Harry stepped into the champions tent. He had just left his friends side after they had their share of last moment advises and wishes of good luck. Oh and of course, a good luck snog from Susan. Daphne had given hers the previous night. Professor McGonagall had also wished him luck as she escorted him from the Gryffindor table.
In the tent, Krum and Cedric were already present while the French Champion was nowhere to be seen. He gave Krum and Cedric nods and took a seat in a corner. He was actively using occlumency to calm his nerves.
'Come on Harry, no need to be nervous. You have seven plans ready to face each creature that is there. Don't worry.' He thought to himself but it did not reduce his anxiety.
After a minute or so, Fleur Delacour also entered and was soon followed by a medi-witch who was there to make sure that none of the champions had taken potions to cheat in any form in the task.
Sharon Wynter, was one of the top healers at St. Mungo's and was contracted for the duration of the Triwizard Tournament. She was renowned in Europe due to her prodigious skill in healing and had even been awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class for her extraordinary services in the field of magical healing. Her job during the Triwizard was to tend to the champions after each task and make sure they were in perfect health before they faced a task. Madame Pomfrey would be helping her. Poppy Pomfrey was a highly qualified medi-witch but this Healer Wynter was on a whole different level. She was also appointed to make sure that none of them were doped with any sort of magical potion.
All of their results came negative for doping and they were in perfect health. So, the healer left the tent and immediately, Rita Skeeter entered. She wanted to ask them questions but none of them paid her heed. Krum also went as far as to say that she was not allowed as inside as the tent was for champions and not nosy reporters. Thankfully, Rita took the hint and left.
A couple of minutes later, Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, Sirius and Bagman entered the tent. Sirius gave Harry an assuring nod and a smile but the worry could be clearly be seen on his face.
Sirius had send him a couple of letters and a book over the past week. In his letters he had written words like 'Hagrid', 'care of MAGICAL CREATURES', 'First Task' etc. with bold, uppercase letters. The book he had send was titled 'The Most Dangerous Magical Creatures' by Newt Scamander. In the book, Sirius had carefully folded the corners of the pages which had information on certain creatures. The main fact was, that all the creatures marked were actually going to be used for the first task. He had clearly found a loophole in the secrecy oath and exploited it.
"Champions." Dumbledore said. "I see you all are here. Mr. Bagman will be giving you instructions in a minute about the First task. But first, I have a few notices and instructions that are vital throughout any task. First and foremost, rest assured that we have taken several steps to keep you all safe in the tasks. You all will be given this ring. It is actually a voice activated portkey that I have made. It will be activated when you say the word 'Abort' thrice in succession and it will bring you straight to the medical tent where Healer Wynter and Healer Pomfrey will be present, to treat you if needed. Be warned though. Once you portkey out, the task will be considered done. You won't be able to go back. You won't get a second chance." Dumbledore said looking at each of the champion in their eye.
Harry had no plans on using that Portkey unless absolutely needed. He was going to win the Tournament to give a proverbial slap to the bastard who had entered his name in the tournament.
"Also," Dumbledore continued, "There are experts and Hit-wizards present to step in as soon as we feel that you are in danger or anything goes wrong. Third, you won't be able to summon anything from outside the arena once you are inside due to the protections we have put in place for the audience."
So, Harry's plan D to summon the firebolt and steal the treasure was out of the window.
"You have to face the challenges with only your wand. No other magical items are allowed except for protective clothing." Dumbledore reminded.
All the champions had worn some sort of protective clothing. Cedric and Krum had worn the top-quality protective equipment that Quidditch players wore. Fleur Delacour was wearing a Dragonhide armor on her blue-dueling robes. Armors were thicker and more restrictive than vests but also offered much more protection. Of course, any Dragonhide armor wouldn't hold a candle in front of Harry's Basilisk-hide- blood magic enhanced- vest. The vest could take a physical blow with the with enough power to level a thick wall behind it but, Harry would hardly even feel it impacting him. That added with the battle robe he was wearing, made him invulnerable to any physical blow and any school level spell.
As for Harry's knives, they weren't magical, at least not technically. They had no magical properties like curses or enchantments. They were just metal knifes laced with venom (he had laced the silver daggers from the family vault with a powerful variant of the venom on the knife Salazar and Helga had given on his birthday).
"Each task will also be recorded on the magical viewing mirrors, similar to those used recently at the WDL and the QWC. Now, Mr. Bagman. Can you give the instructions for the First task?" Dumbledore asked.
The magical viewing mirror's function was same as a football match broadcast on a T.V. Only, instead of a camera recording it, there was a ward over the field and inside the tent too (which was already active) and instead of a T.V., there was a mirror. They had been invented recently, about half a decade ago, by an Indian couple living in the USA.
"Yes. Yes. The First Task! The first task isn't going to be a singular challenge rather, be divided into three challenges or let us say three rounds. In each round, each of you will have to retrieve a golden key after bypassing or defeating the guardian of the key. Simple. Your time will be recorded from the point you enter the arena, to the point you exit it. Once you exit the arena, the challenge will be considered complete. You will be given points when the round has been completed by each champion. After that, you will be given instruction for the next round."
Harry could tell from the faces of the other champions that they too knew about the task or atleast had an idea what it was. He knew that Fleur and Krum had already seen the creatures that had been brought along with their headmaster/headmistress, courtesy of Hagrid. He had apparently thought that taking Madame Maxime on a date to see the creatures was a good idea. Hagrid had told Harry that He had seen Krum and Karkaroff near the creature enclosure and caught Fleur Delacour entering her carriage as he and Maxime had exited the forest. Of course, Hagrid had also taken Harry to see the creatures. Harry had no problem taking another glimpse of the creatures to confirm what he was up against.
And Cedric's dad, Amos Diggory was the Head of the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures department(CRMCD) at the Ministry of magic. There was no way that he hadn't informed his son about it. The tournament officials had to register at the CRMCD to use the magical animals that they were using in the tournament after all.
"Now," Bagman continued "the first round is simple. Each of you will have to take the golden key by facing the guardian or, should I say guardians, whose identity you will come to know as soon as you step out into the arena. Also, to make this first challenge more interesting, we have laid magical traps in the arena which you have to avoid. The challenge is same for all of you. There won't be any difference in the guardians you will be facing or the traps laid. The rest of the champions can not witness the task while another champion is performing, so, you all will stay here till your chance comes. The points will be out of 50, 10 points by each judge. Got it? Wonderful!" He finished excitedly. Bagman looked like a kid who had been gifted a candy shop.
"Ahem. The coins, Ludo." Dumbledore reminded.
"Wha- oh the coins. Yeah." Bagman said before he took out four coins and gave each of them one. "Now, tap the coin with your wand." The four champions did as instructed and a number appeared on each coin. Harry's coin displayed the number 2.
"Tell us your numbers. Ladies first."
"3" Fleur said.
"4" Cedric said as Bagman looked at him.
"1" grunted Krum.
"2" Harry spoke with a shrug.
"So, this will be the order you will go. First, Mr. Krum. followed by Mr. Potter, Ms. Delacour and Mr. Diggory in that order. Good luck." Saying so, each of the judges left, each offering words of encouragement.
Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. He may have known which creatures were being used in the first task but, he didn't know which creature will be used in which round. Also, he had no idea about the traps and seeing the faces of the other three, they too didn't have any idea. Cedric was visibly sweating, Fleur's eyes were panicked while Krum was fidgeting with a worried expression on his face.
Harry was using Occlumency to revise everything about wards and traps that he had read and learnt about from either Salazar or the books from the Potter and Black Libraries. He needed to deal with the traps before confronting the creatures and taking his key. He couldn't afford to fall into a trap while fighting a XXXX or XXXXX creature.
He could use mage sight to see the wards and avoid them as he confronted the creatures, which was not the best idea... He could hide and dismantle the traps before confronting the creatures to leave him a clear path. He could also use a Parseltounge spell that Salazar had taught him to simultaneously activate the traps around the arena as soon as he entered, making them useless, but that wasn't the most ideal solution. He could also transfigure an animal to go ahead of him so that the animal would get trapped before him and he would avoid the trap. Also, that animal could be used in attacking the creature.
A bang went off and Krum went out of the tent. Harry took the seat he was previously occupying and sat in silence. Cedric had started pacing up and down while Fleur also took a seat and tapped her foot impatiently muttering things under her breath. She was revising spells to detect traps and neutralize them or get out of them. Harry was actually impressed by whatever he could hear with his enhanced hearing. It was also a wonderful revision for him.
About fifteen minutes later, to Harry's surprise, Percy Weasley came into the tent. "Mr. Potter." He said in a formal tone, like he never knew Harry personally. "Mr. Krum has just completed his first. Be ready. At the sound of the canon, you have to step into the arena. They are making the arena ready for you." He said before exiting again.
Harry got up and stood near the gate of the tent. Fleur gave him a smile and Cedric gave him a thumbs up. Harry returned the smile before saying, "Well, good luck to you both for the first challenge." On cue, the canon went off and Harry stepped out of the Champion's tent.
The first thing Harry saw as he entered the Arena was a rocky terrain and three different types of creatures: Three Orcs, Two mountain-Trolls and two Acromantula Spiders size of a small car. And all of them were surrounding a pedestal, which likely had the key on it. The Trolls and the spiders were standing inside the boundary of sorts that the Orcs had formed, basically protecting them from direct assault.
Orcs were basically bigger-meaner brothers of trolls. They were stronger, more intelligent, faster and more magic resistant than a Troll. Also, they were wielding a huge-ass double-sided axe and a Roman-type metal shield each. The trolls had a wooden club in their hands.
'Okay... Trolls and Acromantula spiders are easy to get rid off. I can defeat the trolls like Ron and I did on Halloween in my first year... without jumping on its back that is... The spiders won't be too tough to incapacitate... But, the Orcs would be a problem especially with those shields and they are protecting the rest...' Harry thought to himself as he took cover behind a rock. He had not expected them to be placed in such a formation that too with shields neither had he expected for this combination of animals. He has estimated that each champion would get the same species of creatures. He didn't want to use battle magic or elemental spells especially to take down some XXXX creatures who were harmless until they were close. That was when a brilliant idea came to Harry.
He decided to use mage sight first to see the traps that Bagman had spoken about. The first thing he saw was the dome surrounding the arena, protecting the audience and silencing their voice from entering the arena, likely to prevent the animals from getting agitated. Harry, could see the audience was already cheering wildly for him though. There were several posters that people were waving, and Harry caught the glimpse of one of them saying 'Potter for President', the same poster that Dean had made for his first Quidditch match before he turned his attention to the arena for the traps.
There were several traps laid throughout the arena. Some would hang him upside down as soon as he stepped on them, one trap was a text-book fire-pit trap which was widely found in magical tombs in Egypt and would release hot flames upwards on whomever had stepped on the trap. A few would make him dizzy, make him puke, put him to sleep or break his bones. Some were designed to petrify him or jinx him with the leg-locker jinx and the Jelly-leg jinx. A couple were Hallucination traps and some were practically prank traps that would alter his physical features like growing toe-nails, making him bald, putting his nose upside down, making his teeth grow etc. Also, there was an anti-summoning field along with a magic blocking shield-ward around the pedestal. So, either Harry would have to go and physically take the key or break the wards and summon the key.
Harry decided to immediately act as he had already been inside for almost a whole minute already. He shot an advance version of Finite, immediately dismantling the prank traps in a single spell. Those were practically harmless traps but would become an hinderance in the task. Next, he dismantled the jinx-traps like the petrification traps, the dizziness ones, leg-locker traps etc.
After another minute of working only three traps were remaining: two which hanged the victim upside down and the fire-pit. The judges were looking at him critically, all of them wearing special glasses. Glasses made to see magic. Those worked only for a couple of hours in total and were fairly expensive. The cheapest versions of those glasses costed about 200G. Also, they only showed that there was a magical trap or a ward present. It wasn't possible to discern what the trap or the ward would do unlike using mage sight. By using mage sight, a person could even determine what the ward or the trap would do, their weak points and the power behind them. The glasses just highlighted the area where it was present with a colour. They were basically an artifact to visually replicate a detection charm.
Also, bagman was saying something pointing at Harry and looking at the crowd, but Harry couldn't hear him due to the silencing charms around the arena. 'Probably giving commentary on what I am doing.' Harry thought to himself.
He neutralized the last three traps instead of dismantling them and stepped out of his cover and walked forward towards the creatures. As soon as he came into view, the orcs also started moving forward towards him, their shields raised in front of them to protect their bodies. Harry's wand immediately sprung into action and transfigured their shields into tigers.
The orcs were immediately attacked by those tigers. But, they were Orcs, not humans. The tiger's claws hardly made a scratch on their thick skin and the Orcs were only a little injured before the tigers were cut down with the axes they wielded. But, Harry wasn't ideal either. Harry hurled rocks bigger than the size of basketballs towards the Orcs with a wave of his wand.
The Orcs roared in pain but were not knocked out. An Orc bent down and picked up a rock and hurled it at Harry. The rock was as big as a bean bag and sailed towards Harry. He immediately blasted the rock to dust with a Confrigo.
That was when Harry saw the Trolls and Acromantula spiders moving towards him too.
'Shit. I need to end this fast.' Harry thought to himself. He immediately launched several curses at the Orcs. A severing charm that would have cut a human into half made a thin cut on the Orc's skin. Just how thick were they? So, Harry decided to go with lower level elemental spells. First he shot several gallons of water from the end of his wand, drenching the orcs and the stone ground beneath them, before launching the next spell.
"FULMEN FORTE". An arc of lightning shot from Harry's wand and impacted the Orcs, instantly knocking two Orcs off. The third Orc wasn't affected because it had staggered away from the group. The last Orc roared in rage and charged at Harry with his axe held high. Harry instantly shot ropes at the feet of the Orc making it fall on its face with a crunch. Harry turned his attention to the spiders who were rapidly closing the distance.
Harry shot two Bombarda Maxima at the spiders, killing them instantly.
The Acromantula spiders were a menace in many forests, including the forbidden forest (which was Hagrid's fault), because they multiplied faster than a catholic rabbit and caused massive damage to the ecosystem. They were also known to kill people who had stumbled near their nests for food. Harry had personal experience with that one. No one would fault Harry for killing them off. Also, the parts of an Acromantula were useful in potions, so there would be profit from the deaths of the two spiders too. Orcs and Trolls on the other hand were used to guard important things. Their body parts didn't have use in potions except for their hair. So, killing them would be a waste especially for no reason. It was better to knock them out
The Trolls also charged towards him but ran extremely slow. So, Harry just levitated their clubs like Ron had done in their first year. The Trolls looked up stupidly and Harry dropped the clubs on his face after applying an heavy-weight charm on the clubs, knocking the Trolls out.
So, the Trolls and Orcs were knocked out, the Acromantula spiders were dead. Harry started jogging towards the pedestal where the key was kept. He picked the key and started to jog towards the exit. There were no traps left and his path was clear. As he neared the exit, he heard a roar of rage. Harry turned and saw the Orc he had tripped had gotten up and was preparing to charge towards Harry. Harry resisted the urge to groan and roll his eyes at the same time. Groan because he would have to fight the Orc again and roll his eyes because the Orc was doing the same thing he had done the last thing.
But, Harry wasn't going to do the same thing twice. He activated the trap that he had dismantled that was on the way between the Troll and him. As soon as the Troll stepped on the trap, the Orc suddenly was hanging by his ankle upside down. The Orc roared but Harry didn't pay it heed and walked back to the exit. As soon as he stepped out he could hear thunderous applause from the audience and heard Bagman say in his magically enhanced voice that boomed over the noise of the applause and cheering. "-TTER REACTIVATED A TRAP THAT HE HAD NEUTRALIZED AND USED IT AGAINST THE ORC! WHAT A FEAT OF MAGIC HARRY POTTER HAS SHOWN. LETS SEE WHAT MS. DELACOUR WILL DO NEXT!"
Harry smiled and walked ahead into the medical tent.
Krum was already sitting there on a bed sulking, his golden key in his hands. As Harry entered, his head shot up and Krum looked at Harry. Krum's robes and protective equipment was muddy and damaged a bit.
"Are you alright Mr. Potter?" Healer Wynter asked.
"Not a single scratch."
"I will determine that. Come and sit on the bed." Harry rolled his eyes. Krum's lips twitched upwards as Harry was made to sit on the bed and Sharon Wynter waved her wand over him.
"Hmm... You appear to be alright."
"Really? I couldn't tell. It was almost like it was my body you were asking about." Harry said dryly. The healer rolled her eyes before lightly slapping him on the back of his head and going back as Krum let out a chuckle.
"What happened to you." Harry asked Krum, pointing towards his clothes.
"The ground did all the damage. None of the guardians even touched me."
"Yes... the ground was certainly not ideal to roll in." Harry conceded.
It took fifteen more minutes for Fleur to enter. She looked unharmed except for a beard that was growing rapidly on her face. It was already long enough to reach her knees. It was a comedic sight but Harry didn't laugh. The Healer again bustled over and a minute later, Fleur was free of the beard.
"You fell into one of the prank traps, didn't you?" Harry asked, trying to hide his amusement.
"Oui. I meesed one as I went towards ze exit."
"Pity. What did you do?"
"I disillusioned myself and did a smoke screen spell and sneaked towards ze key after dismantling the traps. But ze spiders sensed me as I picked ze key and attacked. So I cut zere legs off and took ze key before running towards ze exit as ze Orcs and Trolls followed. I created a ring of fire, stopping zem. So, I started walking to the exit, keeping an eye on zem. That was when I stepped on ze trap." She said. "What did you do?"
So, Harry narrated what he had done followed by Krum. Krum too had taken the direct approach of attacking the creatures. Half-way through his tale, an injured Cedric Diggory portkeyed into the tent. All the champions immediately rose to their feet seeing Cedric condition. "He-lp" Cedric croaked before passing out.
The two healers immediately rushed to Cedric and levitated him away to the adjoining room.
Cedric Diggory had aborted the task and from the looks of it, he was fortunate that the portkey had been provided. He was bleeding in several places, his arm was hanging limp, his leg was bent at an odd angle and he had a nasty bump on his head. His protective equipment was badly damaged and clothes torn in several places. His breathing was shallow. Harry shuddered to think what would have happened if Cedric hadn't portkeyed away. This was the reason that this tournament was dangerous and was discontinued 80 years ago. Cedric would have most likely died if he hadn't aborted.
Two minutes later Dumbledore rushed into the tent followed by Sirius, Maxime and Karkaroff. Bagman was nowhere to be seen.
Dumbledore looked at Harry. "Where is Cedric?"
"The healers took him inside that room." Harry said pointing to the door the healers had taken Cedric in. Dumbledore's eyes widened.
"How was his condition?"
"Bad. He was badly injured and his breathing was shallow."
"That explains why they took him to the emergency room straight away." Sirius mumbled. But, Dumbledore had moved towards the door and entered. The other three judges stayed there.
"What 'appened?" Fleur asked
"Mr. Diggory stepped on a trap designed to break bones as he walked towards the Orcs while attacking them. Apparently his transfigured dogs missed a few traps. As soon as he fell, the Orcs charged and the poor boy froze in fear. The first one, thankfully kicked him away instead of impaling him. He was badly injured by the rocks in the arena and the force of the kick but fortunately managed to abort. Currently, the experts and hit-wizards are working to subdue all the creatures." Sirius informed in a regretful tone.
Five minutes later, Dumbledore came out. "You all will be happy to know that Mr. Diggory is out of danger. He is still being healed but is in no danger of loosing his life." Harry and the rest let out sighs of relief. "That being said, now only you three will go ahead to the next round as Mr. Diggory has aborted the task. Please proceed outside champions. We will be giving you your scores. After that, please proceed to the champion's tent again where we will give you further instructions."
They all nodded and walked out of the tent along with the judges. Soon the judges were seated except for Bagman who was standing. "Dear audience! It is time for us to give the scores to the champions for their first round. All the judges have signed contracts to mark all the champions fairly so that there is no partiality or cheating." At the statement, Karkaroff shot a glare at Sirius as Sirius smiled smugly back in return. "First, scores for Mr. Krum of Durmstrang."
First Madame Maxime shot an 8 in the air, followed by Sirius who gave a 9 to Krum. Dumbledore put up another 8 and Bagman also shot a 9 like Sirius. Karkaroff paused for a while, trying to think what to do, before he too shot a 9.
"The total for Viktor Krum is 43/50." The crowd rose to its feet to cheer at the score. "Next, the scores for Harry Potter!"
Madame Maxime shot a 10, so did Sirius, Dumbledore and Bagman. Karkaroff waved his wand but nothing came up. He tried again before gaining an angry expression on his face and giving a 10.
'He likely tried to cut my marks over something trivial and unfair but the contract didn't let him.' Harry realized with amusement.
"The total for Harry Potter comes to a fifty! A PERFECT SCORE! But, it was expected after all as Mr. Potter disabled all the traps, wasn't injured and also completed the task in the least time. This has certainly shortened the odds on Mr. Potter! Let's have a huge round of applause! Come on audience!" Bagman said, but his voice was already being drowned under the sound of the cheering.
It took a minute for the applause to die away. "Next, the points for Ms. Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion."
Maxime shot a 9, so did Sirius, Dumbledore and Bagman. But, Karkaroff shot a 7.
Harry blinked. Fleur did not deserve something as less points as a 7. She was uninjured and only had fallen into a single trap. She deserved a 9 points. No more, no less. But, the marking seemed to be fair as Karkaroff wasn't stopped by magic of the contract like he did with Harry.
"Ms. Delacour also receives a total of 43 points! Let's give her a huge round of applause!" Bagman said. "So, the current standings are: Harry Potter in the first place with 50 points. And Mr. Krum and Ms. Delacour are tied at 43 points each! Mr. Diggory is unfortunately out of the first task and receives a 0 as he aborted. We will start the next round in a few minutes. Champions proceed to the champions tent and stay put. We will come and give you further instructions."
The three champions nodded and went to the tent. After 5 minutes, the five judges also entered and Harry felt the broadcasting charm for the mirror activate.
"Champions! As we know, the first round is already over and Cedric Diggory, the Hogwarts champion has aborted the task. Now, it is time for the second round!" Bagman said. "So, this round is similar to the first. It will have a single guardian and no traps though. You just have to go and collect the key from the nest of the guardian." Bagman said cheerfully.
Harry immediately understood what he was talking about. Dragons. Mothering Dragons to be specific. They were the only ones who built a nest.
Taking something from the nest of a mothering Dragon was suicide for anyone other than highly trained wizards and witches. In Dragon sanctuaries, Mothering Dragons were assigned only to the most experienced handlers and their salaries were astronomical for doing so. It wasn't regarded as the most dangerous profession in the wizarding world for nothing.
Thankfully, Harry had a plan and several backup plans. He along with the two founders had sat down and brainstormed for a whole day coming up with those.
"Now, put your hand in this bag and take out a model. The model depicts the guardian you will be facing, well err... there are different varieties of it in this round. Ladies first." Fleur put her hand in the bag and removed a model of the Dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck.
Next Krum put his hand in and pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck.
Harry held his breath and put his hand in the bag. He knew only two Dragons were left and he was hoping that he didn't get that one. Not that he had a problem with facing any breed but one Dragon was the tamest of the lot and the other was the most dangerous breed of Dragon alive.
He pulled out the Hungarian Horntail model with the number four around its neck.
'Damn it. Of course, just my luck that I get to face the only Dragon I was apprehensive of facing, which happens to be the most dangerous type of Dragon alive.' Harry thought to himself.
"Very well, now as Mr. Diggory is not there and the Swedish short snout was number 1, Ms. Delacour will go first to face the Welsh green. Followed by Mr. Krum who will face the Chinese fireball and finally Mr. Potter who will face... the Hungarian Horntail." Bagman said. "Good luck champions." he added before hurrying out of the tent.
The rest of the judges offered words of encouragement and luck to their respective champions except Dumbledore who wished everyone before leaving.
"Pup, whatever you do, just come out alive. Don't die. Okay. The tournament is not important, you are." Sirius told Harry softly and he nodded.
Soon the canon went off and Fleur left the tent to face her Dragon. It took more than 10 minutes before Percy Weasley came running into the tent to inform Krum that he would be next. He also told that Fleur had successfully completed her task. It took ten more minutes before the canon went off again and Krum went to face his Dragon.
It took six or seven minutes for Percy to arrive again and inform him that Krum too had completed his task. Harry was next. Harry took a deep breath and steeled himself. After fifteen minutes Percy came back in and told Harry to wait for a few more minutes as the Dragon handlers were trying to get the Horntail into the arena. That statement made Harry nervous.
Finally the canon went off and Harry stepped into the arena to face the most dangerous breed of Dragon alive.
The Horntail was in the middle of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, heaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground.
It was an intimidating sight. The Dragon was over 60 feet tall and could crush Harry by just stepping on him. As soon as the Dragon saw him, she roared to the heavens and let out fire from her mouth in the sky. The flames shot fifty feet high did nothing to ease his worries.
'Okay... Plan A.' Harry thought to himself before he cast an invisibility charm. It was an higher version of the disillusionment charm but gave perfect invisibility. The spell was invented by Salazar and Harry was the only person alive who knew about it.
He added a notice-me-not charm, a scent removing charm, and silencing charm on himself before he changed his position. He started inching closer to the Dragon. The Hungarian Horntail was looking around but, she could not find him. So, she curled around her nest. That was when Harry put the second part of the plan in motion.
He conjured several birds to attack the Dragon. The birds flew towards the Dragon and started pecking at her head. Meanwhile, Harry wasn't idle either. He transfigured the rocks in the enclosure to wolves, which ran towards the Dragon's nest. Harry himself started running towards the nest from the other side as the wolves ran towards the Dragon as she was dealing with the birds by breathing fire at them but, the birds were flying around her head and she couldn't burn them down in one breath.
The Dragon was starting to get agitated and was already at her full height, trying to combat the birds and the wolves. Harry transfigured a few more rocks into wolves and sent a flock of birds towards the Dragon again to keep her occupied, now that he was a dozen meters away from her nest.
The Dragon roared in rage and flapped her winds causing Harry to crouch down and hold his ground from the powerful winds the Dragon had caused. The Dragon was now using her tail to avoid the wolves while shooting flames at the birds flying around her head. Harry again started going towards the Dragon's nest. He could clearly see the key now. He unfortunately couldn't summon the key without breaking the wards around the nest and he didn't want to risk the Dragon coming to know that something was wrong due to the shift of magic underneath her.
So, Harry dashed towards the nest but had to duck underneath the spiked tail of the Dragon as it smashed where he had been crouching a few minutes prior. One spike grazed his shoulder but Harry's clothes protected him from getting injured.
He dashed again and picked the key up before running towards his exit. He had to dive out of the way of the spiked tail again as the Dragon smashed another wolf that Harry had transfigured. Harry continued running and dropped the invisibility charm once he was far enough from the Dragon to not get injured if the Dragon saw him. The crowd rose to their feet as Harry raised the key in his hand before leaving the enclosure.
He entered the medical tent and saw that Fleur and Krum were sitting on a bed. Krum had a nasty tear on his clothes but the skin under it looked just fine. The healer must have healed him. Fleur on the other hand, had burnt robes but her skin was just fine. Harry himself had muddy clothes but otherwise looked fine.
Healer Wynter came over to check Harry and he just sighed before obeying, knowing that there was no escaping from the healer.
"Wonderful! All three of you have completed the second round. The points as you all know are as follows: Harry Potter at 98 points followed by Viktor Krum at 85 points and then Ms. Delacour at 83." Bagman said.
Madame Maxime and Karkaroff had cut one point each stating that they couldn't see Harry while he was collecting the key(Sirius told him that part). So, Harry had got 48 points. While, Fleur, who had put the Dragon to sleep had got 40 and Krum who had attacked the Dragon got 42.
"Now, for the third round. It is the same as the second round but, this time the creatures that you will face would be completely different from each other and you have to collect the key they are guarding. Well, ladies first." He said presenting the purple bag to Fleur. She was shaking from head to toe. She also knew what was coming. The only creatures left were the most dangerous creatures. Dragons in the last round were dangerous but, the ones that were left could be even more deadly. Dragons didn't attack unless threatened. The creatures which were left were known to attack wizards and witches without reason too.
Fleur put her hand in the bag and pulled out a multi headed reptile. The thirteen-headed Hydra to be precise with a number 1 around its neck. While Basilisks were referred to as the king of snakes, the Hydra was the queen. The Hydra had deadly venom, second to only the Basilisk and could breathe fire like a Dragon and also spit venom like a cobra.
Harry had seriously wished to get the Hydra. Why? He was a damned Parselmouth. Snakes would always listen to a Parsel-speaker and revered them too. Harry would have just gone and ordered the Hydra to step aside, took the key and exited the arena. But, damn his luck.
Next, Bagman offered the bag to Harry. He put his hand in and removed a Chimera from the bag. Of course. His damned luck ensured that he got the most dangerous of the lot... again.
"Ooh... The Chimera." Bagman said looking excited. Sirius looked horrified and scared. Fleur and Krum were giving him sympathetic looks. Dumbledore had a steely look on his face. He was probably using Occlumency to sort out his emotions. Madame Maxime looked scared while Karkaroff was smiling. Harry glared at the death eater and he flinched and looked away. He was seriously resisting the urge to strangle Bagman and Karkaroff.
The Chimera was one of the most dangerous magical beast to exist and on number four overall. The only creatures more dangerous were the Nundu, the Basilisk and the Great-Horned Hebridean Black. And out of them, Basilisk and the Great-Horned Hebridean Black were considered extinct. So, the Chimera was arguably the second most dangerous creature alive.
It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a Dragon. The head could breathe fire and the tail sting was venomous. The Chimera could also run very fast and climb mountains easily. Most importantly, its skin was very much like Dragonhide- resistant to most spells bar the most powerful ones and its strength was astronomical. It was known to break iron chains with unbreakable charms easily. It took no less than 5 dozen wizards to subdue or kill one according to the books that were written on the Chimera. Never in history had the Chimera been subdued or killed by less than 60 wizards. But, then again something similar was written for the basilisk but Harry had killed one when he was 12 singlehandedly with a little help from the phoenix.
When the founders and he were making plans for the first task, and the Chimera's turn had come, Salazar had said, "I have three brilliant plans to combat the Chimera if you face it, and I really pray that you don't face that beast. Plan A: Use the killing curse to kill it by hitting it inside the Chimera's mouth. Plan B: Use fiendfyre and turn it to ashes and Plan C: Throw the most powerful Battle magic spells you know at it or high-powered elemental spells. Whatever you do, kill it. It is impossible to subdue it singlehandedly. The best you can do is kill it as killing it will be much easier than subduing a Chimera. Dragons are one thing... but no one in their right minds would actually pit school children against a Chimera of all creatures."
"Mr. Krum, if you will?" Bagman asked Krum, breaking him from staring sympathetically at Harry .
He put his hand in the bag and removed a Griffon with a number 2 on its neck. It had the body of a lion and the head of an Eagle. and its tail extended and had a spiked ball on its end. Another very dangerous creature.
"If anyone wishes that they do not want to face their opponent, inform us now. There is no shame in avoiding a deadly opponent. Your life is more important than a few extra points" Dumbledore told everyone before pointedly looking at Harry.
Harry stood firm. He had prepared plans to face the Chimera other than what Salazar had suggested. Salazar's plans were kept as an last resort too. Harry had already perfected casting the three unforgivable curses and casting the Fiendfyre. He could now perfectly control Fiendfyre enough that he could use it to just light a candle or burn down a whole building with the spell.
"And, if you are in danger, abort the task immediately champions. I wish you all luck with the challenge." Dumbledore said before leaving with the rest of the judges. Sirius stopped and looked Harry in the eye for a few moments asking him if he was sure. Harry gave him a nod and he too followed the rest of the judges.
"You didn't even want to participate. Why are you reesking your life by facing the Chimera?" Fleur asked once the three champions were alone in the tent.
"What is life without a little risk?" Harry asked her, quoting what Sirius had said to him once. "And I want to test myself, I want to see how capable I am. If I find myself in danger, I will simply portkey out. Also, whoever put my name in would get the shock of their life if I actually win all the challenges, won't they?" He added with a smirk, sounding loads more confident than he actually felt.
Fleur gave him a weird look before saying, "Well, then I weesh you luck."
"Good luck to you too Ms. Delacour." Harry said cordially.
The canon went off and Fleur had to go out to the arena. Krum was looking at him speculatively. Twenty minutes later, Percy came into the tent and told them that Fleur had sort off completed her task before telling Krum to be ready. Apparently Fleur had picked the key up before she aborted the task. It took ten more minutes for the bang to go off, signaling that it was going to be Krum's turn.
Harry started pacing around the tent... He was going to be facing the Chimera in a few minutes. He conjured a glass of water and took a couple of sips before breathing deeply.
'I have killed a fucking Basilisk with only a sword and a phoenix when I was a skinny, untrained twelve year old. Now, I have been training for more than a year under the founders. I am the youngest dueling champion. I have taken down Acromantula spiders, trolls, dementors, Orcs, death eaters and bypassed a dragon. I am an arch-mage and a Battle-mage. I can take down a Chimera. Come on.' Harry tried to encourage himself. Harry was feeling really nervous and even a little scared.
Ten minutes later Percy once again came in and informed that Krum had aborted his task too and he would be next but, it would take time. Harry merely nodded and took a seat.
Almost 25 minutes later the canon sounded and Harry stood up from his chair and walked towards the exit of the tent
As soon as Harry entered the arena for the third time that day, the first thing he saw was the pedestal and then the sheer number of wizards and witches standing ready, just outside the boundary of the enclosure, ready to step in at a moment's notice. That was when he heard the roar. The Chimera had seen Harry and was running towards him from Harry's right. Harry immediately erected a dome shield to protect himself. He had learnt that shield spell specifically to combat the Chimera, Hydra and the dragons in the first task a couple of days ago.
The Chimera was around 4 meters tall in height and had a meter long tail.
It pounced on the dome but was instantly repelled. It tried to kick the dome and hit it with its spiked tail. The dome repelled all the attacks and Harry held it. The dome was collecting energy from the brute attacks of the beast. The Chimera got fed up of physical attacks and breathed fire at the dome. Harry smirked as it had no effect. The shield was specifically designed to collect energy from any physical attacks and elemental spells but it couldn't stop spells like jinxes, hexes and curses.
The fire was impressive but didn't do shit to Harry. Seeing this the Chimera roared in rage and charged at full speed towards the dome before ramming into it. That was what Harry was weighting for. He released the spell, creating a shockwave of energy. The Chimera was flung away several meters. Harry immediately started moving towards the center of the enclosure towards the pedestal while transfiguring several rocks into tigers and lions which charged at the Chimera. He even added a flock of birds.
The Chimera roared in rage and started killing the animals at an incredible speed. It burnt the birds with a single breathe of fire at them. By the time Harry picked up his key, the Chimera must have killed around 50 transfigured animals and that was not counting the conjured birds! This won't do. If he kept doing so, he would be magically exhausted by the time he reached the exit! He needed to kill the damned thing if he wanted to reach the exit.
The Chimera roared again, killing two tigers with a single strike of its tail before turning another flock of birds. Harry stopped the turning the rocks into animals and instead transfigured a single rock into a sharp metal spike.
'Gemino Duplicatus Maxima' He shot a charm at the spike, and it started multiplying. The Chimera bit the last tiger, killing it before it charged at Harry.
Harry immediately banished more than a dozen spikes at the charging animal. It dodged.
Yes, it fucking dodged the spikes by crouching and jumping over it. It even slapped a few away with its tail: all except one which scored a thin gash on the left side of its body which looked like a papercut. The Chimera roared again and resumed charging.
"Sonus Buttius." Harry incanted, over powering the spell. A sonic wave issued from his wand. The Chimera stopped and held its ground before roaring in pain. Harry banished the last remaining spikes at the Chimera. Only two hit and embedded themselves in the body of the Chimera, their ends sticking out from the other side. Any creature would have died if they had two huge ass spikes embedded in their bodies but the Chimera released a mighty roar.
Harry instinctively shot a dozen flaming arrows at its eyes. One hit its mark while the rest bounced off the Creature's skin. The Chimera roared again. Time to end this.
He shot a massive lightning whip from his wand. It was an high level elemental spell that Salazar had taught him. It was similar to the fire whip, only made of lightning and much more difficult to wield than the former. Normally, the whip won't even affect the Chimera but, Harry didn't hit the Chimera with the whip directly. He hit the spike embedded in the Chimera's body and held it. The beast roared in pain. before falling to the ground and writhing in pain as it was electrocuted. A minute later the Chimera lay still and Harry let go of the whip. He waved his wand, casting a diagnostic spell on the chimera. It was dead.
Harry panted for a few minutes before walking towards the exit. He had done it. He saw that most people in the stadium were gaping or cheering. Sirius was bouncing up and down in his seat. Dumbledore wore a proud look. The rest two school heads were gaping at Harry while bagman looked like all his dreams had come true. Harry seriously needed to figure that guy out.
Daphne was cheering in her seat, looking like she wanted to come down and snog him. The rest of his friends were nowhere to be found. Harry shrugged and proceeded to the medical tent.
He seriously needed a pepper up potion and some sleep.