Harry sat in the tent as he listened to the other champions attempting their tasks. Fleur had gone first, and the three other champions sat listening to the oohh's and aahh's of the crowd and the commentary from Bagman that seemed almost tailored to wind them up without giving them any information. Eventually, Fleur seemed to get her egg when a loud cheer sounded out from the stadium.
Then it was Cedric's turn, and Harry and Krum sat through listening to his attempt, which felt similar because they knew that they too would be facing the same thing shortly. Harry couldn't tell if it was that Krum was getting more nervous now there were only two of them, or if it was just that Harry only had one person drawing his attention instead of two now that Cedric was gone, but Harry was definitely noticing more twitching and signs of nervousness from Krum that he got during Fleur's task. And going by how nervous Harry felt, he wasn't going to blame the man if he was sane enough to be afraid.
It seemed to take an hour for Cedric to finish and for Krum to be called, but it was probably closer to fifteen or twenty minutes. While Krum was doing his task, Harry went over his preparations in his head. Sirius's strategy was a bold one, definitely not one where Harry would be playing it safe, but as Hermione had said, "Harry, your specialty is boldness and not playing it safe. You know the spells and you know you can hit your target. You got this." Hermione's belief in him was absolute, and that more than anything was how Harry was able to stand tall, walk out of the champions tent, and enter the arena without his knees knocking or his hands shaking when it was his turn. He had to squint against the bright light for a moment as he stepped back into the sunlight, and when his vision cleared he took in the sight before him.
The arena was made to look like the side of a mountain, with short tufts of grass scattered between borders and shallowly packed into compressed dirt. About seventy feet (approx 20 metres) from the centre point, the stands were lifted up by about ten feet (approx 3 metres) of a sheer unclimbable stone wall, with benches for people to sit in concentric circles, each one a little higher than the one in front. It reminded Harry of pictures of the Roman Colosseum he had been shown in his history lessons before his return to the magical world. From that came a memory of his teacher telling the class a phrase the gladiators used to say before they fought. He couldn't remember the Latin, but he could remember the translation was 'We who are about to die salute you.' Considering the massive dragon at the centre of the arena, crouched over her eggs and looking at him as though he was a threat, the sentiment seemed oddly fitting.
Harry quickly ran through everything he knew of this species of dragon in his head. Hungarian Horntails, average length fifty feet from nose to tip of the tail, though this particular one looked closer to forty. They were classed as five X dangerous creatures by both the Ministry and the International Confederation of Wizards' magical creature guidelines, making them known wizard killers. Harry was going to have to speak with his grandfather about the fact that the other champions only had four X dragons. That hardly seemed fair. Horntails also had one of the longest ranges for their fire breath and used their spiked tail as a club.
Harry started to walk around the outside of the arena, keeping as much distance as he could between him and the dragon that remained crouched over its eggs watching him and also trying to keep an eye on every person in the stands around them. She was nervous and twitchy, but Harry decided to go for it. If he could hit the dragon in the eye while she was standing there, it was possible this could be over before it even had a chance to really start. He made sure he had a clear path to run down as soon as he finished casting, if he got this wrong then he would have a very pissed off dragon coming after him, and in such an event standing still didn't seem like a good plan. He planted his feet and raised his wand. Sirius had been drilling this spell into his and his friends' heads for weeks now, and Harry was sure each of them could cast it in their sleep at this point.
"Fulmenactus!" Harry conjured pure electricity in the form of a lightning bolt and sent it careening towards the dragon. He was aiming for its eye, a weak spot where it would have no protection against magic and where the lightning would surge into the dragon's body and move through it, paralysing its nerves and knocking it unconscious. If Harry was honest, he loved the idea of him and his friends having a lightning spell. Not only was it powerful and a good way for them to defend themselves, but it was also oddly on brand considering the first thing most witches and wizards did when they met him was to check out his lightning bolt-shaped scar.
Unfortunately, Sirius's master plan had a fatal flaw to it. Harry had a good chance of hitting the eye, and he was on target. However, none of them had considered what a dragon (or really anyone) would do when there is a bright light coming towards their eye: they blink, closing their eyes to shield themselves from the bright light. And while the eye itself may not have the magical protection of its hide, its eyelid certainly did. The spell onliy partially bounced off the eyelid, which was honestly worse than if the spell had been completely deflected. Now the dragon had enough of a shock to hurt it, but not enough of one to slow it down at all. After a quick shake of its head as it tried to shake the spots from its vision, the dragon turned to the fool who thought it could attack it and pounced.
Considering its size, it was surprising that the dragon could move so fast. However, according to some of the books Hermione found when they were researching dragons, they had a natural version of a feather light charm on them, else their wings wouldn't have been big enough for them to fly. Harry, though, was too busy making sure he wouldn't be where the dragon landed to think about any of that. He was sprinting back the way he came, and when everyone felt the ground shudder from the massive lizard landing, he quickly dove behind a large boulder that was just big enough to shield the skinny boy from the monster.
Harry had hoped to be hidden before the dragon could look around for him, that would have bought him a few seconds to breathe. The dragon, however, had other plans, and Harry could hear it taking a deep breath. Knowing what was coming Harry cast the fastest and strongest Flame Freezing Charm he had ever cast in his life. The stream of fire was continuous, and Harry was trapped behind the rock the whole time. He couldn't end the charm, because even if the rock he was taking cover behind stopped him from being cooked by the flames directly, the massive amounts of fire to his left, right, and over his head would have killed him just as well, so Harry couldn't even fire any spell back
Five seconds, just crouching there ready to move when he got the opportunity.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
It was only then that the flames stopped, and Harry ran as soon as he could. He had been in a good approximation of a runner's start position, so he was moving quickly enough that that was the only thing that saved his life, as again the dragon leapt and landed exactly where Harry had been moments before.
Harry fired off a simple spell over his shoulder at the dragon; it didn't matter what spell he used as it wasn't going to affect the dragon anyway. However, it was something for the dragon to focus on, a sign that the weak and pathetic two legged thing was still hiding out, and it provided the dragon all the motivation it needed to keep chasing Harry. He wanted the dragon to be close now, his only chance of ending this without dying was for him to land a solid hit on the dragon's other weak spot, its open mouth. The only time that was going to happen was when the dragon was just about to breathe fire. So Harry ran, ducking and dodging every attack the dragon threw at him. It was to Harry's favour that the arena was so small compared to the dragon, it meant that the dragon couldn't start running at its full speed. Still, Harry was glad of the basilisk hide robes Sirius had ordered to be made for him. He had felt the dragon's claws or scales sliding off the robes too many times already, and he knew each time would have resulted in a horrible injury if he had worn his regular school robes.
-ϟϟϟ—
The dragon was getting frustrated, she was trying to squash the annoying bug that had dared to come and threaten her nest, but the little thing was zipping behind boulders and dodging her attacks, and she was growing more and more angry every time. And it didn't even have the courtesy of just running away terrified of her. No, it kept pointing its stick at her and making the bright annoying lights. She was going to enjoy eating it when she caught it.
-ϟϟϟ-
Hermione was sandwiched between Ron and Charlus, with Sirius on the other side of Ron. The bushy haired girl was frantic as she looked down into the arena and watched as the dragon chased Harry. The only thing that kept her from trying to jump into the arena to save him was the fact that Harry, even while frantically trying to stay a half step ahead of the dragon, was still somehow in control of the situation. He was leading the dragon and keeping the dragon's attention focused on him with random prank spells. Oh, and because Uncle Charlus had his hand on her shoulder holding her in place. Harry barely dodged another swipe of the dragon's claws, and only the fact that Hermione was biting down on her lip prevented her from screaming out to Harry in fear.
"It's okay Hermione, you know Harry will be fine. He does stuff like this every year and he is always fine. The only difference this year is that we are watching it. Normally we are too busy trying to catch up." Ron said, trying to comfort her.
"Trying to catch up? That's a good spin on being knocked out, petrified, or too injured to keep up with him," Hermione said.
"True enough," Ron shrugged. "But my point stands Harry will be fine, none of us like it but when something is trying to kill him, Harry is amazing." The absolute faith Ron had in that statement had a calming effect not just on Hermione but also on the two adults who were sitting there just as terrified as Hermione, only hiding it better.
Charlus and Sirius were basically thinking the same thing as they say there listening to Ron. This has to be the last time Harry has to face something like this. This tournament will be the last time Harry will have to fight for his life. They may not have been around for most of his life, and they may have dropped the ball not expecting Harry to be pulled into the tournament despite the kids being worried about it. But that was going to be their last failure.
Then everyone was dragged from their thoughts as Harry stumbled, and the dragon was on top of him instantly. He screamed out in pain and they could see his left arm was trapped under the dragon's clawed foot. He was trapped and there was no way he could escape from this. Hermione screamed his name, drowning out the cries of fear and dismay from everyone around her. The dragon drew in a deep breath and Hermione started shouting, knowing what was about to happen.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry let out a scream of pain as his left arm was trapped beneath the dragon's claw. The dragon put a lot of its weight on the foot, making sure to keep him pinned, and it was just too much for the bones in his arm. As they started to snap and fracture, Harry fought to keep his focus; if he lost it now, he was dead. However, he was so distracted by the pain that he almost missed the opportunity. It was only when he heard Hermione's voice screaming over the crowd. "NOW HARRY! DO IT NOW!" that he realised that the dragon was drawing breath ready to burn him to a crisp.
Harry did the only thing he could, what he had been training to do for weeks. He pointed his wand up and directly into the dragon's open mouth and cast "Fulmenactus!" He pushed as much magic as he could into the spell, this was all or nothing. Lightning crackled around the tip for a moment and suddenly Harry was blinded as he stared into a massive bolt of lightning that was brighter than he had ever seen the sun. The bolt crashed into the back of the dragon's mouth, and this time the dragon had no magical hide for protection. The magically-charged electricity quickly made its way down through the dragon looking for ground, and as it travelled it cooked everything it passed through. Blood boiled, and nerves were overloaded.
Harry had no idea of just how devastating his spell had been to the dragon. His eyes would take some time to heal after that blast of light, and he also had a new problem to deal with. The dragon was now either dead or unconscious, which meant that he now had an unresponsive dragon on top of him. If he was going to finish this bloody task, he needed to get out from under the excessive weight. He cast a quick Wingardium Leviosa, just enough to lift the dragon enough to let him crawl out, and when he stood up the stands around him erupted in cheering. With what little eyesight he still had, Harry looked around and saw that a few of the dragon handlers were now in the arena with him, realising they had been rushing to help him before the dragon was dealt with. Harry made his way slowly over to the nest (no problem now that the dragon could do nothing to stop him) and grabbed the golden egg. It was lighter than it looked, and Harry tucked it under his good arm and walked out of the arena with his left arm hung limply at his side.
As soon as Harry stepped out, some Ministry person walked him to a tent he hadn't seen till now, and he was relieved when he was directed into the tent to see Madam Pomfrey there, seeing to the other three champions.
"Your bed is over here Mr. Potter, now come get on it so I can see how much you have hurt yourself this time." She sounded irritated but not irritated at him, so he decided that it was best to do as she said.
As Harry sat he told her, "I think the biggest issue is my left arm. The dragon decided to stand on it."
The healer nodded and began casting diagnostic spells. "Well Mr. Potter, your bones are crushed. I'm sure you know what that means."
Harry sighed. "That you're gonna pull a Lockhart, vanish them all, and make me drink Skelegro to grow new ones," Harry said dejectedly.
"You should be grateful that Skelegro is available. The recipe was developed by our ancestor and is considered one of the Potter family's greatest contributions to the wizarding world," Charlus interrupted as he had walked in with Sirius, Ron, and Hermione.
"Yeah but the stuff is disgusting, and regrowing an arm full of bones sucks,," Harry whined, too tired to really protest much harder than that.
"It could be worse, mate. You were up again the next day last time, I bet this time will be the same," Ron said cheerfully. "You were absolutely awesome out there. All the other champions focused on getting around their dragons, you were the only one who just straight up duelled one." He looked like he was going to say more, but Madam Pomfrey gave him a look that said he was going to be quiet now or he wouldn't like the consequences. She finished fixing Harry a pain relieving potion which she handed to Grandfather Charlus and said, "Once I vanish the bones in his arm, give him that and he will be okay to go get his scores from the judges when they are ready. After that I will want him in the hospital wing to administer the Skelegro and a few other potions. He will have to spend the night in the hospital wing, but he should be fine by the morning."
Charlus took the potion, and Harry just sat there as the medi witch waved her wand over his arm. A lot of the pain he was feeling in the arm vanished, along with the bones. Then Charlus, after giving the potion in the vial a quick shake, held the pain reliever to Harry's lips so he could drink it down. Harry had had more than a few pain relievers from Madam Pomfrey over the years, and he tried not to pull a face at the familiar flavour that Harry described as if someone had used the water a troll had smoked its feet in to make a cup of tea, and they had then used yoghurt instead of milk.
"So I already spoke to the dragon handlers and confirmed that the dragon is dead," Charlus said once Harry had finished the potion and Madam Pomfrey moved off to see to the other champions who were behind privacy curtains. "They aren't happy that one of their breeding females is dead, but they are blaming the Ministry, not you. I also informed them that you will be exercising your rights and claiming the carcass, but you will need to make the actual declaration yourself."
Harry nodded but didn't say anything, he just didn't have the energy to waste on questions. Hermione sat on the bed next to him and pulled his good arm around her shoulders. Harry gave her a little squeeze, pulling her against him. He knew she had been afraid, she had just watched him fight with a forty foot dragon, even just considering the idea of watching any of friends or family go through that was enough to scare him into wanting a hug.
It was a good ten minutes before they were called back to the arena to receive their scores, and it was only when they emerged from behind their own privacy curtains that Harry got to see the other champions. Fleur looked mostly fine, but one of her thighs was bandaged up tightly and she was walking with a slight limp. Viktor had his hands in a cauldron of potion that was floating in front of him. Finally, Cedric had half of his head covered in a thick oily orange paste that Harry was pretty sure was burn paste. The other three champions were also checking out the injuries of the others. "How is it that 'arry looks the least injured of us?" Fleur asked in surprise.
Harry realised with his arm in its sleeve it looked fairly normal even without the bones, so despite looking tired he didn't look injured. He picked up his floppy arm with his other hand and showed them his lack of bones. "Bones in my arm were crushed and Madam Pomfrey vanished them. I think you actually may be the least injured Fleur," Harry placated. "So did you all get your eggs?" They all confirmed that they had gotten their eggs, but they crossed into the arena before any of them could elaborate. The corpse of the Hungarian horntail was still where Harry had left it. The four champions were directed to stand before the judges podium.
The whole time they were walking out Bagman was waffling on, trying to keep the crowd entertained while everyone waited for the scores. Once they were in position, Bagman instantly switched to recap mode. "Okay, first up we had Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, France. Miss Delacour faced a Swedish Short-snout and used charms to great effect, overloading the senses of the dragon and providing distractions so that she could sneak up to the nest unnoticed. Unfortunately, once she had the egg her dragon did notice her retreat, and Miss Delaccour suffered an injury to her leg during her retreat. Judges, how do you score her?"
Crouch went first. "You did well but you got a little over confident once you had the egg." He raised his wand and a number seven floated in the air over his head.
Dumbledore went next. "Excellent charm work and a lovely strategy, I also award you seven points," and he, like Crouch, displayed the number with a flick of his wand.
"You made your school proud today, and you were the least injured of all the champions. Eight points." Madam Maxime said as she displayed her score.
"While you were the least injured, you were also the slowest, if you had been more bold you may have finished the task without injury. Five points, "Karkaroff said.
"And I will give you a six," said Bagman as he smiled, sending his score into the air. " That gives Miss Delacour a score of thirty three out of a possible fifty. Let's hear it for Beauxbatons!" Bagman finished, getting the crowd to give Fleur a round of applause.
"Next we have Cedric Diggory, who fought a Welsh green dragon. Diggory used Transfiguration to create multiple targets for the dragon to focus on and got caught in the dragon's fire when the dragon resorted to an area attack to deal with the large number of animals around it. And yes ladies, Madam Pomfrey has already assured us that the star of Hufflepuff will make a full recovery, and that includes his good looks. Barty, over to you for the first score."
"While you were indeed faster than Miss Delacour, I can't ignore that your strategy failed completely to account for the dragon's fire, a feature that even a first year student should be well aware of, so I am giving you six points." Crouch said.
"Your Transfiguration was brilliant and your plan well executed, but Director Crouch is right that you forgot to account for the fire. Seven points. However you made Hufflepuff proud today, you proved that it isn't just Gryffindors who are brave or only Ravenclaws who have the mind to solve problems," said Dumbledore.
"I agree with the other judges' stances, six points," added Madame Maxime.
"Forgetting the fire is unforgivable. Four points," Karkaroff scoffed.
"And I will give you six, for a total of twenty nine points. Give the Hogwarts champion a round of applause everyone." The applause Cedric got was of course much better than Fleur's, as the hogwart students that comprised the majority of the viewers were far more invested in his success.
"Next we have Mr Krum, international Quidditch star and our third contestant. Krum used a Transfiguration spell to create a tunnel under the arena directly to the eggs, and while that worked extremely well, he got his hand severely burnt and his wand destroyed when he reached out to collect his egg."
"Well Mr Krum, your plan was well thought out for the most part. You were well protected from the dragon while in your tunnel. The flaw was that you couldn't see what the dragon was doing, so you couldn't see that it was waiting for you to come out by the nest. But you got your egg and made it out. Seven points," said Crouch
"A solid plan, with the problems Crouch already mentioned. Your Transfiguration was impeccable and you were the second fastest to retrieve your egg. Eight points," Dumbledore gave his score.
"I echo Dumbledore's sentiments, eight points" came from Madam Maxime.
"Viktor, you represented your school well and showed how powerful our students are. Ten points!" said Karkaroff, setting off a round of boos from the crowd.
"Well that just leaves me," said Bagman. "And I will score you a seven, giving you a total of forty points. That means you take the lead from Miss Delacour. Let's give him a round of applause.
"And finally we have Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the only champion who decided to duel his dragon. Mr Potter's strong opening move was unsuccessful due to the dragon's hide, but in a moment of desperation he was able to land a hit inside the dragon's mouth and slay the beast. So to the scores, Crouch!" Bagman said. The other three champions looked at Harry in shock when Bagman said Harry had slain his dragon.
"Your opening move was well executed and decisive. I'm not sure how many noticed that you aimed directly at the dragon's eye, which is a weak spot if the spell doesn't have a visible effect, a mistake but one easy to make. Even when your plan failed, you played for time until you saw an opening and you took it. Nine points."
"Harry, I am dismayed that your first instinct was to kill the dragon. You need to learn that there are better ways to do things. Four points" Said Dumbledore while he gave Harry his 'I'm so disappointed in you' look.
"While I don't feel that killing the dragon was unreasonable in the situation, I do think you committed to fighting the dragon far too quickly. Seven points," said Madam Maxime. Harry understood how it must look from her perspective, but he agreed with his grandfather that killing the dragon sent a message to whomever put his name in the Goblet and that was impotent.
"Your actions were bold and decisive and your spell was powerful for a fourteen year old. You should be proud of what you did here. Eight points," was Karkaroff's contribution.
"And last and most definitely not least, Mr. Potter you faced down a dragon in single combat and it was probably the most thrilling thing most of the people here will ever see. I award you ten points, for a total of thirty eight points. Can we get a round of applause for our brilliant champions?" The stands went wild just like at the Quidditch matches. "With only eleven points separating our lowest score from our highest, it's still all to play for in the next round. Now we will see you all again in February for the second task, and until then stay in school kids!" Bagman finally finished up his commentary and the champions thought they were free to go, but the jovial man came running up to them.
"Wait, I need to give you some information about the second task, the eggs you have collected are clues to the second task. You have until February twenty sixth to prepare. You are not restricted to just your wands this time, but apart from your wands you have to make anything magical you use yourself." Considering the dragons were meant to be a surprise, Harry was worried how much more dangerous they were going to make the second task when they had a clue for three months to help them prepare. Then again, he had already fought a five X dragon, how were they going to top that? A nundu? Not even the Ministry was crazy enough for that.
With a ministry official there talking to them, Harry seized his chance. "Director Bagman, as the head of the Ministry department responsible for this tournament, I, Harry James Potter, claim the carcass of the dragon that I slew in single combat while it was outside of a dragon sanctuary," Harry said firmly and clearly. The three other champions looked surprised again, apparently none of them had thought about Harry being able to claim the dragon.
"Ah, actually Mr. Potter, the Ministry is claiming the dragon to recover the cost of compensating the dragon sanctuary for the loss of a breeding female. I'm sure you understand."
The Ministry wasn't exactly in Harry's good books since his conversion with Fudge at the end of his last school year, and since then nothing they had done had warmed Harry up to them. In fact with everything that had happened Harry was feeling colder towards them now than he did then. He looked Bagman in the eye and said, "No I'm afraid I don't understand. The law is clear on this. Any wizards or witches who kill a dragon that is not in a dragon preserve area can claim the carcass of the dragon in compensation for having to fight a dangerous creature. The law was made back in the sixteen hundreds to encourage witches and wizards to deal with the dangerous creatures roving around." Harry said. He knew the law and the history behind it; his grandfather had made sure he knew it after they decided to have the basilisk harvested, which fell under the same law. There was a possibility Dumbledore would corner Harry and pressure him over it, so making sure he was armed with the truth was prudent. "Has the Ministry brought in some new law I am unaware of, or is the Ministry trying to prevent me from what is rightfully mine?"
"Now, Mr. Potter, it's nothing like that. However, the Ministry works on budgets, you see, and after my department had to refund a lot of the tickets for the World Cup and pay for damaged property, we need the gold from the sale of the dragon parts to cover what we owe the dragon preserve."
"Then perhaps your department should have done a better job at keeping underage wizards from being forced into this tournament. My declaration is made, either my godfather or grandfather will sort out the details. Good day Director Bagman." Harry turned and walked away, making his way back to Madam Pomfrey so he could get the unpleasantness of healing done with.