Silver King

71

"You will not be duelling my father." Daphne said as she ducked. "At least I don't think you will." She added with a thoughtful frown before she returned fire.

"You know something," Tracey whispered to Jet. "I'm pretty sure that the two of them consider this to be a great couple's activity."

"Is it not?" Jet asked in a surprised voice.

The majority of the Slytherin common room all cheered as three fifth years went down, losing in a three vs. one fight against Harry. Two of the fifth years were unconscious while the third was groaning in pain.

"Wuss." Harry said with a roll of his eyes before he returned to his seat, Daphne rewarded him for his victory with a quick kiss to the lips while Jet slithered off of her and onto Harry's lap while Thor flew off Tracey's shoulder and onto Harry's.

"So," Tracey began talking while the fifth years were being woken up and helped out by the other Slytherin students in the room. "should we assume that your duelling practise is over?" She asked, a small smile on her face.

"For today." Harry nodded.

"You should go professional," Theo told Harry. "you would be great on the duelling circuit."

"Nah," Draco spoke up as he shook his head slightly. "he should go onto the quidditch pitch and go professional there, he might even help England win the next cup."

"Shush," Daphne spoke. "Harry will take whatever career he feels like taking."

"Thanks Daph," Harry smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm really not sure what I want to be," Harry admitted to the others. "though quidditch and the duelling circuit are the two options that I feel like I'm most likely to choose."

"Which one makes more money?" Blaise asked with a small shrug. "Or is that not a factor for you?"

"Money is of course very important," Harry admitted. "but from what I know both options would pay me a great amount so I suppose it narrows down to which I like more."

"Fair enough," Blaise nodded. "oh and how are you on working out the clue?" Blaise asked, referring to Harry's golden egg.

"Oh, worked it already out actually." Harry admitted, sending a quick glance towards Daphne before he turned his attention back to Blaise.

"Really?" Blaise asked. "You worked it out?"

"No, I had your sister work it out." Harry responded. "And no...that's not an insult, I actually just had her work it out for me.

"You...you had my sister work it out?" Blaise blinked at him.

"Of course I did," Harry snorted in a way that made it sound like he thought it was ridiculous for Blaise to have expected otherwise. "she's a smart and intelligent woman who is willing to help me out, so why not take advantage of that fact?"

"You ordered her to do it for you?" Pansy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...no, I asked her if she was willing to help me with it." Harry admitted. "She took it from me and told me to relax and let her do it for me, I - being the smart genius that I am - decided not to argue."

Eventually the day of the second task arrived, for the Triwizard champions the last few days before the task had arrived had mostly been spent training and practising while coming up with plans on how to complete the task. For the others it was mostly just trying to work out who would win the task, quite a lot of students had made quite a lot of bets. For the most part the majority of the student population believed that the winner was likely to either be Victor Krum or Harry Potter, for the most part it was Harry Potter that most people were putting their money behind.

Early during the day the champions had all gathered in the hall and ate their breakfast, getting as much food in as they could while also spending some time with their friends. Harry couldn't help but notice that Daphne was missing, part of him was kind of glad about that fact as it meant that Angela had been right and that he knew what to expect from the task, the other part of him was far from happy and was making plans to murder Bagman and then bring him back to life and shout at him before murdering him again. He truly hoped that Daphne would not get hurt.

The champions were currently waiting in the champions tent once again, Victor and Cedric were pacing back and forth while Fleur was sat on the bed provided for her and was whispering things under her breath, Harry was sure that the words 'stupid English idiots' had come out of her mouth. Harry meanwhile was idly twirling his wand as he was sat on his bed, seeing no need to waste energy by standing up for any longer than he needed to.

"How in Merlin's name do you look so calm?" Cedric suddenly asked Harry as he finally stopped pacing and was now stood a couple of meters in front of the youngest champion, Krum had stopped pacing as well and was now stood in one corner of the tent and was looking at Harry along with Cedric and Fleur.

"I look a lot calmer than I am." Harry answered in an honest voice as he looked at the older, Hufflepuff champion. "I am quite nervous, but fortunately I have my wand and something that's even more fortunate is the fact that I still have my magic. That's more than enough to see me through any challenge." Harry added in a more confident voice.

"Great," Cedric sighed as he turned to the other two champions. "am I the only one who wasn't expecting to constantly be shown up by a fourteen year old when I entered?"

Cedric didn't get an answer to his question as a moment later Professor Dumbledore entered the tent, wearing a set of dark oceanic blue robes, he had a small smile on his face as he was followed in by Ludo Bagman who was rather wisely hiding behind the older and far more powerful warlock.

"Bagman." Harry said in a low, growly voice which caused Ludo to let out a very unmanly squeak.

"Mr Potter," Professor Dumbledore said, the amusements was quite evident in his voice but it was clear that he was admonishing Harry, though to Harry it seemed more a case of habit or duty. "it is good to see you, perhaps you would like to try that greeting again?" Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Hmm..." Harry hummed and looked thoughtful. "nah." He eventually responded in a rather dull voice. "so can we get on with this?" Harry asked.

"Very well," Dumbledore said before he turned to Bagman. "whenever you are ready, Ludo." He said in a gentle voice.

"Oh," Ludo coughed several times as he cleared his throat before he stepped out from behind Dumbledore and gave the champions a shaky smile. "okay, h...have you all worked out your clues?" He asked, he waited and he only started speaking once all four champions had nodded. "A...alright, smashing, that's wonderful. Now something...or rather someone important has been taken away from you."

"Worry not, young champions." Professor Dumbledore spoke when the champions grew tenser. "they are all perfectly safe, I assure you. I have personally cast several protective spells to keep them from harm and the merfolk in the lake have agreed to guard and protect them."

"Indeed," Ludo nodded. "now there has just been one person taken for each of you. Your job is quite simple, go in the lake and find them then take your hostage and get out, do it as fast and impressively as you can. There is of course the one hour limit on the task, so anybody who comes up after that will lose points. Is that all clear? Are there any questions?" He asked, he looked around and after several seconds of awkward silence he finally spoke again. "Excellent, now Professor Dumbledore and I will be off, good luck champions." Ludo said with a bright smile before he spotted the gaze of Harry's narrowed emerald green eyes, Ludo's smile visibly diminished and he visibly gulped before he turned and all but ran out of the tent in his haste to get away from Harry, once he was outside he would stop once he was far enough away from the tent and would gulp again as he realised that now he would have to spend time with Lord Black instead, he wasn't honestly sure which he preferred.

"Mr Potter, is it really so necessary for you to continue to scare Mr Bagman?" Professor Dumbledore asked with a small sigh.

"Yes." Was Harry's short but very firm answer.