Chapter 52, everybody—yes, finally, it lives.
Before we go on, I have to address some of the reviews I've been getting, and that's to say that such reviews will no longer be addressed or acknowledged. The no-tips party of reviews ends up looking stingy, rude, or lazy, and that's not a good look for reviewers.
Moving on—thanks to everyone else that reviewed, that and some playing of Hogwarts Legacy finally gave me some juice back on this fic. Incidentally if you haven't played that game yet you need to it's so pretty. :O
On the topic of the chapter…I saw someone on Tumblr question what would happen if Cassius Warrington had been picked as Hogwarts Champion and I really liked where that particular thread went (sorry Cedric, but at least you don't die and go to Twilight). The first task here is inspired by Saphroneth's fic Harry is a Dragon, and That's Okay. And of course we reference How to Train Your Dragon. XD
Harry Potter © 1997 J.K. Rowling
Something else that Harry had been doing in his spare time was practicing more in the Potions labs, which Snips heartily approved of (Harry had the distinct feeling Snips had viewed the Triwizard Tournament as an irritating interruption at best). Harry's main goal with Potions this year had been to learn how to brew Wolfsbane, which had both amused and intrigued Slughorn when he asked.
"You know that's NEWT level, correct?" Slughorn asked. "Be very difficult to do, although I don't doubt you could manage it if you practiced…any reason you have this particular potion as a goal?"
"Remus Lupin," Harry said. "I guess he's kind of an honorary uncle? But um…well, you know, you made it for him last year…."
"Yes," Slughorn sighed. "Terrible thing to happen to anyone, really. The potion might help, but most werewolves can't afford it—most of the ingredients are terribly expensive, and the potion itself is desperately tricky to get right. Could poison the person if it turns out wrong."
"The money part isn't going to be a problem," Harry said. "Me and Sirius have more than enough gold to foot the bill. And I understand that right now Sirius is paying someone to make it—"
"Me, actually," Slughorn told him. "Mr. Black has been most gracious in covering the expenses."
"Oh." Harry blinked. "Erm, professor, I don't—"
"Don't worry dear boy, I understand entirely where you're coming from. And besides, knowing how to brew this would be a nice feather in your cap, and maybe give me a few months off. Let's get started, shall we?"
Slughorn was right, the potion was desperately tricky, even with Snips helping—Slughorn was of course fascinated with the little creature when he found out.
"So this is how you've been doing so well in my classes! And here I thought it was just you inheriting Lily's talents," Slughorn said, watching Snips sort through ingredients and chatter indignantly at Harry for slicing up one of the ingredients instead of dicing.
"Sorry, Professor," Harry said. "I really do like Potions, but um, Snips has been loads of help…you're not mad, are you?"
"Mad? I'd rather like one myself," Slughorn said. "The quality of potions ingredients affects the potion, you know."
"I did read that."
Which had led to Slughorn borrowing Snips a couple of times to check his store cupboard, although Snips refused to help in general classes. Apparently, there were limits.
But with the first task looming near, Harry had a hard time focusing on anything else, including Potions.
"Harry my boy, maybe we should skip this particular lab," Slughorn told him, putting a hand to his shoulder. "You can't be preoccupied while working with potions, that just leads to accidents."
"Sorry," Harry said. "It's just this stupid tournament!" he burst out. "No one seems to have any idea how to get me out of it—I'm sure Dumbledore would have told me something by now—and then—Ron told me earlier that the first task is bloody dragons! How am I supposed to deal with that? I didn't enter, I didn't want to participate, and now I'm going to get eaten because I'm not allowed to leave a contract that someone else entered me in! I'm stuck!"
"Now now, Harry," Slughorn said, handing him a handkerchief. "Maybe we leave off on potions for the rest of the day, doesn't do to mess with them while you're emotional. I will tell you I contacted some of my old students at the ministry, and people are looking. Why, I'm sure they'll have this squared away before the first task even starts!"
Harry wavered. "Are you sure?"
"Most positive."
Even if he did get out of it, Harry distinctly felt the need to at least inform the last champion of the first task. Ron had said that the other two headmasters had been there looking at the dragons, so he didn't doubt that Fleur and Krum knew about it.
Now to just tell the last one.
"Ross!" Harry barked, running up to the Slytherin. "Hey I need—what is that?"
"So no offense, but Malfoy's been handing these out and I do kind of agree with it," Ross said, indicating the support the TRUE Hogwarts champion! pin he was wearing.
"I do too," Harry said. "Can I have one? Does he need more pins I can nick some from Hermione and tell her I'm handing out SPEW pins."
"I thought she changed the name. And how do you think Malfoy got these pins?"
"Okay fair," Harry said. "But while we're on the topic—Cassius Warrington."
"I'm not sabotaging him, if that's what you're after."
"No I'm not—I need you to tell him that the first task is dragons."
"Is what!?"
"Ron found out this morning—his brother is one of the guys who brought them in—and Cassius is the only one who doesn't know at this point."
"Seriously?" Ross asked—Harry nodded, grim-faced. "Oi…you know I believe you about the goblet, right?"
"Glad someone does," Harry said. "You'll tell Warrington, right?"
"I'm on it. And Harry? For what it's worth, good luck."
Harry was definitely going to need it, especially considering things didn't get sorted before the first task.
How it went, however, was interesting. Mostly because the eggs the dragons had been brought with hatched early, much to everyone's frustrations. Harry, meantime, was frustrated that this didn't cancel the first task, or reschedule it or put something else in its stead.
Instead, they were greeted with the news that there had actually been five dragons brought from Romania.
"Now, I don't think it needs to be said, but just to be on the safe side, you will be retrieving your egg without doing harm to the dragon," Dumbledore announced. "She is, after all, still a baby."
"A baby Norwegian Ridgeback," Warrington muttered. It was a sentiment Harry could echo, considering his recollections of helping Hagrid with Nora when she was still here at Hogwarts.
Dumbledore nodded. "Also, seeing as how we're down to one dragon, the four of you will be attempting this at the same time. You can either charge in or employ teamwork to retrieve the eggs from the dragon. I highly encourage the latter."
That was a fair enough assessment.
Especially when it became obvious that Nora had grown a lot since Harry had seen her last—small compared to how the other dragons were described, but still big enough that she'd probably be able to bowl Hagrid over with ease.
Said gameskeeper seemed very torn on who to cheer for, eventually settling for alternating between "Go Nora! That's mummy's baby!" and "Go Harry!" Nora kept glancing up at him, but still had plenty of attention for the four champions fanning out—had them all cowering behind the same rock in short order.
"Smart, that one," Krum observed.
"Dumbledore's right, we can't do this on our own," Harry said.
"Speak for yourself," Fleur snapped at him.
"Currently he's speaking for champions in general," Warrington said. "But if you think you can take a dragon single-handedly, be my guest—it'd be good for a laugh."
Fleur looked sour at that but said nothing.
"So we need a plan to get those eggs—anyone got any bright ideas? Harry?"
"I don't know," Harry said, kind of chuffed that Warrington thought to include him in this discussion. "I don't suppose accio would work, would it?"
"Of course not, it eez too obvious," Fleur snapped.
Harry decided to try anyway, which resulted in Nora catching the egg before it could go too far.
"Worth a shot," Harry decided.
"And how are we supposed to get the eggs without hurting the dragon?" Warrington demanded.
Harry considered the dragon before him for a minute—Nora, the dragon Hagrid had hatched from an egg….
"Anyone really good at Transfiguration?" Harry asked.
Krum was, which was why Fleur had a teddy bear she was launching to the far end of the stadium using a repulsion charm. Nora spotted it—
Shrieked with glee and abandoned the nest in favor of a new toy, leaving the champions to claim their eggs and hightail it back to the safe zone as soon as it was clear. She noticed, seemed torn between chasing after them and playing with her new toy—
The toy won out, although she did shoot some fire after them for good measure.
In other news, Harry would have really liked to skip the tournament altogether, which was old news at best but needed to be repeated.
"Hello, Madame Pomfrey," Harry greeted, right before the mediwitch bundled him to the nearest bed.
"Dragons," she spat, looking like she was ready to spit flame herself. "And students fighting them—and you. Once, just once, I'd like to see less of you, Mr. Potter."
"You know, when the year first started and I thought I might have a quiet one for once, I was thinking I'd drop in just to say hi," Harry said, as she checked him over.
"I would much rather have a visit such as that, Mr. Potter—honestly. You just attract trouble."
"I noticed."