A Helping Hand

Chapter 13

To say Harry cut an intimidating figure as he emerged boldly from the tent would be a slight understatement. And using the word 'slight' to describe the size of said understatement would in itself be an understatement. The last time the general populus of Hogwarts - and the other students - had properly seen Harry has been on Halloween, when the names had come out of the goblet. They had seen glimpses of him, moving in and out of the shadows around the edge the school, and of course they had seen him in lessons. But when they had seen him in lessons, they hadn't seen past the glamour charms he covered himself with, making him still seem like a small, scrawny teenager.

That couldn't be further from the truth. Since then, with the help of nutrient potions, good, healthy food, and regular exercise, Harry had shot up in height and put on quite a bit of muscle. He was nowhere near as tall as Cedric or Krum but he was definitely not dwarfed by them either. And he was as strong and as muscled as both of them, easily. His striking attire only bolstered his new look. He wore a simple grey bodysuit, showing off his strong shoulders and arms. He had dark, dragonhide boots and hood that obscured his face in shadow, almost like something out of Assassin's Creed. Slowly, savouring the moment, he reached up and lowered his hood, grinning darkly as he did so.

The reactions from the crowd were mixed. From Durmstrang and Beaubaxtons he received boos, partly because he was not their champion, and partly because they too bought into the cheating narrative. From Hogwarts he also received boos, so describing the reaction as mixed can only be applicable by describing the volume - some hated him more than others. Unsurprisingly, a loud sector of this hate came from Slytherin. In particular, he could see Malfoy jeering at him, face twisted in that, something that was emulated by the rest of his posse, by Nott, by Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle.

Nearby he saw Snape with an ever present sneer on his face as he scowled down at him. Also in the Professor's Box, he saw expressions of disapproval and disappointment on the face of Professor Sprout. McGonagall and Flitwick sent him brief but encouraging smiles, no doubt remembering his parents and the offer they made, that Dumbledore shut down. Speaking of the old goat, Harry's gaze slid over to the judging table - but not before taking notice of Professor Moody, who wore an expression of neutrality but almost seemed excited. Meanwhile, Dumbledore had perfected his look of 'grandfatherly disappointment', but Harry saw a curious gleam in his eye that the old man tried and failed to hide.

Looking back at the other students, Harry did see concern in some, but those were few and far between. The majority resided in the Gryffindor section, in the twins, and the Chasers who were almost like older siblings to him. He couldn't miss the sight of Hagrid's beaming face and the proud thumbs up the half-giant sent him. He saw anxious support in the eyes of Neville, an expression mirrored by a pair of Ravenclaws - Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood. Finally his gaze looked towards his former friends. Both Ron and Hermione's faces were twisted in hate and disgust. A few months ago that would have hurt him, crippled him. Now, it fuelled him.

With a smirk on his face, Harry turned to face the dragon.

The Horntail, whilst Harry was busy taunting the crowd, had grown quite angry due to it being ignored. Contrary to popular wizarding belief, it was not some mindless, savage beast. No it was intelligent, possessing the same mental capacity as any centaur or even human. And dragons, they were a proud species. The apex predator of the magical world, one of eldest species in the world, they had a right to be proud. And it was this pride that inflamed its anger. It tipped its mighty head back and let out an almighty roar that sounded as if it shook the heavens themselves. A hush fell over the arena, there was nothing so trivial as jeers or boos, nothing but silence anticipating the forthcoming battle.

The angered dragon sought to end it quickly and painfully, sought to make the tiny wizard pay for its ignorance and disrespect. Opening its giant jaws, the Horntail sent a burst of white hot fire, scorching through the air straight at Harry. The arena held its breath, time seemed to slow down. They expected Harry to try and dive or dodge out of the way, try to desperately defend himself. They didn't expect him to try and tackle the dragon head on. And they definitely didn't expect him to almost lazily raise his hand and summon a shield of darkness that the flames could not penetrate.

The flames merely melted into the shadow, dissipating harmlessly and sending the arena, and the dragon, into shock, to stunned silence. But this act only infuriated the Horntail further, it whipped its barbed, deadly tail around, intending to send the wizard flying into the wall. But once more, Harry erected a shield of shadow, this time constructing a dome around him. The dragon could do nothing to break this, not its flames not its claws, not its tail not its teeth, each and every attack bounced harmlessly of the shield, which looked no weaker than before. And when the dragon fell back Harry dropped the shield and smiled dangerously, locking eyes with the Horntail and holding its mighty gaze.

It was then that Horntail felt and emotion entirely uncommon to dragons. Fear. Somehow, this wizard a fraction of its size appeared to be more powerful than him. The shivered and an audible whimper-like sound escaped its throat. Slowly, Harry raised his wand, pointing it at the Horntail. The dragon, sensing what was to come tried anything to stop the inevitable, but it was futile. All attacks were beaten back by bolts of shadow, and the dragon could do nothing to prevent the spell that spilled from Harry's lips.

"Catenarius maximus!"

Four thick, heavy chains erupted from the tip of Harry's wand, attaching themselves to the dragon and binding it to the ground. These words however, do not do justice to the magic Harry just performed, dear reader. The spell was one he had found in Gryffindor's journal, with annotations reading 'extremely difficult, requires immense magical power to cast'. For a fourth year to perform magic even Godric Gryffindor found hard, well surely this adds some context to this act. Even Dumbledore was wide eyed, he polished his glasses as if he could not believe what he had just witnessed.

Then, unbelievably Harry advanced forwards to the dragon, until he was able to place the palm of his hand on the snout of the dragon. Leaning forward so none could hear, he spoke in Parseltounge.

"I invoke the Ancient Magic of a Life Debt. I could choose to end your life now but I do not. My enemies are your enemies, as yours are mine. My friends are your friends, as yours are mine. I ask and bind to you no more than that."

"I understand young one," the dragon groaned. "It will be an honour to fight and fly by your side. In the name of Magic herself, I, Karvathon of the Weyr, accept this Life Debt placed upon me."

A smile graced Harry's face as the bond was established. He nodded at the dragon and silently vanished the chains, vanished all the chains. The freed dragon looked back at Harry before keeping into the air, his great wings propelling himself away. Smirking to himself Harry picked up the Golden Egg and walked out of the arena whistling a little tune to himself as he departed, leaving a stunned crowd behind him.

A/N: This chapter was fun to write! I'm going away for two weeks to a place where I won't be able to write, so unfortunately there won't be another chapter for a while, but hopefully not too long. As always, comment and vote, it's my first time writing a fight scene and I'd very much appreciate any feedback.