The Daughter of Voldemort

Chapter 8

The next month flew by in a haze. Harry and Veronica were meeting once a week to practice wandless magic. Although Harry picked up the general principle of the act relatively quickly, the actual mastery of it was much more difficult. He had been able to perform the accio spell seamlessly for a few weeks now, but expelliarmus was another story. Not once had be been able to banish Veronica's wand from her grip in the three weeks they had been practicing, although he had progressed ever so slightly. 

Their friendship had also escalated slightly. Instead of third party notes passed through Dumbledore, the two had begun talking to each other outside of their sessions and in front of other people. The two could now easily exchange hello's while passing in the hallway. He wished he could say the same about Ron. 

Ever since Harry's name had been drawn from the cup, Ron had been giving him the cold shoulder. The only acknowledgment Harry even got from Ron was the snide comments he would make when Harry would return from one of his and Veronica's sessions late at night. 

The first triwizard tournament task was in a couple of days and he still had no idea how to defeat the dragon. He didn't even know what the first task was until last week when he followed Hagrid through the woods where he saw the dragons. He and Hermione had spent the last week in the library trying to figure out what to do, but with no luck.

"I think you're just going to have to play to your strengths and act based on the dragon," Hermione said, defeated by the mound of books in front of her.

"What strengths? It's not like the dragons have a wand that I can use expelliarmus on. This is hopeless," Harry replied, burying his head in a large book. 

"I have an idea," a third voice chimed in. Harry and Hermione whipped their heads in the direction of the voice. Veronica was standing a few feet away, a couple of books wedged under her arms. 

"Yeah?" Harry perked up when he saw her small smile, "Care to share?"

Veronica moved closer and sat down at their table, "Well, like Hermione said- you need to play to your strengths. And you are the best flier I've ever seen!"

Harry's face grew slightly pink at the unexpected compliment, "I mean that's good and all, but It's not like they are going to allow me to bring a broom into the arena."

"Yeah, but you are pretty good at the summoning charm, you just need to practice performing it long distance a few times and you'll be able to summon your broom from all the way across campus! Just leave your window open in your dorm" Veronica's smile was contagious, Harry was grinning brightly even though he was still unsure of his own abilities.

"Yeah, I mean, I can try," Harry said, "Having my broom would definitely give me an advantage. What do you think?"

Harry turned his head back to confirm this idea with Hermione. Hermione's jaw was agape and her eyes were darting back and forth between Harry and Veronica. She hadn't seen them interacting in such a casual way and it threw her off guard. 

"Hey," Harry clapped his hands in front of Hermione's face to snap her out of her trance, "I asked what you thought? You know. The broom?"

Harry looked back at Veronica who had gone a shade pinker after seeing Hermione's reaction. She gathered her books and stood up again.

"Umm," Hermione finally spoke up, "Yeah, yeah. That's a great idea. As long as you can manage the charm."

A few seconds of silence went by before Veronica spoke up, "I can't stay, but good luck Harry!" She said nervously under the glare of Hermione before turning and walking away quickly. 

A few more seconds of silence fell before Harry got up from the library table, "I should go practice! You coming?"

Hermione mumbled a yes and the two of them went outside to the grounds to practice. 

The first task of the Triwizard Tournament came much too quickly. The four champions were taken to an offset tent adjacent to the arena. Because Harry filled Cedric in on the subject of the first task and the other two presumably already knew, none of the champions looked shocked when they announced the dragons. Their task seemed simple- capture the golden egg and don't let the dragon kill you first.

They each chose a miniaturized version of the dragon they would be assigned. Harry drew the Hungarian Horntail, the most violent of the four dragons. 

Harry waited nervously for his turn in the tent, listening to the commentary and the crowd's cheering, but never exactly sure what was happening. 

"Harry Potter," his name is called, signalling that it was his turn. Harry entered the arena, his hands shaking slightly with nervousness. The large arena was filled to the brim with students and faculty and the center was converted into a rocky terrain. The dragon was large and dark. Harry didn't get the opportunity to see many details of the dragon because it immediately shot a ball of fire in his direction.  

Harry ran and ducked behind a boulder, narrowly escaping the flames. Harry tried quickly reappearing and casting a spell towards the dragon, but had no success with each of his attempts being closely followed by a stream of fire headed in Harry's direction. 

Narrowly dodging the flames, Harry found a temporary shelter behind a boulder, "Accio Firebolt," a few moments passed and Harry began to think it hadn't worked. All of a sudden, he saw a tiny figure flying towards him while readily growing larger. The broom barely needed to slow down and Harry had already swung his leg over the side and taken off towards the sky. He distracted the dragon by guiding it's attention away from it's nest.  

The dragon took off from the ground and flew after Harry, leaving it's nest uncovered. Harry led it completely out of the arena before swinging around and flying back faster than he had ever flown. He shifted his grip and the broom dove towards the ground. In one easy swoop, Harry grabbed the egg and circled back up towards the sky, successfully completing his task. The crowd screamed with joy and the person over the intercom announced that Harry Had completely the task in the fasted time, putting him in the lead.  

Harry landed his broom back at the entrance of the the tent where he was immediately escorted to the hospital tent that had been set up for the competitors. He didn't have any major injuries, but Madam Pomfrey still wanted to heal the few burns he sustained. 

"Harry," A familiar voice called from the entrance of the hospital tent.

"Ron!" Harry jumped from the bed and ran to hug Ron. Hermione was right behind him, both having a huge grin plastered across their face. 

"That was brilliant. And terrifying," Ron said quickly, "I don't know why I was jealous of you. You'd have to be mad to volunteer for that."

Harry nodded in agreement and the three of them fell into an easy conversation that Harry had been missing from his life for the past couple of weeks.