Midnight Disaster | Harry Potter FanFiction

Capitulum Undecimum

The moment dawn broke Harry was out of the Gryffindor Tower, heading straight for the library. He honestly didn't care how upset his roommates would be to find him gone once again. That was the last thing on his mind. With as protective as everyone was, Harry knew he couldn't tell anyone he knew what he would have to face. The entire school would know by lunch time. Hopefully he would find the answers before anyone knew he was gone.

Unlikely but hopefully.

Entering the empty library, Harry went directly for the Magical Creature section and pulled out a rather large book on dragons. Sitting down on the floor with his back against the bookshelf, Harry started paging through the book, reading various passages trying to find anything that would help. He discovered the weakest spot on a dragon was the eyes which could be useful. He also learned that nesting mother dragons were extremely protective of their eggs, lashing out on anything that got near.

That got Harry thinking. He had to get past a nesting mother for what? Probably for one of the eggs. It made sense. The question now was what to do. Sirius had taught him quite a bit this summer and Remus had taught him a lot the summer before but none of that training would do any good against a dragon. He could summon the egg but the chances of accomplishing that without the dragon noticing was very unlikely.

Harry let out a sigh in frustration. He wanted to talk to Sirius and Remus but Harry knew he needed to do this on his own. Cedric, Viktor and Fleur wouldn't be running to their parents for answers and teachers weren't allowed to help. If they could pull this off than so could he. Harry just needed to figure out how in the world he was going to.

The sound of the library door opening and closing again pulled Harry out of his thoughts. Quickly, Harry put the book back, moved over to the Charms book stack and pulled out a book. Sitting back down and leaning against the book case, Harry quickly opened the book to a page in the middle of the book and pretended to read.

Footsteps echoed through the hall as the person approached. Harry could hear them coming closer and closer but he kept his eyes on the book. He ignored every instinct that was telling him to attack the stranger. He suppressed the urge to draw his wand to defend himself. After all, Malfoy wouldn't be caught dead in the library this early in the morning.

"Harry Potter?" a familiar voice asked in accented English.

Harry looked up to see Viktor Krum looking at him in surprise. "Er—good morning," he said nervously. Harry knew he should have expected this. It was only natural that Viktor and Fleur would want to research dragons too. "Um—I can leave if you need to study or something—"

"No, that's fine," Viktor said quickly. "I am just surprised to see you of all people here so early. I remember ven I vas fourteen. The last place you vould find me vas the library. Of course I didn't have your reputation..."

Harry paled as his eyes widened. He hated to think of half of the rumors the Slytherins, Ravenclaws and even Hufflepuffs had spread about him by now. Hermione, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys had done what they could to shield Harry from it but there was no denying it was happening. "Whatever you heard is a lie," Harry said quickly.

Viktor barely held back a laugh as he sat down beside Harry. "Is that so?" he asked candidly. "You didn't stop You-Know-Who again ven you were only eleven here in this very school? I also heard all about vhat you did for Sirius Black last year, some people said you faced the Dementors for him. No one has revealed all the details but I know you have left quite an impression."

Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Harry tried to think of something to say but his mind wasn't coming up with anything believable. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum. "Well, you know people like to gossip," Harry said softly. "They really don't care about the truth just as long as they have something to talk about."