Chapter - 48 : The Unwanted Champion part - 2

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"I'm in Slytherin for a reason, Draco. I'll find out."

"Dragons," Harry stated proudly, several weeks after that fateful Halloween night. "The first task is dragons."

"Dragons?" Neville repeated. "What do you have to do? Kill one?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think that would go over well with certain groups, we probably have to subdue one or get past them."

"How did you find out?" Ron asked.

"Hagrid showed me, took me out to the Forbidden Forest and we caught a glimpse of them being put in cages. I'm pretty sure I saw Charlie helping out."

"Now you're one step ahead of the competition, Potter," Draco nodded approvingly.

"Well…"

"Well what?"

"Well, Madame Maxime was there, I think Hagrid was taking her on a date, and on my way back I saw Karkaroff skulking around, you can bet they'll tell their champions so technically I'm not ahead, Cedric was actually the only one who didn't know."

"Well, that's one less competitor to worry about at least."

Harry bit his lip and looked away.

Draco's eyes narrowed to suspicious slits. "What did you do, Potter?"

"I kind of maybe sorta told him."

"Why?"

Harry shrugged. "My skewed morals, besides, just in case I don't win, I at least want it to be a Hogwarts victory."

"You're impossible, Potter."

"So, I've been looking into things that can help you defeat or subdue a dragon for a bit," Hermione informed her friend. "But, I've not found much. Their eyes are especially sensitive so that gives you several ways to at least distract it, and there are rumors that their bellies are vulnerable, but that's not been proven."

"That's not giving us much to work with."

"I know," Hermione sighed, "but it's a start."

"You're right of course," Harry said. "I just wish we had something more to work with."

"Don't worry, we'll find something, we just need to think things through. So let's think, what's the most formidable thing about a dragon?"

"Um, their teeth?"

"No, Harry."

"Their claws?"

"No."

"Those big scaly feet? Merlin, I would hate to be ste-"

"Their fire, you nitwit, fire."

"Right," Harry grinned sheepishly. "I knew that."

"Of course you did. Anyway, the first thing we should do is find a way to neutralize the threat."

"Or…" Harry said slowly, brain running a thousand miles a minute "Or use the dragon's greatest weapon against it."

It took Harry weeks to plan every little detail of his strategy to perfection and it took even longer to research, practice, and perfect the spells needed, but when the day of the first task finally arrived, he was ridiculously prepared to compete. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for a certain one of his friends.

"Are you sure you have everything down?" Hermione fretted. "That you can perform all of your spells perfectly? If not we can go down to the lake and practice a bit more, it's not too late. The task won't start until after lunch, that's not for another…" The bushy haired witch looked down at her watch. "Oh no, there's only ten minutes left! What are we to do? Oh Merlin, I'm not ready!"

"Hermione!" Harry grabbed his panicking friend's shoulders and forced her to turn and look at him. "Calm down, I'm ready for whatever I'm about to face, as should you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry," she nervously twisted a napkin around her fingers. "It's just, I'm so worried, what if something goes wrong?"

"It won't, I had the brightest witch of our age helping me through this all, I have the fullest confidence in our plan so, please, calm down."

Hermione heaved a heavy sigh and then nodded. "All right, I'm sorry, Harry, it's just this competition is getting to me."

"One would think you were the one competing from the way you're carrying on, Granger."

"Hush Draco," Hermione said, but a soft smile was tugging at her lips.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry turned in his seat and looked up at his head of house. "Yes, Professor Snape?"

"It's time for you to prepare for the first task, follow me if you please."

"Yes, sir," Harry stood from his seat, bid his friends goodbye and followed Snape out onto the grounds.

"Are you prepared for the task, Potter?"

Harry glanced up at Snape, a small smirk curled his lips. "Why Professor Snape, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were worried about me."

"Hardly," the potion's master scoffed, "I simply don't wish to have the student who secured the house cup for Slytherin four years running die in an idiotic blaze of 'glory.'"

Harry laughed "Considering the amount of house points McGonagall has taken because of me, that shining reputation won't carry through this year. But yes, I do have a plan, and it is glorious."

Snape arched a brow incredulously. "I'm holding you to that, Potter."

"Harry! Good!" Bagman exclaimed happily when Harry entered the large tent standing before the dragon enclosure. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!" Harry warily joined the three other champions in the tent. "Well, now that we're all here time to fill you in!

"When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag," Bagman held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them, "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too… ah, yes… your task is to collect the golden egg!"

Harry nodded once, he'd suspected that they'd have to subdue the dragon or find a way to get past it, but this wasn't too bad, as long as the egg wasn't located somewhere ridiculous, like around the dragon's neck or something, knowing the specifics of the task didn't change his overall plan.

In no time at all, the stands outside of the tent were filled with hundreds of chattering students and it was time for the task to begin.

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

http//patreon.com/Kun_kanshi

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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