The fall had definitely settled in quite nicely at Hogwarts as orange, yellow and brown leaves fell from their branches and onto the grounds. The nearby ancient yet glamorous Scottish castle definitely made the scene all the more magnificent. Deep within the structure, in a corner of the library, a young man with green eyes sighed as he ran a hand through his curly, wild dark hair while he wrote furiously on a notebook with his Potions textbook next to it.

Harry Potter, star Chaser for England and the Vratsa Vultures cursed his luck for the millionth time. The last few years were nothing but trouble and he was certain fate had saved the worst for his last. He could hear the hushed chattering and giggling of girls not far away and immediately placed a hand over his face. Some people just never got the message even when the evidence was present everyday. Such was the price of fame; privacy seemed to have become non-existent.

Finishing the last sentence of his essay, Harry closed his notebook and sat his pen on top of the cover. He'd gotten in touch with Sirius and had informed him of what the first task might entail. Sufficiently to say, his godfather went apeshit crazy, a dramatic contrast to his more relaxing and carefree attitude.

In the last couple of weeks, Harry had learned more about Dragons and their behavior than he had in his entire life. Snapping out of his thoughts as footsteps neared, he looked up and smiled.

"There you are, Harry…don't you agree that it is too much of a beautiful day to be inside brooding." Fleur sauntered towards her boyfriend and plopped herself on his lap regally. She sighed when she felt his arms gently wrapped themselves around her waist.

Harry said nothing as he simply enjoyed her presence and buried his nose in her sleek blonde hair, inhaling the pleasant scent. "Your presence has already made it beautiful…" Hadrian whispered lightly and after a small pause, small bursts of laughter escaped from both of them as they reveled in the cheesiness of his statement.

Fleur saw the frustrated and put out looks on her boyfriend's stalkers as she turned her head and smirked victoriously. Harry soon got his things organized and swinging on his schoolbag and left the library with Fleur's hand in his. Thankfully the school population was slowly adapting to seeing the couple and there were less hush whispering or staring whenever they were seen together.

However, the couple made had made their way onto the front page of every fashion, gossip magazine once again when they attended the Quidditch World Cup player award ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. Harry had been nominated and won the award for best Chaser of the World Cup as well as earning a spot in the World Cup best VII. His club mate and fellow Triwizard Champion Viktor Krum won the award for best seeker and also in the World Cup best VII though he scowled his way through the entire ceremony.

It was a very welcomed break from the tournament back at Hogwarts as Harry and Fleur marveled at the snowy Alps around them as they skated around. It was certainly a welcomed change from Hogwarts and the tournament, allowing them some very much needed 'alone' time together.

"Nervous?" Fleur asked quietly as she leaned on her boyfriend's arm, humming softly.

"You first." Harry replied.

"Hmmph, seems fair." Fleur rolled her eyes and huffed. "Mmmm…" She sighed as Harry gathered her in his arms and planted a small kiss on her lips and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Normally, he was a very private, low profile person when it came to him and Fleur but it was difficult to do such thing when they were together nearly everyday.

"To answer your question, darling…" He smiled when Fleur looked up at him with a glare, "I am nervous…this wasn't suppose to happen. All I wanted" Harry stared straight into her softened eyes with no jesting in his tone, "was to spend a year of peace…with you." Fleur merely smiled at his response as she tightened her grip on his hand.

"You?" Harry asked. "Mmmm…your proposal is tempting. But to answer your question, I feel quite confident. Maybe I'm going crazy but with you here with me…" Fleur answered slowly, meeting her boyfriend's green eyes that focused on her own with attention, "I feel I can do anything." Harry smirked as he turned his attention back to the path ahead of him.

"Quit smiling. It was not meant to be funny!" Fleur protested, which only further caused Harry's smirk to widen even more.

"That's it." Fleur huffed and released her hand from his and quickened her pace.

As one would have it, Harry caught up to her effortlessly and swung an arm around the beautiful Veela's shoulder. "C'mon, don't be like that Fleur…I apologize, that was ill-considerate of me. What you said was beautiful." Harry whispered into his girlfriend's ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Owwww…" The dark haired teen whined when Fleur elbowed him in the gut as her response. However, he inwardly smiled as he saw a pink blush appear on Fleur's cheeks. Watching his boyfriend whining like a kicked puppy from the corner of her eyes made Fleur giggle inwardly though she remained her outward stoic look, she did have a reputation to protect after all!

Together they made their ways to the Great Hall and made a beeline towards the Ravenclaw table.

"Lookie here, look what the cat dragged in…the glamorous couple of the November issue of Witch Weekly." Roger Davies gave the said couple a mock salute.

"Yeah, yeah you're regular comedian Davies." Harry rolled his eyes as he and Fleur sat down.

"So ya find out what the first task's gonna be about?" The brunette Ravenclaw asked while ignoring the jab effortlessly while biting into a green apple.

"Leave him alone Roger, Harry's got enough problems already to deal with." Cho admonished her older housemate.

"I know that, I just want to help." Roger whined at the dark haired girl who was sitting next to him. Cho rolled her eyes and started a conversation with Fleur regarding to things girls usually talk about.

"Your help? He'll probably be sent to Madam Pomfrey half dead if we were to follow that route." Elan Malfoy joined the conversation, sitting down next to Harry as he arrived at the hall with his usual 'screw the rules, I've got money' swagger.

"Yeah, that about sounds right." Elena also made her appearance for lunch, taking the empty seat across of Harry and exchanged a small smile with the boy in front of her.

Meanwhile Roger responded by putting a hand over his bosom, while pretending to faint. "Betrayal of most foul, my heart hath been shattered by thou cruel wor-" He never got to finish as he was hit in the face by an orange and comically fell backwards.

"You're being too loud, clown boy. Pipe down." Anna Zabini said while fixating the Davies heir with a cold glare.

"If you are quite finished…Yes. I do know what I will have to do for the First Task and am suitably prepared for it" Was all the reply Harry could afford as he closed his eyes while he sipped his cup of red tea and made an appreciative noise.

"You're not going to spill are you?" Roger groaned as he sat up and his head dropped when all he got was a 'Nope' from the unwilling Ravenclaw Champion.

"I suppose you know as well. Care to give a tiny hint, Fleur?" Roger decided to try his luck with the Beauxbatons Champion who was sitting next to Harry and was having a conversation with Cho, Anna and Elena. Turning her head, the quarter Veela gave a smile that sent a terrifying shiver down his spine.

"If I told you, I'm afraid I would 'ave to dispose of you afterwards." Fleur smiled unnervingly, a glint appearing in her eyes while she pointed her dainty right index finger at the brunette. Roger started to sweat as he could make out the barest flicker of fire that was pointed in his direction.

"Yes! I think I'll hold my curiosity in, it's certainly no problem! I'll see you in Transfiguration in a bit." He stammered in a rather high-pitch tone at Harry who merely nodded and waved him off with his fork. He could barely contain the snigger he was holding in as Roger shot off and out of the Great Hall as if his pants were on fire.

"So violent…" Harry mused as he gave his girlfriend a small smile.

"You know you like it 'arry." Fleur whispered back with a devilish smile, lightly bumping his shoulder with hers.

"Hmmm…." Harry hummed as he sipped his tea.

The rest of the day was uneventful enough for the residential Ravenclaw champion, as he had to listen to Roger rave on how scary Fleur was amongst other things that he usually went on about. He'd known that his close friend could be rather…overzealous at times therefore the best way to counter it was to indulge him. It was rather similar to how he would act when his little sister would ask him to play dolls with her.

So distracted was his mind that Harry failed to hear the bell ringing which signaled the end of class that he slightly jumped when Elena poked his rather tender side. The girl rolled her eyes as she saw the startled look on Harry's face.

"Drifting into lala land are we, Potter? Aren't you lucky that it was me and not Professor Vector that caught you?" She smiled as they walked out of the classroom together, after they both waved goodbye at said Professor.

"Yeah, thanks for the save…couldn't have done it without you." Harry bit back as they decided to retreat to Ravenclaw Tower as they had just finished their last class of the day. One probably would have missed it but the slightest hint of a blush appeared on the Elena's cheeks as she heard Harry's response.

"There you are big sis!" Both Ravenclaws stopped in their tracks as a girl that greatly resembled Elena rushed over to the duo, the only difference was the height difference.

"What have I said about running in the hallways, Lisa?" Elena crossed her arms with her 'authoritative' aura on full blast.

"Not to do it?" Lisa blushed as her older sister bonked her lightly on the head.

"Owwie…" The shorter girl whined as she messaged her head.

"Now what's the rush?" Elena asked, more like demanded.

"I was wondering if you could look over my potions assignment…" Lisa stuttered at her older sister's stare.

"Fine…" Elena let out a sigh, "Go on ahead…I'll be there shortly."

"Thanks sis! You're the best!" Lisa startled her big sister in the form of a strangling hug and whispered, "You two look great walking together by the way…better than that French girl in my opinion." Elena's eyes widened and before she could do anything to make her younger sibling to eat her words, said sibling bolted off, her older sister's words about running in the hall already forgotten.

"That little…! Don't you start!" Elena snarled when she saw Harry giving her a curious look. He merely raised his hands in a surrender gesture as he was at the end of an Elena Turpin death glare. Harry knew that it was better for his health if he were to not antagonize the Turpin heiress any further, for it was common knowledge that it was best to not be in the hundred meter radius when her rage was burning like an inferno.

As they entered Ravenclaw tower, the two split up as Elena went to help her younger sibling with her homework with a dark scowl on her face while Harry retreated to his dormitory, keen to look over and discuss his plan for the first plan with Rina.

Sitting on his four-poster bed, Harry was in a rather pensive mood as in front of him laid sheets of paper. On some were water or ice based spells that were designed to nullify the dragon's dangerous fire breath.

On other sheets were detailed strategies and tactics that were being revised constantly. Without knowing the exact objective of the task or the area in which the task would be held in made the possibilities limitless. The two categories on which he focused his strategies were mainly based on close quarter combat and semi to long-range combat.

"You could always give up." Rina chirped from her perch on Harry's shoulder.

"True…however, I don't think that will change anything down the line." Harry responded studied the piece of paper in his hand. On it were the types of dragon that Rina had seen from her scouting mission, they included: The Common Welsh Green, Chinese Fireball and the Hungarian Horntail. Each type of dragon was vastly different ranging from their behavior thus he would require separate methods to deal with them. If he were to single out one out of the three dragons that might prove to be the most problematic, it would have to be the Horntail.

Horntails are known to be cunning and intelligent predators, unlike the Chinese Fireball, which focuses on using brute strength. The Horntail was also the most vicious out of the three, aggressive to even it's own kind. In the list of discovered species of Dragon, the Horntail was near the top of the most dangerous along with the Ukranian Ironbelly, Peruvian Vipertooth, Swedish Short-Snout. As he was deep in thoughts, a voice shook him from his daze.

"Harry c'mon, it's time for dinner." Looking up, he saw Elena and offered a small smile.

"Ah, I must have lost track of time…" He murmured as he gave his wand a wave and the papers around him flew back onto his desk in a neat order.

"Is that…?"

"Yeah, my potential plans on how to get past the first task." Harry shrugged, as he didn't bother to put on his outer Hogwarts Robe, and instead rocked his sleeveless vest, tie and rolled up shirtsleeve look. Running a hand over his hair and leaving a single strand trailing down the left side of his face, the two Ravenclaws left the tower along with their housemates who have also decided to go for dinner.

"So…how was helping your sister?" Harry asked, digging his palms into his pockets.

"Alright I guess, although I wish she could handle her homework without needing me to review it with her." Elena grunted.

"So…" She leaned closer and whispered, "Dragons?"

"Ah, you saw that…" Harry swerved his head sideways. "Yeah." He added when he saw the familiar eye rolling from his friend.

"Just be careful okay?" Was all Elena said as they neared the Great Hall.

"I will…" Harry responded. As he took his seat at the Ravenclaw Table, he tried to not allow his mind to wander aimlessly.

The days went by quickly as the day of the First Task had arrived, and along it the competitive atmosphere between Hogwarts and the two foreign schools heightened. Leading up towards the First task, Harry had 'slightly' isolated himself from his friends as he devoted all the time he could on reviewing his tactics.

If it weren't for Fleur and Elena knocking his door down in a literal sense and dragging him down to the Great Hall by the ear to eat, he would have eventually decide to not leave the tower.

Here he was, leaning against a supporting pillar in a tent erected for the champions before the commencement of the First Task. The roars of irritated dragons rang in Harry's ears, dropping the reality of the situation on top of his shoulders. Of course, he was the first to arrive at the tent but he had no desire to engage in conversation so he kept to his corner. Then Krum entered the tent with Karkaroff and two professional Quidditch players merely sent each other a nod of acknowledgement.

The Bulgarian was even surlier than usual, which caused a smirk to slide upon Harry's face.

Then Fleur came in along with Madame Maxine. Immediately setting her eyes on the Hogwarts Champion, Fleur walked towards Harry and greeted him with a not so innocent kiss near his lips. No words were said between them, it was not necessary as Fleur wrapped her arm around Harry's and leaned her head on his shoulder. Fleur had to reluctantly release her arm when Ludo Bagman strolled in dressed in his old Wasp robes again.

"Well, now we're all here – time to fill you in!" He said cheerfully.

"When the audience has assembled and settled down, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag-" He held up a small sack made of purple silk and shook it like a child would to a bag of candy "- from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different – er – varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too…Uh, ah…Oh yes! Your task is to collect the golden egg!"

Harry felt relaxed as he finally heard the objective for the task, collecting the egg meant facing the dragon in possibly close quarters and he had just the perfect technique to pull this off.

"Oh, is that confidence I sense coming out of you?" Fleur smiled up at him as she caught his smirk.

"You'll just have to wait and see, darling…" Harry responded and lightly sniggered at her pout.

"Hmmm…." Fleur hummed with amusement as she stuck out a hand inside the bag offered to her by Bagman and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a Welsh Green dragon, a number one around its neck.

"My, my…it seems Lady Luck has favored me." Fleur told her boyfriend, holding her miniature model and enjoying watching her boyfriend who merely had an annoyed twitch in his eye for a fraction of a second. However, it quickly transformed into a smile.

"All in good time, Fleur…all in good time. Save the best for last…so they say." Came his response as he watched Krum pull a small scarlet model of the Chinese Fireball, with the number two around his neck.

"I can't say that I would not enjoy this…facing one of the 'big four'" Harry thought as the purple silk bag came around to him and without an ounce of hesitation or fear, he plunged his hand into the bag. As he felt the struggling creature that he would soon face around his palm, he pulled his hand back out. The miniature Horntail was obviously not happy at the way it was being handled as it bared its fangs at the smiling dark haired boy.

"Well there you are!" commented Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the sequence is as follows: Ms. Delacour will go first, followed by Mr. Krum aaannnnndd concluded by Mr. Potter. You will head to the enclosure when you hear a whistle. Questions?" Seeing that there were none, Bagman gave them a rather cheery farewell before walking out of the tent.

As they waited, Fleur sought and grasped Harry's hand tightly in hers as she stared on ahead at the tent entrance. And when the whistle blew sharply, Fleur took in a deep breath as she slowly allowed her grip on Harry's hand to loosen. She momentarily closed her eyes as she felt his lips on her temple, she shot him a smile as she strode forward with purpose and determination.

Crossing his arms, Harry could hear the loud cheering of the crowd, which meant Fleur had entered the enclosure and was now facing off against the real Welsh Green.

"Ooooh, strange but it is working." Harry could hear Bagman's magnified voice boom. "Oh…so close! She's nearly got it…" After ten minutes or so of Bagman rambling nonstop, Harry smiled when it was announced that Fleur had passed her task with relative ease as loud applause and cheering could be heard. They did not announce her score, which meant the judges, had it displayed or something of sort.

Taking a seat on a comfortable chair, Harry crossed his legs relaxingly and leaned his head back as the whistle was blown for the second time.

"And here comes Mr. Krum!" cried Bagman and Krum slouched out of the tent. All alone in the tent, Harry simply enjoyed the tranquility while twirling the wand in between his fingers. He could feel it pulsating in his grasp, conveying bursts of excitement through his arm.

"Hmmm…you're looking forward to this too huh?" Harry said as he looked up at the