Chapter 54: First Task!

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Arching an eyebrow, Dumbledore said, "It is to do with your performance in the First Task."

"Oh, about me forgetting the egg and not going to the medic? I assure you that I'm fine, Headmaster. It was only a minor-" Harry paused, and stared off into the distance, as if searching for a word.

"Ah!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"A minor coincidence!" Once again, he paused thoughtfully. "A minor conclusion? No, no, a minor concussion! I'm absolutely certain that's it!"

By this point, Dumbledore had to began to look more worried than chiding. "Are you sure you're-"

"Ah that's it! A minor concussion!"

"Please concentrate, Mr Potter."

"Of course, of course," Harry assured. "I have came to the minor conclusion that my minor concussion was only a minor coincidence, so I should be fine."

Dumbledore still looked uncertain, but nonetheless turned serious. "You killed the dragon."

Harry nodded. "I did."

"You were not supposed to kill the dragon, and as you can expect the dragon keepers are rather upset about the fact that you did."

"Really?" Harry frowned. "I was under the impression that wizards just killed dragons whenever they wanted to get their parts for wands."

Dumbledore sighed. "We use the parts from already dead dragons, and certainly not still-alive nesting mothers."

Harry was fairly sure the dragon eggs had been crushed at some point, now that he thought about it, but that was probably best left unsaid.

"I'm sorry, in that case. I assure you that I didn't know." That was actually true. Why on earth would he assume that dragons would be treated kindly when he was being put to fight against one in what was essentially a gladiator arena?!

"Anyway, what would you have me do?"

"You have acted within the rules of the tournament, so even if I wanted to punish you - which I don't - I could not," Dumbledore said. "I would, however, suggest that you apologise to the dragon handlers and make the misunderstanding known."

'Your suggestion has been noted and promptly ignored,' Loki said formally.

'Finally decided to talk, have we?'

'I've been contemplating the noise the egg emitted. The AllSpeak would have translated any mortal tongue, and though I do not recognise this particular dialect, it is quite similar to something I have heard before.'

'Oh, what?'

'Mermaids,' Loki dead-panned. 'And no, they're not hot. You will be able to hear their language if you're underwater.'

Harry turned his attention back to Dumbledore, nodding at the man and getting back to his feet. "I'll be taking my leave then. Goodbye, Professor."

With that, he left the room. He had some bathing to do.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching ponder this;

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour, the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

The egg's voice promptly cut off, and Harry broke the surface of his bathtub. That had been rather morbid.

From what he had gathered from that song, merpeople were going to steal what he would sorely miss, which he took to mean all of his money, and hide it in a lake.

He found it highly unlikely they would be able to accomplish that, however, seeing as he doubted merpeople knew how muggle banks worked or were capable of robbing Gringotts or its Italian equivalent.

But what else could it be? His enchanted clothes perhaps? His wand? His sword? If they attempted to take any of those, they would face a rather nasty surprise.

Nonetheless, he deemed it smart to prepare for the task, for he would have to do it whether or not they actually managed to take what they wanted.

And if he was going to do it, he was going to do it in style.

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Harry blinked. "A ball?"

"Yes," McGonagall said. "The Yule Ball takes place every Tri-Wizard tournament. It is compulsory for all champions to attend." She looked pointedly at Harry over her glasses, and he responded with a dismissive wave.

"I'll be there." McGonagall looked skeptical, but Harry ignored her and continued to eat his breakfast. If she wanted to stand there all day, he didn't particularly mind.

'So, a ball. Have you decided which one of your legion of fangirls you'll take?' Loki asked.

Harry thought for a moment before suggesting, 'Fleur?'

'I don't think she counts as a fangirl.'

Harry looked up to the Ravenclaw table, where Fleur was sitting. For a moment, she looked back at him, glaring. 'You're probably right about that.' Harry sighed. 'You'd think she'd be attracted by my awesome trickery of her...but no.'

'It is a problem I have faced many a time. Well, I would have if I cared for the follies of flesh,' Loki corrected himself. 'I have long since passed the stage where such a thing was entertaining. But nonetheless, it was a slight problem in my youth. Even with my tremendous attractiveness, women didn't like the fact that I would occasionally vanish all of their clothes in public or illusion myself as Thor to sleep with his current girlfriend. They simply couldn't understand my sense of humour!'

Harry snorted. 'I'll be sure not to do either of those things, then.'

'It'll be easier for you to get away with them. The Imperius Curse makes everything easier - not to mention already being given an army of fangirls.'

'I think I'll divert you back to the topic of the girl before you go off on a tangent about the last thousand years of your life.' Harry thought it would be best to discuss it now, rather than in a few hours time.

'As I said, your options are practically limitless - not Fleur, though.'

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