Hello all. I would have been back sooner, having actually written most of the chapter before posting the last one however I'm an idiot. My laptop likes to randomly delete stuff so I save things to a memory stick which, like the genius I am, I decided to put through the washing machine. Anyway, I managed to get the chapter written again only to then break my laptop. I finally have a new one so here we are.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter Fourteen:

By Rosa241

Harry POV:

I don't believe it! I actually don't believe it! Can they actually do this? Is this legal?

My mind spins as I sit here, attempting to pay attention to the lesson McGonagall is giving. I've not stopped thinking about the dragons since Hagrid revealed the information to me last night. I just don't understand how they think this is a remotely good idea? I know this tournament is supposed to be dangerous and everything but come on!

Flashback:

Hagrid and Madame Maxine are several strides ahead of me, not hard considering the size of them, whilst I'm trying my hardest to keep myself hidden. It hadn't taken much to realise that she had no idea where Hagrid was taking them either. I'd kind of hoped that she would spill the beans on whatever he had planned, after all I have to see Sirius at one o'clock and that is a meeting that I have no intentions of missing.

"Don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're no s'posed ter know!" Hagrid whispered to Madame Maxine, although I'm quite certain the message was aimed at me as well.

After what felt like forever we finally wandered towards a clearing and the sight that greeted me made my blood run cold. Standing in front of me was an enormous, fire breathing, scaled, sharp toothed dragon! In an instant I knew what it was doing here. The first task! That was the first task! Dragons!

"Oh my god!" I whispered to myself, reflex telling me to take a couple of steps backwards as the dragon roared and reared onto its legs.

Several wizards raced around, sending several spells in its direction. Whatever the spells were they seemed to work just fine as the dragon now lay unconscious on the singed grass. It was only now that I noticed that this was not the only dragon in the area. There were four of them! Four dragons! One for each of us!

By now Hagrid and Madame Maxine had wandered further forward to get a better look at the creature. Hagrid was of course in love with dragons. A shiver came over me as I recalled my last encounter with a dragon, Norbet! That one gave Ron one hell of a bite and it was only a baby. These were full grown, adult dragons. Fire breathing, huge claw wielding dragons!

A familiar wizard stepped forward, Charlie. Charlie Weasly was here, of course, he was a dragon handler. It was hardly surprising that he would volunteer to come over for the trip seeing as though his family was here. Family...Sirius. As scary as the thought of the dragons were the thought of missing Sirius almost made my heart stop. Turning round I raced full speed back towards the castle with one thought in my mind.

Dragons!

End Flashback

Of course I'd mentioned this to Hermione first chance I'd gotten which had sent her into a long speech about health and safety. It was now that I found myself missing Ron more than ever. Ron knew a lot more about dragons, having learned it from Charlie, than either of them. Thinking about Ron sent a wave of anger coursing through me.

Don't go there Harry...

Ron was convinced that I'd slipped my name into the goblet, like the rest of the school he thought I was lying to him. I would have thought that after all these years he would know me. He's supposed to be one of my best friends yet he had so easily turned his back on me when I needed him the most. I'm not sure there's any forgiving that. I miss him of course but I'm just so angry. He has no right to treat me that way. Shaking my head I force myself to think about the matter in hand, namely the fact that I was going to have to face a dragon.

Hermione had pointed out that by this point Madame Maxine would have told Fleur all about it. Of course she would have, unlike Dumbledore he doubted that she had any kind of morals when it came to it. Karkaroff would of course have seen the dragons, judging from the fact that he had been edging further into the forest in the same direction that the dragons were in. If Karkaroff knew then that meant that Krum knew. My mind stopped as realisation hit me.

Percy. Percy didn't know. Percy needed to know.

Turning around I headed quickly in the opposite direction.

Percy POV:

Hey Percy,

Mum and dad told me about the tournament. I can't believe someone would do that to you mate, that's awful. Anyone got any idea who it might be? More importantly how are you feeling? I can't imagine what's going through your head right now but just know that I'm going to be there. I managed to wangle some time off to be there for the first task.

Mum told me how people have been reacting to the news, I hope your dealing with it okay. I hope Fred and George are behaving themselves too. I know they said they were going to stop picking on you but you know what they can be like sometimes. Let me know if they get out of hand. Speaking of which I still can't believe you kept things with Flint quiet as long as you did. I really wish you'd said something at the time, we could have sorted it then. I just feel like things could have been so much different, so much better. I know, I know we've been through this time and time again but I still feel terrible. I should have noticed sooner, I'm your big brother.

Anyway, it's getting late here and I should get some sleep soon.

Hope you're doing okay and I'll see you soon.

Love Charlie.

I can't help sighing as I finish Charlie's letter. We've gone over and over the bullying so many times now that I feel like we're going round in circles. Charlie and Bill both feel so guilty and despite my best attempts they won't accept that it's over. I can understand it of course but it's starting to drive me crazy. It's the other part of his letter that really gets my attention though.

I can't imagine what's going through your head right now but just know that I'm going to be there.

He's coming to the task? How? Getting time off is next to impossible for Charlie; he couldn't even get any time off at Christmas the last few years. So how did he manage to get some time off at such short notice, especially since he had the time off for the world cup not that long ago. Something seems fishy about the whole thing but I shouldn't complain really. It'll be nice to have at least a few people there who actually don't hate me right now. I'm trying not to let the comments bother me but it's hard. Of course I've got Oliver, Ginny and the twins on my side, plus Harry and Hermione of course. As for Ron...Ron is a mystery. He's been so angry about the entire thing and nothing I've said seems to have made a difference. Whatever's made him so mad I'd put money on it being more than just the tournament.

"Percy?" A familiar voice jolts me out of my thinking.

"Harry. Come in." I gesture for him to come into the room, I've never met a fourteen year old with manners like him. "What brings you here?"

"Dragons. The first task is dragons." What?

"Sorry what do you mean the first task is dragons? What are you talking about?" He rather hurriedly sets about explaining the events of last night.

"So we have to face dragons. Dragons!" He's panicking of course but right now there's something else running through my mind.

"So that's why Charlie's here." Harry nods, still looking rather pale. "The first task is on Tuesday, that gives us less than a week to prepare for this whole thing."

"I've got no idea what to do." Harry confesses as he sits down on Olivers bed.

"That makes two of us." I whisper before snapping out of it. "Well the good thing is that we can at least prepare a little. I mean now that we know what it is we can try and think of something. Give it a couple of days and I'm sure that we'll come up with something."

"But we're supposed to be competing against each other?" Harry questions, clearly not expecting me to help him.

"Harry I don't care about that. If you go in there without a plan then you could get seriously hurt and I'm not going to let that happen." He smiles gratefully at me but he's still worrying. "Look its getting late, you should go and try to get some sleep. We'll think of something don't worry."

He heads out the door and I let the information really sink in. I have to face a dragon!

Oliver POV:

"Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, due to the ancient magic which resides within their thick, tough hides. Only the most powerful spells are capable of breaching their-" Percy cuts me off as I read from the book.

"Yes but I don't want to slay the thing, just...get passed it." We'd commandeered a spot in the very back corner of the library early this morning and we were determined not to leave until we had a plan of action. We'd spent two days trying to come up with something. I'd suggested that he question the teachers but he'd quickly pointed out that he'd basically be telling them that he knew. The last thing we wanted was to get anyone in trouble. That left us back to square one. So far we couldn't find any spells that would get rid of the dragon, or at least get it out of the way, long enough for Percy to do whatever it was he needed to do.

"Well lets think this through. We've ruled out stunning – there's no way I can stun a full grown dragon it'd take more than one person, I'm not killing the thing – Charlie would have my guts for garters!" He stopped for a moment as something popped into his head. That's one of the things that makes Percy special, his brain seems to work at such an intense speed. "Maybe we don't do anything to the dragon, maybe we do something to me. Maybe if I can make myself smaller or if I can move faster then...no, no that won't work."

We fell into a comfortable silence for another hour before either of us spoke again. In all honesty I was starting to doubt that we would be able to figure out what to do, after all it was Saturday now and the first task was on Tuesday.

"This is hopeless." Percy sighed, as much as I wanted to disagree I'm thinking that he might just be right.

"Well then why don't we kidnap Flint and shove him in there first? That way the dragon will eat him and it'll be so distracted that you'll be free to do whatever it is you need to do." I attempt at a joke, trying to lighten the mood but I know it's not going to work.

"As appealing as that idea is I'm only allowed to take a wand in with me. But..." Percy trails off, a familiar look coming to his eyes. I've known him long enough to know when he's got an idea. "You know that wasn't a bad idea."

"Seriously? Percy I was joking." He tuts at me and shakes his head before continuing.

"No not that part, the distraction bit." What? "Look I can't kill it and there's no way I can stun it so maybe I don't have to. Maybe I can just keep it focused on something else, keep it away from me."

"That's...actually quite a good plan. But what can you distract it with? You can only take your wand in with you." He merely smiles at me, his brain is obviously starting to heat up now, and after several minutes it becomes apparent that he now has a plan.

"I can't stun it right?" I nod, wondering where he's going with this. "But what if I can slow it down?"

"Immepdimenta. You can use that spell to slow it down. But you'd have to get a good enough shot to make sure your spell connected. You'd only get one shot and if you missed..." I trail off, not wanting to think about it. But apparently Percy is several steps ahead of me. It takes a few moments but eventually my brain catches up. "The distraction."

"I think we've got a plan. I set off a distraction, something to draw it's focus away from me, then I cast the spell to slow it down."

"But something that big, you wouldn't slow it down for long." I can't help pointing out the flaws in the plan.

"Well I don't have to slow it down for long, just...long enough. Look it's better than anything else we've thought of so far, maybe there's some way we can improve the spell." He immediately sets off after another book and for the first time I find myself grateful that this library exists.

Percy POV:

I've been tossing and turning now for hours, how the hell am I supposed to sleep? The first task is tomorrow. In less than a few hours I'll be facing off against a dragon, hell in less than a few hours I could be dead. I shake my head at that thought.

Stop it. No doubting yourself.

I force myself to calm down slightly and finally I get out of bed. As I wander down the stairs and into the common room I try to stop my own doubts. After all I've got a plan, plus a backup plan if the first doesn't work, I'm capable of casting the spells that I've chosen. I'll be fine...I hope.

"Harry? Couldn't sleep either." He shakes his head from his position on the sofa, looking decidedly green.

"I'm just...what if it goes wrong? What if..." He trails off but I know what he's thinking, after all the same thought has been running through my mind for weeks now.

"You've got a plan though. You've got a good plan. I doubt anyone else has thought of flying. You said it yourself, what we need to do is stick to our strengths. Your greatest asset is your ability to fly." He nods his head but the worry is still there. "Look when you get on your broom just try and focus on staying in the air. After all it would be pretty embarrassing to face off with a dragon and for things to go wrong because you fell off your broom." He smiles at this but he still looks just as green.

"I'm not going to win, I know it. I don't care about winning I just...everyone thinks I'm going to be terrible. They think I don't deserve it, they think I'm hopeless. What if they're right?" Self doubt, welcome back my old friend.

"You're not hopeless, you're Harry Potter. You're the boy who lived, sod everyone else. If they can't see that then it's their problem. Forget about them, just focus on tomorrow. Focus on Hermione and Fred and George, forget about the people who don't believe in you and think about the people who do." He nods at this before standing. "Besides that's a pretty good idea, wouldn't have thought about it myself."

"Neither would I, not if Professor Moody hadn't of helped." He heads back up the stairs to bed but his words leave me positive that sleep will be eluding me. Professor Moody helped him...something about that man, something just...something doesn't sit right with me. He was an auror, most of the cells in Azkaban are full because of him, sure he's gone a little off his rocker in the last few years but that's not what bothers me. I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it, but for some reason I don't think I can trust him.

Next chapter – The First Task! Ooh, so will Percy's plan work? Just what is his distractions? Will he finish first; last...will he get hurt? Will he die? (Well he obviously doesn't die because this story isn't ending here).