HARRY POTTER - AU TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

CHAPTER 5

Harry did have a say in it and he didn't let any one bring him down. He took up the residence in the rooms the elves set up for him and went to the RoR after breakfast to see if he would need any books from the room, take the ones he liked or needed and sit in the library until lunch to satisfy the crowds. Then he would go back to the rooms and only show his face again the next day.

All in all, he spent two to three hours in public, in the library. He ate all his meals in his room, made by only Dobby or Winky so that he wouldn't get pranked.

Two days before the first task, a small first year came to him, shaking in his shoes.

"Harry Potter?" The kid asked and Harry nodded his head. "Head- Headmaster asked you to come to third floor Charms room for wand weighing Ceremony." He stuttered a bit and then ran away as soon as Harry nodded his head. Harry was of course expecting it. He did the research on the tournament as soon as he realized he knew nothing about it.

He asked Sirius to teach him to dance first before anything else as he would have to attend the Yule ball. He cleaned his wand and kept it in perfect condition for the ceremony. He walked to the destination to find all the other champions, their principals, a reporter and cameraman present along with Ollivander.

"Hello Mr. Ollivander. How are you this fine day?" He asked politely. He wouldn't acknowledge anyone else. When they couldn't be polite and formal with him, he can ignore them. Unless they apologize formally he wouldn't even consider forgiving them.

"I am fine Mr. Potter." Ollivander replied. Harry nodded and took a seat beside Cedric Diggory.

"I am sorry for not believing you, Potter. I talked to my Housemates, they agreed to leave you alone even if they won't believe that you didn't enter your name. We all saw Headmaster place the age line around the cup and the failed attempts of the Weasley twins. You couldn't - wouldn't have done it." Cedric said. harry looked at him for a few seconds.

"Why do you think I wouldn't have done it?" Harry asked. "I am not saying I did. I just want to know why you believe that I wouldn't." 

"Well, you are the epitome of Gryffindor, noble, loyal, brave. You wouldn't cheat your way into a tournament when you are not supposed to participate. And, well, if the rumors are true then you had more than enough adventures in this school for the past three years. I think even you would want a break from everything." harry nodded and showed his gratitude in hiss eyes.

"Thank for believing in me at least now, Cedric." The headmaster entered the room just as he saw the reporter walk towards them.

"Let's start the ceremony, shall we?" He said amiably.

(We all know the wands of each champion, I am not writing it again. I am a lazy person  whose hands are paining with the typing of third chapter right now.)

"Great, now to interview all off our champions. Let's start with our youngest, shall we?" Rita skeeter, as Harry learned her name, said.

"I'm sorry Ms. Skeeter. I would have to decline. You see I have a lot of catching up to do if I want to come out alive in this competition." Harry said sweetly. "You don't want to waste my precious time which could very well save my life, do you?"

"But giving an interview is not a waste of time, Mr. Potter." She said sickly sweetly.

"Ah... but that is where you are wrong. Any time spent away from books at this crucial time is time wasted. Now, I will take your leave." He didn't even let her speak anymore before he walked out.

If she indeed printed anymore than what he said then he could sue her. And she couldn't print what he said anyway.

******

Harry couldn't sleep that night in the worry about what the task could be and decided to fly his broom for a while. He went for a flight over the School and the Forbidden forest to clear his mind. He saw fire somewhere in the middle of the forest and went to see what caused it. He was baffled by what he saw in the forest. 

There were four Dragons spewing fire at the handlers left and right.He slowly flew lower and lower and saw Hagrid with Madam Maxime. He was about to fly back up when he saw a shadow more a few feet behind the half giants. He concentrated on the shadow that moved only to see that it was Karkaroff.

Both the other school champions will now know what the first task is. He didn't know if Diggory saw the Dragons and knew about them or not. He went back to the castle and started reading books on Dragons. he would  talk to Diggory the next day and warn him . It wouldn't matter if he knew or not before Harry told him. He felt it was the right thing to do and tell Cedric.

-----------

The next day, for the first time in two weeks, Harry emerged from his room well before Breakfast and went to the Great hall. He sat t the Ravenclaw table waiting for Cedric. He would follow the teen out of the hall and tell him in secret.

He followed Cedric and his friends out of the hall and into the courtyard.

"Cedric." He called and the boy turned around. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" The boy nodded and pushed his friends back as they were about to follow him. Harry kept a few dung bombs and other things from Zonko's in his pocket these days, as a safety precaution and when people irritated him too much.

"What is it Harry?"

"Do you know what the first task is?" Cedric looked at him suspiciously. "Hey I know. I came here to tell you. It's Dragons."

"I-  didn't know that." Cedric admitted. "Why are you telling me?"

"The other two know and I saw them yesterday in the forest. You were the only one I was not sure about." They nodded to each other after a few pleasantries and left in opposite directions.

Harry, by now, finished Transfiguration and DADA up to NEWTS level. He was sure that he was strong in his wand work than in potions and would use one of the three subjects for the first task. Now that he knew about the dragons, he was researching how to defeat one.

He didn't go to the library today. He was busy and he had no intention of wasting time in there for people's satisfaction. They already saw him in the great hall anyway. As he walked past the library his curiosity got the best of him.

He wanted to see who had which books on dragons and who was hording how many of them. And to no one surprise, booth Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum were in the library. The lady had four books and Krum had three. He went to see the section which held the books on magical creatures to see that indeed the shelf was empty of all the books on Dragons. As he turned to walk away, he saw Cedric carry the last two books on them.

All the three looked at him. Cedric looked guilty, Krum looked confused and sorry and Fleur had a smug look on her face.

"Mr. Potter, it seems the books you came for are not available." She said. They were all in the same part of the library and within few feet of each other, so they could talk and hear each other without having to shout. Harry wanted to wipe the look off her face.

He smiled sweetly at her, "Oh! you mistake me, Ms. Delacour. I didn't come here for any books unlike your misconception. I was merely curious as to who was hording how many books." He said with a sickly sweet voice which would make anyone nauseous. "I have my own collection on Dragons. If I am correct, I have more than a dozen books on those fascinating things. You see, that is one of the benefits of taking CoMC." Fleur turned her face away in anger, Cedric had a look of understanding. Though he didn't take CoMC, he heard of Hagrid's love for the exotic and dangerous.

"Vat do you mean?" Krum asked. "Hagrid loves dragons, so I bought books on them as a precaution for when he assigned them in class." He said and shrugged. "Bye. I think we all have a lot of reading to do, Oui?" Harry deliberately added the last word in French. He wanted to remind the Beauxbatons champion of the incident nearly three weeks ago.

He walked out of the library greeting Irma, as she insisted he called her, on his way. Baiting that woman was simply so much fun.