The first task was just tomorrow - hence Harry was doing some practice in the room of requirements. Of course the room was not capable of spawning an actual dragon… Yet that bulky dummy, shooting fire on sight of the boy was a good simulation of the first task.
The black haired boy smirked - initially he was getting a bit burned during initial tries, yet now he could breeze through the obstacles with ease.
In fact he calmly walked, not bothering to outrun the flames, constantly murmuring a complex spell. The dummy reacted as always - blasting the boy with a large stream of flame, so hot it was more blue than red, yet a blue shine around the boy protected him - it was a shield, made of ice. Harry’s magic was draining at an alarming rate, yet it was seemingly enough for a walk to a pile of rocks and grab one marked with an X.
Harry tossed the rock a few times - sure this new strategy of his looked cooler, but he was not certain the mock challenge was really as hard as the first task. After all, a dragon was not simply a flamethrower. Their flames were less hot, not quite reaching blue colour, yet perhaps they had some magical properties that would tear his shield apart? And of course, the dragon’s flame was just one of their weapons - getting closer to the eggs would cause them to use their claws and teeth as well…
Seemingly reading his thoughts, the room morphed and a few dummies appeared, wielding clubs, swords, spears and maces, near the same pile of rocks - Harry smiled, if he could dodge all of that he might as well try his ‘cooler’ way of doing first task. His smile quickly faded as he heard a knock on the door.
Cautious, he went closer. This was a variant of the room that only the ones knowing the password could enter, a password only he was supposed to know - he was quite confident in his occlumency shields to make sure of it. Did it not prevent others from materialising the door in some way?
Taking a quick glance at the Marauders map he noticed the corridor behind the door… was empty. He shrugged his shoulders - it’s not like he can just stay in the room forever - he would leave in a few hours anyway, might as well check it out.
Opening the door Harry glanced around to the sides - it was empty - before his gaze caught something on the floor - it was a small piece of folded parchment.
He picked it up and opened it to look inside - ‘Meet me in my office tomorrow night. Dumbledore’
Harry felt his heartbeat speed up - what was the old man up to this time? Thinking there was no use pondering over it he went back into the room - there was still quite some time until 3am - a time he usually went to sleep.
Severus Snape was in his room, grading the potions of fourth year students. A better name would be magical disaster brewings - he snorted. It was a simple cosmetic potion for wrinkle removal, yet most of them failed to even brew a working one. Why was it so hard to follow simple instructions? Surely one would have to read how ingredients actually reacted from the textbook, but how hard can that be? Surely those fools should realise textbooks are meant to be read and learned from? If that muggle-born bushy haired girl could do it so well, why did so many others keep failing?
Professor sighted, as he wrote another low grade - at least this time, Mr. Longbottoms submitted a potion… a progress if he had to say so himself - his previous brewings just exploded earlier in the year. From his observation he saw that he actually knew what he was doing… Yet that mentality of his… he got scared of any glare his way and messed up the quantities and timings of ingredients…
He grimaced, so far only Granger, Greengrass got Outstanding grades, yet the next potion was Potters… A scowl appeared on professor's face - James’es spawns potions were improving at an alarming rate this year so far… He even had to give him Outstanding last time! Such pain! Still, the professor mused, as a champion of the school, Potter was exempt from exams this year… heck the boy could even get Trolls all year or skip all his classes! He even wondered why he went to them in the first place? Perhaps it was that Greengrass girl he sat with? Perhaps that was why his potions were improving so much….
A grin appeared on his face - he usually spent a lot of time observing the boy - his oath had to protect him, even against mistakes in blowing up the cauldron or nearby classmates doing the same. That was why he knew the boy must have made a mistake - he noticed him using a few spoons too much of pixie dust - certainly the potion would be subpar if it even worked at all.
He uncorked the vial and somewhat too large amounts of smoke came out - his grin deepended, even if Potter’s grades do not matter, he would still enjoy giving him a bad one. He waved his hand and smelled a bit of the potion - such simple brewing effects could be determined by smell alone, especially by potions masters as talented and hard working as he was.
He frowned… this was certainly not the potion that was assigned…. His eyes widened - with those ingredients…! He tried dropping the vial in haste, yet it was too late - a puff followed and his whole lab was filled with green smoke. He coughed as he waved his wand, trying to get rid of the rotten egg smell, alas it failed! His face paled in horror, realising it would linger here for days or at least until he brewed a potion to neutralise the previous one… He was definitely getting the boy a Troll grade! Yet he did not feel much satisfaction from it - he knew Potter's grades did not matter one bit this year…
Soon he was back grading the potions, with a sourer mood than before. He hated Marauder's pranks when growing up, and now James' son was doing the same to him…
The crowd was cheering as Cedric Diggory entered the field - against him was Swedish short-snout dragon. Cedric quickly transfigured a nearby rock into a dog to distract the beast, and went for the egg as the crowd watched with anticipation.
Daphne was having a bit of a pale face as she exchanged glances with Tracey - it seems Harry was right about the dragon… that was no joke after all…
She felt her heart beating faster with each champion passing the task. Cedric distracted the dragon. Fleur put it to sleep, the dragon snorted in flames, yet she somehow managed to block it with a wind barrier - as if expecting such an event.
The next champion - Victor Krum - seemingly used a complex charm to send dragon in frenzy, then grabbed all the eggs with him by rising a pillar of earth and moving it closer, before taking the golden one from it - thankfully he did that, as the dragon thrashed around in rage - surely the eggs would have been damaged in case he only grabbed the golden one.
Then her face paled even further as Harry finally entered the field. He looked confident and dashing as always… Yet it pained her to watch him in danger. The Hungarian Horntail, was after all the most ferocious dragon of the four. She could hear the boy murmuring under nose while he just… walked towards the dragon.
Of course a nesting dragon did not take an approaching human lightly - soon hot flames spewed towards Harry. Daphne shouted in panic, yet her voice was lost in the crowd - a lot of students were shouting as well, too immersed in the event.
Yet as soon as the dragon ended its breath… Harry was just standing there - around him a shiny glowing ice was rotating around him, dripping wet with water from melting away. The boy itself was unharmed, yet his confident look was gone - perhaps tanking a hit of dragon fire was more taxing on his magic than expected.
Daphne felt her heart almost jump out of her chest in panic as she stared at the boy with such focus, that it seemed she forgot to blink.
Harry was less relaxed now - he rushed towards the eggs, and the dragon jumped out to confront him - surely sitting on top of the nest was a better idea, yet in case the human’s target was her and not her unborn offspring, the dragon thought it would be better to face him head on. After all, confrontation on top of the nest was bound to break some.
Amidst the gasps from the crowd Harry dodged a tail sweep, followed by narrowly avoiding the dragon trying to bite his arm off. Sweat dripped down the boy's face - it looked like he had more than enough reaction time to react to the dragon, yet his body was somewhat a bit lagging behind, as if not yet fully used to such fast movements.
Another dodge roll later the boy finally reached the eggs, taking the chance while the dragon hesitated - it simply could not attack his own children could she?. Harry grabbed the golden one and ran away, leaving a few ice walls behind his back.
Dragon made quick work of the ice walls - yet the black haired boy was already nowhere in sight - he was far away for the dragon to sense his presence, and disillusionment and a few other charms erased his traces enough to just casually walk back to the finish line.
Karkaroff scoffed - clearly that Digory boy knew about the dragons - there was no trace of panic in his eyes, he could tell. He wanted to complain, yet could not do so - after all he told Victor about the dragons himself - clearly he could have expected others doing the same - in fact he saw headmistress Maxime doing the same for her champion…
Still he would take away any points he could - the boy was taking a while. It still baffled him to his day - how come headmasters were allowed to judge and give points to the champions? Wouldn’t their bias for their own school cloud their judgement every time? He struggled as he wrote down 9 next to Cedric's name - he did take a while after all.
What followed was that Veela girl - and as expected, she knew of the task beforehand, and once again the headmaster could only keep his complaints inside. A sneaky glance at the headmistress sitting besides him and her cheeky grin confirmed his suspicions. Soon the dragon was put to sleep and she effortlessly finished the task. He grumbled - there was no way of subtracting any points now was there?
He grumbled looking at his parchment - three grades already written - full grades for Fleur and Victor and a nearly max score for Diggory… Yes, even before Victor finished his performance, Karkaroff had already written his score down - he was just that confident in his pupil - and no matter, even if he performed horribly, his points would still count - such unfair the rules were. There was a rule where a headmaster could complain his champion was improperly scored, yet scores for their own champions… Were strangely not regulated! Sure he might be frowned upon by other headmasters - but he did not care. It was all for Drumstang.
Not long after the crowd cheered as the youngest champion entered the arena - Karkaroff did not expect much of him - Potter was famous for the mysterious vanishing of the dark lord - but really, what a baby could have done? In his personal opinion he thought it was his parents that perished together with him who must not be named. Sure, he had to admit, the boy had some skills - he was aware of what was happening on his ship and knew of the duel the three champions did there. Yes the boy was good, but he still never won against Victor in a duel did he?
He narrowed his eyes - the boy's eyes lacked any panic - in fact it seemed like he took this as a walk in the park, remaining unfazed even as a huge flame neared him.
Karkaroff's eyes widened as he saw the ice shield around the boy - how did he have enough magical power to keep this thing going? At such a young age… that was even better than that old fool! - he glanced at Dumbledore, yet the headmaster was also seemingly shocked.
The rest of the encounter he could only watch and grumble - it seems he would have to give full points to Hogwarts this time…. The schools were tied….
Harry finally exited the arena, golden egg in hand as his friends rushed forward to meet him.
Surprisingly it was Ron who congratulated him first - he was finally over the jealousy over Harry getting into the tournament, perhaps finally learning of the danger it represented he was secretly glad it was not him - “Harry, that was WICKED!”
Daphne reached out her arms, as if for a hug, yet hesitated mid-way - perhaps too conscious of the surrounding crowd - “I was very worried Harry, I am glad nothing bad happened to you”.
Her hesitation did not escape the boy's eyes - he had long since noticed Daphne was… different near him than before, he was not dense and could recognize what it was, in fact he too felt attraction to the girl… Yet he hesitated on his own! - it was hard enough knowing that all those friendships and experiences would just be his memories after the end of the loop, he knew it would be painful and having someone even closer would hurt even more so.
Now all he did was smile and reassure his friend that he was fine and unharmed. Still with so many people nearby, with each itching to speak he could not chat for long before getting interrupted by his other friends.
“That was DANGEROUS! What if your spell failed! I read that resisting a dragon fire takes a lot of magical power!”
Harry turned to face his bushy haired friend - sure he was reading a lot every day and night, yet Hermione… She did as much reading as he did - even if Harry required less sleep, he also spent a significant portion of his free time improving his combat capabilities… Meanwhile Hermione was a book hermit even before arriving at Hogwarts.
“I was confident to block the fire for a moment - if it was too much for my shield… I would have abandoned the spell and used a different strategy. Perhaps calling my thunderbolt here to lure the dragon away in that way?”
Hermione was not amused - “but that is even more dangerous! Dragons are so much faster and more agile in the air!”
The black haired boy looked back at his friend's fierce gaze - “It was a dragon - no matter what I did… It would have been dangerous anyway”
It took a while for Harry to just stay here and answer the avalanche of questions sent his way and reassure concerned friends.
Eventually the boy somehow managed to slip out and gain a breath of fresh air. Overly concerned friends could seem scarier than actual dragons sometimes…
He calmly walked towards the great lake - just a short walk to recollect his thoughts, he did have more plans for today - Gryffindors were throwing a party… again. To celebrate his success in the first task. And of course… he was supposed to visit the headmaster's office. He sighted and was about to head there - it was better to get it over with quickly, the Gryffindors parties… they sometimes lasted the whole night!
Just before heading back to the castle he noticed Fleur and Victor walking nearby - they somehow seemed… closer than usual, more happy as well.
“Hello”
“Hello Harry, and thank you once again for that tip… I know you casually mentioned it… but simply knowing dragon snores could have fire in them certainly helped me get more points”
“Same here, in that book for magical creatures I just learned how rare and precious dragon eggs are - a lot of young dragons do not survive long after hatching, it's good I read it as my initial plan… might have caused the other eggs to be damaged by the dragon itself.”
“You’re welcome - but I was really just casually speaking, Fleur. And Victor… you chose the books you wanted to exchange for yourself… It just feels wrong to take credit for such minor things”
“I guess so… Have you found your partner for the Yule? It seems it's mandatory for us champions, and we will have an opening dance of sorts”
Harry shrugged his head - “Not yet, how about you two?”
Victor seemingly blushed as his eyes moved to the girl beside him, while Fleur just rolled her eyes at her friend's antics and spoke once again - “Yes, in fact I invited Victor… and he accepted just shortly before we ran into you!”
“It was unexpected, but… welcome surprise”
“I am happy for you two“
After some more small talk they parted ways and the boy walked towards the headmasters office. Checking the marauders map he was relieved to see Albus was alone there inside. He did prepare a prank for the potions professor a couple of days ago… if it was already triggered and he was still furious… it would be awkward staying in a meeting with him. Perhaps by the next potions lesson he would have cooled down somewhat.
Glancing at a familiar Crouch dot in the DADA classroom he furrowed his brow - the suspected death eater was still posing as a teacher here, still the boy refrained from any actions - who knew what Voldemort would do when his agent was rattled out? Known events were easier to handle than unknown ones - Harry preferred to duel Voldemort at the end and assess his skills rather than busting out the impostor and perhaps perishing to the new scheme Tom could cook up.
As far as he knew Barty was just pretending to be a teacher… His only mis-behavings were putting his name in the goblet… and likely changing the champion cup destination to that graveyard… As far as lessons went… Harry found it funny that an impersonated teacher was better than the first two years teachers.
Harry pushed the thought away as his other thoughts wandered to the Yule ball… Now that Victor was taking Fleur and not Hermione… perhaps he should speak with Ron about asking her out? He clearly remembered the shocked and jealous look on his red headed friend's face when seeing Hermione after she took the time to get ready. And about his pair… His thoughts always wandered to the first slytherin friend he made… perhaps he should just ask her out?
His thoughts faded under the most complex occlumency shields he could build as he finally reached the dreaded doors of headmasters office. Surely he had the headmasters' trust, but for how long?
He realised he did not know the password - but if Dumbledore was aware he was using the room… Perhaps he would be aware he was there already?
And surely, silently the doors opened and a spiral staircase entered his eyes. The boy climbed up the headmasters tower and pushed open the doors to walk inside.
“Good evening, professor”
“Hello Harry, please, take a seat”
Headmaster had a cheerful attitude as usual, he picked a large bowl of candy, popped one inside his mouth and habitually offered one to the boy - “lemon drop?”
Harry grimaced, having unpleasant memories resurface - “No thanks. Just cut to the chase - why have you summoned me here? And how did you even know I was using the room?”
“Ah! A splendid question, my boy! You see, I was planning on animating the parchment to just fly to you - imagine my surprise seeing it spin in circles! Realising there are only a few special rooms with wards against such things - I was quick to pinpoint your location”
“Special rooms?”
Headmaster chuckled - “Ah yes, you were certainly not in my office, were you? And out of a magical room that can have nearly anything you could ask for…. And a gloomy chamber under a girls toilet… It was an easy guess between those two”
Harry nodded, while adding a note about those wards - which he assumed were the same ones for blocking the owl mail - to his ever growing todo list.
Headmaster suddenly sounded more serious - “I called you here, because I found a way to get more information regarding your scar’s… problem”
“What do you mean? Do you finally know of a way to get rid of it?”
Dumbledore shook his head - “No, I am afraid Tom RIddle is the best mage alive… or should I say not dead yet? who knows so much about souls and soul magic. But what little do I know is that minds are part of souls. You see your mind's library - one you surely know how to access with such splendid occlumency skills is actually inside your soul.”
Harry somehow understood what was implied and he did not like it. Not one bit.
“Surely you don't mean?”
“Quite sharp I see, but yes' ' - his eyes met with Harrys - “As it's part of you… dark lord's memories should be accessible for you, of course, once the dark lord becomes aware of the link between you two… he would be able to attack your mind as well. Even while you sleep. Still, seeing your talent in occlumency… I do not think I need to worry much about the defense part…”
“But wouldn’t Voldemort have occlumency shields of his own?”
“Why of course he would! Not only that. You see, by engaging in a mind attack… your mind becomes more vulnerable for the duration - as you are leaving your own library and venturing into others. And that is precisely why I called you here! You must reach a sufficient level of legilimency, it would help you in extracting information, you see the dark lord excels on mind invasion, yet his defences are in fact not much greater than a senior auror.”
The headmaster pushed a small book towards the boy. Harry picked it up - it had no author and the title simply said ‘Mind arts for the gifted minds’.
Dumbledore caught his questioning gaze - “It is written in part by me, and my dear friend who took a wrong path in life… It should not take too long for you to read it. Of course practice is very important” - his gaze turned sharp and serious - “I trust you would not abuse this power as with great power comes great responsibility”
His throat was seemingly getting dry so he popped another lemon drop into his mouth and took a gulp of liquid from a nearby mug - “Only practise with those you share mutual trust with - making mistakes could potentially share your memories with theirs. It is a subtle art. I suggest you start with the spell you already know and keep using it every day until you can pass unshielded wizard minds… wand-lessly. Then you can move on to more… guarded minds - perhaps Ms Greengrass or Mr. Krum would help you out there?”
“If you are talented in the field you can then further train with Severus… If not you will only have one chance - so you should practise getting as much knowledge you want as quickly as possible - before Voldemort knows the connection exists it would not be too difficult to take him by surprise, especially now that he’s in a weakened state.”
“What should I even look for?”
“We must first learn how exactly Tom managed to split his soul and remain alive, after his body perished. He somehow infused items - like that diary - with pieces of his soul. It would be good to know how many he made and where they are - as well as ways of destroying them - we know basilisk venom is one way… yet perhaps there is another one - one that would keep you alive.”
Harry was slowly walking back towards the Gryffindor tower, his mind still busy processing his new ‘task’. He knew it was dangerous, but it was an efficient way to learn more about the dark lord’s immortality and soul magic…
In all his walking he somehow did not notice a figure quickly catching up to him, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Hi Harry!”
Quickly turning around he was about to flick his wrist for his wand, yet stopped - it was his friend Daphne Greengrass. He did not know how but she… looked even more beautiful today. The moonlight was shining, illuminating them both as they just stared at each other for a minute.
As the staircase started rotating around again, Daphne broke the silence - “Soooo, do you have a partner for the Yule ball, yet?”
Harry now understood what this was about, still he itched to tease the girl a bit, changes in her facial expressions were always so amusing to see. His face morphed into an apologetic look - “No, but I already have a girl in mind, I am sure she would enjoy going together with me”.
Daphne’s face was glowing after his first word, only to turn sadder with each following one.
“I see… If you don’t mind me asking, who is it?” - her voice seemed a bit cracking with pieces of jealousy mixed in.
Harry met the girl's eyes - “I don’t mind, it’s a girl from our year” - he smiled at her - “Daphne Greengress - do you think she would want to go together with me?”
He stood there and watched in satisfaction various emotions going over Daphne’s face. As she finally processed his words, she looked back at him, her annoyance clearly conveyed by her tone - “I do not know, if you stopped teasing and just asked her, perhaps she might?”
Harry chuckled, he had his fun, he should not keep her waiting - “So Daph. Do you want to go to the Yule together with me?”
“Yes!”
What followed was some discussion regarding wearing matching colour palettes, attending mandatory dance lessons for champions and of course their casual every day chat.
Eventually they parted ways - Daphne walking back to the dungeons, but it seemed she flew a little with each step. And Harry finally showed up to his tower, where a feast was already underway - they got tired of waiting for their champion and just… started the celebration before his arrival.
Harry smiled and joined in the fun - it was quite an eventful day today, he could afford to skip his usual training and just relax with fellow Gryffs.
