"I still want to win, but I would rather not see you get burnt to a crisp out there either. Good luck, Cedric." Harry walked back over to where he had been sitting, wondering if it was smart to have given up a few key points to his backup plan. 'Oh well, I did only mention one spell and he probably would never consider summoning a broom.' Harry sat back down and listened to the noise from the growing crowd outside the tent. Another voice, this one much louder, was explaining the rules of the task to them and announcing the order in which they would face the dragons. Time seemed to drag on for him as his anticipation built. Finally, one of Bagman's assistants came into the tent and motioned for Cedric to follow him.
"You're up, Mr. Diggory." Cedric nodded and gave a brief thumbs up to Harry before walking out of the tent to the roar of an approving crowd. The other champions were not allowed to watch as that would give them an unfair advantage, but there was nothing stopping them from listening.
The crowd alternately gasped and cheered, but clearly Cedric had not yet been able to get the golden egg. Eventually the announcer declared that Cedric only had 15, then 10, and then 5 minutes left to successfully complete the task. When the one minute warning was given the crowd cheered louder than ever, Cedric was making a desperate last minute attempt to get the egg. The cheering continued until it was announced that his time had run out, and then a huge groan of disappointment was heard. Harry noticed a door on the tent fly open and Cedric walked in. He was covered in dirt and small scratches while part of his robes seemed to have been burned off, but other than that he looked fine. Cedric looked his way and shrugged. Harry guessed he was happy to get out of there in one piece.
"Ms. Delacour, your dragon is ready." the assistant said a few minutes later. At this the bored expression finally dropped from her face. She nodded nervously, took a deep breath, and walked out of the tent to face her dragon. The fans were not quite as loud for her as they had been for Cedric, but when she was able to put the dragon to sleep and take the egg fifteen minutes later a huge cheer rose from the crowd to congratulate her. Fleur slowly made it back to the tent, careful not to put much wait one of her ankles which she had sprained trying to avoid her dragon's tail.
Viktor Krum was the next to go, and as he left the tent Harry did not wonder if he would get the egg but how long it would take him. Krum, besides being an excellent Seeker, was supposedly very magically powerful. From the sounds of the crowd, Krum seemed to be fighting the dragon head on. There was a moment when the crowd screamed and went completely silent. Harry's head shot up, wondering what had happened to the other champion, when an enormous cheer signaled to him that Krum must have made it past whatever danger he was in.
A similar roar of approval was heard minutes later when Krum was finally able to reach the golden egg. He had taken nearly three minutes less to get it than Delacour did. Harry now knew that if he wanted to place first in this part of the tournament he would have to get his egg in less than twelve minutes. Krum did not look good when he came back in the tent. He had a long gash down his left arm and much of his right side had apparently received burns that, though they were not life threatening, appeared to be quite painful.
'Should be doable, I hope.' Harry thought. His nervousness faded into anticipation as he waited for the dragon handlers to remove Krum's dragon and bring in the Hungarian Horntail. It was taking longer this time than it had after the other two competitors. The assistant finally came back in the tent and Harry leapt to his feet.
"Sorry, Mr. Potter. It will be just a few more minutes. Your dragon does not seem to want to cooperate." he explained. Harry groaned, cursing his luck. "OK, our apologies about the delay. You can go now, good luck." Harry thanked the man and walked out of the tent. The crowd cheered for him louder than he had expected, and a large smile spread across his face.
His moment of happiness was interrupted by the Earth shaking roar of the Hungarian Horntail. The dragon was simply enormous. Its black hide was covered in ridges and spikes that made its lizard-like form appear even more deadly. As Harry continued to walk towards the dragon it raised its head and let loose a blast of fire that he thought must have been forty feet long. When he finally reached the starting area a cannon fired signaling that his time had started.
"OK, Harry, here we go." he said to himself. "Remember, don't show fear. Hagrid says many animals can sense it." At this point to dragon finally noticed his approach and turned to face him, roaring so loud that the crowd could not even be heard. Harry took out his wand, placed it to his throat, and called out "Sonorus!"
" Greetings, great and noble dragon ." Harry hissed in Parseltongue with his magically amplified voice. The dragons roar lowered to a vicious sounding growl which Harry hoped was a good sign. The crowd, meanwhile, had stopped cheering completely. A few screams and gasps could be heard, but for the most part the spectators were oddly quiet.
" I mean you no harm. " Harry continued. The dragon glared at him, her growl had not lowered any and smoke was starting to come out of her nostrils. 'Perhaps this wasn't my best idea,' Harry thought 'but on the bright side she hasn't killed me yet. Although I am still not convinced she understands me. I know I don't understand her.'
" I have come to warn you. One of the eggs you guard is not your own. " Harry seemed to have finally caught the dragon's attention with this statement. The dragon turned back towards her egg and sniffed them, eventually finding the golden egg. Enraged, the horntail let out and roar so loud that most of the audience was forced to clap their hands around their ears.
" That egg was placed there by the same men who even now keep you in chains. " This angered the dragon even more, and Harry started to worry that maybe he should not have said that. He and Daphne had discussed what he would say to the dragon the previous night, and had ended up with a small script designed to gain the dragon's favor. 'It was a lot easier reciting the script to Daphne than to a fully grown Hungarian Horntail.' Harry realized nervously.
Meanwhile, fear was beginning to spread in the audience. They could not understand what was being said, but every time Harry spoke the dragon seemed to get angrier. And in the middle of it all was Harry Potter, still standing tall and proud in front of the dragon with no fear at all showing on his face. They couldn't know that on the inside all he wanted to do was turn and run. A few people had already decided that now was a good time to leave. Harry had come out of the tent less than five minutes ago, but in that short amount of time he had managed to spread panic throughout the crowd.
" Please, my friend, allow me to take that false egg far away from here so that you can protect your young. " The dragon stopped growling at Harry's request and seemed to look closely at him, as if trying to judge his reliability. After a few moments the dragon turned back to the pile of eggs and using her long, forked tongue grabbed the golden egg and put it in her mouth. 'Uh oh…' Harry thought 'I wonder if I will lose points because my dragon ate my egg.' Harry was considering what to do next when the dragon lowered her head to the ground so that she could stare directly at Harry.
He had thought the horntail was big before, but he realized that he had vastly underestimated her size. The dragons head was almost twice as tall as he was. Her mouth, which was close enough to him that Harry could feel her hot breath on him, was filled with teeth the size of his legs. With one small snort of flame, Harry knew, he would be dead. But he remained standing still and looking confident, fully aware that any mistake now could be fatal. Slowly the dragon began to open her mouth as the screams in the audience grew louder. Even some of the professors could be heard yelling for the dragon handlers to come to Harry's rescue.
Suddenly the dragon's dark tongue was forced out of her mouth. And to the shock of those brave souls still watching, it was wrapped around Harry's golden egg. The Horntail gently placed the egg on the ground in front of Harry and unwrapped her tongue from around it.
" Thank you. " Harry hissed sincerely. Nobody, not even Harry, was expecting the dragon's response. Her tongue, which had never made it back to her mouth, whipped out and gave Harry a full body lick starting at his ankles and ending at the top of his head. His black hair, which was always a mess anyway, was now covered in dragon spit and pointing in every direction imaginable.
Harry, who had retained full control of himself until that moment, completely lost that control. He started laughing, not just giggles but huge laughs that made him double over and tears come to his eyes. When he finally managed to stop he looked up at the dragon who he would swear from that day forward had a smile on her face. With that he picked up his egg, waved good-bye to the dragon, and started walking back to the tent.
On his way he looked up to the section where the Slytherins were sitting, hoping to be able to find Daphne, and was surprised at how easy it was to spot her. Apparently a large chunk of the Slytherin student population had decided to leave when Harry started talking to the dragon. He smiled and briefly gave thumbs up, resolving to find her later and thank her for her brilliant idea.
The crowd was completely silent and remained that way for several minutes, except for two Gryffindors who were clapping and cheering as loud as they could. When the judges eventually got around to scoring Harry's performance they quickly awarded him first place.
An hour later Harry, still clutching his golden egg, walked up to the painting of the Fat Lady guarding the Gryffindor dorms. He briefly wondered what he would find inside before saying the password and walking in. Most of Gryffindor was in the common room, talking animatedly about the day's events. When Harry came in most heads turned to look at him with the most common expressions being of awe, confusion, or worry.
"Great job, Harry!" he heard Neville call out and start clapping. Others slowly joined in, but reluctantly and not nearly as enthusiastic. Harry briefly noticed that Ron wasn't clapping, only standing by Ginny and looking at him with a look of suspicion. Fred and George Weasley, who didn't seem to care whether Harry had put his name in the Goblet of Fire or not, quickly rushed over to him and fell on their knees with their heads to the ground.
"All hail Dark Lord Potter!" they shouted, snickering at the gasps their outburst provoked. Harry simply laughed; knowing that they at least had the humor to make fun of what he guessed had been said about him.
"Rise, minions." Harry commanded. "Now, go prank the masses!" Still laughing, he walked over to where Neville and Hermione were standing.
"You probably shouldn't have done that, Harry." Hermione said, "It will probably end up in the Daily Prophet tomorrow." Harry could not tell whether she was being serious or not, but he had long stopped caring what was printed about him in the tabloids.'
"So what's the egg do, Harry?" Neville asked.
"I'm not sure, think I should open it?" They both nodded, and several curious people who were nearby turned their attention to Harry.
"Here goes nothing…" he said as he opened the egg. Immediately a loud shrieking noise filled the room, prompting groans and calls to "shut it up!" Once he had closed the egg the noise stopped, leaving Harry to wonder what the clue was.
"I think I will worry about this tomorrow. And maybe outside, with ear muffs on." Harry stated. "You guys have fun celebrating my victory, I've got to go get a shower. I'm still covered in dragon spit and am pretty sure I smell awful." No one chose to argue with Harry's statement. Once he had left, the talk turned back to him as people tried to figure out what it meant that Harry could command dragons.
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