Harry mentally sighed as he walked down the hallway along with Colin Creevey (or 'Creepy' as Harry mentally referred to him), Harry had been in potions class a few minutes ago, only for Creepy to enter and say that Harry's attendance was apparently required for an event involving the tournament. Snape hadn't been happy about the interruption, but then again neither was Harry, Snape might be an asshole but Harry takes his education seriously.
Apparently Harry had to attend something called the 'Weighing of the Wands ceremony'.
"I still can't believe you're a champion!" Colin gushed as he walked alongside Harry.
"Should I kill him?" Jet asked.
"No, he'll haunt us from your body." Harry sighed before he turned to Colin who had finally stopped talking. "Tell me, do you think about me at night?" Harry asked.
"Huh? Uh...no, not really. Sometimes in the day." Colin shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with that question.
"Praise for Merlin for small miracles." Harry said under his breath. "Now do me a favour and be quiet before I have my snake strangle you."
"Really?!" Colin asked, apparently that excited him for some reason.
"Oh great, he's a pervert and a masochist. I'm not touching that." Jet hissed just as Harry arrived outside of the room he was supposed to be in.
"Alright Colin, it was nice talking to you, let's continue this conversation never." Harry said before he entered the room and quickly closed the door before Creepy could reply.
Once Harry was inside he saw the three champions talking together on one side of the room, on the other side of the room there were three people. One seemed to be a photographer, the other was a female journalist with curly blonde hair, too much make up and green clothes. There was one more person who happened to be here.
"Oh hello, Mr Potter." Ludo said in a quiet voice as he nervously walked over to Harry. "Um...Dumbledore is bringing the expert...the weighing ceremony is about to begin soon...it's...a long-standing tradition of the tournament."
"Oh I just love those." Harry said in a sarcastic voice as he glared at Bagman.
"Um...yes...well..." Ludo coughed before he continued speaking. "I..." Ludo found himself cut off as Jet, who was still on Harry's shoulders, began hissing loudly at the former beater. "um...what did he say?" Ludo asked.
"Hungry." Harry half whispered-half growled as he continued to look at Ludo like he was a bug that he wanted to stomp on. "Continue speaking." Harry said before Bagman could reply.
"R...right," Ludo gulped before continuing. "well...there just needs to be a small photo shoot and interview with the Daily Prophet." Ludo said just as the reporter woman walked over. "This is Rita Skeeter, from the Daily Prophet."
"I was wondering if I could have a moment alone with Mr Potter," Rita said, eyeing Harry like he was a juicy bit of meat. "You know, the youngest champion in history, add a nice little bit of colour to the article."
"Oh, of course." Ludo said, his mouth unfortunately engaging before his brain.
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak for me," Harry said in a cold voice. "first you risk my magic and then you speak for me, perhaps you'd want to take control of my money while you're at it."
"Oh...I...I'm sorry." Ludo quickly apologised.
"I imagine so." Harry said before turning to Rita. "Miss Skeeter, you may not know this but due to the incompetence of Mr Bagman and those who helped organise the tournament, I have been entered against my will and am not at the risk of losing my magic. Which is why I am going to be suing the second this tournament is over."
"Really?" Rita asked, looking like she struck a goldmine.
"Yes, I'm telling you this because I trust that you are kind enough to understand the position I'm in," If he was being honest, he didn't think that she was kind enough to understand the position he was in, which is why he added the next part. "of course I also understand that you're smart enough to now imply or write truths about the person who is the Lord of the Potter family and heir to the Black family, two families that could easily buy the Daily Prophet, especially when that person is living with a lawyer." Harry finished with a smile.
"R...right, of course, I understand." Rita said with a forced smile, she had been in the business long enough to know when to play along. All she would have to do is bide her time until she learnt enough Potter, then it would be her who would be in control.
At that moment Professor Dumbledore entered the room along with Mr Ollivander and the other tournament judges, including Fudge and Arcturus. As soon as Arcturus entered the majority of people in the room could have sworn they felt a cold breeze pass through them, Arcturus's eyes immediately narrowed when he spotted Ludo.
"Oh...I...forgive me, I forgot something, I'll be back in a moment." Ludo said before he quickly ran out of the room.
"He's not coming back, is he?" Cedric asked.
"Most likely not," Dumbledore said in a cheery voice. "now Mr Ollivander here is the country's best wand maker, he's here to inspect your wands and make sure that they are all in perfect working condition. We can start whenever you are ready." He told Ollivander.
"Thank you, Albus." Ollivander nodded to him. "Ladies first." He said before gesturing Fleur to come over. She did so, pulling her wand out before stopping in front of him, she placed the wand in his hands and watched as he began examining it. "Hmm, interesting...nine and a half inches...flexible...with rosewood...oh and this core is very interesting..."
"A hair from a veela, my grandmothers." Fleur said in her heavily accented voice.
"I have never used veela hair myself, but if you find it works for you..." Olivander trailed off and produced a bunch of flowers with the wand. "it works perfectly, excellent condition, Miss Delacour." He said as he handed the flowers and wand to her, she took them with a smile before going back to her spot. "Ah, and next we have Mr Krum." He said as Krum stopped in front of him and handed him a wand. "Oh, this is a very interesting wand, dragon string and hornbeam, very good condition. Avis!" A bird shout out and flew around the room before Ollivander waved the wand to get rid of it. "An excellent wand, Mr Krum." He said as he handed it back to Victor.
"Sir." Cedric greeted when he stepped forwards after Krum had moved back to his position.
"Ah Mr Diggory," Ollivander smiled. "I know this is one of mine." He said as Cedric handed him his wand. "Twelve and a half inches with unicorn hair, surprisingly springy, it's in fine condition. I trust you treat it regularly?" He asked.
"Of course sir," Cedric grinned. "polished it last night."
"Good boy." Ollivander nodded, he handed the wand back to Cedric after creating some sparks with it. "Ah, and here comes our forth champion." Ollivander said when Harry stopped in front of him.
"Sir." Harry nodded before handing him his wand.
"Ah, here's one that I will never forget." Olivander said as he began examining it. "This is undoubtedly one of the most powerful wands I will have ever have the fortune of creating. Fourteen inches, made of yew with the horn of a horned serpent and the tail of a thunderbird."
At this point the other champions were looking at Harry with disbelief, yew wands were known to be powerful wands, so were wands with thunderbird tail feathers, so imagine their shock when the boy-who-has-a-lot-of-magical-power happens to have a yew wand with not just a thunderbird tail but also a second core. They could almost feel their chances of winning dying.
"Excellent condition, Mr Potter." Olivander said as he handed the wand back to Harry after creating some wine.
"Um...is it time for photos?" Ludo Bagman asked as his head leaned into the room. Arcturus growled and the door slammed shut as Ludo ran away again.
"Angela," Daphne asked as she and Tracey stopped in front of Angela who was sat on a chair and reading a book. "do you know where Harry has gone?" She asked, it was late and Harry had left the common room earlier but had not come back despite it being past curfew.
"No, I don't." Angela sighed as she looked up. "He didn't tell me."
"I hope he comes back soon, he shouldn't be out so late." Tracey said, biting down on her lower lip with worry.
"I..." Angela was cut off as Harry entered the room, he walked over and sat down next to Angela before letting out a deep breath.
"Fucking hell." He groaned.
"Harry, forgive the stupid question but are you okay?" Tracey asked.
"Lord Black had called me, he found out what they would be making us do in the first task." Harry said after putting up a couple of privacy spells. "He said that Krum and Delacour would be told by their heads, apparently cheating is sort of an unofficial tradition, so he had Hagrid take me to see what they've got, I'm going to tell Cedric tomorrow."
"Why?" Daphne asked. "If he doesn't know then you have a better chance of winning."
"I know," Harry sighed. "but if I know the tasks and beat him when he doesn't then I will always wonder if he could have beaten me if he did. I want to earn it. Plus this could actually kill him and he hasn't really done anything to me that makes me want him dead...not yet at least."
The girls rolled their eyes at that, on the one hand it was a very Gryffindor and Hufflepuff-ish move, but on the other hand it was also a perfectly what they would expect from Harry.
Harry let out a deep breath, he was pacing around Harry in the champions tent. Today was the day of the first task, the task was being held in a specially prepared clearing in the Forbidden Forest. The students were all sat in the stadium while Harry and the other champions were waiting in the champions tent. Krum was leaning against a post, looking very unhappy, Fleur was moving back and forth in a straight line while Cedric looked like he was going to be sick.
At this point Harry wished he was allowed to have his sword with him as a backup but only wands were allowed, Harry wisely gave his wrist bracelet to Angela to look after earlier on. It was a good thing that he did since each champion was checked for magical devices and potions as soon as they had entered.
Fleur was wearing blue trousers along with a blue jacket over a white shirt, Cedric wore yellow and black robes while Krum had gone for red and black. Harry was wearing black dragon-hide boots and trousers that he had gotten from Tonks, he had a grey shirt on and over it he was wearing a nifty black dragon-hide jacket that he had also gotten from Tonks. It was all black apart from the four green painted fangs that were on it, two coming down from the shoulders and stopping at the bottom of the chest while another two rose up from the waist and stopped just a short distance from the top two.
"Harry." Harry heard a voice call him as Daphne sneaked into the tent.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he stepped in front of her.
"I...I just wanted to see you." Daphne admitted before she hugged him. "I want you to remember what you promised me."
"I will." Harry said as he hugged her back. "I'm going to survive this. If only to keep you happy." Harry smiled as he kissed the top of her head just as Jet moved from Harry's shoulders and onto Daphne's. "Alright, look after him, I'll pick him up when I come back." Harry said as the two let go of each other.
"You had better." Daphne gave him a teary smile. "W...where's Angela?" She asked.
"I told her to stay with Lord Black and to help him out if he needs anything. Me and her talked already, she said pretty much the same as you." Harry replied. "Where's Tracey?" Harry asked.
"Oh, she's probably gone back to the stands. I asked her to create a distraction so I could come and see you." Daphne admitted.
"You're both amazing." Harry smiled at her. "Now go before you get caught."
"I had better see you later, Harry." She said as she left the tent.
"Count on it." Harry said under his breath.
Ten minutes later Rita Skeeter and her photographer arrived, she tried to get some quotes from the champions but none of them were really in the mood for that. Thankfully they were saved when the judges arrived a short while later, with the noticeable exception of Bagman. Harry raised an eyebrow towards Arcturus, the man met Harry's questioning look with a smirk.
"Gather around champions." Dumbledore said. "Now, I..."
"I can take it from here." Fudge said before standing pompously in front of the champions. "Now champions, the first task is straightforward." He said as he held up a brown bag. "I have three more of these bags, in each bag there is a miniature model of a magical creature. Each creature will be guarding a key, it is your job to get all four keys, the first three will give you a certain amount of points and the last is so you may unlock a very important clue to the next task. I wouldn't give you high chances of winning the second task if you don't get past this one. Once you have all had a turn you will come back to this tent and if you can still compete then you will pick another animal. Now, Miss Delacour, you will go first."
Fleur gulped before reaching into the bag, a second later she pulled out a mini mountain troll, with the number two painted on its stomach. She experienced mixed feelings, a mountain troll was dangerous but she knew it could have been much worse. She didn't notice Fudge was staring at her, though the man did move on when Dumbledore coughed.
"And now Mr Krum." Fudge said as he held the bag in front of Krum. Krum reached in and a second later he pulled out a cerberus model with a three painted on its back. "Oh, good luck with that." He said before Cedric dug his hand in. When he pulled his hand out he was holding a regular spider with a one painted on it. "We lost the acromantula model." Fudge admitted when Cedric looked confused. Cedric's eyes widened, knowing acromantula were giant spiders that could grow to the size of horses and some even grew bigger. "And now, Mr Potter." Fudge coughed as he held the bag in front of Harry.
"Please be a snake." Harry said under his breath before he reached in and pulled out his creature. In his hand was a model of a minotaur with the number 4 painted on. "Honestly...not as bad as I thought it would be."
"Good luck champions." Fudge said.
"Ahem." Dumbledore coughed as he held up a circular piece of glass.
"Oh right," Fudge nodded to him before turning to the others. "do all of you know about two-way mirrors?" He asked, when the champions nodded he continued speaking. "Well there are a couple of these mirrors connected to a few bigger mirrors outside, these will fly around and follow you so we will be able to keep up with all the action and make sure there is no cheating going on. Now, Mr Diggory you drew number one so you'll go first, followed by Miss Delacour then Mr Krum and then Mr Potter, and we'll keep that order for the rest of the task. Good luck champions."
Eventually it was Harry's turn to come out, when he walked into the stadium he found himself stood in an environment where the floor was made up of stone and many large rocks/boulders were scattered around. As soon as Harry entered he heard a lot of cheering for him, he was tempted to smile and wave but knew that it would be much better if he stayed focus.
Harry turned to his right when he heard a snort, standing a short distance away was the minotaur. It had the torso of a human but also had the lower half and head of a bull. It was about nine feet tall and held a large axe in its left hand and a large hammer in the right hand. Its red eyes narrowed at Harry.
"I thought you'd be bigger." Harry calmly stated, smothering down his fear. "I don't want to fight you, just let me do what I came to do and I'll leave." Harry said, from his research he had learnt that the minotaur should have at least some intelligence, and hopefully enough to be able to understand Harry.
The minotaur grunted before it used its hammer to smash a boulder, it kicked the biggest remaining piece at Harry. Harry's wand shot into his hand and he blasted the piece out of the sky.
"That's what I get for trying to be nice, alright bring it, you asshole." Harry said. The minotaur roared at Harry. "Oh so you can understand me, in that case I want to let you know that your mother's a whore. A mino-whore."
The minotaur roared again before it charged towards Harry.
"Probably shouldn't have said that…ah well…no regrets." Harry whispered to himself before he aimed his wand at the minotaur.
A.N: Hi guys, hope you like the chapter. Just to sum up, Harry's going to fight the minotaur then depending on how he does after that he'll return to the tent, the other champions will fight their next creature then it'll be Harry's turn and repeat about four times. Why is the task so very different from canon (other than because I want it to be)? Well there is an actual reason behind it which I will reveal in the future.
Like I said before, I believe that nobody has done something like this before but it's likley that I'm wrong. Even if it's not original I don't think it matters as long as you guys enjoy it. And I hope that you do.
Thank you all for reading, feel free to leave a review.