Sweet Revenge

Dragons; the Language of the Snakes

It was the 24th of November. The day of the First Task. 

Harry had told his gang to go on ahead of him and that he needed the air. The lot of them knew it was a pathetic excuse, but they did as he said anyway. It exhilarated him. 

Still, he was beginning to regret the choice. 

When he had first exited the castle doors, he had been overwhelmed at the sheer number of students milling around and slowly -I mean snail's-pace slowly- moving toward the gates. Then, when he had finally managed to weave his way through the crowd without Tracey dragging him off to one of her newfound Durmstrang friends (he thought her name was Demitra Akulovna), he had been assaulted by the Devil Twins. He just barely managed to erect a a shield for the charmed snowballs to bounce off of. The Twins had doubled over laughing while Harry sent mild stinging hexes their way and headed off. 

Now, however, he was stuck in line behind the two people in the world he wished spontaneously combusted. Weasley and Granger. For a reason undisclosed to Harry, the Ministry thought it would be a great idea to make all the students stand in a blurry line in front of the grand doors to the stadium. If it was so that the students would admire the Ministry's handiwork, then it was not working. Harry wondered vaguely if the Ministry's officials would be disappointed. Perhaps they would, given how complex the design on the door handle was (It was a charmed live dragon made of molten gold; Harry thought they could do better and that the charm-work was rather sloppy). 

"How d'ya think Alex will do?"

The redhead's obnoxious voice brought Harry out of his musings in the most unpleasant way he could imagine (he had not had the time to think of anything more repulsive yet). 

Discreetly, he checked that he had all of the things necessary. A potion of his own invention that allowed him to become invisible to all but whomever he chose. He did not need a wand, for wandless magic would be easier in his little act. He could speak parseltongue and last he checked, he still had a mouth. So yes, he was ready. Not having anything better to do, he listened in on Potter's best friends' conversation. 

"...I dunno. He made me teach him the Summoning Charm all last week but he never told me what he's going to pull," Granger said worriedly. 

To Harry, connecting the dots was a little bit obvious. He wondered if perhaps he should set fire to Alex's newly-bought Firebolt (It had cost James a fortune to obtain it. However, Harry did not want to Slytherin team to be at a disadvantage so he had found that the Firebolt's manufacturers were using products from Knockturn Alley and so threatened them with the prospect of losing their business. In a week, the Slytherin team was equipped with Firebolts and they had thoroughly smashed the Gryffindor Team. Harry had taken great pleasure in being able to hold that over the abysmal Gryffindor Seeker, Alex's, head. If you are wondering how on Earth Alex Potter got ahold of the position, you can thank his father's job and his status as the Boy-Who-Lived). 

"Still," Weasel started, worry abundant in his voice, "I hope he doesn't-"

Just then, the doors opened with a BANG! Ministry officials in their official uniforms filed out and lined the way, ushering students in. Unnecessarily, he was greeted with a loud overture of trumpets that must have truly and utterly vexed the dragons. Harry felt bad for them. 

He spotted his group plus Neville and Luna making their way into the higher stands and smiled; the flames wouldn't reach them. He himself chose an inconspicuous corner and apparated to the other side of the stadium where the dragon would be released. 

Six. Long. Minutes. 

And then, Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman, in all of his Wimbourne Wasp yellow glory, bustled in and sat down in the announcer's stand. Harry hoped he wouldn't get burnt, considering how close the man would be to the arena. Or perhaps he should be worrying about the excitable little man jumping into the arena on accident.... No matter. For now, he had better things to think about.