Unfinished Gems

Soul Brothers - 2

Harry stood before the crowd. To his surprise, he could be seen while in soul form simply by using a little magic on himself.

Fortunately he had found a great place to hide his body. The last thing he needed was for people to ask some really uncomfortable questions about why he could leave his body at will.

Yoruichi promised to stand guard over it, so no one would remember finding the 'dead' body of Harry Potter.

Harry disguised his shihakusho with a simple charm, and no one could tell it wasn't the Champion uniform.

Hermione wished him luck, and Harry waited anxiously for his turn. Finally, the cannon boomed for the fourth time. He stepped out carefully, keeping his eyes wide open for the dragon.

Harry paid no attention to the judges or the crowd. He was keeping all his attention on finding and avoiding the dragon.

Suddenly he heard a roar. He did a duck-and-roll and avoided the cone of flames. The dragon kept up the barrage, and Harry managed to shunpo onto a rock out of the way. He didn't hear the crowd's gasp of surprise at the trick.

Then he spotted the target. It was a golden egg in the middle of an actual nest.

He used all his dexterity to flip and jump out of the way of the dragon's tail and claws. Yoruichi had been more than happy to teach him a few tricks that took advantage of his limber body. Ichigo could never pull off half the things he did at that moment.

Finally Harry's hands closed in on the gold egg, and he ran like hell. He was very good at free running, which meant the uneven slope of the arena made little difference to him.

When he reached the tent where the others had gone to, he finally paid attention to the crowd. It was going wild.

Hermione came in with a look of complete disbelief on her face.

"You got a perfect score! Even the Durmstrang headmaster gave you a ten!"

Harry, much to his shock, had out done everyone else.

Krum had smashed some of the eggs, Fleur had nearly gotten roasted when he distraction didn't work out, and Cedric had the second highest score. All three of them were looking at him with something akin to surprise.

"What?"

"Harry, how did you learn to move like that?" Cedric finally asked.

Fleur was waiting for his answer. She had approved of his graceful movements and quick reactions. The fact that he had used almost no magic to get the egg had impressed her.

Krum was impressed that unlike the majority of European wizards, Harry at least made a serious attempt to stay in shape.

"I've always loved rhythmic gymnastics. So most days I would find a quiet spot to practice a few simple moves. I took up free running to keep my skills at running in top shape."

"What about that trick you pulled to get on that rock? What was that?" asked Fleur.

"Flash step. Someone who knew how to do it taught me. Said it would make it harder for the dragons to roast me alive."

Harry refused to name his mysterious teacher, but waited with them patiently for the results. Hermione had been telling the truth about him having a perfect score.

The party was enormous. But the highlight of Harry's day was when Ron tried to slink up to his former best friend. The twins watched warily at how Harry would react to Ron's attempts to mend what was broken.

Harry did not speak. He was surprised that the redhead dared to come near him after what he pulled.

Harry was not oblivious. He was not thick-headed. He did not miss the little things.