Harry and Fleur sat in the tri-wizard champions tent with the other champions, they were all currently waiting for the first task to start. Fleur knew what it was thanks to her headmistress, she told Harry about it but he already knew because Hagrid had told him. Say what you want about Hagrid but the dude has a pure heart. The pair already knew that Krum knew thanks to his headmaster, so it seemed like Cedric was the only one who didn't know. Harry had spent a total of a minute wondering if he should tell Cedric, he weighed the pro's and cons of it.
Cons: If Cedric told on him then he could get in trouble but he didn't care about getting in trouble so that didn't matter. Cedric now stood a better chance in the tournament, but he didn't care about the tournament so that didn't matter.
Pros: Cedric is popular in Hufflepuff and could help in getting them to stop bothering him. Delphi would be happy with him and not complain about him not telling Cedric, also if Cedric dies then Harry doesn't have to feel bad because he actually helped.
In the end Harry told the Hufflepuff who was very grateful.
Harry, who currently had his head resting on Fleur's lap as she rubbed her hands through his hair, was pretending to be oblivious to the rest of the world. But he wasn't, the reactions to the article that Rita Skeeter wrote were impossible to ignore. Many people now looked at him with pitying and sympathetic looks while others looked apologetic.
Many who entered their names in the goblet were now worried about the possibility of something happening to them, the British wizarding community were practically rioting at the use of the goblet of fire, even other countries had contacted the British ministry and demanded its destruction. It was highly unlikely for them to be able to make a new one, the goblet was an ancient artifact made using magic that was lost by today's world.
The ministry and Dumbledore were all under heavy fire from the public and everyone from the minister to Dumbledore received howlers nearly every day, the public were all demanding that the goblet of fire be destroyed. Muggleborns because they did not want to leave the magical world or die, purebloods also as they did not want to risk someone doing the same to them. All of the country was in agreement over what should happen to the goblet.
Eventually a statement was released saying that it would be destroyed right after the tournament, whenever Harry saw Dumbledore he looked much more tired and old than usual, the old man was under heavier fire than most. The man had always had enemies and they decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try and make things worse for him, there was also the parents of those who had put their names in the goblet along with many students. Students from all houses were angry with Dumbledore, pretty much all the Slytherins along with most of the Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaws and a few of the Gryffindor's.
In fact most of the country was pissed with him as nobody really fancied losing their magic, and the fact that the great Albus Dumbledore of all people supported using such a deadly and dark artifact had really rubbed people the wrong way, especially when it was a fourteen year old boy who realised and pointed out how dangerous it was before any of the adults that were supposed to be magical experts.
Harry sighed with pleasure as he felt Fleur's fingers run through his hair, he looked up and she smiled at him. Cedric and Krum were wearing protective padding and robes, yellow and black robes for Cedric as he was a Hufflepuff while Krum wore red and brown robes with a red bird symbol on his chest. Fleur had opted for a white and blue dress to represent her school, everyone had expected Harry to arrive in a similar outfit to Cedric and Krum but blue to show his association with Ravenclaw.
Harry was currently wearing black dragon hide boots and trousers, along with a black shirt and that was it. Harry was not willing to wear a robe when he knew he could potentially be fighting a dangerous creature and was not going to get bitten because he tripped on one. As Harry lay with his head in Fleur's lap, he briefly began wondering if he should put on his mask. From what he had read, dragons take showing teeth to be a challenge, so it's probably be better if he didn't risk it.
"Hello everyone" Rita Skeeter walked in with her camera man, the camera man saw Harry Potter with his head in his girlfriends lap, he was about to take a picture when Rita placed a hand on his arm, signalling him not to. She then smiled and walked forwards as Harry sat up "I was wondering if I could just get a few pictures and words before the task" She smiled at all of them.
"You are not supposed to be here" Krum said "this tent is for champions only".
"Yes" Rita looked at Krum, almost as if she was sizing him up, not in the perverted way.
"Greetings" Dumbledore said as he walked in along with Barty Crouch and the other school heads plus Ludo Bagman. Dumbledore, Bagman and Crouch didn't seem too happy to see Harry Potter and Rita Skeeter, especially both in the same tent. "Rita, we need a word with the champions, in private" Dumbledore said to her, emphasising the last word.
"Of course headmaster" Rita gave him a small smile before turning to Harry "by the way, I was wondering if I could possibly meet you for another interview"
"I'd like that" Harry grinned as he looks at Dumbledore and the others who alternated between looking like they were going to faint or scream.
"Excellent" Rita smirked and walked out.
"Now" Dumbledore said to the champions "firstly I want to let you all know that there have been a change to the tournament, we now possess these" Dumbledore held up a round piece of glass "this is an enchanted mirror, it is unbreakable, able to turn invisible and charmed to follow you around during the tasks, everything they see can be viewed on other mirrors. Several have been placed around various places so that the audience are able to view the task and I have been informed that they are also connected to mirrors that are set up in Diagon Alley and at the ministry."
"Who funded this?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"An anonymous donation" Ludo Bagman smiled, Harry looked at Dumbledore and saw that he was understanding that Harry suspected Libra. Harry looked at the mirror and he did think that Libra wanted everyone to see him, if he did good in the task then it let people know how good members of Libra are and if he did bad then they could watch the 'traitor' suffer. He also imagined it was payback for revelling them.
"The mirrors have been checked several times" Dumbledore said "they will not harm anyone. I assure you that they are perfectly safe. Now, Barty, if you wouldn't mind"
Barty Crouch Senior began explaining the task and how they had to retrieve a golden egg from a nesting dragon. Cedric and Fleur looked a bit pale, despite knowing about the dragons, Krum looked the same as always while Harry looked like he was resisting the urge to insult everyone in the tent, and he was, he desperately wanted to insult everyone...except Fleur...but everyone else was fair game.
Nearly two hours later Harry was sent out to compete, the other champions had competed and Fleur was currently winning. Harry walked out into the stadium, the seats were all full of people. He noticed the judge's tower where the three school heads along with Barty Crouch senior and Ludo Bagman were sitting. Harry took a second to look at the area, it was made up of stone and rocks, obviously meaning to replicate the dragon's habitat.
Harry then took a second to look at the dragon, it was massive and covered in spikes, a very deadly species of dragon known as the Hungarian horntail. A species of dragon known for being wild and dangerous. Harry noticed the enchanted mirrors as well and saw his face on them, he shook his head to clear his mind. He pulled out his mask and put it on, causing many people to gasp.
Harry calmly walked forwards, the dragon locked eyes with him and shot out a burst of fire that speeded towards Harry, Harry raised his foot and kicked the fire, causing it to disappear, the dragon shot another blast, Harry kicked it with his other foot, the dragon shot a third and fourth. Harry punched both of the blasts, when a fifth one struck him in the chest. The dragon kept pouring out deadly and vicious flames from his mouth and covered Harry in them.
Many people gasped and were in complete and utter shock at the way that the boy-who-lived and ex-assassin was so easily killed. Dumbledore didn't know how to react, not only was his reputation at an all time low, it had just got worse since he lost the boy-who-lived, an even worse problem was the fact that nobody would be left to defeat Voldemort...but...Harry couldn't die here...the prophecy said that...wait a sec, what's happening?
Laughter.
Laughter was what the crowd heard, everyone watched as the dragon stopped shooting and the flames dies down. Harry was slowly revealed in the flames and he was laughing his head off, his laughter was crazy, not at all sane and incredibly unnerving.
Harry stood laughing, not caring about how he looked to others or their reactions, his body shook with joy as he felt the warmth of the flames, he felt their power, he stood there for several minutes before he eventually decided it was time to stop. He walked towards the dragon who prepared to fire again.
"Greetings" Harry said in parsletounge, causing the dragon to stop, if people could see Harry's face then they would see the complete look of relief as he definitely did not know if the dragon would be able to understand parsletounge.
"A speaker?" The ragon asked.
"Indeed noble fire breather" Harry nodded "I must say that you're flames are most impressive. I come here to ask you for one of your eggs"
"You will not take my eggs two legs!" The dragon hissed and raised it's wings threateningly.
"I do not intend to take your eggs" Harry said calmly even though he was more than ready to leg it "though I would like to take the fake egg they've placed in your nest"
"Fake egg?" The dragon asked as it lowered it's wings and inspected it's eggs, it began sniffing them, it's nose eventually reached the gold one and rested on it for several minutes "It's a fake!" It growled.
"I know" Harry said apologetically "I apologise but I will die if I do not retrieve the fake or at least attempt to, I do not wish to fight with you nor harm your eggs. May I please have the fake?"
"Take it" The dragon said and nudged it towards Harry, Harry slowly walked forward and picked it up.
"Thank you noble dragon" Harry nodded to it before he began walking off when he noticed that the crowd was looking at him "What?!" He demanded when he took off his mask "If one of you mother fuckers want to fight a dragon then have at it! I'm an assassin I'm not an idiot." Harry calmly walked towards the tent.
When he got in the school nurse immediately rushed towards him and began performing diagnostic charms, she seemed a bit disappointed when she realised that Harry wasn't hurt at all. Fleur greeted him with a hug, Cedric with a nod while Krum just looked disappointed that Harry wasn't hurt.
A little while later Harry and Fleur would be found walking together as they left the stadium right after getting their results, Harry was currently in first place with Fleur as second and Krum last while Cedric had taken third place. Krum was last because he had taken a lot of time and destroyed several of the actual eggs, Cedric was third because he took some time as well and managed to have his arm damaged a little. Fleur was second because she had taken less time than the former two and didn't get hurt in anyway apart from having her dress burnt a little.
Harry was first because he had taken the least amount of time, he also managed to deal with dragon fire, fire that was second only to fiendfyre and he received no damaged at all. Though Barty Crouch Sr took away some points for using a 'dark' form of magic, referencing Harry's parsletounge ability. Harry was tempted to shave off his mustache and make him eat it while asking how it tasted using parsletounge.
"You were so brilliant" Fleur said to him as they walked, enjoying the feeling of his hand in hers.
"Thanks" Harry smiled "I didn't do much"
"Arry, did the dragon fire hurt you?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Nah, it felt good" Harry grinned.
"Hmm, good huh?" Fleur asked, Harry wasn't sure but he felt like there was a hint of jealousy in there, he supposed that he would have to do something about that.
"Don't worry" He nudged her gently "I like your fire better, it's more...loving"
"Thank you" She smiled at him, a glint then appeared in her eyes.
She grabbed Harry and pulled him into a nearby classroom, she pressed him against a wall and kissed him strongly. Harry, in the middle of some very passionate snogging, felt his dace heat up and realised that Fleur's hands were on fire. He smiled into the kiss, her hands that were on his face made him feel even better. Eventually Fleur stopped kissing.
Harry was about to say something when she cut him off with another kiss then began sliding down to her knees, Harry just rolled his eyes and took out his wand and performed the necessary privacy charms.