It was November, and the day for the first task. Harry had not prepared too much for the event, but he knew several charms that could accomplish what he needed to do.
He was planning on simply talking down the Dragon if he could and convincing it to give him the egg. Harry figured that he shouldn’t fight the dragon if he didn’t have to. They were known be strong creatures and he didn't want to fight if he didn't have to.
Harry walked with Hagrid through the castle towards the stadium that had been set up for the first task. He was wearing special triwizard contestant robes. As he was walking, a hand with long and sharp painted nails wrapped around his shoulder and he jumped slightly.
“Harry Potter!” A woman’s voice screeched into his left ear, “Rita Skeeter from the Daily prophet, Say why don’t you give an interview? The people would love to know…”
She started pulling him to the side as Hagrid turned and watched the scene in confusion. Harry drew his wand from his robes.
‘Petrificus Totalus,’ he cast silently under his armpit at the woman standing behind him. She stiffened and Harry carefully extracted himself from her tight grip on his shoulder, careful to not let his robes rip from the sharp nails at the ends of her fingers.
His motions tipped her over until she landed on her back facing the ceiling, only her eyes moving. Harry stepped closer to get a better look.
“Please don’t touch me,” Harry said before flicking his wand again to release her from his spell.
“Indeed! Quick on the draw aren’t you?” Rita said as she clambered back to her feet, seemingly brushing off her attempt to drag him off somewhere a few seconds ago, “So how about that interview? You have plenty of time now, don’t you?”
“No thanks,” Harry replied before turning back to Hagrid, “Let’s go Hagrid,” he said, “I’d like to get there early. People don’t like me enough already, I don’t want to be late too.”
“Ay,” Hagrid said uncomfortably before the two of them continued onwards leaving the seemingly stunned Rita Skeeter behind them. She took out a pad of parchment and started scribbling furiously even as they left. Harry wondered what she could possibly write about such a short encounter. It must have been under ten seconds total before the two of them left.
— — —
“Good luck, Harry! See you after the task,” Hermione said as she released him from the brief hug she had given him. She had snuck in to see him off on the first task as he stood there waiting. Despite Harry’s confidence in pulling through, she still seemed worried about him. Harry brushed a bright green beetle from his shoulder absentmindedly as Hermione ducked back under the fabric of the tent and made her escape. Harry was lucky that he had such a good friend.
“Champions!” Harry turned as Mr. Crouch’s replacement from the ministry called out. It seems the ministry would be cycling through a series of officials as the tournament went on, as they tried to find a replacement for Mr. Crouch’s old job in the ministry.
“In the bag I am holding are little figurines with the four dragon species you could face,” the man said, “Each person put their hand and draw a figurine and that will be the dragon that you will face. You first, Mr. Krum.”
Viktor Krum put his hand and drew out a little red statue. “The Chinese Fireball,” the man from the ministry said before offering the bag to Fleur who drew out another, “The Common Welsh Green.”
Cedric stepped forward and after a long glance at Harry, reached into the bag as well. “The Swedish Short-Snout,” the man announced before holding the bag to Harry.
Harry reached his hand out and saw his own. It was a species that was unfamiliar to him.
“The Hungarian Horntail,” the ministry man said with some dread, “The most ill tempered and dangerous of the bunch. Best of luck, Mr. Potter,” he raised his voice, “Champions! Each of you will go out in the order you pick. I will call you when it is your time. Each of the headmasters and myself will score your performance out of ten for style and successful retrieval of the egg. The Ministry will handle the dragon once you have finished.”
— — —
Harry sat quietly as each of the three others went one after another to the first task. He heard the roars of the dragon and cheers of the crowd as he sat there, but had no idea on how each contestant had done. Once they were done they did not come back into the tent where Harry was sitting.
Then, it was Harry’s turn. He was ushered forward and stared at the dragon that hunched protectively over its nest. Inside the nest and below its bulk, Harry could see the shiny golden glow of the egg. The dragon itself had dark black shiny scales with bronze horns on its head and a bronze ridge of spikes that ran down its spine from head to tail. The end of its tail was a spiked ball almost like a mace. Harry took a step forward and the door to the arena closed shut behind him. It was just him and the dragon here now.
As Harry watched, the Hungarian Horntail continued to eye him suspiciously, not immediately wanting to attack apparently. There was some muttering in the crowd at the dragon’s strangely defensive posture.
After a moment to collect itself as Harry stood there watching it silently, the dragon reared upwards slightly on its hind legs and roared defiantly at him before settling back into a protective crouch.
“MY EGGS, LITTLE THING!” it roared.
Harry opened his mouth and roared back at such a loud volume that many in the crowd winced and covered their ears.
“MOST YOURS. GOLDEN ONE MINE! ARE YOU AN EGG STEALER?”
The Hungarian Horntail cowered a little at the volume of Harry’s voice, and he could tell its confusion at the situation. A small human looking thing was making the sounds of a strong dragon. She slowly shuffled backward so she was behind the nest of eggs and still able to keep an eye on Harry. He noticed that her eyes skittered past the golden ones as she closely inspected her eggs to determine what Harry was talking about.
“FOCUS!” Harry roared as her eyes skipped over it again, “TRICKSY MAGIC, YOUR EYES JUST MISSED IT! WRONG EGG HIDDEN AMONG YOUR YOUNG BY LITTLE BEINGS!”
The Horntail eyed Harry skeptically for a long moment before focusing as instructed. She stopped staring at him for a moment as she seemed to notice the magic. She strained for a few seconds before roaring wordlessly and shaking her head violently. The magical effect or charm she had been under seemed to break and she spotted the golden egg and angrily roared again.
“FALSE EGG, BEGONE!”
She swiped her arm and the golden egg was scooped out of the nest with one claw and flicked into the air towards Harry. He cast a quick silent levitation charm with his wand and caught it in his arms. It was the size of a basketball but with the odd shape so it was hard to get a good grip on it.
Harry walked backwards to the door he came in and knocked on it. The crowd seemed stunned and were muttering in confusion as the Hungarian Horntail remained protectively huddled over her real eggs. She eyed Harry with laser focus, but didn’t seem to want to attack unless he made a move first.
After a few seconds, a team of blue robed Aurors burst on the field and working together, forced the Hungarian Horntail to sleep. The dragon and her eggs were quickly levitated away as Harry stood there.
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Up on the podium, McGonagall, Karkaroff, Madame Maxine, and the man from the ministry stood. There was a lengthy pause before each of them held up a pad with their score. They were 10, 4, 8, and 10 respectively. The crowd collectively booed at Karkaroff’s score, but the man simply scoffed and kept his board held high.
After a few minutes the other champions were led into the arena alongside Harry and they all stood in a line. Fleur shot Harry a nasty smirk for no reason he could determine. He had thought he had done pretty well, two tens from the judges was nothing to scoff at. Maybe Fleur just thought she had done better than him?
McGonagall stood and amplified her voice.
“That concludes the first task of the Triwizard tournament. In first place we have Cedric Diggory with Thirty five points. Second place we have Harry Potter with thirty two points,” Harry saw that Fleur’s smirk drop away in an instant as she heard that Harry had scored more points than her.
“Fleur Delacore in third with thirty, and finally Viktor Krum with twenty nine points. Despite having an excellent initial score, several points were docked due to his Conjunctivis curse causing his dragon to crush several of its real eggs. I hope you have enjoyed the first task, only two now remain! The second task will take place after the holidays with the date announced soon. Make sure to return to see all our skilled champions compete.”
The crowd cheered wildly for a few minutes as the four champions stood there awkwardly. Harry adjusted his grip on the golden egg several times, but he couldn’t hold it properly and it kept slipping down.
After the cheering died down a little, the four champions were eventually led back into the tent they had arrived from. The man from the ministry was standing there and opened his mouth for a speech. But as he did so Harry finally lost his battle to hold the egg and it went spilling onto the floor. He stretched out slightly to try to stop it, but it rolled out from his hands, his fingers brushing it as it flipped over and landed with the long end first on the ground.
A little protrusion on the top that was apparently a button pressed inwards. Four little flaps immediately popped out, the egg opening like upside down flower petals. Inside was an glowing orange tube that seemed to bubble with some sort of liquid.
It started screeching, but Harry stared at it and could easily understand it like any other language. The others including the man from the ministry covered their ears and seemed to wince.
As the screech spoke, Harry waited. He picked up the egg from the ground and tried to figure out to close it, even as he listened to what apparently was a riddle.
“Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour — the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.”
Very ominous. Harry finally figured out how to close the egg by pressing the button again as the words started to repeat. Everyone stared at Harry for a moment as he held it in his hands, several of them rubbing their temples as if they were nursing a headache.
“Why did the golden egg just threaten me?” Harry asked no one in particular, “If anyone hurts my friends I’ll turn them inside out. That was a spell I learned for someone that would try to attack them. It was quite difficult to learn. I’ve never actually cast it on a person before, its a bit much for normal bullies.”
Everyone stared at Harry in shock at his statements, especially the ministry official.
“What?” Harry said as no one said anything and kept staring at him, “Its a transfiguration, they would revert back after a very unpleasant hour or two. If I got my friends back safe in the hour it mentioned, then I probably would leave it at that.”
The ministry official cleared his throat, “No-No need for that, Mr. Potter. Well, ah, I was about to tell you that each of your golden eggs holds a clue to help you pre-prepare for the next task. Don’t- No help allowed for this. So please-” he glanced at Harry, “Don’t ah, tell anyone anything that you may learn.”
“So the riddle is related to the next task?” Harry asked, “Are you absolutely sure? The line ‘Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back’ makes it sound like you will murder the person if we don’t get to them in time. I want to be properly prepared if it is actually an assassination attempt on them or something similar.”
The other three champions all shifted nervously and all stared at the man from the Ministry who was nervously sweating under the attention,
“I-I’ll… I’ll ask my superiors, and they will inform you,” the man started powerwalking away, speaking rapidly even as he made his quick escape, “Good job, triwizard champions and I hope you all do well on the next task, bye!”
The tent flap closed behind him as he rushed out.
— — —
“Harry Potterz, what didz the riddlze say?” Viktor Krum asked Harry with a scrunched brow.
Cedric and even Fleur watched him expectantly as well, so Harry told them the full contents of the riddle he had heard.
“Zzat is ominous,” Viktor said, “In Durmstrang, such a zhing sent even in jest could spark a blood feudsz. Can you listenz to my egg? Perhapz only yourz was so threateningz?”
Harry nodded, it was important to see if it was only him being threatened or all of the champions. Seeing his acceptance Viktor ran off along with the others to retrieve their own golden eggs. Everyone covered their ears as Viktor opened his egg to the screeching voice.
After listening for a while Harry waved for him to close it.
“Exact same words,” Harry said before pointing to Cedric. His egg's riddle was also identical. Fleur was next, seemingly eager enough for information to ignore her dislike of Harry. Her egg also stated the exact same threats.
“All of them were exactly the same,” Harry said. Before he could continue, McGonagall, Madame Maxine, and Karkaroff swept in and glanced around seemingly looking for the ministry official who had escaped earlier.
“Headmazter Karkaroff, zee eggs are threateningz us!” Viktor Krum said.
“Harry Potter can understand them, and he says if we don’t find what we care for most in an hour then it will be lost forever,” Fleur said coldly, “What are we supposed to think when we hear that?”
All three leaders froze and stared between the four of them in disbelief. McGonagall focused in on Harry and frowned slightly.
“Mr. Potter, how did you figure out the clue so quickly? Didn’t the official tell you to not share anything you learn?”
“I dropped it and the egg started screeching before he said anything,” Harry said, “I translated it and told the others since I thought they would want to know. Especially since the official ran off scared, that was hardly encouraging in convincing us that the threat wasn’t real.”
“Translated?” she said in confusion, “How did you manage that?”
Harry took a deep breath and prepared what he had worked out with Hermione as his explanation. He knew it would come out at some point, so he had made sure his story would stand firm if he was questioned.
“I can understand and speak with a lot of magical creatures and even people when I focus on them,” Harry said, “I think it is similar to Parseltongue but broader. I only started noticing it after my curse was finally lifted for the last time.”
“That is ridiculous,” Karkaroff said in Bulgarian, “Prove it boy, speak to me and back up your outlandish claims.”
Harry focused on Karkaroff and noticed that he was inclined to speak Bulgarian rather than English. It seems that since Karkaroff had intent to converse in a particular way, Harry’s language sense was matching that.
“As I said,” Harry replied to Karkaroff in Bulgarian, “It seems to work with all human languages as well. As soon as you wanted to talk in Bulgarian to me, I was able to do so as well.”
Karkaroff’s eyes widened before he controlled his expression. “Bah, you practiced. Learned the language normally,” Karkaroff said.
“I did it with the Hungarian Horntail dragon too,” Harry said, “I told her the golden egg wasn’t hers and she threw it to me after she noticed. I didn’t even cast a spell at her. Did my wand move the whole time it was pointed at her as we talked? She doesn’t want an egg that isn’t hers in her nest, all I had to do was help her break that charm distracting her and preventing her from noticing it.”
“Hmph,” Karkaroff grunted skeptically, although he seemed more thoughtful now. Madame Maxine and McGonagall seemed convinced.
“Regardless,” McGonagall said, “I will tell you all this much. The riddle you all seemed to have figured out is completely contained to the triwizarding tournament. I assure you that there is absolutely no outside influence trying to threaten you. The three of us are magically bound to not say any more. Much the same as you four are bound to compete in the tournament.”
Everyone shuffled uncomfortably, but nothing else was said.
“Very well, Champions dismissed,” McGonagall said primly before looking around, “Where is that man? All of this mess is because he couldn’t even explain the rules before running off. What is the ministry coming to these days…”
The champions trickled out of the tent in a low mood, seemingly reflecting on what McGonagall's words really meant and if they should be worried.
Harry didn’t have to wonder. Apparently he had been wrong to think McGonagall was innocent in Dumbledore’s plans. He would have to keep his friends close in preparation when she started making moves against him.