Harry kept his eyes closed firmly shut as he reinforced the walls around his mind. Brick by brick and stone by stone he built an impregnable defense that even the strongest battering rams couldn't get through. "Are you ready Harry?" came Dumbledore's voice, echoing in his mind as if it were carried by a distant wind. Harry nodded in response. "Very well, Legilimens."
Harry could feel the headmaster's probe push against his walls softly, and then in a more rapid fashion. The walls held firm against the onslaught, and where cracks might appear, Harry was quick to reinforce them. He maintained his focus and kept himself singularly determined to keep Dumbledore out of his thoughts. When he felt the pressure against his mental barriers relax, he smiled internally at his success…only to be frustrated when the telltale flow of images began to race through his head.
Harry shook himself out of his concentration and breathed hard a couple of times. He looked at the headmaster, who was merely judging him from a distance. "How did you do that?" Harry finally asked, causing Dumbledore to smile down at him.
"There is more to protecting one's mind then simply protecting from a direct assault," Dumbledore explained, reaching into his robes and pulling out a lemon drop. "You must think of your mind in more than just one dimension Harry. Building strong walls are the first step, but you must work on protecting yourself from more subtle approaches from the side and above and below." He paused a moment, contemplating his thoughts, before adding, "Your mental shields must be able to withstand different types of legilimency."
"There are different types?" Harry asked, as he idly reached forward and scratched underneath Fawkes chin when the bird flew over to his side. Dumbledore nodded while smiling.
"Yes, there are. The approach I use is a more gentle approach, designed to subtle probe the mind for information so that you never knew I was there. This is a contrast to the approach of say…Professor Snape, who uses a more direct approach I tried on you earlier."
Harry stopped short. "Wait a minute…did you say Professor Snape knows legilimency?" Dumbledore sadly nodded.
"Yes Harry and I know what you are thinking right now. Yes, he has used it on students in the past. However I assure you that this practice has been terminated as part of the…agreement that he and I reached earlier this year." Dumbledore readjusted his glasses while Harry tried to dissect what the headmaster had just revealed to him.
"What sort of an agreement?" Harry asked, though he suspected what it was.
"Unfortunately, that information is privy only to Severus and me. I'm sure you understand, Harry." He simply nodded and noticed when the clock chimed. "Our time is up for this evening," Dumbledore announced as Harry stood up and grabbed his bag. "You are making excellent strides Harry, and in no time I am sure you will be a skilled occulumens. All it takes is practice and discipline." Harry smiled and nodded before turning to walk away. "Oh and Harry." Harry stopped and looked at the headmaster, who handed him a pair of boots. "These are made out of dragon hide, some of the toughest in the world. I happen to have a pair in your size, and you may use them for the task if you wish."
"Thank you sir!" Harry exclaimed, grabbing the boots and quickly shrinking them and placing them in his bag. Dumbledore smiled at his enthusiasm, with a tinge of sadness at what awaited the young man in front of him, before dismissing him.
Harry slowly walked down the corridor away from Dumbledore's office, trying to figure out a way to reinforce his mental walls in the way in which the headmaster had suggested. He was so engrossed in his own thought processes that he nearly ran into someone on the way back to Gryffindor Tower. Catching himself at the last moment, Harry looked up and saw Cedric Diggory walking in the opposite direction.
"Hi Harry," Cedric said cheerfully, and Harry nodded in return. The two of them stood there nervously for a moment, unsure of how to act around one another in light of the tournament. "Listen," Cedric began, cracking the ice and awkwardness, "I've been meaning to talk to you. I'm sorry about the buttons…I've asked them not to wear them but…" Harry simply waved him off.
"It's alright, I understand." Harry thought a moment, before something dawned on him. "Say Cedric…what would you say if I told you what the first task was?" Almost immediately Cedric's eyes lit up.
"Of course Harry," he quickly said in a hushed tone, "I've been going spare all this time thinking about it."
Harry's face quickly became very somber. "Dragons," he said plainly, "The first task is dragons." Cedric's face went pale and he swallowed down a deep gulp of air. "That's what I said," Harry sardonically replied. "Anyway, I just thought you should know…even playing field and all."
"Yeah, thanks Harry," Cedric replied, seeming to regain his composure. "I won't forget this."
"It's what you'd have done for me," Harry replied off-handedly. "Besides, it's the least I can do after the way you stood for me to Karkaroff." Cedric smiled, and the two of them nodded their heads and went along their separate ways.
Neither noticed the blonde haired witch in the shadows, running in fright at what she had just heard.
/ - / - / - /
Harry awoke the morning of the task, his nerves completely rattled. He had spent the better part of the remaining time between finding out about the task and the task itself trying to master the summoning charm, and now he felt that he had it down pat. The night before he had been able to summon his bag and every book in it from clear across the Gryffindor common room. Still, that didn't stop his mind from working overtime the night before about how many different things might go wrong that day. What if the charm didn't work that far? What if the dragon cooked him before his broom got there?
Harry tried to calm himself by organizing his mind, much in the same way Dumbledore had taught him. Once that was accomplished he took a deep breath and a quick look at the clock next to his bed. He frowned when he saw that he had slept in a bit, and hoped there'd be something left in the Great Hall for breakfast. He put on the champions uniform he had been given, a seemingly regular Hogwarts robe that had the colors of Gryffindor house on it and his name on the back, not dissimilar from his Quidditch uniform all things told. Throwing on a pair of gloves and the boots the headmaster had given him, he made sure the window was open and left his Firebolt in an open position so it could be summoned.
He stopped short when he saw Hermione alone, sitting on the couch, a plate of toast sitting in front of her. He could tell from the movements of her shoulders that she was crying about something. He cleared his throat and said softly, "Hermione?" Quickly Hermione stopped shaking and rubbed her eyes, moving her head back to stare at Harry, trying to put on a brave face.
"Hi Harry," she said as brightly as she could manage. "I saw that you slept in so I brought you something for breakfast. Merlin knows that you shouldn't take on a dragon with an empty stomach. It isn't much I know but…" Harry silenced her ramblings with a hug, seeming to know what she needed at that very moment. Hermione did not resist his embrace, instead collapsing into his arms and allowing her worry to boil over. Harry whispered softly in her ear as she let out the feelings of fear and frustration one tear at a time.
"Oh Harry," she said in between sobs, "Please promise me you'll be okay. Promise me you'll be safe." Harry pulled away and stared straight at her, an emerald gaze meeting her chocolate brown eyes, and he answered with as much honesty and sincerity as he could.
"I can't promise that I won't get hurt," he said with trepidation, "But I promise you I'll come back Hermione. I won't leave you." Hermione smiled at him, and the two hugged once more, enjoying each other's company while they had it. They stayed that way for several seconds, before Harry broke away and kissed her gently on the lips. "We should go," he said quietly, and Hermione merely nodded her head. They both stood up, hands entwined, and made their way out of the Gryffindor common room. They had no sooner stepped through the portrait hole, but were suddenly greeted by the flash of a camera and a person Harry would rather not like to see that morning.
"Ah my, young love," Rita Skeeter said in a falsely happy voice. "And what is the name of this lovely witch who has ensnared your heart Mr. Potter." Hermione recognized the woman from what Harry had told her about the interview incident. Thankfully, she had not been allowed to write any of her lies from that incident due to Dumbledore's intercession. She scowled at Rita, while Harry ran his hand through his hair in frustration and annoyance.
"Dumbledore told you to get out of the castle Rita," he said calmly, "I suggest you listen to him..." At this, he pushed aside Rita and her photographer and made his way towards the Champions tent outside the castle.
Rita merely glanced back, a smirk on her face, and her eyebrow arched. She had her story now.
/ - / - / - /
Harry was more nervous than he gave himself credit for, though from the looks of things most of the champions could join him in that regard. Fleur appeared to be a downright mess, and Maxime kept talking with her over and over about fearing something. Krum was silent as Karkaroff went over some kind of strategy with him, while Cedric was as pale as a ghost, but kept to himself. Finally, after several minutes of waiting, Barty Crouch Sr. and Ludo Bagman approached the tent, flanked by Professor Dumbledore. Crouch appeared to look better than Harry could remember him looking in quite some time, but Bagman appeared to be rather hastily put together. He kept glancing down at his watch and then back over to Harry several times. "Champions," Barty said clearly, "Gather around." The champions moved forward, and Crouch huddled in with them.
"The first task is a grueling test of both your bravery and magical prowess. You must retrieve a golden egg from a nest of dragon's eggs. Inside this egg holds a vital clue to the second task. As you can imagine, there is more to it. Guarding this nest will be a real-life dragon. Four different dragons have been chosen for this task, and you will randomly select based on a randomly determined order. Miss Delacour…you may go first. Please place your hand into the bag." He held out a small red velvet bag. Fleur tentatively looked at Madame Maxime, who urged her forward. She then reached forward and fished around in the bag for a moment before quickly withdrawing her hand and opening it, looking a bit relieved when she saw a miniature version of a Welsh Green Dragon staring back at her…at least until it spit out a miniature fireball. "You've chosen the Welsh Green," Crouch repeated, before he turned to Cedric. "You're next Mr. Diggory." Cedric reached in and pulled out a larger dragon that Harry didn't immediately recognize. "You've drawn the Swedish Snort-Snout. Mr. Krum if you please." Viktor reached in, seeming to try and decide between the two, before finally pulling out a slightly larger dragon than Fleur's. "Oh, the Chinese Fireball," Crouch said with a small twinkle in his eye, before turning towards Harry. "Which leaves you Mr. Potter, with…?" Harry held out his hand and a large dragon model with spikes going every which way rolled out of the bag and into his palm. "The Hungarian Horntail." Harry gulped at the ferocious beast that had been laid out in front of him. Crouch smiled at all of them, before nudging Bagman in the side. Ludo seemed to come to his senses, shaking his stray thoughts loose.
"You will be scored on how quickly it takes you to capture the egg," he explained, "As well as the methods in which you employ to capture it. Before you try it, the egg has been charmed against anyone using a summoning charm on it. Should you be incapacitated or fail to capture the egg, you will not receive any points, but you will still be given an egg, as the clue is vital to your continued success in the tournament. Good luck." Dumbledore motioned towards Filch, who was up in the canopy.
"At the sound of the cannon Miss Delacour…you may…" there was a loud boom that interrupted him, as Filch accidentally set the cannon off early. Fleur looked apprehensive, but simply moved forward slowly. Harry didn't watch the episode, merely content to keep himself to his thoughts. From beyond the tent he heard a hushed voice whisper at him. Slowly, he walked over towards the edge of the tent, and was surprised to see Ludo Bagman standing there.
"Mr. Bagman," Harry said quietly, "What are you doing?"
"Listen Harry," Bagman said as politely as he could. "I know you're at a bit of a disadvantage here what with your age and all but…maybe you could use a few pointers to help even the playing field and…" Harry stopped him there.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you still owe the Weasley twins a mountain of gold would it?" Ludo's face flushed, and Harry figured as much. "I'd thank you not to try and cheat. If I'm going to be forced to compete in this tournament, I'd like it to be as fair as possible." At that, Harry turned and walked away. A small part of him chided himself for having accepted Moody's help, but he quickly quashed it away by saying that he had told Cedric about the dragons. There was a loud cheer and Harry quickly turned.
"Miss Delacour has done it," came Crouch's voice over the large gathered crowd. "Through her powerful use of a flame freezing charm and some fancy footwork, she has managed to capture her egg! Next up will be Cedric Diggory!" There was another loud cheer for the Hogwarts champion. Cedric turned and looked at Harry, who gave him a small smile. Cedric returned it and muttered a good luck, before exiting the tent.
It was about six more minutes when Harry heard the cry come up from the crowd again. "Mr. Diggory charmed several rocks into dragon's eggs to confuse the creature, while also using a flame freezing spell. Well done Mr. Diggory! Next up is Viktor Krum." Viktor spared no glance at Harry, and merely moved forward out of the tent.
There was close to another six minute interval when Harry felt his throat catch at the sound of another loud roar. "Mr. Krum went full steam ahead, fighting the dragon with a powerful conjunctivitis curse! Our final champion will be Mr. Harry Potter!" Harry heard a palpable silence, mixed with a few cheers from some voices he could recognize. Gathering up every last ounce of courage he could, he moved out of the tent and onto the pitch.
Harry glanced around the makeshift stadium quickly. There were several rocky outcroppings surrounding a large circle where the nest stood in the middle. Harry could clearly see the golden egg sitting in the middle of the large nest, surrounded by several other dragon eggs. Harry moved forward quickly, not seeing the dragon immediately.
He was stopped when he heard a loud roar, and nearly was too slow to dodge the snapping jaw that came down where he had once been. Harry hid in a circular pit surrounding the nest and glanced upward, seeing the large Horntail staring down at him. The dragon let out a mighty roar, and Harry bolted outside of the circle. Once he had escaped the outlying distance of the dragon's reach, he pointed his wand skyward towards the castle. "ACCIO FIREBOLT!" he shouted. He knew it would take a couple of minutes for his broom to get there, so he went into action of putting his other plan into motion. He moved towards one of four outcroppings that pointed at the cardinal direction, keeping a shield spell up between him and the dragon at all times. When he was certain he was temporarily safe from the flames, he quickly drew into the sand and rock a combination of three runes he had memorized for just such an occasion. He quickly muttered a spell to keep the runes in place, before replacing his shield and running towards the next outcropping. He repeated the procedure at each of the outcroppings, and then moved as far as he could from the dragon, still keeping his shield in front of him. He turned away from the dragon and pointed his wand at the first rune, shouting out "SOLARUS!" The runes did as they were supposed to…energizing the spell and connecting with one another, before in a singular moment there was a blinding flash of light. The crowd gasped and shielded their eyes from the brightened light. Harry let his ears see for him, as he heard the telltale whooshing sound of the Firebolt coming towards him. With all the grace and speed of a seeker. He jumped up onto the incoming broom and pushed it as far as he could, squinting into the blinding sun spell's epicenter, and snatching the first glint of gold he could find. As he flew off, he smiled when he saw the golden egg safely in his possession.
"Absolutely astounding!" Crouch shouted enthusiastically, "Mr. Potter has captured the golden egg!" The crowd let out a roar of approval, and Harry allowed himself a moment of relief and celebration as the sun spell died out.
The crowd…and Hermione…felt their respective breaths fall out of their lungs…when they saw the Hungarian Horntails spiked tail smack Harry in the side, causing him to skip off the rocks and land with a resounding thud on the turf below.
Dragon keepers immediately went into action, holding the horntail at bay as the creature lashed out against them. Oblivious to the danger. Hermione screamed and rushed through the crowd, running towards Harry's side as quickly as she could. Professor Dumbledore met her there. Grabbing a rock and muttering a portkey spell under his breath, the two of them immediately apparated to the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, leaving a very stunned crowd behind.
/ - / - / - /
Harry could feel a dull ache in his ribs, and felt a calming presence at his side. He groaned, and heard a loud gasp and a joyous voice cry out. "Madame Pomfrey! He's awake!"
Harry opened his eyes slightly. Even in the fuzziness he recognized the ceiling above his usual bed in the Hospital Wing. Quickly his world turned clear as he felt his glasses slip onto his face. He blinked a couple of times and turned his head, seeing Hermione sitting next to him, a mixture of worry and happiness etched onto her face. He offered what he could of a smile and tried to sit up, almost immediately regretting that decision. When he winced in pain, Hermione eased his head gently back down onto the pillow. "Rest Harry," she said softly, leaning towards him.
"Wha…what happened?" Harry asked his voice hoarse from disuse.
"Oh Harry," Hermione said with a new mixture, this time of pride and of anguish, readily apparent in her voice. "You were absolutely brilliant. You captured the egg faster than any of the other champions. You just…" he saw tears falling out of her eyes, and Harry tried to shush her as best as he could.
"It's alright now," he said softly as Hermione leaned forward and gently hugged him. Harry placed a kiss on the top of her head, ignoring the shots of pain that went up and down his ribs from the awkward movement.
"Harry," she whispered, "I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm here Hermione," he said quietly, "Just like I said I'd be."
"She's right Mr. Potter." Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder and saw Madame Pomfrey moving towards them. Hermione reluctantly broke away and pulled up a chair next to him. "I wouldn't sit up if I were you, not for a few more hours anyway. Imbeciles, making fourth years face dragons…you were lucky Mr. Potter, I'll flat out say it."
"What happened to me?" Harry asked, "The last thing I remember is catching the egg."
"The dragon hit you with his tail," Hermione explained. "They didn't figure on it being so vicious. Dumbledore was furious."
"You suffered four broken ribs and a bruised lung," Madame Pomfrey explained. "I've healed your lungs and your ribs, but you'll be sore for several days no doubt."
"How long was I out?" he asked.
"Just a day, amazingly enough," Madame Pomfrey plainly said. "Apparently you heal fast Mr. Potter." She looked over a piece of parchment before placing a tray of potions on his bedside table. "Drink those when you can and try to eat something soon. You should be out of here in no time."
"I'll collect your homework," Hermione said, causing Harry to smile inwardly.
"How did I do on the task," he asked, and Hermione beamed at him.
"You were awarded the full 50 points," she said proudly. "Cedric and Viktor tied with 48 a piece and Fleur got 45." Harry smiled. He might actually live to tell the tale after all, he joked to himself.
A/N: I so could have ended on that cliffy with Harry getting hit, and had originally intended to do so, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Consider it a late Christmas gift.
The clue of the egg, Rita's article, and the march up to the Yule Ball, all in the next chapter.