The not-so-big finale
The crowd fell silent, all eyes on Harry's wand which was lying hopeless in the mud.
"You idiot, Potter!" Daphne hissed, as Hermione buried her face in Ron's jumper. Ron himself looked like he was going to be sick, and Draco groaned.
Luna had furrowed her brow, but didn't look too worried. Ginny grabbed Neville's hand, who was looking pale.
"He'll be fine Nev, this is Harry Potter we're watching you know." She told him confidently. When Neville turned to look at her, he could see the certainty in her eyes.
Everyone watched with bated breath as a gate at the other end of the arena opened wide, and a furious, ferocious looking dragon was dragged inside. She made a beeline for her nest, glaring at the humans watching her. She roared fiercely.
"That's a Hungarian horntail." Daphne whispered. "Oh, I can't watch!" She covered her eyes with her hands.
"No!" Hermione yelled, bringing her knees up to face and staring at Harry with a look of horror. Ron had gone slack-jawed and pale.
"Oh Merlin." Neville, Ginny and Draco all said at the same time.
Harry himself, however, looked perfectly fine. In fact, he felt perfectly fine.
The dragon tugged against the chains restraining her and roared again, releasing a torrent of flames into the air. Harry blinked.
"You'd better not die, Potter." Draco muttered. Colin snapped a quick photo of the dragon, eyes shining.
Harry, and therefore the entire stadium, watched the dragon rage for a few minutes. Remus was watching from the teacher's stands anxiously. McGonagall looked worried for her young student's life. Even Snape's indifferent mask slipped a little.
Then, deciding enough was enough, Harry sat down on the ground, legs crossed.
"GET UP POTTER!" Hermione screeched. He turned to look at her and winked. She groaned and hid her face behind her hands.
"I will kill him. One of these days, I will kill him." She muttered to herself.
Harry turned his attention back to the dragon. It was now or never.
"Hello." He said softly, then shook his head. Too quiet, and too English.
"What on Earth is he doing? Dragon's don't speak English." Crouch said, looking fed up.
Harry wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Hello!" He tried again. Nope. Still English.
"Hello." Yes! He'd done it! The dragon froze, and stared at the young boy sat on the floor in front of her.
The children and adults in the stands who knew of Harry's ability looked nowhere near as shocked as those who didn't, but they still looked surprised he was choosing to utilize it now.
"You know Hermione, if you want to kill him, you might have to beat me to it. Stupid boy testing stupid theories in the middle of the stupid task." Daphne shook her head in annoyance, but the worry was clear on her face.
"I know, not everyday you meet a human who speaks your language, hey?" Harry grinned.
"Not any day, little creature. How did you learn our tongue?" The dragon had only relaxed ever-so slightly, looking harshly at the boy before her with a mixture of shock, curiosity, and anger on her face. Her nostrils flared slightly. Harry didn't flinch.
The stands had gone quiet, and Bagman's irritating commentary had slowly faded to nothing as the man was taken over by surprise (And a silencing spell, Hermione noticed, and the proud smirk on McGonagall's face probably indicated that it was her)
"I'm not sure. I think I have a part of an evil guy's dead spirit inside of me or something."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Harry paused for a second, then remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "Oh, by the way, you're being used in a silly wizard competition I'm being forced to compete in. That egg is fake." Harry pointed at the golden egg. The dragon huffed, and rolled it to Harry with her head. He picked it up with a grim smile.
"Thanks. Sorry you were forced to come here. I've always wanted to see if I could talk to dragons, but not like this." He said, meaning it. He looked at the chains that were restraining the dragon with sadness in his eyes.
The dragon gave him an odd look "You're a strange little creature."
"And you are a majestic big creature. Your eggs will hatch into fine young dragons." Harry looked at the nest the dragon was stood over. The eggs were large, and smooth surfaced. He swore he saw one of them move a little.
"Yes, they will." The dragon said proudly. "I will tell them how you kept them safe from harm. One of the other dragons here lost an egg, I heard her grief. Losing an egg is the worst thing that can ever happen to one of us." The dragon bowed her head a little, and her wings lowered in sadness.
Harry grimaced. "Yeah, I heard her too. I think she trod on one when one of the other champions was distracting her. Give her our deepest apologies, if you ever get the chance."
"I will, little creature. Pray tell, why are you being forced into this competition?" She tilted her head sideways at him, curiosity glimmering in her eyes.
"Well, it all started when my parents died." Harry launched into a short story of his entire life, watching as the dragon grew more and more furious, eventually letting out a loud roar. A torrent of flame shot straight at the Professors' part of the stands, and Dumbledore's beard caught on fire. If a dragon could grin smugly, Harry thought, then the Horntail would be doing just so.
"Why'd the dragon do that?" George wondered aloud.
"Harry probably told her his whole life story or something." Draco said. "It wouldn't be surprising if he did, honestly."
"You are a fine dragon, my lady. Thank you for your time and assistance today." Harry bowed to the majestic creature gratefully, golden egg in his arms.
"Thank you little creature. You will always have an ally in myself and my family." The dragon inclined her huge head towards him.
"Thank you, that means a lot."
"Be safe, little creature. Do come and visit us, if you can."
Harry bowed deeply again to the dragon, whose name he never did find out. He then turned to face the audience, looking up at Bagman.
"Okay, I'm done!" He called out. Bagman, however didn't respond. His eyes were wide, and he appeared to be in a state of shock.
"Hello?" Harry shouted. Moody elbowed Bagman in the side. Nothing.
Harry looked up at Luna, shrugging. She mimed opening something with her hands, and Harry nodded, getting what she was trying to say almost instantly.
He sighed loudly, then opened the egg.
A loud and awful screech filled the air, and most people in the stadium covered their ears, yelling at Harry to "shut that thing up!" Harry himself looked a little surprised.
"Oh." He said. "Interesting." He looked up again and saw Bagman had shaken himself out of it, and closed the egg. A sigh of relief filled the stands.
Harry picked up his wand, and cast a spell to brush the mud of his trousers.
"Can I go now, Mr Wasp? I've finished task." He asked politely. Lupin hid a chuckle behind a cough.
"Erm, not quite yet, Mr Potter. You need to be given a score. Professor Karkaroff?"
Karkaroff held up a large 2. Madame Maxime was next, she gave him a 7. Dumbledore gave him an 8, Crouch gave him a 4, and Bagman gave him a 6.
"That puts Mr Potter in last place. But still, a good score considering your age, Mr Potter." Bagman said, still looking a bit dazed. "Right, well, all is done here. Thanks for coming everyone, and have a good rest of your day!" Bagman hurried off, then realized he hadn't recast a voice magnifying spell.
"OI, HE SAID YOU CAN LEAVE!" Lee Jordan yelled. After that, everyone hurried out of the stands. Harry left the arena, wanting to find the other champions so they could regroup and discuss the task that had just happened, and maybe the next one too