Chapter 7 -The First Task
Since the meeting in the chambers of the Wizengamot, it had been a hectic couple of days for Harry. Between meeting with officials from the Ministry and the wandmaker Garrick Ollivander, to make sure his wand was in working order and continuous training, he was beyond tired. He had apparently not been available for the weighing of the wands back at Hogwarts school, but he had more crucial things to think about than minor traditions of a revived tournament he hadn't even volunteered for.

Now he was sitting in the champions tent, twirling his wand around in his hand idly as he contemplated the task to come. Sirius had discovered something of a paper trail in the ministry that led them to believe that Dragons had been brought into the country for the Tournament, something Sirius had then tried his best to prepare him for. He was not allowed to take any equipment into the arena with him, thus nullifying his potential advantage technologically… or so they might think.

He watched as the other champions entered the tent, taking positions by themselves quietly, no doubt to mentally prepare themselves for the task ahead. Before long, the tournament officials, judges and Albus Dumbledore himself entered the tent and explained what exactly the task was to be, as if they all didn't know already. Barty Crouch, a man with a pencil moustache and severe expression, held a small silk bag which after a small speech, he offered for each of the champions to stick their hand inside to 'reveal' the task.

Fleur Delacour drew a small blue miniature dragon with a number two on its side, no doubt denoting which place the girl from Beauxbatons would take.
"Swedish short snout." Declared Crouch with a small, mirthless smile. Viktor Krum drew out a crimson scaled dragon with a number one on its side, causing Crouch to wince slightly "A Chinese Fireball!" He said in a quiet voice.

The bag was then offered to Harry, who drew out a spiky looking dragon with a lethal looking tail, a number three on its side. He didn't know the name of it, but in his mind it looked the most dangerous of the three. "The Hungarian Horntail." Declared Crouch again, looking rather intensely at Harry. Harry, for his part, tried to keep an impassive look on his face. No need to show people how he was feeling. He wanted to focus on the spell he planned to use in the task.

Whilst during his training with Sirius he had learned plenty of various spells he could use, many were frowned upon within the British Isles, so he would be doing himself no favours publicly by using dark spells in front of a live audience. It was Sirius who came up with a plan to make it possible for Harry to use his technological advantage and bypass the rules regarding bringing items other than his wand into the arena. He had spent entire days practicing one specific spell until he could cast it both effectively and silently.

Harry listened as the other champions faced their tasks, the crowd going wild with cheers or gasping in horror, the dragons roaring and breathing fire at the humans apparently attempting to take their children before they had even hatched. Eventually, it was his turn to exit the tent and enter the arena. He had been discussing with Sirius the need to appear in control of the situation, to impress all of the officials that had come to watch the task. A lot of these people were people in powerful positions at the Ministry or members of the Wizengamot, and if he wished to get these people on side, he would need to make an impression.

He had chosen to eschew his usual officers uniform and had adopted the regular Imperial Army battle dress, plain dark grey combat bottoms and a tough shirt. He had decided against the breastplate and other small pieces of armour, they would just inhibit his movement if he needed to make a quick getaway. He had been offered Wizarding robes for the occasion but as always, turned them down. They might represent his home world but if he was being honest with himself, it did not yet feel like home on Earth.
He exited the champions tent to cheers from the crowd, all apparently very excited to see him risk his life. He still found the fact that more time had passed for him than those here on earth extremely strange. If he had not been taken in by the Corvin family and had remained on Earth, he would have been of an age with the children currently sat in the stands, cheering him on. But now was not the time for this, he focused on the task at hand. And he gulped.

Ahead of him on the other side of the arena, the monstrous Hungarian Horntail sat chained up above her nest, eyeing him even now. He tried his very hardest to maintain an even look on his face, to try and appear almost bored with the situation. He needed people to see him as calm and collected at all times. Appearance was half the job however, he needed to display some of what he had learned in his time training for the task.

Drawing out his new wand, he made a point of making showy and elaborate wand movements like a conductor of an orchestra, subtly flicking his back towards the champions tent and focusing on the spell in his mind 'Accio!' With that done, he quickly began levitating different stones from the ground of the arena into the air in front of him, each around the size of his head. Flicking his wand once more, the stones began to revolve around him, slowly at first but picking up speed. Sweat trickled down his brow with the strain of maintaining the levitation of so many heavy objects, but he had practiced this so many times now that he was determined to get it right.

Glancing behind himself for a split second, he spotted the speeding object that he had summoned rush towards him from the tent. Allowing himself a small grin, he caught the object in his hand and decided it was time to begin. Making sure to click the correct switch on the metallic orb, he threw it up into the air and began levitating it along with the spinning rocks. With that done, he began marching purposefully towards the dragon as if he hadn't a care in the world. The Horntail roared in defiance and readied itself to let loose a blast of fire. Seeing this as his chance to end things quickly, Harry summoned all of the spinning rocks to his front and with his wand extended in front of him, caused the rocks to come together as a shield, not stopping his march for even a second.

The heat from the torrent of dragon fire against the rocks in front of him affected him even this far behind the shield, the heat searing his face but leaving him unburned. Hearing the sound of the metallic object beeping, which only he knew to be a thermal detonator, he knew he had to act fast. He put all of his might into pushing the rock shield further forward towards the dragon until he felt the flames easing up against the rocks and knew that this would be his only chance to end things quickly. Using all the concentration he could muster, he cast a silent 'Depulso' on the rock shield and the detonator following behind said shield, aiming for the dragon's open mouth.

He did not want to watch, if he was being honest with himself. At the very last second, he felt it to be a foolish plan and that he would be immolated or eaten by a great fire breathing lizard. Fortunately, he was wrong. The rocks pummeled the dragon's head and the beeping thermal detonator found its mark, entering the beast's maw. The Horntail fell back as it was beaten back by the rocks being flung at its head but before it could recover, the poor creature's head exploded in a blast of fire and gore.

The crowd, who had been cheering up until now, fell silent. Even the judges gaped in shock at what he had done. The dragon keepers, who had lined the stands of the arena, looked appalled. One redhead in particular, looked livid with Harry's actions. Harry, for his part, simply marched over to the dragon's nest and picked up the golden egg, holding it up in the air for all to see. Clicking his heels together and giving a shallow bow, he made his way out of the arena.

Inside of the medical tent, the school's Mediwitch, Madame Pomfrey, fussed over the other champions. Seeing Harry enter the tent, she bustled over quickly, directing him over to an empty bed. He raised his hands, displaying his uninjured form.

"Not to worry Madame, I am quite unhurt. Untouched actually, would be the better way to put it." He threw her a lopsided grin.

"I will be the judge of that Mr Pott- I mean, Captain Corvin. Please take a seat so that I may at least do the standard checks."

With a sigh, he surrendered himself to her mercy and sat on the bed, waiting patiently whilst she cast spells, no doubt in an attempt to find something wrong with him, he thought. Before long she was done, and he was allowed to go out and see what he had scored. Ludo Bagman scored him a ten, causing him to allow himself a small smile.

Barty Crouch gave him a nine, enough for Harry to acknowledge him with a small nod. Madame Maxine scored him another nine, receiving another nod from Harry. Igor Karkaroff scowled and held up a three, causing Harry to narrow his eyes at the blatant bias on display. What shocked him however, was Dumbledore's sad face as he held up a seven.

He had scored first, something he had not quite expected but he was more than happy with. However, Dumbledore's face confused him. No doubt he would discover the reason shortly, as he watched the judges leave the stands and make their way down to the medical tent. Before long, they entered the tent and appeared to be arguing quietly amongst themselves about one thing or another before coming to a halt at the end of Harry's bed.

The Hogwarts Headmaster appeared very solemn. "Harry… was it necessary for you to kill the Dragon?"

The other champions' eyes widened at hearing this, all turning to look at Harry. Fleur Delacour looked at him almost hungrily. Harry simply raised an eyebrow.

"There was nothing said about not killing the beast. It seemed quite insistent on immolating me, so I removed the threat." Dumbledore's frown deepened but before he could speak again, Barty Crouch butt in.

"Do you know how much trouble your actions will cause the Ministry boy?!" He growled at him.

Harry narrowed his eyes and slowly got to his feet, standing a head taller than Crouch and looking down at him. "Call me boy again and you and I shall have issues, Mr. Crouch. As I said, there was nothing in the rules saying I could not kill the beast. I have completed the task within the rules."

Crouch looked almost smug at this. "Oh is that so? Then what about you using an item other than your wand to kill the Dragon? We specifically stated that no item other than your wand was allowed to be on your person when you entered the arena!"

Harry allowed himself a small smile. "A good thing that I summoned said item from outside of the arena, is it not? Either way I have done nothing illegal and I have completed the task set out for me, no be gone with you."

Crouch hissed in anger before storming out of the medical tent, followed closely by a nervous looking Ludo Bagman. Dumbledore gave the entrance to the tent a thoughtful look before turning back to Harry.

"It was unwise of you to antagonise Barty Crouch, my boy. He is a rather influential man."

Harry snorted derisively. "I've been told all I need to know about Barty Crouch. His son died from his time in Azkaban. He himself, disgraced and relegated to the Head of the Department of International Magic Cooperation, a mighty blow considering how close he was to becoming the Minister of Magic… or so I'm told at least." He flashed the Hogwarts Headmaster a winning smile, which Dumbledore did not return.

"I see that Sirius has been teaching you some things…" He murmured quietly, almost to himself. "Very well, I shall leave you be for now. Congratulations on completing the first task, Harry." Before Harry could respond or even correct the old man's usage of his first name, Dumbledore swiftly exited the tent.
Harry clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Old goat…" he muttered.

Scene Break

It was a rather tired Harry that made his way, along with Sirius, to the location of the Potter's ancestral home. Sirius had been unable to watch the first task due to Harry's wishes that he do some investigating on his behalf whilst everyone was busy watching the tournament. Unfortunately the investigation did not turn up the results he was hoping for.

"He covered his tracks well, if he was involved." Sirius murmured quietly, Harry humming next to him in response.

"Well I can't say I'm surprised. A man in his position doesn't maintain his position for long if he doesn't learn to play the game well. No matter, it won't affect our plans in the slightest. The fact that Blightwood Castle's location was so well hidden is… troubling, however. I should not have had this much trouble finding my family home." Harry said almost to himself, lost in his own thought process.

Before long, the two came to the end of the narrow track they had been traipsing down and came face to face with what could only be described as a ruin. It was not a large castle by any means, in fact Harry would hardly have called it a castle at all. It was more of a manor house, attached to what could have been an old stone watchtower.
Harry clicked his tongue in annoyance whilst Sirius sighed. "Voldemort himself attacked your Grandparents here. Your Grandfather was a phenomenal fighter but… you can see the result." His godfather stated sadly.

Harry simply nodded in acceptance. Giving himself and Sirius a minute to reflect and think, he cleared his throat. "As depressing as this is, a home can be rebuilt. And it shall be rebuilt as befitting a member of both the Potter and Corvin families." He hummed in thought, his eyes trailing up the broken watchtower.

"I believe we can use the isolation of this place to our advantage… the start of a new base. Black Manor has been shut off to the public for over a month now, your would-be visitors will be getting curious Sirius. I shall have my men begin transporting materials and personnel here and construct a new home, an impregnable fortress."

Sirius nodded his head in acceptance and just a small amount of relief. Having to share his home and its grounds with the strange men that followed his godson had become… tedious. More than one had pestered him about the house elves, or the magic they had seen him cast. The only 'Imperials' that did not speak or question him were the so-called Stormtroopers, their faces hidden behind their skeleton mask helmets. Sirius shuddered just thinking about them.

Harry allowed himself a grim smile. "I believe that along with my new start, I shall rename the family home… Some may argue that I am ignoring the family's history… but I like to think I am creating my own history. I think I shall name this place… Ironrath."

AUTHOR NOTE:
Hey guys! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I won't lie, I am not happy with how the task is written- but I am not the best at that sort of thing. I am much more inclined to write about plans, politics and the like. The idea was that the rocks blocked the flames from damaging the "object" which was of course, a thermal detonator.

On another note, Harry has found his family home! … in ruins. This will be the start of what will essentially be an Imperial Governors Palace of some form, with an Imperial base surrounding it. Now with some time between the end of the first task and the second task, we will see more plans coming to fruition, more Imperial build up, more wizards and witches joining Harry's small faction.

One decision I have made however, is that there may be a new love interest for Harry. I will not spoil what I have planned for the next chapter- but after a lot of thought, I will be introducing a new OC for Harry to meet. I'd appreciate all feedback and thoughts for the OC if you guys wanna throw in some ideas- at the moment, all I have planned for her is that she will be the daughter of one of the darker families. No Daphne Greengrass in this one!
Anyway, please review! And if you have nothing nice to say, best to say nothing at all unless it's constructive.