D is for Dragons, and also Delinquents
The week passed by very quickly. The champions met up every single night, trying to plan and prepare for facing the dragons in the first task. Hermione would join them sometimes, dragging Ron with her and her arms full of books. The twins would often turn up randomly with some "helpful input", which included things like conjuring a bunch of fish to slap the dragon repeatedly in the face, or sacrificing Snape as a distraction.
Harry would often bring Luna with him, for reasons the other three champions didn't really understand, but her advice did end up being very useful.
The night before the task, the champions agreed to meet, just the four of them and for a much shorter length of time.
"So, how is everyone feeling?" Cedric asked as he collapsed into an armchair by the fire in the kitchens. One of the house elves handed him a cup of tea. "Thanks Tipsy."
"Terrified." Harry said confidently. "And you?"
"Same." The other three champions chorused.
"Ve vill be fine." Krum said after a short pause. "They cannot let us die, after all."
"Hmmm." Fleur said sceptically.
That night, Harry couldn't sleep. His mind was racing, and as the reality of the task sunk in he began to get more and more anxious. He tried to distract himself by thinking of the letters he had received from Sirius and Remus, confirming that they would both be there to cheer him on (Sirius as Padfoot, but still, he would be there). He'd had a letter from Mrs Weasley as well, saying she was proud of him and she wished him the best of luck.
Harry had enjoyed the past month of insanity. He had enjoyed letting go completely, not caring what others thought. In fact, he had found it a nice change that people were looking at him for a reason other than him being the boy-who-lived. At least they were looking at him for something he'd actually knowingly done.
He was also finding himself hopeful for the coming summer. He had exchanged a few more letters with Amelia Bones, and they were planning to meet after the task tomorrow to talk about his home situation. He might finally escape his relatives! Had he known all it took was going a bit wild for people to listen and take him seriously, he would've done so years back.
He eventually drifted off to sleep, a small smile on his face.
The next morning, Harry headed down to breakfast, once again ignoring the hopeful looks from the Gryffindor table and sitting down next to Draco at the Slytherin one. He rested his head on Daphne's shoulder and sighed.
"Are you two dating?" A sixth year Slytherin asked.
"Ew, no, gross!" Harry exclaimed at the same time Daphne said "Of course not, don't be disgusting!"
Draco laughed. Since Harry and Daphne had become friends, the two had behaved like an old married couple, but an extremely childish one.
"Eat, Potter." Draco admonished after remembering Harry hadn't eaten yet, piling sausages onto his plate.
"Ughh, I sat here to escape Hermione telling me to eat, and now you're doing it instead. I'm not hungry!" Harry whined. He opened his mouth to yawn, and Draco used the opportunity to shove a piece of toast into his mouth.
"Hmmph!" Harry swallowed. "Hey!"
"Payback for the jam thing." Draco said smugly. Daphne snickered.
"How are you feeling?" Cedric asked Harry, flopping down next to him at the Slytherin table and stealing the sausages Draco had put on Harry's plate. Draco scowled at him.
"They're Potter's, Diggory."
"Harry hates them." Cedric said with a shrug.
"Wait, WHAT?" Draco exclaimed. "You hate sausages? Since when?"
"Not all sausages, just Lincolnshire sausages." Harry grimaced.
"It's a bit ironic that the two Hogwarts champions aren't even in Slytherin but are both sat with us." Blaise remarked with one eyebrow raised. Daphne laughed.
"Well, the Hufflepuffs are being annoying, so I came to hide here. Harry sits here all the time anyway, nothing new there. Harry, shall we go down early? It'll give us some more time to prepare."
"Sure." Harry downed a cup of pumpkin juice and got to his feet, leaving the hall with Cedric. Hermione and Ron got up from the Gryffindor table and followed them.
"Ah, Harry, Cedric, hello!" Bagman said cheerfully. Harry opened his mouth to scream, probably about wasps, but Ron covered his mouth.
"Hello Sir." Cedric said politely.
"The champions tent is this way. Your friends may come with you if you wish?" Hermione and Ron nodded at his questioning look and the four began to follow Bagman to the tent. Before they entered, however, a familiar looking man stepped in front of them, dog at his side.
"Remus! Snuffles!" Harry shouted excitedly as he barrelled into Remus' chest, hugging him tightly. The dog barked excitedly and licked them both like crazy.
"I missed you." Harry's muffled voice said into Remus' shirt.
"And us you, kiddo. Hello Ron, Hermione, Cedric, Mr Bagman."
"Hello Professor Lupin."
"Hello Mr Lupin. Fine day, isn't it?" Bagman said cheerfully.
"Yes, I'm sure I'd agree if I wasn't about to watch the closest thing I have to family risk his life in a tournament he didn't even enter himself into." Remus said cordially, but his eyes twinkled dangerously. Harry let go of Remus and crouched on the floor to say hello to Snuffles properly. "Harry, we- I just wanted to say hello before the tournament starts. I need to find Professor McGonagall now, and speak to her about something. Will you be okay in the tent alone? I promise I'll be in the stands watching you, with Snuffles of course."
"That's fine, I have these guys. Can Snuffles stay with me?" Harry and the dog gave Remus matching puppy dog eyes, and he rolled his eyes.
"Okay, fine. Remember to meet me and Professor McGonagall in her office half an hour after the task; we are both attending the meeting with Amelia with you. Good luck kiddo, and see you after the task!"
"Thanks Remus!" Harry turned to enter the tent, then span back around. "Wait! Moony!" Remus stopped and turned to look at Harry. "Watch out for the bumblebees. They keep stinging innocent bystanders." Remus rolled his eyes at the serious look on Harry's face.
"Yes Harry. Now go, I'll see you later."
Harry and the dog entered the tent, Harry chattering nonstop like the dog could could understand him.
Cedric wouldn't be surprised if it could. Nothing was too crazy for him to believe these days.
"Harry!" A woman with blonde curls squealed when he entered the tent. "I'm so pleased to see you again, dear boy!"
"Hello Rita!" Harry exclaimed, just as excitedly.
"Come, child, we have things to discuss." Rita grabbed his arm and pulled him off into the corner of the tent, and the two began to whisper frantically.
"Uh oh." Hermione muttered. "I swear, if he does something ridiculously stupid again..." Ron sniggered.
"I didn't know Professor Lupin had a dog." Cedric commented.
"It's a rescue. Can't you tell? It's pretty ugly." Ron said playfully, winking at the dog. Snuffles growled at him and Ron just laughed. Harry did too. Hermione rolled her eyes.
Bagman, who seemed to be bored of the teenagers, was trying to insert himself into whatever conversation Rita and Harry were having, with little success. He gave up, instead latching onto Crouch immediately when the man walked in.
Dumbledore was next to arrive, followed by the two other headteachers, Krum, Fleur, and Professor McGonagall.
"Champions, gather around. Your friends must leave us now. And the dog."
"Aw, man! Bye Snuffles." Harry hugged the dog, who licked his face in return. Hermione and Ron both hugged Harry and wished him luck before leaving, Snuffles at their heels. Snuffles growled at Crouch and Karkaroff when he walked past them.
"Now then." Bagman clapped once. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
Up in the arena, students were gathering and finding seats. Hermione and Ron had pushed their way to the front where Luna, Draco, Daphne, Colin, Ginny, Neville and the twins were waiting. Snuffles made a beeline for Luna, curling up on her feet.
"Oh, hello again." Luna said.
"You know Snuffles, Luna?" Hermione asked, looking confused.
"Yes, I fed him scraps all last year." Luna said.
"I wonder if she knows?" Ron whispered to Hermione, who shrugged, looking anxious. Ron sighed and wrapped an arm around her.
"Relax, Hermione, Harry will be fine." Fred said confidently. Luna nodded. "See? Luna agrees, so it must be true." Hermione nodded, but still looked incredibly worried.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, I CAN NOW SAY WITH GREAT EXCITEMENT THAT THE TOURNAMENT HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!" Bagman yelled after casting a sonorous spell on himself. "THE FIRST TASK IS TO TAKE A GOLDEN EGG FROM THE NEST OF A NESTING MOTHER DRAGON, AND THE EGG CONTAINS THE CLUE TO THE NEXT TASK! UP FIRST IS HOGWART'S CHAMPION CEDRIC DIGGORY, AGAINST THE SWEDISH SHORT SNOUT!"
Amongst loud cheers a cannon went off, and a dragon was led into the arena. She looked furious, smoke trailing from her snout. Cedric appeared from the other side of the arena a few seconds later, looking terrified.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no." Hermione buried her face in Ron's robes, muttering to herself quietly. Ron patted her on the back awkwardly.
Cedric pointed his wand at a rock and shouted a spell. In the rock's place was now a dragon, a baby one. Cedric watched dragon carefully for its reaction. It was watching the baby dragon with a mixture of surprise and protectiveness. Cedric then pointed his wand at another rock and turned it into a dog, which instantly started to try and play with the dragon baby. The mother dragon couldn't look away after that, the need to ensure the baby dragon was safe too strong for her to pay any attention to Cedric, who walked quickly passed her and grabbed the egg.
"He's okay Hermione, he did it! And not even a- Oh, never mind." Neville finished sheepishly as the dragon remembered Cedric was there and sent a torrent of flames right at him. Cedric ducked as dragon keepers swarmed into the arena to remove the Swedish short snout, and Cedric's turn was over.
He left the arena to deafening cheers, a pained but satisfied and relieved smile on his face.
"Where's Lupin?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Teachers stands." She said, biting her nails. "Fleur is next, look."
Fleur walked into the stands, a look of determination on her face.
"UP NEXT, THE BEAUXBATONS CHAMPION, FLEUR DELACOUR!" The Beauxbatons students cheered loudly, as did some of the students from other schools. Ron cheered loudly, and then blushed when the group teased him.
"Why isn't she moving?" Neville asked, frowning. "She's just stood there, she isn't even trying!" Fleur was, indeed, stood there, wand in hand, scowling at the dragon in front of her.
Padfoot, who had decided sitting at Luna's feet didn't give him a clear enough view, decided to jump into her lap, stretching across both her lap and Ginny's.
As the stands grew quiet, everyone watching Fleur with confusion, she smiled. She drew her wand and said something in French.
"What did she say?" George asked Hermione, who was smiling.
"Accio golden egg." As the golden egg soared into Fleur's arms, the dragon roared with anger and shot a stream of fire at the egg, catching Fleur's skirt on fire.
She put it out with her wand and grinned triumphantly, leaving the arena with a swish of her blue cloak.
"WELL, WHAT A CLEVER IDEA FROM MISS DELACOUR! NOW, ONTO OUR NEXT CHAMPION, VICTOR KRUM!"
A canon blasted and Krum entered the arena, looking confident.
He waved his wand and muttered a spell. For a second nothing happened, then a broom came soaring through the air towards him.
Draco and Ron watched smugly as their favourite quidditch player mounted the broom and took off in an impressive show of skill. Hermione loosened her grip on Ron's arm a little, reaching over him to stroke snuffles.
"I love this tournament!" Ginny commented, eyes shining as she scratched the dog on her lap behind the ears.
"Ginevra! This tournament is putting our friends' lives at risk!" Hermione scolded.
"Yeah, but, this is next level stuff Hermione! Record breaking most likely. It's awesome."
"AND HE'S DONE IT! AND WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE SHOW HE GAVE US! LET'S HEAR IT FOR VICTOR KRUM!"
The group cheered loudly and they weren't the only ones- the stands were going wild for Viktor as he exited the stands.
"AND NOW, THE FOURTH AND FINAL CHAMPION, UP AGAINST THE HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL, THE FIERCEST DRAGON OF THEM ALL..... HARRY POTTER!"
Harry's friends cheered loudly and the twins set off a few fireworks they'd smuggled in.
"How'd you get those in?" Ron asked.
"Dear brother, you really don't want to know." Ron grimaced.
After a few minutes of loud applause, the audience finally realised that Harry Potter apparently had no interest in entering the arena.
"....HARRY POTTER!" Bagman tried again. Nothing.
Then, once the stands were silent, Harry Potter entered the arena, wand under one arm, golden egg under the other, and smiled.
"That's better. Keep it down, yeah? You'll scare the dragon."
"POTTER! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT EGG?" Crouch roared furiously.
"Oh, this old thing? Found it in the tent. Its a fake." Harry opened the egg and it turned into a bird, flying straight at Snape's face. Remus held back a snort.
"Anyway!" Harry clapped his hands together once. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"
And he turned to face the large large gate he knew the horntail would soon enter through, placing his wand on the floor. Colin lifted his camera.
And so it began.