534 Dragons

I took a few days after that but things cooled down between Nick and Fleur as she started to actively avoid him , no doubt under Madam Maximes insistence. There was a slight irritation in the form of lovestruck boys leaping to try and confront Nick for his actions even though they had no idea what was going on. After the first five found themselves naked on the top of the towers in the cold however these wannabe heroes dwindled rapidly. Trying to show off for a girl is all well and good until it means public humiliation and shame that people will remember for years to come.-

Besides his normal work Nick had been "accidentally" leaving information about dragons and how to fight them in places Harry might see them. He wasn't sure that Harry got the hints but he was at least trying to help his friend prepare for what was going to be an undoubtedly stressful endeavor for him. The fact Harry was seen reading the information at least bid well since at the very least he would have some idea how to deal with the task.-

An interesting but unrelated thing happened however since quidditch had been canceled at Hogwarts , blitzball took over. Due to the rules that said that matches were agreed on by both teams unless it is a tournament the sport was entirely unaffected by the cancelation of quidditch making it the only sport available this year. This meant that despite the hype of the tournament everyone in the castle could unwind with a good sports event while they waited. There had even been a multischool composed team made that had students from all three schools. Krum was on it alongside Ron and a few other people Nick couldn't bother to remember the names of.-

The red head never seemed to waste the chance to brag about how he was on a team with Krum much to everyone's annoyance. It got so bad that the twins went out of their way to bully him during a match even though it had them lose it. It didn't bother Nick though since he was busy working on the chambers or copying the library. That was until about two days before the task when Hagrid snuck Harry into the forbidden forest to see the objects of the first task , dragons.-

Specifically a Chinese fireball , Hungarian horntail and Swedish short-snout were brought in for the task , one for each champion. "Did you know what the first task was before now?" Harry confronted Nick after that. "What would give you that assumption?" he asked feigning ignorance. "I've been finding notes , books and scrolls on dragons and how to fight them for weeks now and then I find out that that is the first task , hard to see it as a coincidence." Harry said seriously. "I don't know what to tell you mate it could have been anyone who left those things around." Nick said denying all responsibility.-

Harry rolled his eyes "I can't help but hope that this mysterious person also knows what the next task is as well." he said in an exaggerated way. Nick nodded sagely "Yes that would be most fortunate for you assuming they could tell you in some way of course." he said offhandedly. "By the way who are you taking to the yule ball next month?" Nick asked curiously. "What yule ball?" Harry asked confused. "THE yule ball , as in the one the school wanted you to have a ball outfit for in the shopping list. " Nick said and Harry panicked.-

"I thought that was for one of our classes!" he said horrified. Nick shook his head "Nope there is a ball going to be held at around christmas so you needed a suit to wear. I take it then that you haven't asked anyone out to it yet?" he asked and Harry nodded furiously. "You might want to get a drop on that immediately after the task then. I'm going to ask Luna myself." Nick said casually. Harry looked surprised at this "You fancy Luna of all people?" he asked incredulous. "More than I do anyone one else in the school but as you might imagine that isn't a very high bar to cross."-

"Honestly I thought about going stag to the ball but decided that taking a friend instead would be preferable." Nick explained honestly. "So you don't fancy Luna then?" Harry asked confused. "Not in the manner you are thinking of , no. I'd say I see her more as a strange little sister than anything else. Besides I would be the last person anyone would want to end up with at the moment." Nick said honestly.