Dragons. Need I say more?
"Um, Harry?" Dean said nervously, approaching the dark-haired boy who was sat next to Draco at the Slytherin table. To begin with, the Slytherins had been greatly annoyed by his presence, but since he had befriended Draco and told them a few of his best kept secrets (The Dursleys, His opinions on Dumbledore, the Dursleys) he had been tolerated, if not welcomed, by the snakes.
Dean was not nervous because of the Slytherins (well, maybe a little), but he was more worried about the unpredictable-ness of Harry. Just yesterday he had run away screaming from the Headmaster, made a lemon meringue pie in Potions class, and somehow smuggled a niffler into the great hall and let it loose.
After much pleading, Professor McGonagall had reluctantly relented and let Harry keep said niffler, whom he had christened "Dave".
"Yes! Thanks Professor!" Harry had cheered, then he had paused. "But wait, what about Barb?"
"Barb? Who, pray tell, is Barb?" Minerva had responded, looking sceptical. With a guilty smile, Harry had pulled a bowtruckle out of his pocket.
Professor McGonagall had got angry then and told him on no uncertain terms was he to keep the bowtruckle, and he was lucky she let him keep the niffler instead of giving him detentions for the rest of the term.
So Harry, finding a loophole, gave the bowtruckle to Luna. Professor Flitwick had allowed her to keep it, and she had re-christened it Bo.
However, after an entire day of terrorization caused by Dave and his desperate need to steal every shiny thing he could, Harry was forced to give him to Hagrid that same evening. Luna released Bo back into the forbidden forest, where she belonged with her fellow species.
"Hello Dean." Harry said, surprisingly normally. "What did you need?"
"Ron is looking for you. He got a letter from his brother which you apparently need to see urgently?"
"Brilliant!" Harry said, looking positively delighted. He stood up, yanking Draco with him. Daphne, who was sat with the two boys, also stood.
"Anyway, back to snakes. Daphne, humans are one species, right? They have loads of different languages. So, it only makes sense that snakes do too. Each type of snake must speak a variation of parseltongue. And other reptiles..." Harry wittered on as he dragged Daphne and Draco out of the hall, leaving a confused looking Dean behind.
As they walked, footsteps echoed loudly behind them. "Where are we going?" Ginny asked as she jogged down the corridor to catch up with the three fourth years.
"Gryffindor common room. Charlie wrote to Ron, and I need to see the letter."
"Dean didn't tell you which brother wrote to Ron? How do you know it was Charlie?" Draco asked, frowning.
"Luna. Come on!" They four of them entered the common room, the Gryffindors not even batting an eyelash at the intruders from another house. They were used to it by now.
"Harry!" Ron called out, beckoning them over. "Charlie wrote to me." He said in a low voice. "The first task, it's- well, look!" And he thrust a piece of parchment in Harry's face.
Ron,
It's dragons. Tell Harry to meet me at midnight on Friday at the edge of the forbidden forest.
Stay safe and see you soon,
Charlie
"Oooo, Dragons!" Harry squealed, looking delighted. "We can test my theory, Daphne!"
Daphne groaned. "No, Harry. This is bad thing, not a good thing."
Harry ignored her. "Charlie wants to meet me. Ron, Ginny, I assume you're coming too?"
"Duh. Fred and George will want too as well. I'll go get them." Ginny said, standing up.
"And me." Hermione said suddenly, making Harry jump. "The other champions should come too." She flopped onto the sofa in between Harry and Daphne.
"How, though? Harry's cloak only fits 4 people at a stretch." Ron pointed out.
"Okay, plan. We steal Fawkes the phoenix-"
"NO!" The rest of group yelled.
"Okay okay, chill, I was joking. Well, kind of. Okay, real plan. Snape and Minnie joined the cause, right? But not fully, just a "help when you need" kind of deal."
"So, we can get permission from one of them to be up past curfew!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I was thinking more that we could mess with Snape, get detention and request it be in the forbidden forest with Hagrid then sneak off and build a den before finding Charlie, but yeah your idea works too." Harry shrugged. "I'll speak to Minnie later."
"We only need permission to be out of the common room after curfew. We will need to work out how to get out of the castle unseen though."
"Steal Snape's cloak and pretend to be a giant bat?" Harry suggested. Ron laughed.
"No that won't work. We need a distraction."
"Did somebody say distraction?" Two tall, smiling gingers said from behind them, a much shorter Ginny stood between them looking incredibly pleased with herself.
-----
The plan was made, and Friday rolled around quicker than expected. The permission slip from McGonagall was easy to get, and Harry had given his invisibility cloak to Fred and George. They had offered themselves up as a distraction for Filch and any other patrolling teachers or students so the group could leave the castle easily, then try and follow later. Ginny had decided to stay with them, the thrill of wreaking havoc after lights out more exciting than her older brother.
The Gryffindors met with Cedric in the kitchens and Ginny, Fred and George departed, Harry's invisibility cloak with them.
"Ready?" Harry said to the others. They nodded, and as soon a loud BANG! resounded above them, and they heard Filch's screech of rage, they sprinted out of the kitchens and up a few floors to reach the entrance hall.
"Quick, open it!" Harry hissed urgently at Cedric, who was fiddling with the lock.
"Potter!" Harry whirled around, coming face to face with Snape.
"Professor, hello!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully. "We're just going for a morning run before breakfast!"
"It's quarter to midnight, Potter." Snape snarled.
"Yeah, well, it's a very long run. Want to join us?"
"What? No, of course not! And if you think I'm going to let you-"
"Severus? What is going on?" Professor McGonagall came bustling towards them, wand lit. "Potter, Diggory, Weasley, Granger. What are you doing to that door?"
"Trying to open it." Harry said, as if it was the most obvious and normal thing to be doing in the middle of the night. "The bumblebee is trying to sting us again, so we're escaping and going to hide at Professor Lupin's house." Harry paused, then gasped. "Oh no, now you'll know where to find us! We'll have to go to Egypt to stay with Bill instead. Unless....YES, let's have a sleepover at Professor Snape's house!" Harry squealed, clapping with delight.
"Step away from the door Diggory." Cedric begrudgingly took a few steps back, and McGonagall brushed past him. She muttered a spell and the doors burst open.
"Mr Weasley, tell your older brother that if you come back injured or dead, I will give him detention, grown man or not. Don't look at me like that, your brother wouldn't dream of persuading you to sneak out without telling me first. Goodnight."
"Thanks Minnie!" Harry ran out of the castle, the other three following behind. Minerva closed the door, sighed, and turned to Severus.
"Minerva, you cannot-"
"The first task is dragons, Severus." Severus hissed a breath, looking shocked.
"Are they insane?" He whispered harshly.
"Most likely. Charlie Weasley is escorting the champions to where the dragons are being kept tonight to give them a better chance of success. He will bring them back to the castle before the clock strikes one. If he does not, I will go and retrieve them all myself."
"If Dumbledore finds out, you will be in trouble."
"I'm not a child, Severus. You're closer to one than I. Goodnight." Minerva swept away, and Severus shook his head and returned to the dungeons. He needed another firewhiskey.
He didn't see Minerva open the door again to let three more gingers through.
"We made it out, and still got to mess with Snape! Best. Day. Ever." Harry declared as they ran, slowing to halt as they reached Charlie, stood with Fleur and Viktor at the edge of the forest.
"Charlie!" His brothers exclaimed as soon as they saw him.
"Hi all, good to see you. We need to be quick, or McGonagall will flay me alive. Come on!" He ushered everyone into the forest and led them down an old path.
"So, Charlie, what eez it we 'ave to do with zeese Dragons?" Fleur asked.
"So, as far as I know, there are four dragons, and four golden eggs. The dragons are nesting mothers, and the golden egg will be placed in their nest. Your job as champion is to retrieve it with as little damage to yourself, the dragon, and the nest of real eggs as possible."
"So, a pretty much impossible and incredibly dangerous task." Ginny added.
"Yes. We dragon keepers are furious, this is likely to be incredibly traumatic for all involved, especially the dragons, but we had no jurisdiction over the decision." Charlie shook his head, tutting.
"Poor dragons." Hermione sighed.
"So, what would you say is the best way to get past them?" Harry asked Charlie.
"Flying would be a pretty good option, if you are good on a broom. As long as the broomstick doesn't get set on fire, of course. It's a dangerous option, but it won't hurt the dragon. The dragons will be chained by one foot, so flying up will be a good escape route."
"Viktor can fly." Harry said decisively. "If he wants to."
"I vill keep it in mind." Krum said, frowning slightly.
"I read somewhere the conjunctivitis curse is good against dragons." Cedric piped up.
"It's cruel. But as a last resort, maybe." Charlie said uncertainly. "A distraction would be better. Turn a rock into a cat or something."
"Hmm." Cedric furrowed his brows. "How about a dog?"
"Good plan. Have a backup though, just in case."
"Will there be anti-summoning spells on the egg?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not sure. Maybe? We're here." The path had grown wider and opened up into a large clearing, where four massive dragons were thrashing about. Fire lit the area, and there was lots of shouting.
"Wicked!" Fred and George said together.
"Charlie!" Someone called, making her way towards them. "I see you've brought friends with you. The champions, I suppose? Pleasure to meet you all, I'm Rosa, Charlie's boss." She shook each of the teenagers' hands.
"Rosa, these are my siblings, Hermione, Harry, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor." Charlie said with a grin.
"Oh, how lovely, your siblings are here as well! I've heard so much about all of you. You're Ron, right? Tell me what happened in your first year again, Charlie is a terrible storyteller..." Ron, looking pleased to be singled out amongst his siblings, happily started to tell her about his first year at school. Charlie started asking his other siblings questions about their year so far and ushered the champions away to go and look and what they'd be facing.
"They're all massive." Harry said, looking sightly terrified. Cedric bumped his shoulder in a friendly way.
"Don't worry, you'll be alright, they won't let anything too life threatening happen to us. I say, what type of dragon d'you think this one is?"
After half an hour of looking at the dragons, and all of the champions secretly hoping one of the others got the Hungarian Horntail, Charlie rushed them all back to the castle with promises to catch up with them soon.
"I didn't get to test my parseltongue theory." Harry told Daphne at breakfast the next morning, looking disappointed.
"Well, I'm sure you can get Charlie to let you visit them again some time." Daphne responded.
Harry grinned. The first task was going to be awesome.