The First Task, at last
“Hey Harry, hey Cloak, how was the late evening meetup with Hagrid?” Hermione asked as Harry returned. He got a message from Hagrid to meet up at night and bring Cloak along.
“Dragons…” Harry muttered.
“I beg your pardon?” Hermione noted.
“Dragons. Our first Task is dragons.” Harry said.
“Also Hagrid is trying to pick up Madame Maxime.” Cloak added. “And we can’t decide if that is as horrifying as the dragons or not.”
“You got to fight a dragon to the death?” Hermione asked, now panicky.
“I’ll need to claw a few eyes out. Where is that Bagman guy!” Hedwig asked.
“I don’t think we need to fight them to the death, just…trying to get past them or something.” Harry noted. “I saw they had eggs though.”
“Bloody hell! Nesting mothers!” Ron said. “My brother Charlie said the most surefire way to get a dragon to kill you is to get near its eggs. Oh man, I just realize that Charlie said he’ll be in the country for a while and visit…Is it because he helps with the Tournament? Oh man! I didn’t think they’d actually bring Dragons, sorry for not telling you, Harry!”
“No, it’s fine. Though I didn’t expect dragons since they say they are trying to make this tournament ‘safer’ then past editions. How is this considered safer?” Harry noted.
“Past tournaments included the Cockatrice, a cousin of the Basilisk…” Hermione began.
“That was rhetorical, Hermione?” Harry said.
“Sorry, when I’m stressed I ramble random facts I read.” Hermione muttered.
“Luna, you’re the beast expert, you got no random fact about dragons no one else knows that may be of help?” Harry asked.
“Oh no, not in this case. Nothing more then what everyone already knows in the magical zoologist community. Even if me and Daddy don’t always see eye to eye with them. If you go up against a dragon, you’re pretty damn bloody buggered.” Luna said.
“Great, just great!” Harry said. “Dragons are big, basically immune to most magics, shoot fire, they can fly and they have nasty tempers. Little Norbert was bad enough, but this one is going to be a full grown one, protecting its eggs and not hesitating in frying me and eat me with ketchup if I even inch closer to the egg. And I’m only allowed a wand! Which at this point is as useful as a drumstick.”
“Mh...drumsticks.” Ron noted.
“Ron!”
“Sorry, I think about food when stressed…” Ron noted.
“You can still do a lot…er, summoning charms! We are learning those in Charms!”
“Yeah, just summon me into the arena and I’ll fly circles around it.” Bolt noted.
“Bolt, I am not going to risk your life on top of mine. You may be a powerful broom-woman now, but you are still a broom, so extremely flammable.” Harry said. “I care too much about you.”
“Anyone else got no ideas?” Harry asked.
“Er…Dragons’ weak spot are their eyes?” Daphne suggested. “Maybe that’ll work.”
“On the other hand it will make it even more pissed.” Tracey added.
“Yeah, definitely not going to use that idea.” Harry sighed.
“Fred and George are working on some pranking items that can turn people into canary’s briefly but it won’t work on a dragon, right?”
“Nope, we can’t make enough Canary Creams in time or modify them to be strong enough to work on a dragon.” Fred began.
“Sorry Harry.” George added.
“They were nesting dragons, you said?” Luna asked again.
“Yeah, I thought I mentioned that.” Harry noted.
“Maybe the fact they’re nesting mothers with eggs is important to the task, maybe they hide something between the eggs. Perhaps you can try to summon that?” Luna suggested.
“Summon…no, it can’t be that easy?” Harry asked.
“Wizards don’t have much in terms of logic, it should work…” Hermione noted. “Er, no offense, everyone.” Hermione said.
“None taken. We know that there are more idiots then geniuses out there.” Susan noted. “It is the Ministry whom organizes it after all, and my aunt made no secret on how moronic Fudge and Bagman are.”
“Yeah, they probably will have a lot of blind spots they’ve overlooked.” Hannah added.
“Well, let’s bank on that, then.” Harry noted. “I best go warn Cedric about the Dragons. Karkaroff and Maxime already saw the dragons too and will tell their champions, it would seem fair.”
“People would think you’re too noble for your own good.” Daphne pointed out.
“No, I’m noble enough because only a git would see someone walk to their deaths and not warn them. If that person is a nice guy of course, like Cedric. Wouldn’t have bothered if it was a Death Eater or Voldyshorts.” Harry said. “I’ll also suggest them to try the Summoning charm too.”
“Wouldn’t that put you all on even scores?” Tracey asked.
“I’m not trying to win this. But I would want to stick it to the Ministry.” Harry said. “They came to see a show, imagine if the show got cut short and they realize they wasted their budget on bringing in dragons for an event that would be over in seconds.” Harry noted.
Maps, Fred and George busted out laughing. The map girl then spoke up: “Harry, that is great. Where is that Collin guy? I want to pay him for pictures of their collective dumb faces when that happens.”
“We still need a backup plan or two, just in case.” Hermione noted. “I’ll take care of that.”
“Thanks Hermione. Now, I wonder what Dumbledore has said about this? If he is involved with the tournament, he wouldn’t have been happy.”
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At the Ministry, Dumbledore showed he was indeed not happy and he was making his disenchantment quite clear to a select few people.
“Your mother is a (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep)-ing (Bleep) lorem ipsum (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) Admitumvenium (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) treguna (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) hippopotamus (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) Republican (Bleep) (Bleep)-ing Daniel Radcliffe (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) with a bucket of (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) in a castle far away where no one can hear you (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) soup (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) with a bucket of (Bleep) (Bleep) Mickey Mouse (Bleep) (Bleep) with a stick of dynamite (Bleep) magical (Bleep) (Bleep) (Bleep) Alakazam.”
Fudge’s jaw dropped to the floor as he never heard Dumbledore speak that way before, as the guy was just the epitome of calmness himself. Bagman was going through a dictionary as during Dumbledore’s rants he learned a few new words. Though he knew they most likely were not supposed to be used for polite company.
“Geez, Albus!” Fudge said. “What got your pants in a twist?”
“You got four full-grown nesting dragon mothers for the first task! We hadn’t agreed for that in the first task!” Dumbledore said. “Even an expert dragon handler can’t go near a nesting dragon alone, they need a whole damn squad! We try to make this tournament safer, not more dangerous!”
“We wanted to spice things up.” Bagman said, trying to diffuse the situation. “And the other beasties suggested for the first task were considered…too tame.”
“You got clearly hit with too many bludgers during your career as a Beater.” Dumbledore growled. “Why did no one pass this by me? And how did you even free the budget to get four Dragons?”
“Oh, shortly after Mr. Potter was revealed as the fourth champion there were some anonymous donations to the Ministry to freely use it to expand the budget of the tournament alongside a few suggestions.” Fudge noted. He dumbly smiled as he said that, forgetting Dumbledore was mad at him. Thought not for long.
“Malfoy and his ilk lined your pockets with gold and wanted to make the tournament more dangerous?” Dumbledore guessed. He didn’t need Legillimency for this.
“How do you-I mean, that is top secret!” Fudge blustered. “We can’t recall the dragons now, they are already imported.”
“How much of those ‘donations’ are left?” Dumbledore asked.
“Er…enough but we wanted to use that to fund some of the more important departments…” Fudge said.
“Use that to get more people for security, because when dragons are involved, we need all the safety measures we can get.” Dumbledore said.
“I think the current-” Fudge began but was cut off.
“Fudge, you are in hot water with the public. If even a single person may end up badly hurt or dead due to this half-brained scheme, your time as a Minister is over.” Dumbledore said.
“Oh, er…” Fudge said, as he paled and the implications finally set in. “How much do you need?”
Dumbledore still had it. He hoped that all the extra safety measures he could get would be enough.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When the first task came, Harry was initially a bit worried. Then he saw a whole new magical security team of sorts. They were doing a series of test, putting up shields, and shooting flames at them to see if they held up. Once it was clear, the squad leader told them to put up the flame shields everywhere. All right, so they kept everyone safe. That was a relief. Now only he had to survive.
Though when he and the other champions were gathered in the tent, they just gave each other knowing looks and smirked. They had exchanged the ideas they had. So even when Ludo handed them a bag to pick the dragon they were fighting, they had confidence in their plan.
Rita Skeeter was also there but she looked like she had to suck on a lemon. Though the heroes had sold their rights to be included in media to the Quibbler (though they had gotten confused and paid Luna instead of the other way around), she could barely write anything about the event. Though she still stuck around to make notes and hopefully find a loophole to deal with it. Her reporting career was going to suffer having to miss to write about this Tournament.
It was hilarious in an anticlimactic way when all the Champions resorted to Accio, and the Golden Eggs just flew into their hands. The first time it happened it stunned everyone. Second time everyone went ‘Again?’ The third time everyone just facepalmed.
“Why did no one think about making the eggs summon-proof?” Karkaroff groaned. “We must enchant last egg now!”
“Sorry, it is already under a dragon mother and you’ll have to do the Champion’s work for them if you want to get to the egg.” Dumbledore said with an amused grin.
“Why did you not interfere?” Karkaroff said.
“Because as headmasters we are supposed to be neutral and unbiased and not do any spellwork directly on the setpieces in the challenges.” Dumbledore noted.
“I would not say zhat we have been unbiased, though.” Maxime noted.
“I am the most unbiased out there!” Karkaroff noted.
“I believe you Igor…Cough-former Death Eater-cough-gave Viktor Krum a 10 for the exact same summoning charm you gave 4’s for to the others-cough. Pardon me, that lemon drop went down the wrong way.” Dumbledore said.
“I hate all of you.” Karkaroff groaned. How could he brag about the superiority of Durmstrang if the tournament was slowly becoming a joke.
“Oh look, Harry Potter’s next. And guess what Charm they learn in the fourth year?” Dumbledore asked amused.
“Cheating Hogwarts punk!” Igor Karkaroff muttered.
“We have established and proven someone else put his name in the Goblet, no secret was made about that.” Dumbledore noted.
“I am angry so I am right!” Karkaroff mumbled.
“Zhey make anyone a headmaster nowadays.” Madame Maxime sighed.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Harry’s task would have gone smoothly. It showed that all the eggs the previous champions went after could all be summoned normally. And either due to stupidity or no time in between to adjust the charms, they could keep summoning them. So three words and the Golden egg would be in his hands, and he could get away from the big murder dragon way earlier, in time to hang out with his family and friends. But then the Potter Luck kicked. Unlucky enough to get in dangerous situations, but lucky enough to survive, a very specific blend of luck.
The dragon had gone barmy, rampaging across the arena and shooting fire everywhere like a sprinkler system, only with fire. The security team had to renew and keep up the anti-fire shields around the arena as the people in the audience went in a panic and tried to get away. The few security wizards and witches not busy keeping the flame shields up tried to create a bit of order which was difficult.
The Dragon handlers had to step in to try and contain the dragon, but her newfound ferocity caused her to shrug off spells much easier then normal, and they couldn’t calm her down. Harry was still hiding behind the rock he was since the beginning of the task due to waiting for an opportune moment to get that golden egg. Which was now the least of his worries.
“What is that on her belly?” one of the Dragon handlers asked. “Look like she’s shedding…but she had shed already last week?”
“No wait, it looks more like mold.” Another dragon handler said.
“Dragon’s blight!” a familiar voice sounded. Harry recognized it as the voice of Charlie Weasley. “No, how is this possible? They had medical checkups before transport! And we kept watch over them all this time…Someone get the medicine!”
“It’s not here!” the first handler said.
“Not here? I’m sure we packed it!” Charlie said, sounding desperate and sad.
“I know, but we don’t have it. It’s gone, vanished!”
“Someone portkey to the reserve and get medicine!”
“We don’t have the Portkeys either!”
“Damn it! She’s going to die, alongside her brood!” Charlie screamed in panic.
“So is everyone else in the stadium if they’re not evacuated, not to mention us, can’t forget that!” another dragon handler said sarcastically.
“She still doesn’t deserve this!” Charlie said in a panic.
Harry had overheard this. While Harry didn’t like the thought of facing dragons…in the end, the dragons were brought here to be part of the circus as much as he was, neither was given a choice. That and she was a mother, had a clutch of eggs. Even if it was a huge dangerous murder reptile, she had a family. And Harry would deprive no one, not even the dragon, of the family they loved. Harry thought for a bit. He discovered magic that fundamentally changed an object or a being. His owl is now his new mother, she is able to do magic, and is stronger, smarter, and faster then before and had new powers. Would it work here too.
Harry cursed his ‘save everyone’ syndrome and hopped form behind his rock. “Charlie!”
“Harry, get back! This is the job for a Dragon handler.” The redhead said.
“I may know a solution to save the dragon!” Harry noted.
“Kid, I appreciate you trying to help, but what can you know that us Dragon handlers don’t know?” one of the dragon handlers asked.
“I discovered a spell. It changed my owl, it changed the objects that have meaning to me, and they’re now my family.” Harry said. “Sounds weird but it is truly like that.”
“What kind of spell?” Charlie asked.
“You’re not going to trust him on that? Even if there is a spell, it may not work on a dragon.” The other handler said.
“I was able to transform a Firebolt, a Phoenix, the Sword of Gryffindor and the Sorting Hat. All objects which are not easily enchanted. Also, the spell is fueled by emotional attachment. I had a desire for a family. Charlie, you care for the dragons you look after, do you?”
“Yes, I do.” Charlie said.
“You aren’t taking this kid seriously, are you, Charlie?”
“We don’t have a choice. We don’t have the medicine, the portkeys are gone and by the time we can make another one it may be too late. As a Dragon Handler I vowed to do everything to preserve and help the dragons. What is the spell, Harry?” Charlie said, determination in his voice.
“It’s Moefy! Aim, think of the things you love and desire and fire away!” Harry explained.
“Stand back!” Charlie said.
“I can’t believe we are going to let this happen. Well, nice knowing you Charlie!” the other handler said.
The other handlers and Harry took a few steps back as Charlie moved closer. The Hungarian Horntail was still screaming and shooting fire everywhere. If you listened closely, the roar sounded…sad. She was in pain, but even now she stood over her nest to try and protect it, despite it. She knew she may die but she would protect her nest until the end. And she looked dangerously at the redhead that was approaching. Charlie aimed his wand, while the Horntail opened her mouth to charge her fire breath! “Moefy!” the spell shot from Charlie’s wand, in the open mouth of the creature.
The Horntail closed her mouth as soon as the spell entered her throat. Her eyes narrowed. She calmed down for now, but it only appeared to be from shock rather then anything else. She blinked before shaking her head and roaring again. “Get out there, Charlie you barmy plonker!” one of the other Handlers shouted. But then the Horntail halted as some light shined on her chest. She looked down as the light grew. She looked curiously as it spread…the parts of her body covered in blight, it started to peel off, the infection vanishing. Soon she became engulfed into the rainbow colored light. She lay down and covered as much of her nest as she could with her body, without breaking the eggs.
An explosion of rainbow-colored light erupted from her body, and she and her nest vanished in what can only be described as a tornado made of multi-colored flames which was a beautiful spectacle. The people whom tried to flee earlier turned around to instead witness the spectacle. Eventually the light and flames died down.
And in the place of a dragon stood a giant woman. Not like the actual Giants, Giants were not as beautiful as her. She also dwarfed even Madame Maxime. But if you checked the rest of her really, sexy enormous body, you saw a few non-human traits. Parts of her body were covered in jet black scaled, mostly on the lower legs, lower arms, back, and parts around the chest area and below the belt to hide her privates. Didn’t change the fact a lot of her dark skin was visible for the world to see. She had a pair of horns on her head, a pair of wings spouting from her back, a spiky reptilian black tail and a few small scaled on her cheeks that made it look like freckles. Her eyes were still dragon-like, with slitted pupils and had visible fangs but that made her look…exotic. Her ‘hair’ actually consisted of a series of spikes. The newly transformed creature checked herself out, staring at her new scaly clawed hands, which she then ran down her body.
She then looked down and where her eggs once stood, were now a bunch of cute little dragon girls. All of them looked like much younger versions of her and they whimpered like newborns. Despite the wings and spikes they were utterly adorable. “My babies!” she shouted, in perfect English, though with a Slavic accents. She picked them up one by one and hugged them, the squirming dragon babies feeling at ease. She then eyes an oddball among the little ones.
One of the dragon girls was entirely golden, and seemed to sport some mechanical parts. It was like someone tried to recreate the other dragon baby girls with clockwork machinery. She still moved and acted like an organic dragon girl. She eyed it curiously and picked her up too. “Don’t worry little one. I know you’re not one of mine, but I’m your mommy now” she nuzzled the little golden girl and included it in the mass dragon girl cuddle that was going on.
The entire audience let out a massive ‘Awww!’ from most of the audience. Even from Draco’s nasty girlfriend Pansy. “Pansy, stop cooing!”
“But they’re adorable, Draco!”
“They are filthy halfbreeds!” Draco stamped his foot…and the wooden bleacher beneath him gave out and he fell through. “I’m ok, these wood splinters broke my fall!” Pansy ignored him to gush over the cute dragon hatchlings more.
The dragon woman leaned over to look at Charlie. “Are you the one whom transformed me and my brood?”
“Y-y-yeah!” Charlie gulped. His face was as red as his hair, he was sweating and licking his lips. But he wasn’t sure it was because he should be afraid or…something else. “Sorry, I tried to save you…”
“I’m not mad, on the contrary. I am not only healthy, I am smarter, better then before. My entire brood is healthy and better and I got myself another daughter to boot.” She reached out a finger and put it under Charlie’s chin. Charlie looked more nervous. “I am eternally grateful.”
“Oh, er…you’re welcome but I didn’t do it alone, I got the spell from someone else.”
“Oh really, I want to thank this person too.” The dragon woman asked.
Harry stepped forwards. “Hi, I’m Harry… er, I was supposed to be part of a tournament and er…things got out of hand. You look like you needed help, gave Charlie a spell.” Harry babbled.
“You’re precious, child!” she said as she gently lowered her big hand and gently patted Harry on the head. “I’m grateful for you too.” She turned back to Charlie. “Now…Charlie Weasley…now I understand human language, I can call you by your name.”
“Er…sure. Now…” Charlie was trying to keep his thoughts together in front of the big hot dragon momma whom now eyed him as a tasty treat…though not the type of edible one. “Er…what do I call you?”
“My name in dragon tongue, you would not be able to pronounce. But a nickname I was given in my home country, according to the legends and folklore, Ognyena Maria, or ‘Fiery Maria’. You can just call me Maria for short.”
“Maria…er, lovely name.” Charlie stammered.
“I remember you from my days before I was…elevated.” Maria gently lowered herself to the ground in front of Charlie, belly down, in a way that made her…assets stand out. “You have been taking such good care of me.”
“Well…it is my job.” Charlie said with an awkward smile.
“I have been taking care of dragons too!” one of the handlers replied. But once Maria glanced at him with a look that didn’t show the same warmth she gave Charlie, it’d be wise to shut up, move a few steps back and not draw attention towards himself.
Maria turned back to Charlie. “Maybe it was a job, but you genuinely enjoyed your job. You have a big heart, Charlie. For all creatures big and small…” She stroked with her claw across his chest. Though the claw was big enough to poke him to death with (not hyperbole) Charlie didn’t feel uneasy. Or rather, he felt uneasy in a good way…damn his brain was about to explode. “The one siring my brood flew off once the deed was done and I have been lonely, taking care of my precious eggs. But you provided great help. I wish my former mate showed great strength and care to me.”
“Argmhqlsdh!” Charlie started to babble as he felt so hot, as if dragon fire was breathed on him.
“I could use a strong, male presence in my life, and a good role model for my hatchlings.” She said her huge face close to him and her warm breath could be felt on his body. Charlie was about to faint.
“At least buy him dinner first!” Harry pointed out.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot there were others present. Er…right, one of those human courtships. It’s called…a date?” Maria pondered. “Care for one of these ‘dates’? Least I could do to show appreciation for you.”
Charlie stood there stunned. Harry elbowed Charlie in the stomach. “Saturday 18:00 works for you? I know a place that makes a good rack of lamb.”
“Splendid!” Maria said with a really happy smile on her face. “Looking forward.”
“Lucky son of a bitch. I also wanted a big dragon waifu…” one of the handlers moaned.
Maria stood up and turned towards the crowd. “I’m sorry if I scared any of you during my…rampage. I was in a lot of pain, and didn’t mean any harm. Did anyone get hurt?”
The grumpy visages of Cornelius Fudge, Lucius and Draco Malfoy, Rita Skeeter, Ludo Bagman and Igor Karkaroff glowered at her…with their face blackened and burned, most of their hair and upper clothing burned off, their bodies smoking. “No one important!” Harry snarked.
“Harry Potter did not defeat dragon or get Golden Egg, he gets no points!” Igor Karkaroff shouted. Maria threw him a death glare. He raised his wand, produced a ‘10’ for his score and dove behind the bleachers to hide from her eyes.
“Well Ron, you’ll get a dragon lady for a sister in law and several nieces.” Luna noted.
“Bloody buggering hell, my life is weird.” Ron said. “Guess that’s the prize of hanging out with Harry Potter, weirdness magnet. At least Charlie will be happy.”
Dumbledore smirked as he said. “Ah, young love…though I’ll be the one dealing with the paperwork from this. Though I wonder whom is behind the sabotaging of the task.”
“You theenk zhere is sabotage?” Madame Maxime asked.
“The Dragon’s Blight, the missing medicine and portkeys. Barty Jr. Is arrested but someone else is still messing with the Tournament. It means that the Dark Lord and his followers don’t know when to quit. But know for sure, that I’ll find out whom did it this time…”
Lucius Malfoy for some reason had decided to make himself really scarce.
“Since zhe golden egg is now a petite dragonne mignonne, how will we give Monsieur Potter his clue now?” Maxime asked.