Nose to the Wind // tomarry

Chapter 18: The Sun Will Set For You

Harry didn't end up cheating to find out what the first task was, though he did make a point to pester Tom about it every time he visited, just because he could. That said, he didn't bother acting surprised when Will informed him – writing from the stands, because he'd apparently decided that playing commentator was awesome, and Harry sort of wanted to suggest that he be made the quidditch commentator next time he saw Severus – that the task involved getting a golden egg from a dragon.

'Nesting mother?' Harry guessed.

'How'd you know? Did you cheat?'

'Familiarity with dragons,' Harry lied, because he wasn't about to explain the truth to Will.

Cedric's method remained the same as it had in Harry's first reality, using a transfigured dog to distract the dragon while he grabbed the egg. Age had granted him wisdom, however, as he transfigured three rocks into dogs, then used a disillusionment charm on himself to keep the dragon from turning her attention on the real threat while he was trying to get the egg.

Jeanne André – Harry had found out about the accent for her name and the proper spelling of the Durmstrang champion's last name from The Daily Prophet, and had taken pains to correct his brother about both – had gone with the conjunctivitis curse, and suffered broken eggs for her trouble. Will reported the young woman had looked like she was going to cry when she was led away.

Zofia Wojczyk, Harry knew from the interview in The Daily Prophet, came from a family of dragon handlers, and so was particularly suited to this task. She had approached the Chinese Fireball slowly, speaking to it in a foreign language – the task commentator said it was Chinese, Will reported – the whole way. The dragon shot a fireball at her when she grabbed the golden egg and ran for it, but it mostly missed her, beyond burning a chunk of her hair.

That left Cedric in the lead, with Durmstrang and then Beauxbâtons following.

'Because we ROCK,' Will insisted.

'And you were complaining about the Hogwarts champion being a Hufflepuff,' Harry sent back.

'Shut up. I hope all the other tasks are just as awesome!'

Harry snorted, because if this tournament went anything like it had gone in his first reality, then next two tasks weren't really spectator-friendly. 'One can only hope,' he wrote, preferring not to dash his brother's hopes so soon, especially since he didn't know for certain. 'Are Fred and George cooking up a celebratory party in the Gryffindor common room?'

'Of course! So I'm going to shut up for a while and feed my sweet tooth.'

'I was going to say 'will wonders never cease', but then you mentioned your sweet tooth and I'm no longer impressed,' Harry couldn't resist sending.

Will didn't write him back again that night, and Harry snickered to himself as he went to bed.

-0-

At the beginning of December, Will solemnly informed Harry that Hermione would be remaining at Hogwarts for Christmas, because of the Yule Ball, and he and Chris kind of wanted to stay, too.

'I know,' Harry had replied, amused. 'I'd rather expected it, in all honesty, and Mum and Dad sent off a note this morning to you both, telling you you can stay over, too, if you want to. We'll go to Canada again or somewhere and I can work on my skiing.'

'No way! I'm supposed to stay better than you!' was Will's immediate reply. While Harry was still laughing about how easy his brother was, he sent, 'You're really not upset? I know you don't like it when we're at Hogwarts.'

Harry blinked, surprised, then snorted at himself; he'd hardly made it a secret that he didn't like having his brothers and Hermione out of his easy reach. 'I'm resigned. And the way you keep me updated, I'll know if anything happens.'