and a well-aimed charm at his dragon's eyes. Unfortunately, the dragon smashed her eggs while thrashing about."
Harry rubbed Viktor's sagging shoulders, subtly keeping him on his feet.
"He finished in 6 minutes, even."
His scores read 4, 6, 5, 10 and 6. Krum growled and glared at his headmaster's audacity.
"That gives Mr. Krum 31 points, putting him in last, currently," Bagman said.
"Last we have the Boy-Who-Lived, Youngest Champion, the Daring Gryffindor Harry Potter," Once again the crowd cheered and Harry waved modestly. "Mr. Potter used… I have to be honest; I am not sure what he used beyond a summoning charm and a disillusionment charm but he completed his task in just under 3 minutes. In addition, Mr. Potter conjured two stone spikes to restrain the Hungarian Horntail, to keep her from reaching the audience. Let's take this to the judges."
Crouch gave him 8, Maxime 9, Dumbledore 10 with a special twinkle of thanks for his heroics, Karkaroff gave him a 3- to which the audience booed heartily- and Bagman gave him a 9.
"This gives Champion Potter 39 points. The winner of this round goes to Champion Delacour from Beauxbatons with 44 points. Now champions, you will notice these are not normal eggs. Pay attention to the switch at the top. These eggs are your clue to what the second task entails. You will have until February 24 to figure it out. Best of luck to all of you. Quietus."
"Champions, if you'll follow us, the media are waiting," Crouch instructed. As the champions walked down a staircase, a long table sat with the media looking at them. A door pulled open and Nikola and Charlie sat at the end of the table.
"Thank you all for coming," Ludo said. "First up, Mr. Murdock."
"I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't ask the organizers about the dragon's near escape," the Wizarding Wireless commentator asked.
"As best as we can tell," Nikola leaned into his microphone. "The smashing of the eggs alerted the Horntail to a possible danger to her nest. Vith her fear and the confusion caused by Mr. Potter's distractions, the dragon was set off. Ve installed a barrier to protect the audience but that barrier was never intended to vithstand that many attacks."
"So you didn't account for a dragon slamming into the barrier?" Luna asked.
"At the preserve, our dragons have never reacted that way," Charlie said. "They'll test the barrier and the shock will push them backward. That's always deterred them."
"Is there anything that you learned from today that you will use going forward?" Luna followed up.
"We will look into different ways to calm down the dragons. We are ever grateful for Mr. Potter's actions but we need to research the best ways to calm down a dragon, obviously."
"Would you say that Mr. Potter's antics were actually what set the dragon off?" Rita Skeeter's grating voice called from the back row.
"No," Nikola said. "Vhen ve vere approached about this tournament, ve subjected the dragons through a multitude of varied stimuli. They never reacted quite like this. Mr. Potter was impressive in his task of expertly distracting the dragon but those tactics would not set a dragon off."
"To the organizers of this event," Luna picked up the thread. "What are you going to do going forward to protect not only the champions but also the audience from harm? People, contestants and audience members have been killed in the past and Hogwarts is, first and foremost a school. What would you say to parents who are no doubt panicking as to the safety of their children?"
"Thank you Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore smiled at her. "First off, I would like to congratulate Mr. Potter on his valiant efforts to protect the school from the dragon. As much as we tried to prepare for these tasks, we were not prepared for the risks presented. We as the organizers will study this and learn. The next two tasks will have considerably less risk, as some of the organizers wanted to start this tournament off with a spectacle. Even with that, we will comb through the next two tasks to learn what we could scale back or remove to make everything safe and secure."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Luna nodded. "Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman, do you have anything to add?"
"No," Crouch said. "Everything went according to plan until the last champion. We feel confident in our procedures."
Viktor's face turned an ugly shade of red and he barely restrained a biting response. At that moment, Skeeter stood again.
"Mr. Potter," Rita asked the first question. "Could you please take us through everything you did to get through this task? After that bright light, nobody saw anything that you did."
"That was the point, Miss Skeeter," Harry smiled. "My first spell was a solar flare, something my girlfriend Hermione Granger helped me develop."
"Isn't that against the rules?" Skeeter cut across.
"Only help from any of my teachers or fellow champions is forbidden," Harry said. "Any of my fellow classmates are fair game. As I was saying, I first used a solar flare to blind the dragon for a while. At the same time, I summoned a rucksack I stashed near Hagrid's hut."
"You summoned from that far away?" Luna said, awed.
"Yes, is that special?" Harry asked.
"A lot of magicals are limited to a few hundred meters, most even to line of sight," Luna said.
"Indeed," Dumbledore cut across. "I myself can summon an item a kilometer away. To do anything like what you did is truly impressive."
"In any case," Harry shook off his dazed look and continued speaking. "Within that pack were two shrunken fireworks launchers, a dungbomb and my Firebolt. I used the dungbomb to keep the dragon from smelling me, the fireworks to distract her while I flew my disillusioned self on my Firebolt and snatched the egg from the nest.
"Miss Delacour," Rita's highlighted the first part as she turned toward the Beauxbaton champion. "Do you think your heritage helped you sedate your dragon?"
"The spell I used does sometimes have an effect," Fleur said. "But only on males. My best guess is the dragon wore herself out getting out of her restraints."
"What inspired you to restrain the dragon, Champion Delcour?" Luna scathingly bit out the last part of her question with a glance toward to Skeeter who simply glared back.
"Mostly instinct," Fleur said. "Ze dragon attacked and I 'ad to think on my feel. When I got 'er snout shut, I focused ze legs and arms, finishing with a net. When ze dragon broke free, I used my whip to restrain her until I could retreat."
"Champion Krum," Luna turned to the Durmstrang champion. "You seemed to have a strong reaction to the eggs being crushed. Can you take us through that moment?"
"No pun intended here but I vas crushed," Krum said, trying to keep his composure. "My brother vorks vith them, they are my favorite magical creatures. I only vanted to blind the dragon for a vhile and vhat followed broke my heart. If I could take it back, I vould"
"Thank you, Champion Krum," Luna said.
"Champion Diggory," Murdock picked up the trend from Luna. "Your use of transfiguration was impressive but what inspired you to summon the egg?"
"I needed the dragon to move and, since the organizers made it impossible to summon the fake egg and that seemed like my best shot. After that, I only had to focus on running like hell."
The press added a few questions before breaking up. When they left, Nikola violently hugged Viktor, slapping his younger brother's back.
"I know you are hurting but everything vill be alright," Nikola clasped his hands on either side of Viktor's face, locking eyes with him. "You are not to blame; we are. We should not have used eggs. That was asking for problems. Don't let his moment be a cancer on your soul. Let it empower you to make sure it never happens again."
"Harry," Charlie said from the other shoulder. "Still on for Hogsmeade? Three Broomsticks."
"Look forward to it," Harry smiled tiredly.
As one, the champions walked out the door where they first entered. To nobody's shock, Hermione was pacing on the other side of the door while Neville leaned on the nearest tree. When she saw them, she threw herself bodily at Harry.
"You were so great," Hermione peppered a kiss between every word. "You got the biggest dragon and you handled it expertly."
As abruptly as the hug began, it stopped and Hermione started smacking him.
"But why did you have to land in front of the dragon?" Hermione glared. "You could have been killed; I was so scared."
"So was I," Harry said as he held his hands up to defend himself. "The barrier failed and you were right in front of the dragon with nowhere to go. I couldn't let the dragon hurt my friends or the one I love."
"Well…" Hermione stumbled over her words. "That's very noble… but also daft, ridiculous and reckless… and completely heroic."
"C'mon Potter," Neville lifted Harry up giving him a rib-cracking hug. "The twins disappeared ages ago. You know that means a party, right?"
When he noticed Harry was dead on his feet, Neville withdrew a vial from his robes.
"Drink this," Neville uncorked it before passing it over.
"What is it?" Harry asked before downing it. As soon as the green liquid hit his tongue, he felt both alert and revolted.
"Ugh what was that?" Harry asked again, blinking rapidly.
"You drank it before we could tell you what it was?" Neville grinned cheekily at him. "What would Moody say? We could have just tried to poison you."
"I'm pretty sure you did," Harry grimaced.
"It was a concentrated Wiggenweld Potion," Neville beamed. "It works better than Pepper-up Potion."
"And tastes like the armpit of a tree," Harry licked his hand, desperately trying to clear the taste from his tongue.
"Alright Potter, your party awaits," Hermione bumped him and together, she and Neville marched him toward Gryffindor tower. Once back in the castle, they ascended the steps toward the Gryffindor common room. As they approached, the paintings began to cheer as the Fat Lady swung forward to allow them to simply walk into the applauding Gryffindors. In the common room, Dean quickly worked up a banner wherein Harry stood over a pinned dragon with his egg held aloft.
"There he is!" George's voice echoed across the common room as he and Fred picked Harry up.
"The man of the hour," Fred added his voice.
"Our Champion and Savior," the twin's voices echoed.
"THE DRAGON TAMER," the rest of the house answered the twin's call.
"So tell us, oh brave Potter," Lee Jordan stepped forward and kneeled as if to a king. "What possessed you to fly up to a dragon and talk to it? Honor? Strength?"
"Recklessness," Hermione offered.
"Stones?" Neville added with a questioning tone.
"I knew if I didn't do anything, the dragon would be hosting a special barbecue," Harry beamed at his housemates, noting some particular faces missing. Ron, Seamus and Cormac he was happy to see missing, as were Romilda and her friend Matilda. He knew Luna and Colin would be working to get the photographs and story out but he still missed them greatly. "And try as I might to fight it, I have come to care for you guys."
"Sorry we weren't as forthright in defending you after your name came out," a lanky seventh year Harry had rarely spoken with named Jameson Sparks spoke up. "But we're here for you. If anyone wants to come for one of our Lions, the Pride will stand with you."
"To Harry!" Fred set Harry down, slapped a butterbeer into his hand and called forth a toast.
"To Harry!" Everyone in the common room cheered him on.
Meanwhile, a few levels down, Ron and Cormac sat in an abandoned classroom, talking.
"Of course he walks away without a scratch," Ron sat backward in a chair, resting his chin on his hands, leaning on the back of the chair.
"He won't always be so lucky," Cormac said. "My dad is responsible for bringing in creatures for the second task. I slip him a few galleons, who's to say he doesn't bring something a little spicier?"
"Go on," Ron smiled for the first time in months.
"First, we need something of Potter's," Cormac said. "Something he won't miss."
"I'm listening," Ron leaned in further.
Upstairs, the crowd pressed Harry on the golden egg.
"Come on mate," Lee encouraged. "Open it!"
"I shouldn't," Harry said. "I'm supposed to figure it out on my own."
"Open it, open it, open it!" The crowd canted with a rhythm.
"If you say so," Harry depressed the latch and the two halves at the top sprung open, filling the common room with wailing and screeching.
"Close it, close it, close it!" Fred and George clapped their hands over their ears just like everyone else.
"Sorry about that," Harry slammed the egg shut and studied it, wondering what lay ahead for him in the next task.
(A/N: Back after a short break, just to give myself time to relax a little. As the summer winds down, I should have more time to write. The next chapter is close to finished and then we'll start heading toward the Yule ball.
I knew Ron would just drag down the celebration so I didn't want him there to ruin things. Overall I struggled with the title to this chapter until I found the Disturbed track whose lyrics really matched what Viktor felt.