Meeting Of Swords and Wands

Chapter 25: The First Task

Harry woke up Monday in a daze. Despite him and Hermione working virtually all day and night last night, they were nowhere close to finding a way for Harry to combat the vengeful, bloodthirsty, hellfire that is mother dragon protecting her eggs. Thanks to Hagrid's ramblings and the many books he and 'Mione read, Harry knew full well that Dragon Fire was capable of turning a human to ashes within seconds and that's not counting what their teeth can do. And, tomorrow was judgement day.  Harry spent the first hours of his day in a trance, admitting that this was his last full day alive. No way he can survive fighting a dragon in this state, so might as well accept his inevitable death.

He made his way down to the Great Hall where Percy, Nico, and Hermione were sitting at the Gryffindor Table.

"Hey Harry." Percy warmly greeted.

"Hey." Harry depressingly replied.

"What's wrong Harry?" Nico asked.

"Oh, I don't know? How about that I am going to die tomorrow in front of the whole school!? That might be a problem!" Harry yelled, waving his arms wildly.

"Hey, you're going to make it tomorrow." Percy encouraged, "You got out of worse situations and there'll be professionals like Charley right there to save you."

"But then I'll fail." Harry replied.

"Then you fail." Nico stated, "Sure people will think you're out of your league. But, you are. No one in their right mind thinks that you, a 14 year old, can beat a dragon. But, the important thing is that you'll still be alive."

"Thanks Nico." Harry murmured as he piled on the food. "I suppose you two don't have any bright ideas?"

"Well, if you got a sword, a dragon's belly and neck are soft. But, you're not a trained swordsman." Percy sighed.

"I got nothing. You could try Avada Kedavra. But, that may land you in jail." Nico admitted.

"Not to mention piss Hagrid and Charley off." Harry sighed. He could only imagine the ass tearing Hagrid and Charlie would give him for killing a mother dragon. Askaban is at least safe from Voldemort and he'd never have to go back to the Dursleys, so that's another plus. The flapping of wings caused Harry's train of thought to crash and kill everyone aboard as he looked up to see the morning post arrive. Hermione grabbed her morning Daily Prophet and began to read. Harry, Nico and Percy began eating in silence before Hermione screamed out.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!" Her screams echoing through the hall, scaring the owls into the air and earning the looks of every student and member of staff, including a killer glare from McGonagall.

"Aksghfkjksf!!!! Hermione!!! Don't do that!!! You'll cause Gryffindor to lose 10 points!" Percy yelled.

"10 points from Gryffindor for foul language." Professor McGonagall sternly stated.

"You see!?" Percy gestured.

"Sorry professor!" Hermione said, "But it's important! There was a pitched battle at Gringotts!"

"What!?" The whole hall yelled. They then grabbed their copies of the Prophet where on the front page, in bold letters, there was the headline talking about the battle. Hermione read out loud to Harry, Neville, Percy, and Nico:

MAJOR BATTLE AT GRINGOTTS
HUNDREDS OF GOBLINS SLAIN & BANK HEAVILY DAMAGED

Last night, the catacombs of Gringotts Bank were the site of a pitched battle that left over 230 Goblins dead and several hundred in various states of injury. The attack was an act of thievery last night by powerful Dark Wizards unknown. According to the Gringotts Head Goblin, the battle began at 12:05 midnight on Monday and lasted until about 1:00 the same morning. The Wizards were caught forcing their way out of a highly secure vault in the lower catacombs by Odbert the Goblin when he saw that the dragon that guards the vaults in the lower levels had disappeared for reasons unkown, though most likely it was the work of the culprits. The thieves then killed Odbert and his compatriots when they escaped. The specific vault the thieves were targeting was no divulged, however sources say that the vault belongs to a family of Voldemort supporters. Thus, it may be conjectured that the thieves were after dark artifacts."