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Contrary to popular belief, Harry Potter was not a dunderhead. Sure, he was lazy most of the time, but he wasn’t an idiot. With being involved in a stupid, fight for your life tournament, he had to stop being as lazy and get to work on doing a little thing called surviving. Which was why he was pouring over books, tomes, everything he could get his hands on. Not just from the library, though, but from places all over the country he could get. Hell, even the continent if he could find it!
Sirius was a huge help in this, as due to his status as Lord Black, he had access to the Black Library, and other contacts in the seedier places of the world. Revelation, however, came from someplace he had not even begun to think of, but he was glad for it. He took a slow, deep breath, and nodded. He was going to be alright. Yes, he was going to be fine with the first task. So what if it was against dragons… which, no doubt, he’d get the most ferocious one.
~TK~
Potter Luck.
The worst thing associated with the Potter name, aside from being the only one left, that is. The Hungarian Horntail. Yeah, that was going to be the bes- No! He had this, he knew everything would be fine, he’d planned for this, for Merlin’s sake! He took a deep breath, and then exhaled, and then another deep breath. He lost count on how many times he did so, but then his name was called and he opened his eyes. He got up and then walked out into the stadium, the crowd either jeering or cheering. He eyed the furious horntail, and then kneeled and took his wand out.
He started to mumble to himself, waving his wand in an intricate manner, drawing a ritual circle out of magic. It started small, and then with another mutter it got larger, to the point that it was at least twenty feet in diameter, the horntail looking curious, but still in a rage. When Harry stopped, he took another slow breath, before he spoke, yet no-one really understood him. All they heard, was hissing. His eyes closed as he chanted, and waved his wand back and forth, the hissing low and slow, getting whispers from the crowd as the fourth Champion, the boy-who-lived, spoke in Parseltongue. Clearly, he had gone completely dark. None had even cared to remember two years before he had used it to help the castle from being ruined.
Harry was oblivious to this, but he was now outside the circle, as it pulsed and thrummed in powerful magics. When he was done, he all but bellowed the last words of his ritual, and the circle went from black, to red, to green, then back to black again. It seemed to bend, and then from the center of it came a large head, followed by a long, sinuous body. The crowd was bearing witness to their savior summoning a Basilisk. The King of Serpents, the snake that could swallow men whole.
Harry stepped back, though still hissing, and when the large snake was completely free from it’s summoning, it let out a roar that no normal snake could make. It then let out a low, almost gurgling/rumbling growl as it turned to Harry, eyes staring at him deeply, yet he did not fall dead. They hissed back and forth to each other, before the snake’s massive head snapped and turned to the now slightly alarmed horntail. Even dragons feared the mighty beast, there was only one counter to their venom, and Fawkes had just had a burning day.
Harry said something again, and the basilisk coiled back, and then sprung into an attack. It was like watching a normal sized snake seize its prey, slamming into the limbed beast and then coiling around it like a constrictor, despite the fact that it’s venom was already coursing through the large dragon. The crowd lay silent, as they watched the King of Snakes easily kill one of the fiercest dragons know to wizarding kind. It let go of it and then with another rumbling hiss, and then consumed it almost too easily, before it started to slither towards Harry.
As it did so, it shrunk, to about ten or so feet, its tail flicking the golden egg towards his new master. Harry snorted at it, but picked it up, just as the snake came up his other side, to drape along his body. With that, Harry walked into the tent, the crowd now a mix of screams and mutters.
~TK~
“Say anything, mutter one word from your stupid mouth, Minister, and my friend here will remind you why she is one of the most feared creatures in all of magical history.” Harry said, not even bothering to give the minister more than a glance, as Harry was tended to by Poppy. Dumbledore’s mouth snapped shut as well, and the only one confident enough to approach Harry was Hermione. Sure, she was terrified of the basilisk that was lazily draped over Harry, but he was her friend, and that was that. Hermione came over and got a small growl from the snake, before Harry hissed something and she seemed to relax. She gave Harry a careful hug, and sat beside him.
“Did you want to ask something, headmaster?” Harry asked, finally looking at Dumbledore. Dumbledore took an involuntary step back, the sheer lack of emotion in the question, but the cold rage in his eyes was incredibly unsettling. It reminded him of Tom, no. It was colder. It was worse.
“Not at all, Mr. Potter… I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done.” Dumbledore said, nodding slowly, getting a low hiss from the snake, that Harry seemed to be listening too.
“Apparently you stink of lies, Headmaster, but that’s alright. Nothing unusual around here.” Harry said, and when Pomfrey patted him on the cheek, he smiled and kissed hers softly, before heading out of the tent, Hermione on one arm, with everyone giving him a large berth. Dumbledore shuddered ever so softly, this was as far from good as possible, and that was being incredibly generous.
~TK~
Alastor ‘Mad-eye’ Moody twitched when the students left his latest fourth year class… well, except for Potter and that damnable snake of his.. He swallowed low in his throat, before there was a rattling hiss from said snake, and a whispered conversation between boy and serpent.
“I would not take that next drink if I were you, Professor.” Harry said, eyes boring into the now clearly frightened ones of the impostor. “She says you stink of her former master, and she is not happy that he had forced her to harm the school’s hatchlings.” He said, still seated, but it was like he was ten feet above the nearly literally petrified professor.
“Alright, Potter. What do you want?” ‘Moody’ said, knowing better than to tussle with a Basilisk. Who knows what kind of orders the boy gave it.
“I don’t want anything, really. Well, that’s a lie.” Harry said, musing on his thoughts for a moment, before he spoke. “But more importantly, Sanyasa here wants you to go back to your master. She wants you to tell him that Tom should stay far away from me, and anywhere I happen to be. Period. She is bound to me now, and does not condone the harming of hatchlings in her school. Her home.” He said, and ‘Moody’ nodded slowly.
“I will tell my Lord this, Potter.” The disguised man said, taking a swig of his potion just to keep himself in form. “I’ll tell, and come morning, you won’t have to worry about me anymore.” He said, nearly bowing and then scampering along the wall past the still seated child. He was devoted to his lord, but something about this snake… the way it seemed to radiate darkness and magic was incredibly unsettling.