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Tiberius walked somberly through his home, his mind going over the meeting he just adjourned. They'd decided to hold his son's funeral in three months' time on the boy's birthday. Those that gathered felt it was the best way to honor his son's life. The next three months would be spent gathering the required resources and sending out invitations to the people of the country. Harry was very popular among the populace of Avalon and everyone from the kings of the land down the commoners would be attending. The kings would need invitations regardless for political reasons and simply from the fact that Harry was very good friends with many of their children. The commoners would demand invitations due to their devotion to Harry. He was always helping those in need when he traveled and in turn those people became loyal to the boy. Their loyalty to Harry nearly rivaled their loyalty to the Pendragon family.
Coming to the end of the hallway he slowly opened the door and walked in the room. He walked over to his bed and stood. Everyone took the loss of Harry hard but no one took it worse than his wife. His lovely Sereen has been a shell of herself since their boy vanished. Her eyes once shone like the finest emeralds but now we're full and devoid of life. Her long auburn hair no lined shined, streaks of grey now split her dull hair. She had to be cared for now as in her grief she let her health slip, doctors were in and out of her room bringing her nutrient potions and elixirs that made up for her lack of eating.
"It's settled love, in three months time we'll put our boy to rest, on his birthday no less. We felt it fitting to hold it on the day he would have coke of age." He kneeled beside the bed and took her hand, gently he placed a kiss on her knuckles. "I only wish that we knew what happened. I promise you though, I won't stop until I find the answers. Until my dying breath I'll continue searching."
"Oh Tiby, why have the gods been so cruel to us? How long did we pray for a child?" Tears began to fill the brims of her eyes. "Why give us all we desired years ago only to rip it away from us now, what have we done to deserve this fate?" He pulled his wife into his arms as she wept. He had no answers for her questions and the only thing he could do as tears ran down his cheeks was hold his wife.
Harry woke with a cold sweat. Something felt off but he couldn't place it. His senses were going crazy alerting him to an unknown threat but he just couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, the ambient magic in Hogwarts making it difficult.
Scanning the edges of the room he couldn't see anything obvious but his senses were telling him something was there. As he scanned the room one more time he finally found his culprit, a rat. The beady red eyes of the small creature glittered red as it stared back from the shadows. It was strange though, a simple rat shouldn't be setting him on edge like this. Maybe there was something else in the room and he just happened to find the rat first? Or perhaps, this rat was more than it seemed.
Harry pushed some of his magic towards the rat trying to establish a bond between them. As his magic slowly built a connection, progress came to a sudden halt. Confused, Harry pushed his magic harder but the connection made no further progress. Suddenly the realization dawned on him. This wasn't just a rat, it was an animagus.
The rat's eyes widened when it realized it had been caught and it took off in a scurry. Harry jumped out of bed changing into a house cat as he did and tried to reach the rat before it slipped into the crack in the wall. He realized he wasn't going to be fast enough and in a last ditch effort he lunged forward and brought down his paw, missing the rat's tail by mere centimeters. He could only watch as the small creature disappeared into the walls of hogwarts.
He shifted back with a groan. Of all the things he had going on now he had to add an animagus spying on him to the list.
Standing up he waved his hand and his wand flew to him. Deciding that since he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, his would be better spent working out or training. So he grabbed a change of clothes and began walking towards the room they'd been using.
All around him lay scattered limbs, he'd been at this for hours now. Dummies came to him in waves and time and time again they were blasted apart, ripped to shreds with claws and teeth or sliced with his sword. The entire time he'd been training his mind was thinking about the rat. How someone had snuck into his room undetected he wasn't sure but it was a problem that needed fixing. Why they were sneaking into his room to begin with was very concerning. Not that there was anything they could find to learn about him. He had nothing but some research on his family and a few books on immortality so it's not like he had anything to really worry about. But someone spying was reason enough for concern.
He stopped and turned when he heard the door open. Rose and Susan walked in and both looked relieved to see him. "Thank Merlin. Do you know what time it is? The first task is about to start and you're nowhere to be found." Rose grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him towards the exit. "The task has been delayed thirty minutes so far while we looked for you."
"Sorry, I lost track of time. I woke up early and decided to get a workout in and I guess I just got in a rhythm." Susan looked back towards the remains of the training dummies as they left the room. "Must've been some rhythm."
Rose and Susan lead Harry to the tent where the other champions and the judges were waiting. Once inside they were dismissed by professor Dumbledore. "Ah thank you misses Potter and Bones. You both may return to the stands so we can begin this marvelous task." The two girls left and Dumbledore turned to Harry. "They'd began to wonder if you'd run off my boy, of course I faith in you. Figured you'd just gotten lost in a book."
Harry shook his head. "Just a little pregame training that went on a little longer than anticipated." Dumbledore chuckled and turned to Ludo Bagman. "Do you want to get started?"
Ludo stepped up and held a small sack in his hand. "Today your courage will be challenged. Inside this bag are four figures of the creatures you will be facing, but this isn't a fight. You will have to receive something this creature is guarding, a golden egg. You will be judged on the time it takes to get your egg and the strategy you use to get it. Points will be deducted for injuring the creatures and for any injuries you receive while doing this task. In the event you cannot finish the task you will be given no points but will still receive your egg once all challengers have taken their turn. Any questions?"
When nobody moved to ask a question he continued. "Very well. The creatures you will be facing are…dragons!" He looked at the champions hoping for surprised or nervous faces but none of them reacted.
"We've known it was dragons for a while now." Krum told the man matter of factly.
Ludo's shoulders sagged and he gave a heavy sigh. "This wasn't as fun as I'd hoped it would be. Very well each of you will reach in and randomly select which breed of dragon you will face m, you'll notice on the bellies that there's a number for which order you will go in. In the spirit of politeness I believe Miss Delacour should go first." He held the bag out Fleur and she reached. "Don't show which one you picked until all champions have selected their dragons." Fleur nodded her head and pulled out her closed fist.
Once everyone had a dragon, Ludo asked them to open their hands. Each contestant opened their hand and on their palm sat a small life like dragon. "Well it seems Miss Delacour will go first against the Welsh Green, Mr Diggory will go second against the Swedish Short-Snout, Mr Krum will go third against the Chinese Fireball and Mr Prowler will go against, oh dear. Mr Prowler will go against the Hungarian Horntail. I dare say I feel sorry for you my boy. That's a nasty one indeed." Ludo shook his head. "In any case, normally we wouldn't allow this but we've decided that you'll be allowed to watch the tasks when it's not your turn. You may also stay here in the tent if you'd like."
Someone popped their head into the tent. "Mr Bagman, the crowd is getting restless." Ludo checked his watch. "Oh my, yes of course thank you. Miss Delacour, if you would follow me to the entrance of the arena we'll get you in place. The other three champions may exit to the left where we've placed the champions platform so you can view the tasks."
As everyone left the tent Cedric and Krum were making their way towards the platform and stopped when they saw Harry laying on a bench. "You coming, Harry?"
Harry lazily waved them off. "Wake me when it's my turn, I'm gonna take a nap. Didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night." Cedric turned to Krum who just shrugged and left the tent.
Harry waved his hands and conjured himself a pillow and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Harry was woken from his nap with the unwelcome presence of cold water being dumped on him. He shot off the bench he was sleeping on ready to curse whoever did this but stopped when he saw Fleur hunched over in laughter. "I knew that would wake you, you're a very strong sleeper Harry. I've been trying to wake you for five minutes now and the water was the last resort." With a quick wave of her wand Harry was dry.
"I'd almost preferred you to slap me." He deadtoned.
"I thought about it but didn't want you to wake up and curse me." It probably would've happened, he thought.
"So is it my turn now? How did you and the guys do with your tasks?" The pair started walking towards the exit.
"I used a sleeping spell to put my dragon to sleep and was done in just ten minutes. Cedric tried to distract his dragon with conjured animals but wasn't fast enough and got badly burned on his back, he's fine now but quite sore and Victor tried to knock his dragon out with spells but accidentally hit the poor thing in the eye and ended up just running around the arena and grabbing his egg. Sadly a couple eggs got smashed while the dragon was chasing him."
Harry nodded along as she spoke, he was glad everyone made it out relatively alright but saddened by the dragon being injured and the eggs crushed. Maybe he could do something about it though before they were taken back to the reserve. "At least nobody was seriously hurt." He heard the announcer begin his introduction. "Better get to the platform with the guys, if it all goes my way this will be done so fast that if you blink you'll miss it."
"Good luck, Harry." She looked like she wanted to say something else but hesitated and left. Harry walked over to the large wooden gates that separated him and the arena and waited to be called out.
"Get ready for our next champion!" Harry sighed and closed his eyes, hopefully this went well. "He's known as the scariest student in Hogwarts, he's beaten both the DADA teacher and the head auror in a duel just to show he could, he's caught the eye of nearly every witch in Hogwarts, he's-". Someone interrupted him. "Mr Jordan, get on with it!" Thank you professor McGonagall.
"Sorry professor. Anyway, give it up for Harry Prowlerrrrrrr!" Harry was already thinking of ways to get back at the boy but that could wait for now. The crowd busted out in cheers, mainly from the students and Harry pushed the doors open and calmly walked into the arena.
The crowd was silent as they watched him enter the arena. Each champion had a different environment depending on which dragon they faced, Harry had one that was made of rock and stone with deep crevices and high pillars similar to the environment the Hungarian Horntail lived in.
Narcissa Malfoy watched as her former nephew walked through the rocky terrain. Her heart ached seeing how he changed over the years, when she'd heard he'd returned she wanted nothing more than to go see him but felt it best she didn't. She was worried about him rejecting her if he learned about Lucius's involvement with the Dark Lord.
When the Potters found out about her husband they'd pushed the Malfoy family away. She couldn't blame them of course, her husband was involved with the people that attacked and killed multiple families including their children and many of their friends. Even the knowledge of Lucius being an unwilling participant didn't help, they didn't care. The events of that night haunted them and finding out another one of their close friends was a death eater along with losing their son pushed them over the edge sending their friendship into oblivion. Oh how she longed for those days back though. She still held onto hope that one day the Potters would forgive them and maybe everything could go back to the way they were.
Sirius would occasionally write to her but even he was cold at times. She missed the connection she used to have with her cousin, Sirius was always ready to crack a joke and make her laugh but now he was curt and professional only speaking to her as head of house black.
Lucius tried his best to make amends but his attempts were thrown back in his face. He held no hatred for muggle-borns as the other death eaters had, he was only told that the Dark Lord wanted to protect the traditions the pure bloods held dearly. By the time he learned the truth he was far too deep into the organization to get out. Many families were lost during the war, pure bloods, half bloods, muggleborns. It didn't matter, the dark lord and his followers killed them all.
His father forced him to join and lied about the group's goals. He made it seem like nothing more than a political alliance brought together to protect traditions, what he wasn't told was that to protect those traditions the group was going to kill all those that didn't follow as strongly. His dreams are to this day still filled with horrible things he saw. Murder, rape, torture, all matters of pain inflicted on those that simply wished to live their lives in peace. He wished he could go back and stand against his father, maybe he could've stopped some of those things from happening. Maybe his niece and nephew never would have been attacked and Harry would never have disappeared.
The Malfoy couple both seemed to come to the same conclusion, they had to reach out to the boy. They knew that if they didn't and he left Britain like the article in the Daily Prophet said he would, they'd regret not reaching out. They looked at each other with a knowing look and it was settled.
Harry calmly made his way towards the center of the arena. He couldn't wait to see the faces on the crowd when his task was over in just a few minutes. He hoped after the task was over he could visit the dragons, he had a soft spot for them and hopefully it would be possibly even fix the eggs that got crushed. As he made his way through the crevices he spotted a clearing, there in the middle sat the Hungarian Horntail.
As he stepped into the clearing the dragon lifted her head, there resting beside her body was a clutch of eggs including the golden one he was after. "I never thought I'd see the day."
Harry relaxed and gave the dragon a smile. "Hello there, I am Harry Prow-" Harry stopped and dived to his left as a wall of fire came rushing in his direction. He barely had time to think as he had to dive again and another ball of fire exploded beside him. Looking around he saw a large boulder about thirty feet to his left and made a mad dash to get behind it. Fire licked his heels as the dragon tried to fry him before he could make it.
Once he was behind the large rock he gathered barings and tried to calm himself down. What the hell was going on? Why was this dragon trying to kill him, didn't she know who he was? Never before had a creature attacked him, even when they weren't necessarily happy with him they didn't attack. Flames danced around the sides of the boulder as the dragon breathed another fiery attack. Harry pressed himself hard against the rock trying to avoid the flames.
"Come out little Prowler, I'll make it quick. I promise." The dragon hissed from where it stood. More flames surrounded the boulder and Harry felt the boulder warming as the dragon assaulted it with fire. The rock wouldn't last much longer under this kind of pressure and Harry knew he had to do something. He could hear the claws of the dragon scrape the stone ground as it advanced on him. "You're only delaying the inevitable, little Prowler. After all these years, my mother and siblings will finally be avenged and your family will pay for their betrayal."
Harry tried to peak around the boulder but only saw another blast of fire hurling towards him. His hair singed as the flames crashed into the stone and he quickly hid himself behind the boulder once again. "What are you talking about?! The Prowlers haven't been in this world for nearly five centuries! The books I read said they disappeared without warning or explanation!" He was knocked flat on his back as the dragon brought her massive spiked tail down on the rock smashing it in half.
"You were supposed to protect us! Your family kept us from being used and tortured! We were treated with respect and dignity, now we're nothing but tools and ingredients!" The dragon raised her tail high into the air and brought it down. Harry jumped but was too slow, one of the spikes on its clubbed tail grazed his leg. Blood started seeping through his pants and onto the ground.
Harry pulled his wand from its holster and gave it a wave, the bleeding stopped but the injury would need proper attention after this was over. The dragon continued its advance on him and he backed away trying to keep the distance between them.
"I remember when your dreaded family abandoned us here. I was only a hatchling but I can remember the very moment the bond broke, the pain, the anguish, the hopelessness. They slaughtered my mother mere minutes after you abandoned those that followed you. My siblings, just minutes out of the egg, were bashed against the rocks our nest was made from. I only survived because I was small enough to fit in a crevice. The cries of my siblings as they were killed was the only thing I could hear, their blood dripped down the rocks onto my body. At that very moment I vowed revenge against your family. At the time it felt like an empty promise, but the day I felt your magic spread over the world gave me the hope I needed."
Harry backed up trying to get away but felt something hard on his back. Looking around his face paled as he realized he backed him into a literal corner. As the dragon reared back on its hind legs he knew what he had to do. He'd been hoping he could keep his powers secret, so far he'd done just that with only Luna knowing he could change. But all that was about to be brought to light as the dragon inhaled, ready to release a final blast of fire.
"Today I avenge my family." With a loud roar, blistering flames raced towards Harry. Just before the fire touched his skin he closed his eyes and black obsidian scales began covering his body.
The Potters and their friends watched in horror as Harry backed himself into a corner. No longer were they in shock of him speaking the dragon language. No, now they were watching as he desperately tried to get away from the beast. Rose and Susan had long stopped watching, opting to cover their eyes and hope to wake up from a bad dream. James held his wife as she couldn't watch any longer. He wanted nothing more than to stop the task and save his son but the judges explained that any interference would result in a forfeit and a forfeit would mean the goblet could possibly take Harry's life as payment. He sat there helpless as he watched his son retreat from the dragon the best he could and he could only feel that he was about to lose his son once again, but this time he was forced to watch.
Tonks sat between her parents, she felt like vomiting as she watched the man she loved try his best to get away from the dragon. She had planned on telling him how she felt today, an owl was waiting for her early this morning with a letter from Susan. The younger girl explained that he was going to take multiple wives due to him and his parents being the last of the Prowlers. Tonks read that letter over and over that morning just in case she misunderstood what it said. She even double checked with the girl when she arrived at Hogwarts For the task. The two had a nice laugh over the fact that their little rivalry was moot as they both could claim the boy. But now it seemed neither of them would get a chance to have a future with the boy. He'd backed himself into a corner and the dragon raised itself up on its hind legs ready to finish the job.
Time seemed to slow for those in attendance as they watched the dragon spit a fiery inferno on the cornered boy. His body disappeared in the flames. Many turned their heads at the last second not wanting to witness the gruesome end of the boy but a few kept their eyes on the arena. Those that refused to look away witnessed a sight no wizard ever thought possible.
Emerging from the flames rose a giant black creature. Large wings sprouted from its back, four strong legs supported its massive body, a row of spikes lined its spine from the base of its head to the end of its tail, said tail was armed with a razor sharp spike, two massive horns sprouted from the sides of its head curling forwards towards its snout, three more branched from the top of its head and long sharp teeth protruded from its lips. Those that kept their eyes open were speechless, for the first time in a century a Hebridean Black was seen in Scotland.
Those that had looked away had their eyes drawn back to the arena as a roar that shook their very bones nearly commanded their attention. They were greeted by the sight of the giant black dragon sweeping one of its massive clawed hands (paws? Idk) through the air and striking the Horntail. The strength of the dragon sent the Horntail rolling across the arena. Many assumed the Horntail would submit to the much larger, stronger dragon. The Horntail being only about two thirds the size of the larger beast, didn't seem to care about its disadvantage, it righted itself and gave a defying roar.
The black dragon answered the challenge with a roar of its own and both dragons charged. Their bodies crashed into each other with a sickening crunch as bones cracked and muscle slammed into muscle. From there the two beasts were locked in a grapple, claws raked flesh, teeth sank into any flesh they could find and wings battered and bashed into the dragon's bodies. The Horntail had one advantage in this fight. While it was indeed much weaker than its opponent, it was much faster. The Horntail's speed combined with its smaller size made it much easier to maneuver itself from the tangle and it made its way onto the Hebridean Black's back. The black dragon tried to reach for the Horntail but its position made it impossible.
Roars of pain came from the black dragon as the Horntail dug its claws into its back and ripped flesh from bone. Blood poured down its sides and splashed against the rocky terrain. Thunderous cracks filled the air as the clubbed tail of the Horntail snapped ribs and many other bones. Everyone watched as the Horntail seemed to be overwhelming the larger dragon. Every move the Hebridean Black made was countered, every swipe of if claws dodged and every bite avoided. That was until the Horntail bit into the back of the larger dragon's neck.
Something changed in the arena when the Horntails teeth met flesh. The overwhelming feeling of danger spread over the crowd and they felt as if they were being stalked by an unseen predator. The Horntail was seemingly unaffected by the change in atmosphere or perhaps it never noticed because it continued its assault on the larger beast. Those closer to the edge of the arena could see the change happen. The black dragon's eyes narrowed into slits and its body tensed.
They knew what was about to happen, it was apparent from the beginning what the dragon was doing. During the entire fight it never once tried to seriously harm the Horntail. Every one of its moves were purely defensive, always trying to deflect and avoid. Even when it attacked, its moves were half hearted and lazy, like one would play fight with a child, but with each blow landed by the Horntail the black dragon became more agitated. The bite to the back of the neck however was the final straw.
In the blink of an eye the fight became a battle for survival, only this time the Horntail was the victim. The large spear-like spike at the end of the Hebridean Black's tail stabbed easily through the Horntails shoulder right where the wing connected to its body. With a wail of pain the smaller dragon was thrown to the opposite side of the arena where it slammed into a rocky outcrop with a thud. The creature groaned in pain as it tried to right itself but the black dragon was on it before it could get up. With one paw on the Horntails neck the larger dragon bit down on its wing and jerked its head back.
Roars of pain filled the crowds' ears as they watched the flesh of the Horntails wing stretch and the bones crack before the wing finally gave in to the larger dragon's strength. Tendons stretched until they could no longer handle the pressure and the wing freed itself from the smaller dragon's body in a burst of blood and sinew. Some in the crowd vomited, not able to handle the gore, others shielded their eyes.
The Horntail tried to defend itself, its clubbed tail making a desperate swing at the larger dragon's head but it was to no avail. The Hebridean Black caught the smaller dragon's tail in its mouth and stood on its hind legs. The Horntail flailed as it was held in the air, blood covered those in the crowd that were close enough as the smaller dragon tried to twist and free itself from the black dragon's jaws.
With a swing of its head the Hebridean Black slammed the smaller dragon into the ground with a sickening crunch, the Horntail made no attempt at getting up. The Black dragon once again placed its paw on the Horntails neck and many thought it was about to finish the fight.
A low growl came from the black dragon and the Horntail answered with one of its own, quiet and pained as it was. The Hebridean Black then pushed off the ground and stood on its hind legs. With a deep breath it raised its head to the sky and released a roar that shook the stands and shattered the windows of Hogwarts, brilliant violet flames escaped its mouth and danced through the air. The heat from the fire was felt by everyone in attendance.
The great beast then turned towards the Horntails nest and began shrinking as it made its way over to it. Harry picked up the golden egg, gave the judges a bow and calmly walked out of the arena. When the doors closed behind him the crowd simply sat in silence, minds were racing as they tried to make heads and tails of what just happened. No one noticed the Potters and their group rushing towards the champions tent, no one noticed as the dragon handlers rushed in to tend to the Horntail, they all just stared at the gates in shock.
Cedric and Krum were in a similar state. Harry's task had gone nothing like they'd expected. So far nobody had been a match with a wand against the young man so seeing him so helpless in the beginning was a shock. Watching him transform into a dragon was similarly shocking. They both had thoughts on what happened, why his task started so disastrous but they kept it to themselves at the moment. Their friend would explain himself when he wanted to.
Fleur was in a whole different state of mind. Her inner Veela was demanding she make her claim on Harry this instant. The creature part of her flooded her mind with indecent thoughts and images of the two of them in many different situations. Watching him transform into a dragon lit a fire in her lower belly like never before, the Veela wanted him and it wanted him badly.
The French girl still couldn't place why she felt the way she did around Harry, but the more she was around him the worse it got. Everything told her to submit and obey, her instincts demanded she respect and follow him but she couldn't understand why. Perhaps she would write to her grandmother, she was the oldest member of the Veela clan and always seemed to know the answers.
Dinner that night was unusually quiet, the students merely whispering to each other about the day's events. Every time the doors to the great hall opened they flinched and the whispers came to a halt. However the topic of their discussions was never the one to come through the doors.
The last anyone had seen of Harry was when he'd left the arena. They'd searched the school grounds many times over and a few had even searched the outer edges of the forbidden forest, but it was to no avail. The boy simply disappeared, and most likely did not want to be found at the moment anyway. The boy would turn up when he felt it was right, he had no obligation to the school as he wasn't a student after all. But that didn't stop the people in Hogwarts from wondering just where Harry Prowler ran off to.
A.N- Ok y'all that's one is a wrap. Sorry it's a tad late, my grandmother was admitted to the hospital and had to have open heart surgery so I was kinda distracted and not able to focus on this. But she's doing much better now and things are looking bright. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, those last couple paragraphs may feel a bit rushed but that's on me. I was trying to get this out to you guys and may have forced it a bit. That's it for now, please leave a review and maybe follow and favorite the story. I'm having a blast doing this and love hearing your guys thoughts on things. You never know, I may take your suggestions and add them to the story if I like it lol. Anyway have a good week/weekend or whatever it is currently for you!
A.N2- Ok I have no idea what happened but I posted this chapter last week and for some reason it never actually posted. I'm so sorry about that guys. I'll do better about making sure my stuff gets posted from now on. I don't know if it was me trying to do it from work or what but I'll make sure this doesn't happen again. Again I'm sorry. Have a good day/morning/evening!