Chapter 22: The First Task

Fleur walked into Madame Maxime's office in the carriage a bit confused. The Headmistress had been rather annoyed with her pursuit of the two younger Hogwarts students. The fact that one of them happened to be a competitor certainly hadn't helped things. Maxime had ended up mostly ignoring Fleur…which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It'd certainly made things easier on the seduction part. Somewhat easier at least. Both were surprisingly noble so she was actually having to work far slower than she'd initially planned once she'd learned they would be spending the year together. And there was of course the whole 'life endangerment' thing concerning Harry. She sighed absently. That boy certainly seemed to attract trouble from what they'd told her. She and Harry's other tutors had managed to bump his skills up quite a bit in the last month and a half, but she admitted to being slightly worried. He was skilled, strong and smart but he was still several years behind the others.

"Fleur, I 'ave some information to pass on," Maxime said as Fleur sat down in front of the larger woman's desk.

"Oui? What type of information, Headmistress?" Fleur brushed off her annoyance at still speaking English despite being in the French carriage. She did need to keep practicing after all if she was going to try and make this a long term thing. Hermione would probably pick up French quickly, but Harry could take quite some time to learn. Maybe she should just introduce him to Gabrielle…that would certainly speed up the volume of French vocabulary he'd be exposed to at least. Her sister could talk faster than an auctioneer when she got going.

"I was…invited on a walk last night," Maxime blushed slightly and stared down at her desk. Fleur rolled her eyes. She didn't even need her Veela insight to see that the Headmistress was interested in one of the English men herself. The groundskeeper was most likely. " 'agrid mentioned ze imminent arrival of several creatures on ze grounds," Maxime continued. Her voice hardened at she looked up to meet Fleur's eyes sending a shiver of ice down the Veela's back. "I advise you to prepare quite carefully, Mlle. Delacour. Zey have acquired not just a dragon and a hydra, but a manticore and a true chimera as well."

Fleur blinked and the shiver of ice turned into a steel spike of panic. Her mouth went dry as she stared at the woman all thoughts of romance gone. "A-a chimera, a manticore, a hydra and a dragon?" she whispered. "What are ze thinking?!"

"I agree. I found a dragon distasteful, but acceptable and I know you would likely have few problems with ze hydra. But a manticore is a one of ze most dangerous creatures after a nundu. And zen a Greek chimera…to even zink of pitting you against somezing zat is perhaps ze closest zing to immortal zat magical creatures can come…" Maxime scowled. "Go, Fleur. Ze Task iz in two days. I would very much like to not have to bury one of my best students."

Fleur nodded numbly and walked out of the room. Harry's friends had been right. This wasn't simply a dangerous, but mostly friendly game. This was a blood sport.

She froze with one foot in midair and her eyes widened. " 'arry does not know…" The next instant she was leaping into motion and bowling aside anyone who made the mistake of stepping in front of her. She needed to find him and tell him.

Afterwards she should probably find Fred and Viktor as well.

Viktor Krum leaned against the wall in Karkaroff's cabin on the ship with his arms crossed. His Headmaster was passing back and forth across the deck looking about wildly. Viktor was starting to get worried. The former criminal was relatively hard to frighten – which didn't bode that well at all for whatever news he was working up to deliver.

"Krum," Karkaroff said abruptly stopping and turning to his student. "I've found out the list of beasts you are all to face in the coming days. A dragon, a hydra, a manticore and a chimera."

Krum blinked and only his Quidditch reflexes prevented him from sliding down the wall in shock. As frustrating as the Headmaster's underhanded tactics were Krum could not bring himself to berate the man considering the import of this information. "A manticore? A five X magical creature?"

"And a chimera. The dragon might be difficult too but compared to those…" the Headmaster scowled. "Well at least the dragon wouldn't prolong things like those would."

"I do not know vat the danger is vith a chimera…" Krum said slowly racking his brain for why the cuddly little creature would be considered deadly.

"It's dangerous because these organizers are insane and importing a true chimera. The Greek chimera. I'd like to say this smacked of the Dark Lord but even he wasn't this foolish. Between those two creatures, they've already lost three from the containment team." Viktor's mouth dropped open at that. The Greek chimeras had nearly all been hunted to extinction; where in the world had the English managed to find one allowed off the reservation? Karkaroff dropped into his chair and twisted to stare out over the lake waving a hand over his shoulder. "Good luck, boy. I'm glad I'm not in your position. If you die, please be sure to at least give a good showing of Durmstrang beforehand."

Viktor walked out shaking his head. These English were even crazier than he had seen during his games. He was starting to seriously regret having entered this Tournament. He had only done it because he wanted to show he could do more than Quidditch and was hoping to use the excuse to talk to others outside of Durmstrang. Neither goal was remotely worth facing any of those horrors. He scowled, thinking that he'd have to brush up on spells to help with blinding opponents. With luck that would be enough to get him through the worth of what was coming before they switched to tracking him by scent.

Viktor paused with his hand on the door to the library cabin. The other Champions should be informed as well. They had been very nice to him and weren't acting like star-struck fans despite his sometimes seeming indifference.

Sighing, Viktor turned to head towards the school grounds. He could spare a few minutes to find the others before diving into his research.

Fred was sitting down to lunch with his brother Charlie in the Three Broomsticks. Was he technically supposed to be out of the castle? No. Did he particularly care when his long lost brother was in town for a few days? No. Besides, he was a Champion – there was probably a rule that let him leave the grounds for 'official Tournament business' or some such.

"I still can't believe you actually wanted to enter this thing, little brother," Charlie said smiling and giving a rueful shake of his head.

Fred just shrugged. "Well, I figured I had to prove to them and to myself that I can do more than just prank people. George and I both agreed that this would give us the confidence to move forward with the shop beyond just the owl order catalog."

Charlie eyed him critically. "And George is okay that you got in and he didn't?"

"Yup," Fred shrugged. "I think he was actually a little relieved. Especially after I told him about how worried Harry's friends are about the dangers involved. It's a bit intimidating, but I think I'll be fine." He scowled – completely missing Charlie's frown. "Ron however, is very not okay with this. Did you hear about him screaming in the middle of the Great Hall about how he hoped that I'd lose a limb or something and that Harry would be killed?"

Charlie sighed. "I had really hoped that Dad had exaggerated that..."

"He didn't. Dad came to talk with him too; Ron moped about for almost the entire weekend afterwards. George, Ginny and I all talked about it afterwards. We've decided that if Ron actually gives a proper apology we'll accept it, but not forget what he said. Somehow we all rather doubt that Ron will get over himself before the First Task. Maybe whatever it is will knock some sense into the idiot. Even if he does end up apologizing, it's going to be a good long while before we ever do anything as brothers again. He went way too far this time."

Charlie nodded. "I understand. I chatted with Bill a bit before I got here. We're both behind you three though we're not cutting ties with anyone yet." He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Mum, really sent you a Howler demanding you get out?" Fred's amused snort was answer enough. "I can't believe she'd do that...she never checks anything before she has to comment and berates you does she...Please tell me you guys fought back for once?"

"Sent her our own Howler in reply we did," Fred said sitting up straighter and grinning.

"Good for you," Charlie said clapping his hand on Fred's shoulder. "You know, Dad, said Mum wanted to come to the school to talk to you, Ron and Ginny but Dad put his foot down."

"Dad?!"

"Yeah," Charlie chuckled, "that was my reaction too. Mum finally succeeding in pushing him a bit too far I think. He expressly forbid her talking to any of the four of you until she apologizes to everyone plus Harry Potter – and Shiva surprisingly enough. I can't wait to get the story of what she did to warrant Dad stipulating that condition. He wouldn't say."

"Harry mentioned something about her sending Mum a Howler too...I would pay for that memory!"

"Me too!" The brothers shared a laugh before Charlie quieted down and took a long pull from his drink. "Okay, look, Fred. About this Tournament...well about this Task really..."

"We're facing dragons yeah?" Charlie's eyes widened at Fred's question. "What? You're suddenly in the country for a few days mysteriously surrounding the First Task and ask to meet me at the pub? Of course we're going to be fighting dragons. Thanks for the heads up by the way. Hope you don't mind if I tell the others we got a tip. It wouldn't be very sporting to be the only one who knew. I'd also hate to lose a business associate."

Charlie groaned at ran a hand over his face. "Yeah I suppose I wasn't exactly subtle. It's not just a dragon though, little brother. Word among the guys is that they're importing a manticore, a Greek chimera and a hydra too."

Fred's eyes widened and he sat back in his seat. "Shite. Well, that sucks. Fire for the hydra heads – simple enough if you're fast. I already have a plan for the dragon. I...suppose I could blind the manticore – at least that beasty's only got the one head. But a bloody Greek chimera? They couldn't go for the homegrown horror? Or better yet the cutesy Japanese one?"

"Fred, no jokes about this. A buddy lost his friend to the manticore, the chimera ate two people while they were capturing it, and Betty came within a few inches of roasting Mike when some arsehole pissed her off on a lark. Can't speak to the hydra. I haven't heard much beyond it already having four heads which means someone screwed up massively while carting it up." Charlie sighed and shook his head. "I'm really worried about this thing. The populace is going to love it right up to the moment that they kill someone on live Wireless. Hell they'll probably still love it even then."

"Charlie," Fred said slowly, "do I look like I'm joking right now? I've been training and coming up with strategies. I have a potions load-out that might even work on the beasties if I can get them to drink the things. I have no intention of depriving the family of my humor for many years."

Charlie nodded. "See that you don't, Fred. I have to go. See you in a few days, little brother. And you better come out of this thing in one piece."

Harry was sitting under a tree near the Black Lake reading one of the books Hermione had given him. He was trying to figure out if his parseltongue would be useful on any of the potential reptilian creatures they could use. The main problem was that there were very few parseltongues who had ever deigned to share the actual limits of their abilities so none of the experts seemed to agree.

He'd checked Salazar Slytherin's tome they had found in the Chamber but even that was lacking information. Salazar had had a single reference to parseltongue being a 50/50 shot with a dragon apparently largely depending on the species of dragon in addition to whether the dragon had been raised near wizards from birth or not. There was also something about the magic of the language imbuing higher sentience on the target in an effort to let it reply. That had Harry rather exceptionally worried. He'd consulted with Flitwick who'd agreed that trying to use parseltongue for a prolonged period on a magic resistant creature would likely tire him out very quickly. That was also completely ignoring the question of whether he wanted a hostile magical beast even smarter while it was trying to kill him.

He sighed as he set the book aside to watch the giant squid flip some merpeople up into the air and the intricate dives they pulled on the way back down. The Task was only a few days away and he was starting to feel the pressure. Maybe if it hadn't been on Halloween he wouldn't be so worried...

" 'arry! 'arry, we need to talk immediately!" Fleur called out from a few dozen meters away running in his direction. Harry started to get up when another voice called from the direction of the Durmstrang ship.

"Harry, Fleur, ve should speak," Krum said walked towards the three with a worried frown. At least Harry assumed it was a worried frown. Krum always seemed a bit taciturn.

"Hey, guys! I got news!" Fred called running up from the Entrance Hall doors looking out of breath.

Harry stared between the other three Champions and closed his eyes. He sat down against the trunk of a tree with a heavy sigh. "Let me guess, you all know exactly what we're facing?"

Krum nodded, Fred rubbed his neck and agreed while Fleur just looked between the others. She snarled and Harry saw a smattering of feathers break out on her neck. "You two were just told az well? And 'arry iz none ze wiser? Quelle connerie! Les enfoi-rés! Ils veulent qu'il meure ou quoi?!"

Fred grimaced. "While I can't claim to understand what you just said I get the gist. I agree it's not giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside that Harry was left out."

"It is disturbing," Krum nodded.

Harry just shrugged. "Welcome to my life. Plus it's almost Halloween and I haven't had a single good Halloween since before I can remember. If any day is cursed, it's that day. So what's the damage?"

Fleur took several deep breaths and her feathers disappeared before she sat down and put a hand on his knee. Fred and Viktor knelt near them as she started to speak, "Zey are pitting uz against a dragon, a manticore, a hydra and a Greek chimera."

"I believe from the number, ve vill likely have to face one each," Viktor said. "Hopefully not to the death. I...do not believe I could kill any of those."

Fred smirked. "Yeah, my brother wrangles dragons for his job. It takes at least between four to eight to kill one. I don't know about the others but I'd imagine they're almost a bad."

Harry took a deep breath. "I've read about most of those. They're...not easy. Do you reckon we'll just have to avoid them and run passed them or something?"

"Ve can only hope it is so simple," Krum shrugged.

Fleur shook her head. "We might have to steal somezing along ze way. It is ze traditional way to complete ze First Task in the past."

Harry grimaced. He slowly pushed to his feet. "Thanks for the heads up guys. I'm going to go find Tonks and the others and come up with a strategy. If any of you want to come you're welcome to."

Viktor considered but shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, Harry. I vould like to prepare on my own for this though I think."

"I think I'll bow out too, mate," Fred winced. "I want to talk with George about some things and maybe talk to Angelina, Alicia and Katie too. If you want my ideas on anything or need some supplies let me know."

Harry nodded and shook both men's hands as they walked away. Fleur pulled him into a short hug and kissed his cheek. "While I will likely use my own methods in zis Task, Harry, I will at least stay with you until you can speak with ze others." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And do not even zink about getting morose due to ze day. Just because ze day is bad luck does not mean zat you have the right to give up before even trying."

Harry gave a small smile to the Veela and nodded. He took her hand and started walking to the castle calling his friends on the way to ask for a meeting with those available.

Harry sat down at their conference table in the Meeting Room. Fleur, Tonks, Hermione, Daphne and Shiva had been free. The others had all promised to stop by as they were able and add their advice once they were filled in.

"Okay," Harry said, "according to the other Champions, we are going to be facing a dragon, a hydra, a manticore and a Greek chimera. I know the primary plan is still to summon my utility belt but what else do we have?"

Daphne gulped and Hermione's face drained of most of its color while Shiva grimaced and Tonks winced. Tonks slowly shook her head and said, "Well if you go against the hydra, the Ninja rune would probably be your best bet. That wouldn't be very useful against any of the others unfortunately. All of them would still be able to locate you by scent and the chimera would probably be able to pick you up with infrared from its snake head."

Daphne nodded. "Yes. Yes, stay away from the Ninja with them. It's just a waste of time. Um…perhaps you could try the parseltongue idea with the dragon and the chimera?"

"Do I really want to make the chimera smarter?" Harry asked. "Aren't they vicious enough as it is?"

"It's better to try honestly," Shiva sighed. "It's not as smart as a manticore thank god, so it's worth a shot, Harry. At least part of it is a snake you have a good chance of talking with it. Hell, turn it against the judges or handlers or something and maybe it'll be pissed enough you can slip by."

Hermione blinked a few times and seemed to rouse herself out of her shock. "Harry, the best option is to immobilize both the chimera and the manticore somehow. Don't try to fight them. You won't survive."

They all turned to her and raised their eyebrows. Hermione gulped and continued trying to fall back into her lecturing voice. "The manticore and the chimera are both largely speed based pouncing predators. They are both highly venomous, the manticore through its stinger tail and the chimera through its snake head tail. If stung/bitten, you will be dead within five minutes without antivenom or phoenix tear application. The lion nature of both also lends each to have extremely good jumping skills as well as a high amount of strength and agility. The manticore has the addition of near human level intellect and will attempt to either sing or mock the target in an effort to off-balance it. The chimera on the other hand has the capacity to breath fire from the lion head. This flame extends just short of a foot in front of it and cannot be kept up for longer than it can hold its breath. The manticore enjoys toying with its victims and will likely attempt to prolong any combat. The chimera simply goes for the kill as quickly as it can. Chimera's are also largely resistant to nearly every form of poison and have a regeneration ability close to that of the hydra. Even if you cut off a single head it will grow back within minutes."

Daphne gave a wry grin. "I'd like to see it survive a strike from the basilisk venom imbued Sword of Gryffindor."

Hermione quickly shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "No. Don't rely of the Sword. It's highly likely that even a basilisk strike wouldn't do much against a chimera."

"What? But…it's the deadliest poison in our world…" Daphne said blinking repeatedly. Harry just sighed and sank back into his chair. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

Fleur grimaced and answered before Hermione could, "A bezoar iz a poor man's Chimera Stone. It iz powerful, yes, but ze Chimera Stone dwarfs it by several leagues. Any rock eaten by ze goat head becomes a Stone and if it uses one up it will simply eat anozer during ze battle. I would not rely on ze poison."

Tonks cursed. "Immobilize the legs then run. I think that's the best you can do against a chimera. Bloody Greek chimeras…I can't believe they got authorization for this…"

Harry nodded. "What about the hydra? Just cut off the heads and cauterize them if I have to fight right?"

"You have to be really, really fast though," Shiva said. "A hydra's regeneration is one of the quickest around and the beast itself rarely stops moving its heads. You have about five seconds to cauterize the stump before you have to worry about two new heads growing in."

Fleur nodded. "Oui. Zis is my strategy for ze creature." Harry nodded along as well. He could hit that time frame. Probably. Between Tonks and Flitwick's target practice sessions he figured he had a good chance at least and the stealth was primary there anyway.

"Should we go for cold spells with the dragon?" Harry asked. "I figure that's probably the easiest way to get around it if parseltongue doesn't work."

The others all nodded. "Oui. I will be doing a charm to induce sleep on ze dragon. A cold spell would have similar results," Fleur said squeezing his knee.

Hermione also signaled her agreement. "Dragons are primarily cold blooded. Sleep and cold would definitely be the best methods as both would avoid a fight. Perhaps summoning your broom would also work, Harry. As much as I hate how you fly, I admit that you would likely be able to outmaneuver most breeds."

Shiva scowled. "I really can't state enough how much I dislike that strategy."

Tonks shrugged. "The girl's got a point though. Harry and Krum would both have a good shot at avoiding it in the air. Dragons have bulk and speed but they corner for shite."

"Okay," Harry sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. So, dragon: cold spells primary and flying secondary. Hydra: stealth with the Ninja primary and cauterize secondary. Manticore and Chimera: Immobilize, distract and run."

Shiva and Tonks both looked at each other then back to Harry. Shiva slowly nodded. "I think that's the best plan for you, Harry. If you have good aim you might be able to spike the last two to one of the walls or just go with the Freezer."

Hermione turned to Fleur. "Fleur, do you need any further help?"

The older girl shook her head. "No, 'ermione. I have a plan and I can afford to practice zis on my own. You should all focus on, 'arry."

"We will," Daphne said firmly. "Don't worry. We have no intention of the letting the mad scientist get himself killed."

"Mad scientist?" Harry asked raising his eyebrows and chuckling at his friend.

"Hey, you people have exposed me to enough Muggle media that I've picked up a few things. You are totally a mad scientist," she crossed her arms and huffed.

The others smiled though the good mood didn't last long. Harry turned to Fleur and gave her a quick hug. "Fleur, you should go and practice. I'll be fine and I have to start working on this stuff too."

She got up slowly and stared at him. "Make sure you do. 'arry, I expect you to come zrough zis wiz few if any injuries. Show us all why zey made a mistake forcing you into zis."

He gave her a salute and as she walked out turned back to the others. "Okay, let's get started shall we."

The afternoon before the First Task, Shiva, Tonks, Fleur and the rest of the core group – minus Harry himself – all met up in the Room of Requirement. Harry was practicing a few last minute things with McGonagall and they had all agreed to meet in the meantime.

Shiva started the conversation first, "Okay, everyone is here because they are concerned about, Harry. I know we've all been assisting him and ramping up his training and education but now that he's not in the room I want to be completely realistic here. There is a very good chance that something could go horribly wrong tomorrow."

Everyone nodded seriously. Tonks took over, "Each of those magical creatures they have generally takes a team of specially trained wizards to corral or kill. We already know that someone is trying to kill Harry and I'm willing to bet there's going to end up being some sort of complication or other during the Task."

"Oui," Fleur said nodding. "I will likely be one of the ze first to know if somezing is wrong. I will try and determine any issues wiz ze field during my Task if I go first."

"You're not worried too, Fleur?" Neville asked.

"I am," she shrugged. "But I also have an advantage wiz my Veela side. I may not be able to truly injure a manticore or chimera wiz my fire but I should be able to keep zem busy long enough to fly overhead to ze objective. Harry will not have zat option."

Susan narrowed her eyes at the adults. "So what are you planning then? This wasn't just to get us even more worried about our friend."

Shiva shook her head and grimaced. "No. No it wasn't. I wanted to give you all a heads up about something Tonks and I have talked about. If it looks like Harry is going to be killed tomorrow…the two of us are planning to jump down and help him." A few of the people around the table gasped. Notably, Hermione, Fleur and Daphne were not surprised.

Daphne nodded slowly and said, "From what I can tell as long as he's put in a decent effort into attempting to succeed beforehand that shouldn't break any of the rules of the Tournament."

Hannah shook her head, her eyes wide. "But if you're wrong and it does then he'd lose his magic!"

Shiva nodded. "Better a live Harry Potter without magic than a dead Harry Potter. I didn't fight for three years to get custody of the kid just to watch him be killed."

Tracey leaned forward. "You know, depending on how those rules are interpreted…all three of you could end up losing your magic if you interfere."

Tonks smirked and her hair changed to purple. "Then we go full Muggle. My dad was Muggle-born, Hermione's parents are Muggles, Harry was raised Muggle. We'll get by."

Hermione frowned. She sat up straighter and let out a long breath. "If it comes it, I'm jumping with you two."

"Hermione we can't – " Shiva started to say before the young bookworm cut off her with a wave of her hand.

"You are not the only ones who love him, Shiva," Hermione said softly. "You said yourself; you need a team to take those things down. If he is going to be killed then you'll need my help to stabilize him while you force it back."

"I'll help too," Daphne said throwing the room into sudden silence. All eyes turned to her.

Tracey was the first to say something. "Like hell you will!"

"Trace," Daphne sighed, "I'm not abandoning my friend. He is as important to me as you are."

"You have no idea how to survive as Muggle!" Tracey snarled.

"I can learn!" Daphne responded with scowl. "I faced a basilisk to help you. You think I wouldn't face a bloody chimera to help him? I don't care about losing my magic if it means saving the life of my best friend. I'd do the same for you in a heartbeat!" Tracey narrowed but remained quiet.

Luna spoke into the silence, no trace of airiness or levity. "I would volunteer my assistance as well, but I don't think I would be much help. I only know third year spells which would not be useful in this situation. I fear I would just be a liability would I to try and help."

Hannah, Susan and Neville looked between themselves before Neville spoke for the small group, "I think we're in the same boat as Luna. We've been practicing but we wouldn't be as useful. Daphne knows a lot more offensive and dangerous spells than we do."

Susan sighed. "I know a few from Aunt Amy, but I'm not good enough yet to coordinate with everyone. I'd just get in the way."

Tracey sighed. "You're all bloody crazy," she muttered. "Look, I'd like to help, god the guy saved my life, but I have no confidence that I can face down a chimera. I'm not skilled offensively like you guys. I'm cocky but I know my limits. I…am getting good with healing spells though. If you all jump in…I'll help Hermione to stabilize Harry."

"Tracey, you don't have to do that," Shiva said frowning. "None of you have to help. We just wanted to let you know what Tonks and I plan."

Tracey shook her head. "No. I can't fight the thing but I can help heal him. If my girlfriend is going to get herself killed then the least I can do is to be there beside her helping our friend." Daphne smiled at her and reached over to squeeze her hand.

Fleur looked very hesitant. "What are ze chances zat our magic is forfeit?" she asked hesitantly.

Daphne shrugged. "I'd say between 40-50%. It really depends on a lot of different factors from what I've read."

Before Fleur could say anything else Hermione defiantly shook her head. "Fleur you can't help us if we do this."

" 'ermione, I – "

"No, Fleur!" the brunette nearly snarled. "Veela die without their magic! How do you think Harry would feel to learn that he only lived because you died from a side effect while saving him? Shiva, Tonks and Daphne can hold it off while Tracey and I get him stable and out safe. We'll be fine. I will not be the one to tell Harry I let you risk killing yourself when we already had sufficient numbers!"

Tonks nodded in agreement. "We don't have to kill it, Fleur. We just need to keep it busy while we get him out. We can handle this."

The French girl groaned in frustration, but nodded her assent.

Shiva looked everyone around the table in the eye. "Okay. So we're all agreed then?" Nods answered her. "Okay. Get some sleep everyone. Tomorrow going to be a long day."

Harry groaned as he shifted in his bed. It took several long moments for him to realize what had woken him up. Blinking he looked down and saw a brown blurry shape curled up on his chest. "Mione?" he whispered.

The brown blur lifted up slightly. "Yes, Harry. I just…I'm scared about tomorrow and I…didn't want you to be alone tonight."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, drawing the girl deeper into his bare chest. "Thanks, Mione."

"I love you, Harry. No matter what happens tomorrow just…just remember that okay?" she whispered.

"I love you too, Mione," he said. Letting his head drop back onto the pillow, Harry wondered what he had done to warrant so many people caring about him like this.

The next morning, Harry walked into the tent with the other Champions feeling like he'd eaten a lead weight for breakfast instead of toast. At least he wasn't shaking or throwing up. That was a small comfort but he'd take what he could get at this point.

He had barely been there for 30 seconds before the flap behind him fluttered open again and Harry found himself pulled into Hermione's embrace. Harry smiled and awkwardly hugged her back. It was made harder since she had pinned both his arms to his side with her hug. "Harry," she whispered into his chest, "you come back, you hear me. You come back. I don't know what I'd do without you around anymore."

"I'll be okay, Mione." He finally managed to get her grip loosened enough to free an arm. Lifting her chin up, he leaned down and softly kissed her. "I promise I'm going to survive this thing. One way or another, you guys won't be rid of me yet." She squeezed him tighter and nodded.

"You better keep that promise, Harry," Tonks said. Harry turned a bit and saw her leaning against one of the walls of the tent. Her hair was a deep blue today and her expression was completely blank.

"I will, Tonks," Harry said. Hermione let him go and Harry moved over to hug the metamorph as well. He stood up higher so he could reach her ear and whispered, "I can do this, Nym."

As Harry pulled back he saw Tonks' face had a slight blush to it. She muttered, "Good luck, Harry. We'll be watching out for you just in case." Before he could ask what she meant a flash of a camera flared from the side.

"Ah, young love," Rita Skeeter commented with a sickeningly sweet tone. "Harry, Nymphadora would either of you care to give a statement?"

Tonks snarled and Harry reached for a rune from his belt before realizing he had left it with Shiva in the stands. Hermione snorted and started forward. All of them were beat to the punch by Fleur who stepped in front of the reporter. "Ms. Skeeter. I do not believe ze press waz invited to zis pre-event."

"Oh I'm sure that was just an oversight," Skeeter simpered waving the comment off as Bozo snapped more pictures.

Viktor stepped forward with narrowed eyes. "You are not velcome here. Please leave and allow us to prepare for our Task."

Skeeter looked like she was going to say something else when the heads of the schools all entered the tent behind her. Frowning, Skeeter started to leave. Fred got in his own comment before they were out though, "Hey, Bobo, have a candy. I'm not hungry anymore." He tossed the photographer a yellow wrapped candy and the reporters were gone. Fred grinned to the others. "Ton-Tongue Toffee. He won't be taking pictures for a few minutes now."

The other Champions chuckled and Tonks and Hermione gave Harry one last encouraging look before heading out to the stands.

Bagman stepped into the middle of the rough circle with a large smile on his face. "Okay! Who's ready for First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, eh!" His response mostly consisted of raised eyebrows. Barreling onwards Bagman said, "Well then, this Task is what we are referring to as Face Your Fear. You will each have to get passed a…magical creature." His smile faltered a bit before he continued. "They're a bit dangerous so take care with your strategies. The main thing to remember is that to complete your Task you must retrieve an egg from the beast. This egg will have a clue to the Fourth Task taking place in March. Once you have your egg in hand, simply exit at the other either end of the arena and your turn will be over. Scores will be awarded based on skill, ingenuity, time taken, as well as injuries received."

With a large flourish he brought out a leather bag and held it out to them. "Now to choose your beast! Harry how about you – "

Umbridge stepped up with her annoying 'hehem' noise. "I believe it is traditional for the…girl," the way she said that made it perfectly clear to all present the word was both an insult and certainly not the word she wished to use, "to go first. Miss Delacour, if you would."

Fleur frowned but held her tongue. Behind her Madame Maxime was fuming but she also remained quiet. Fleur reached into the bag and pulled out a miniature figure depicting a hydra with its four legs, fat body and three heads writhing around. It hissed at her but otherwise stayed put in her hand. A small number 1 was around its neck. Fleur couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. That was probably the easiest creature for her to take on.

Bagman moved to Fred and Krum next. Fred drew the dragon with a number 2 on its neck and Krum had the manticore going 3rd. Fred looked a little frightened but nodded determinedly. Krum audibly gulped though he also made no show of complaining about his choice.

Harry just sighed as he reached into the bag and pulled out the last tiny Greek chimera figurine completely ignoring the satisfied smirk on The Umbitch's face and her accompanying giggle. He had already expected to get the worst of the lot. It was Halloween after all.

Fleur's nerves were on fire after the lots had been drawn. It was took most of her willpower to pull her mind towards her own battle instead of concentrating on her young unknowing suitor's fight. She wouldn't be doing Harry any favors in his Task if she failed her own…

Squaring her shoulders, Fleur stepped into the arena as the bell was struck. The magical creature standing before her looked quite similar to the figurine left behind in the tent. Its body was relatively rotund and stood about 3.5 meters tall supported by four beefy, clawed feet. The three claws on each foot were about a quarter meter long and the tail looked to extend nearly 2 meters. There were 4 hissing heads, each neck nearly 4 meters long. The heads also had an impressive array of fangs protruding. Fleur swallowed her fear and raised her wand in one hand, preparing a partial Change in her left.

Before stepping forward to commence the fight, Fleur glanced around for the egg she was supposed to retrieve. Nodding appreciatively she found it sitting on a pedestal a few meters behind the hydra and in front of the arena exit on the other end of the field.

She took a single step towards the beast and that was all it took. Two of the heads snapped down towards her and Fleur had to dance backwards just barely avoiding being speared through the arm by the fangs. She let out a yell of surprise at the speed with which it had moved and instinctively tossed out a cutting curse.

The spell unfortunately was extremely effective – or the hydra had next to no magic resistance – as it lopped off one of the heads that had come after her. Fleur's eyes widened and she hurriedly conjured a fireball to try and lob it at the head. Just before she tossed it however, the neck snapped back already bubbling and bulging. Fleur's shot went wide and another head snapped towards her from the left forcing her to dodge right. By the time she had brought another ball of passionfyre to bear, she was facing five heads instead of four.

Fleur glared at the beast and scowled. A stupid mistake. She wouldn't make another. She was a Champion for a reason and she would show this thing just what the consequences of messing with a Delacour were.

Jumping forward Fleur launched another cutting curse from her wand while simultaneously throwing her fireball. The spell connected with one head barely a half second before the flames made contact. The neck stump was instantly charred and cauterized. Fleur grinned as she twisted out of the path of two heads and launched a second volley taking out another head and preventing its regeneration as well.

Fleur felt the wind shift more and leaped backwards narrowly avoiding being eviscerated by a claw from the hydra's front leg. She danced out of its reach and took a third head. The hydra apparently had decided it was done with staying put in the center and started to charge her. Fleur's eyebrows rose at the speed such bulk could move, but it was still far too slow. Fleur forced more of the Change and felt wings sprout from her back and her face narrow into harsh lines as her Veela nature was brought to the forefront. She took to the air and tossed a fireball at one of the front legs. The hydra squealed in pain as it twisted. It lashed out with its tail and Fleur dove back to the ground now safely outside its charge range. She suppressed the Change enough to be able to use normal wizarding magic again and tossed out another cutting spell and fireball combination. Only one head remained.

Fleur was content to leave the magical creature alive and simply take her prize but the hydra had other ideas. She had barely started to back towards the egg when the beast screamed out and started charging towards her again on its three good legs. The final head snapped forwards and Fleur snarled into its face. She snapped off a final combination attack and the animal fell at her feet, the last neck still smoking. Fleur glared at the corpse for a moment longer making certain it wasn't going to get back up and attack her once her back was turned. Finally satisfied, the girl turned to grab her egg and marched out of the stadium, thunderous applause following her.

Fred ran one final check of his supplies as he stepped into the arena. Wand, check. Ton-Tongue Toffee, check. Exploding Elixir, check. Puking Pastels, check. Canary Creams, check. Slingshot, check. He had a few other goodies as well though some of his and George's better experiments weren't allowed. Their primary items were always based off potions though and as long as he didn't take any himself, there was no rule against using them. It seemed whoever had designed the Tournament never expected someone to make a potion that was actually useful in a battle situation without being a Pepper Up or Healing potion. He was going to make full use of that to both surpass the Task and have a bit of fun while doing so.

The dragon stared at Fred as he walked forward and snorted, a bit of flame coming out in the breath. Fred smiled as he saw the egg he was supposed to retrieve nestled between the dragon's legs. It didn't look like it was originally supposed to be there as the pedestal in the middle of the field was empty. The dragon must have decided to protect "its" egg.

Slowly and carefully, Fred walked up to a nearby boulder. He transfigured the boulder into a deer and before the animal could run away Fred fed it one of his Canary Creams and a modified, delayed-acting Puking Pastel and slapped it on the rear. The deer ran towards the dragon with a frightened cry. The giant reptilian roared at the deer and took three leaps towards the animal. The deer finally realized that running directly towards an alpha predator was probably a bad idea and tried to back pedal away. Before either party could do much though, where the deer had been, there was now a 2 meter tall yellow canary. The canary frantically let out a shriek of fear and started flapping while the dragon stared dumbfounded at the changed prey. It didn't wait long to decide what to do though. As the canary managed to take flight for a second, the dragon roared and jumped forward. It snapped down onto the canary and swallowed the thing whole.

Fred had managed to sneak almost the entire distance to the egg by this point. Finishing its meal, the dragon sniffed the air and turned to Fred with a roar. It started towards him before pausing and growling low. Fred grabbed the egg and smirked as the dragon started expelling some of the contents of its stomach. Unfortunately, the puking didn't last very long as the dragon shook off the effects before Fred managed to get more 5 meters away from the nest. He still had to cross quite a bit of distance before he could escape and the dragon started running towards him again. Fred shrugged and tossed his Exploding Elixir towards the head of the giant beast. It worked almost as well as he had hoped and managed to shock the thing enough for it to open its mouth. Fred took the opportunity presented and shot a Ton-Tongue Toffee into the dragon's maw with his slingshot. He turned to run towards the exit as the dragon opened its mouth to roast the tiny human. Instead of flames coming out though, a gigantic tongue lolled across the battlefield. The tongue started to roll back up to its normal size almost immediately after, but it was too late.

Fred was already running away, his egg held high in both hands as he made his escape.

Before the crowd could react at all, Fred cast a quick sonorous and shouted, "The products on display today are all available via owl order through Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in association with Potter Runes! Get them while they're hot!"

Viktor stepped into the field with jittery nerves. Just like with every Quidditch match he'd ever played however, the Durmstrang Champion showed no outward sign. Despite appearances, he was acutely aware that he was facing off against a five X creature that was known to kill dozens of highly trained wizards.

The manticore was lounging in front of him with the scorpion tail curled around it. The lion's head rested on the front paws and the beast looked for all intents and purposes…asleep. Resting on a pedestal a few meters behind the creature was the golden egg Viktor was aiming for.

He stepped forward taking care to silence his feet. If the manticore was going to sleep through the Task it certainly wasn't his place to wake the beast up. Viktor managed to make it halfway around the manticore before he felt a rush of air heading towards him. His Quidditch trained, lightning-quick reflexes saved him as he ducked, letting the stinger of the manticore fly past him and embed into the wall. Viktor dived and barely managed to put up a shield preventing the second attack as the stinger swung back.

A soft chuckling sound came from the center of the arena and Viktor stared at the manticore as it lifted its head and turned a grinning visage on him. "Did you truly think I'd pass up a tasty morsel delivered to my very footstep? You don't smell very fatty or very tasty…but I haven't had a good meal in suuuuch a long time. Shall we play little morsel?" Viktor couldn't help his shudder as the beast opened its mouth and exposed a row of teeth and fangs. With another disconcerting grin the manticore pounced.

Viktor jumped backwards, somersaulting over the lashing tail and swiping paws. He cast a fire whip striking the thing in its side and earning a howl of pain and rage. Following up his attack with a quick disorientation hex and a Dark cutting curse, Viktor twisted out of the way of a follow up from the animal. The manticore slunk back a short distance, its back left leg limping slightly and bleeding. The stinger was held high and followed Viktor's movements as he tried to edge closer to the egg.

"That wasn't very fun, little morsel. I'm not sure that I'm very interested in playing with you anymore. Perhaps I should just move to the main course instead."

Viktor swallowed hard at the incongruity of hearing human speech from a lion's mouth but he pushed the disquiet down. The beast was about to ramp up its game which meant he had to try his more desperate strategy. Viktor waited for the manticore to stop moving, the instant before it pounced he yelled out the conjunctivitis hex managing to get it right into the beast's eye.

The manticore let out a roar of pain and Viktor took the opportunity to turn, grab the egg and run flat out for the exit. He felt the beast jumping towards him, but Viktor managed to leap across the exit threshold just before it could do more than claw his leg. Breathing hard and sighing in relief at his luck, Viktor nodded to the manticore acknowledging the prowess of the creature. Turning, he limped forward holding the egg high and letting the crowd cheer.

Harry listened to the commentary and the roars and the screams and the applause and felt himself getting more and more nervous. His Occlumency had long since ceased to be of much help. The slight emotional control it lent probably helped prevent him from devolving into a shaking mess, but that wasn't really saying all that much by the time his turn came around. The final gong rang out and he distantly heard Bagman call his name. With leaden footsteps, Harry clutched his wand and walked into the arena.

The golden egg was the first thing he saw, nearly all the way across the field. With wide eyes he quickly searched for the chimera. The clicking of claws on rock to his right was the only warning he had before the creature jumped for him. Yelling out in surprise Harry sprang forwards barely managing to avoid getting clawed in half by the lion's paw reaching for him. Harry quickly cast a shield charm as he rolled. Thankfully, the snake head tail impacted the shield instead of biting into Harry's raised arm.

~Wait!~ he called out in parseltongue. ~I just need the egg. I have no need to fight you!~

All three heads laughed at his call. Harry shuddered as the horrifying cacophony of a lion's chuffing, a goat's cackling and a snake's hissing washed over him. The chimera prowled a bit further away and the snake head positioned itself over the top of goat head, leaving all three in a line as it hissed a reply, ~We care not for what you want, little human. We want to feast. And feast we will.~

Harry's eyes narrowed. So much for Plan A. Time for Plan B. Raising his wand Harry yelled, "Accio utility belt!" He risked a glance to the crowd and saw with relief his rune harness fly from Shiva's hands.

And promptly drop to the ground in the front of the stands as it ran into a briefly flaring barrier surrounding the arena.

Harry's face went white as the chimera chuffed in laughter again. His eyes went back to the beast, the lion's head was drooling and the snake's head was weaving back and forth. ~So little human…we believe it is time to eat now.~

"Shite!"

Shiva watched with horror as Harry's rune belts smashed into a warded barrier field around the arena. "Bloody hell! That's not supposed to be there!"

Beside her Tonks swore loudly. "Shite! If that thing stops the harness it's going to stop us too. We're not going to be able to get down to him if that thing gets lucky."

Hermione was holding onto the older women's arms tight enough to cause loss of circulation. Her eyes were wide and all the color had drained from her face. "Lucky?! It's a bloody Greek chimera! He'd have to kill all three heads at once just to slow it down and cauterize them all to kill it! It regenerates almost as quickly as the hydra, it's as fast a bloody broom, venomous, breathes fire and is immune to poison! It's going to kill him!"

Daphne leaned forward from her seat behind Hermione and clasped the Gryffindor's shoulder. "Give him some credit, Hermione. He's been training. He can do this."

Tracey nodded agreement though her hand clenched painfully on Daphne's knee spoke of her concern. On the other side of Tracey, Luna buried her head into the girl's side. "I don't want to watch this," she whimpered into Tracey.

The brunette draped her other arm around Luna and pulled her close whispering, "He'll be all right, Luna. He's too darn stubborn to die here."

Harry dodged another lunge from the chimera rolling out of the way of the strike of the snake head. He'd never complain about Tonks' conditioning training again. It was probably the only thing that had kept him alive so far. Harry turned his roll into a springboard maneuver to get back to his feet and put some distance between himself and the beast. He had no delusions about outrunning it to the egg but if he could distract it he might have a chance. The thing was far too fast to try and carve anything useful into the surrounding boulders, but Harry took the slight opening he had gained to try some of the spell chains that Flitwick had taught him. He launched everything from a flaming whip to a burst of wind to a freezing stream of ice at the monster. It dodged fully half of his chain and the rest barely even slowed it down.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise as the chimera made a slightly too slow jump and its front left paw got encased in a block of ice. Harry was about to push his advantage and run to the egg when the chimera simply turned its lion head towards its paw and let out a quick stream of fire that melted off the ice.

"Bloody hell! So much for that," Harry muttered as he backpedaled away from the beast. He had apparently succeeded in annoying it since the snake was no longer taunting him. Harry desperately tried to think of what else he could try and, as it jumped forward, he remembered the Sword. It might not kill the thing but he could surely slow it down enough to get away yeah?

Reaching for the spot inside himself connected to the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry pulled and a moment later, the blade materialized in his hand. Harry yelled out and swiped at the chimera as it reached him. The Sword cleaved the lion's head from the body and Harry grunted in victory. He rolled to the side and was about to run for the egg when he felt a spike of pain and the sky flew by above him.

Remus and Sirius both growled from the row behind the school kids. Amelia squeezed Sirius' shoulder, but a low noise of frustration escaped her as well. "The boy will be fine. He killed a Dementor with that sword. He'll be fine."

Harry had just been knocked back to near the entrance of the arena by the chimera after it swiped out with a paw when he tried to get passed it. The loss of the lion's head didn't seem to do very much of anything to slow the thing down. The audience watched as the beast leaned to the side and the goat head reached down to pull a stone from the ground swallowing it whole.

"Damn," Daphne muttered. "The basilisk venom won't work."

Neville was scowling nearby. "Seriously? The sword can eat souls now and it still can't kill the bloody thing?"

Remus leaned over and responded, "Apparently the Greek chimera is not sentient enough to have a soul. That used to reassure me."

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief as Harry shakily got back to his feet clutching the sword and his wand while wiping blood from his forehead. The chimera slowly stalked forwards again, the snake head hissing at him and the goat head giving that horrible cackling sound. "I'm going to kill whoever came up with this," Sirius said snarling.

Harry waited until he stopped seeing double before he tried to move around the arena. He had hoped that the loss of the primary head would've incapacitated the bloody thing but no. No, the only thing he'd managed to accomplish was to take away its ability to breathe fire. And even that was only a matter of another minute or two since he could see the head starting to regrow. Harry felt sweat bead while he reconsidered. He wasn't skilled enough or quick enough in his transfigurations to lock the chimera's legs in stone but now that it couldn't breathe fire again…he grinned.

"Let's try this again." Harry shifted into the Off Balance spell chain again and ran towards the chimera as he launched the spells. His opponent still managed to avoid the majority of the chain was, but was again caught by the ice portion with both legs on its right side becoming frozen.

The chimera shifted its weight and brought its free paw around to start cutting off the ice encasing its leg. The lion head, had gained enough shape that it was able to spit sparks onto the ice as well. Harry didn't give it enough chance to get free as he lunged with the Sword and took off the goat head then twisted to take the regrown portion of the lion head on his back swing.

Seeing both heads fall to the ground Harry let out a shout of victory and tried again to run passed the beast. Unfortunately, the snake head had a far longer reach than he had expected and slammed its bulk into his stomach. Harry was again tossed back towards the front of the arena and watched in horror as the chimera still didn't seem particularly disturbed that it was missing two heads. He grimaced and took a second to consider his options.

After a few moments Harry stood again, his shoulders square, his face pale and his breath shaky. His wand though was perfectly level as he raised it for his last option.

Shiva looked at the battlefield with a mounting sense of dread. Everything he had tried kept getting tossed back in his face. Harry couldn't get passed the bloody beast even with two heads removed. The snake had just enough reach to stretch to either side of the field as long it stayed in the center. Harry had obviously realized that with his last attempt. He had stopped trying to get passed it and had instead raised a transfigured wall across the narrow space between them, cutting the chimera off from his side of the battlefield.

"Is he going to try and carve a rune stone?" Hermione muttered beside her. "That's a bad idea. It won't take long to break through that wall and it's too fast in general. He'd need at least three different primary options to stand a chance. He should just stick with trying to lop off all three heads and run."

Daphne shook her head. "Can't. He'll never get that bloody snake one. It moves almost faster than you can see when it wants to. Watch his reactions; it's been all he could do just to avoid getting bitten by it much less cut it off."

Susan's eyes widened as she peered down into Harry's little corner. "Is that a ritual circle? What the bloody hell is he forming a ritual circle for?"

Sirius took a shuddering breath behind them all and he said, "Don't do it, Harry. Please don't do it."

"Don't do what?" Tracey asked.

Tonks' hair had shifted to pitch black and hung halfway down her back while the hand not being held by Hermione was clenched in her mouth. Shiva just watched silently as her ward made a desperate gamble.

She could only pray to every god and goddess she knew of that she'd still have a ward to berate after this was over.

Harry finished the first circle and started sending out his spells to form the inner scheme. He could already hear the chimera slamming into the wall he had transfigured. Dimly he noticed that the yowls from the lion head and the cackling of the goat had rejoined the sounds of rock being chipped away. He wanted to hurry things along, but he remembered the warning from the summer. The ritual had to be perfect or he might as well just let the chimera have him.

He finished the inner scheme and moved to the center of the ritual circle. Promise me, kid, that you will never do that ritual, Shiva's voice floated up from months ago. "Sorry, Shiva. I don't know what else to at this point." With one last gulping breath Harry started to energize the animagus ritual circle's sections as the book had described.

Two sections powered and Harry felt like it was going as well as could be hoped. He steadfastly ignored the fact that cracks and chips were appearing in the wall in front of him. He moved onto the next sections. Three more parts of the ritual were activated before Harry felt the imbalance flowing in the scheme around him.

With despairing eyes Harry started to energize the sixth segment. He was missing a component. His wand kept moving and power kept flowing as he desperately cast his mind out searching for what he was missing in the final, seventh section.

Cat.

He needed a cat. He couldn't conjure or transfigure a cat. That could barely get birds let alone mammals.

The sixth segment flashed as Harry finished with it. Holding in a yell of frustration and despair he turned to power the last section. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be stuck in animal form for the rest of his life. He could curl up in Hermione and Tonks' laps. Shiva had said she was a cat person. He got along well with Crookshanks. It'd be better than being dead surely. Maybe Voldemort would even leave him alone if he was permanently a cat?

Harry's silent musings were completely derailed as the wall finally shattered and the chimera leaped through the hole it had formed. Harry desperately tossed his power into the final ritual segment just as the chimera's front paw landed inside the circle. Both opponents froze as the finalized magic lit up the entire ritual circle in bright white light engulfing Harry and the intruding chimera.

The crowd held its breath as Harry and his assailant vanished in a flash of brilliance. Luna was crying and Sirius was clutching onto Amelia's hand for dear life. Daphne had a firm enough grip on both Tracey's hand and Hermione's shoulder that she would likely leave bruises. Neville, Susan and Hannah had all hunched down into each other. Shiva, Tonks and Hermione were all just staring blankly at the battlefield.

The bright light abruptly fell away, seemingly pulled back into the center of the ritual circle. The chimera stumbled shaking all three of its heads. In Harry's place there was a large midnight-black panther also shaking its head. The panther blinked large green eyes and sneezed into the ground. A hiss resounded from the snake head of the chimera, the first of the beast's three heads to fully clear.

The panther looked up at the hissing and gave a soft chuff. Its eyes narrowed and its claws extended. The chimera pounced at Harry and he leapt to the side. The snake head lashed out and Harry slashed his claws leaving deep marks in the scaly flesh as it passed. He didn't waste any time and immediately pushed off with all four paws. With a roar the chimera jumped after him. Harry reached the egg and headbutted it off the pedestal, aiming so that it soared out through the open exit. The time it had taken to aim let the chimera catch up and a paw swiped out to knock Harry aside. The panther felt it coming though and twisted, dodging underneath the larger beast. He slashed up above him as he leaped, opening a gash on the chimera's underside. A roar of pain was answered with a yowl of success.

The chimera turned to surge after Harry who was already bounding for the arena exit. Harry leapt through just as the chimera slammed into the wards and fell to the ground growling in frustration.

The panther turned to regard the beast for a moment and shuddered. The next moment in place of the panther there stood a very beaten, very tired, very human Harry Potter in a torn shirt and ripped trousers staring back at the chimera prowling on the other side of the gate. He bowed his head to it and said, "Thanks I guess. I know you were trying pretty hard to kill me and all, but…well you really helped me out there at the end. So thanks."

Harry gave the Greek chimera one last salute, picked up his egg and walked off to the medical tent. The silence behind him was as thunderous in its own way as the applause for the others had been.