章 18: The first task

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Harry followed the student body as they made their way to the arena.

Needless to say, he was under his father's invisibility cloak.

'We can't be seen by Dumbledore before we reach the tent. Who knows what the deranged man would do if given a chance?' he mused, still angry about the headmaster's unexpected attack.

'I don't like him,' Ash simply stated his opinion from his arm.

Harry peered at the moving students, trying and failing to discern Hermione.

'Whatever, it's not like I would have been able to talk with her without garnering attention. I'm sure she'll be at the stands,' he thought.

As both Hogwarts and foreign students reached the gladiator-like arena, Harry branched off towards the nearby tent.

Thanks to his newly acquired magical sense, he could feel Dumbledore's oppressing aura coming off from that direction.

'I hope that the other champions are there,' he thought as he neared the tent, still invisible.

"What the fuck," Harry let out as he noticed Hermione walking around the tent.

He immediately changed course and moved towards her.

"Don't mind if I do!" he exclaimed, positioning himself in her way.

Bump.

'What the hell just happened,' Hermione thought as she quickly started falling towards the ground.

She had just bumped into something invisible…

Suddenly, a familiar hand materialised out of thin air and grabbed her, saving her from a poor fate.

"Hello there, miss stalker," came Harry's mischievous voice as he took off his cloak and put it inside a small pouch on his waist.

The pouch didn't show any signs of getting full…

Hermione, who Harry was still holding, glared at her friend's smiling visage.

She had so many things she wanted to tell and ask him about.

She wanted to reprimand him for both skipping school and talking as he had to Professor Snape, albeit she wouldn't have meant the latter.

'Now's not the time for me. The idiot's already late as it is,' she quickly thought as she got on her feet.

"God knows I have a billion things to tell you, but the task is about to start and they are searching for you," she said, pointing to the tent.

"Yes, I'm well, thanks for asking! I've missed you too, Hermione," he said, earning a not-so-friendly punch to the arm.

"I'll see you later then."

Harry smiled at his friend before making his way into the tent, an icy mask forming over his face.

"Accio calamitas solution," he said as he pointed his holy wand inside his pouch.

'Gotta love those expanding charms.'

He grabbed the greyish potion that came out of the pouch's depths and uncorked it, taking a very small sip.

'This should last for about ten minutes,' he thought.

"Harry!" came a shout, prompting him to store the potion quickly.

'That's Bagman, right?' he mused as the shabby-looking man walked towards him.

'I couldn't know,' Ash said through their bond.

"You're finally here! We all started worrying that you wouldn't show up," he cried.

"I'm here now, so let's get this over with," Harry stated.

"Definitely! Come with me," said the man, seemingly unbothered by Harry's attitude.

Harry followed the blond man deep inside the tent, passing by many dragon handlers and ministry employees.

'It's lively huh,' he threw to Ash.

'Of course, no one wants to lose their chance of seeing you becoming pork after all… I wonder how long it will take them to notice me,' he replied; he was still curled around Harry's arm.

'That's the only thing these robes are good for,' Harry thought back.

During the duo's friendly barb exchange, they reached their destination.

Harry, noticing that the man in front of him stopped walking, looked around him.

Victor Krum was inside a very small room with a bed, putting on a red robe and sporting his usual stoic expression.

His school's champion, Cedric Diggory, was standing still in the middle of the room while fumbling with his wand.

Lastly, the French beauty, Fleur Delacour, was sitting on a chair and showed no signs of anxiety on her beautiful face.

He had just managed to catch an attractive blonde woman leaving the room.

"I found him. I found Harry Potter!" exclaimed the man in front of him, garnering the attention of everyone in the room, the three champions, and the just departed woman.

That was unlucky…

The seventh years, broken out of their respective thoughts, glanced at the new presence.

Cedric was the first one to confirm Harry's identity and gave him a weak wave before going back to fumbling with his wand.

Krum, on the other hand, didn't seem to care about the appearance of the fourth champion.

'One's too anxious to give a fuck and the other underestimates the poor little fourth year.'

Harry's eyes landed on the last champion, not surprised at the calculative gaze she was sending him.

"Hey," he said, performing an infinitely better greeting than last time.

"'ello, little boy. 'ave you finally grown some backbone and decided to talk wiz me?" she teased him.

'Funny. Is she still mad about my little stalking?' he conjectured, unbothered by the breathtakingly beautiful witch's words.

"I was quite busy in our last encounter and I didn't have any time to catch up," he said, walking closer to her and fully ignoring the man who he assumed to be Bagman.

"Busy running away?" she asked, clearly not impressed with his reason.

"Busy catching up with my friend. She left me behind and was heading towards the castle," Harry said casually, noticing the slight scrunch of Fleur's eyebrows.

'What's up with that?' he wondered.

"You were busy chasing anozer witch?" she asked befuddled.

"Yes."

ROAR.

"It seems they pulled out the first dragon," Harry mumbled.

"You knew?" came the girl's surprised inquiry.

"Did you?" he fired back confused.

'Did she also sneak to the camp like me?' he mused.

"Good day champions, gather around, please. Now, you've waited, you've wondered and at last, the moment has arrived," Dumbledore said as he moved inside the room, losing some of his excitement as his eyes landed on Fleur and Harry.

'That's right you old fuck. I'm here,' he thought, putting all of his focus on managing his anger.

Fleur wasn't pleased with his sudden change of Harry's attention…

"Champions, please form a circle around me," barked Barty Crouch while grabbing every champion and shoving them into a circle.

That's what he tried to do at least.

While Cedric didn't seem to mind and Krum didn't offer any resistance except a deep scowl, Fleur slapped his hand away and moved by herself.

'I won't let any man touch me.'

Sadly, Crouch didn't try and pull Harry as well after the previous reaction, or else he might have been bitten.

"Youngsters first," the man said as he opened the purple pouch he was holding in front of Harry.

'Come on,' he thought as he slowly reached inside the pouch and grabbed a piece of paper before pulling it out.

4th, Abyssal Reaver.

That's what his card wrote.

'There it is, the power of liquid misfortune... Thankfully, it's not very potent so I'll probably live until the effect passes.'

Crouch threw him a pitying look before moving to the next champion.

"Mister Krum," he said, performing the same gesture three more times.

After the somewhat fixed draws, Harry moved towards a couch to wait until his turn came up.

'Cedric's going first against the Chinese fireball, Krum is going right after against the Hungarian Horntail, and lastly, Fleur will have to battle the Ukrainian Ironbelly. While it's more rotund and slower in flight than other dragons, it's also much bigger and its dragon fire is no joke,' he thought.

Nothing needed to be said about the Abyssal Reaver. It was simply a nightmare.

Fleur, seemingly unhappy about their talk's interruption, moved to sit on the couch in front of Harry.

No one noticed the small beetle walking around…

None except Asmodeus at least.