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Triwizard Troubles (mightydavidson ~ iilan)

Harry didn't have anything romantic on his mind at the moment. Usually he would be dying to get a moment or two alone with Cedric, just to have a simple kiss, but right now it was all about business. He grasped the male's robe for a moment, indicating that he should follow.

He brought his boyfriend out to the entrance of the Qudditch pitch where he knew no one would be practicing, considering Quidditch has been called off for the full year. He turned sharply and looked the male straight in the eyes. "Dragons. He spoke quickly. "The first task is dragons. Don't ask me how I know, I just do. We had to face dragons." The tone in his voice said that he wasn't kidding one bit and that he was truly a bit frightened, he'd heard stories of wizards who went up against dragons and few survived. Harry hoped that at least he and Cedric would be two who could say they had.
 
Cedric hoped the same thing of course, though at the moment his confidence wasn't terribly high. He too had heard the stories of wizards who'd fought dragons, heck some of them had actually been told in History of Magic class and none of them had ever been pretty. Plus, if Harry was worried that meant Granger hadn't been able to think up a solution for Harry yet and if one of Hogwarts' smartest students was stumped then Cedric wasn't liking his chances either.

"Thanks Harry," Cedric said, straining his brain to try and think up a possible solution. "The folks in charge of this tournament sure aren't messing around are they?"

Though he tried to put on a bold face for Harry's sake, the simple truth was that Cedric was not feeling at all bold just now. Though he would try his hardest to think up a solution as he always did, it was difficult not to imagine himself as dragon chow.
 
"No, I guess they aren't messing around." Harry said with a sigh, looking up to Cedric. It was clear to him that his boyfriend had no ideas or else he would be sharing with him, they would be discussing ideas, deciding which was best and then probably giving one another a high five or a kiss or something, not standing there like two idiots who had no clue as to what to do. He figured there was no clear way to defeat a dragon though, not with magic anyway. What other way was there though? He couldn't very well pick up rocks and just lunge them at the dragon, that would be like throwing peas at the Hogwarts castle.

"I think we're fucked." He said with a slight laugh, the kind of laugh people used when they lost all hope. "I have no idea how to defeat a dragon and I'm assuming you don't either."
 
"Not yet," Cedric replied. "Though I can't imagine they'd expect us to actually fight a dragon. I mean fully trained wizards have done that and died, I can't imagine Dumbledore would expect students to do so."

Of course Harry clearly wasn't going to lie about something like this either, which meant that something else was going on here. They simply had to figure out what it was.

"Perhaps we have to simply get by the dragon somehow?" Cedric suggested. "Or take something from it? That would involve dragons but wouldn't neccesarily require us to fight them."
 
Cedric did make quite a bit of sense. He was pretty positive that Dumbledore wouldn't have them going up against dragons when wizards beyond any of the student's talent had died from fighting one. The man's taking something from the dragon theory did seem plausible, perhaps that was what they had to do.

"Well, even if you are right...how the bloody hell do we distract a dragon?" The boy questioned, his brows raised at Cedric. "We're going to look awfully tasty to it." He said with a sigh, rubbing his temples slowly.

"This is just too big, I had no idea the Triwizard Tournament was going to have us risking our lives." He really only didn't know that because he wasn't exactly paying attention once Dumbledore had mentioned it, but still. "What if we die?" Harry was beginning to lose it, he was thinking of all the possible situations for either him or Cedric to be eaten by a dragon and he needed to stop. "Ignore what I said, neither of us is going to die."
 
Cedric had considered the possibility that the tournament competitors could look quite tasty to a dragon, but then he realised something that Harry hadn't considered. Which probably showed just how alarmed Harry was at the moment, because he was quite sure Harry would've considered it himself otherwise.

"Well we're not going to get eaten at any rate," Cedric replied. "The dragons would only try to eat us if they were hungry but you forget, Hagrid's taking care of them. I mean who else would be doing it?"

Cedric's point was quite clear. Hagrid had never once allowed an animal in his care to come to any sort of harm or distress and it was well known how fond Hagrid was of dangerous animals. There was no way those dragons were going to be anything but well fed if Hagrid was taking care of them.
 
Harry nodded, agreeing with Cedric. If Hagrid was taking care of the dragons, which Harry knew for a fact that he was since he was the one who showed him the dragons, they wouldn't go hungry at all. In fact, they might even be overfed which was even better for the champions. "Okay, you're right, we're not going to get eaten." The boy sighed in relief, looking around quickly to see if there were any students nearby, which there weren't, so he quickly leaned into Cedric and kissed him on the lips. "We better go and figure something out, your friends might get suspicious if you're here with me too long anyways, since you're supposed to hate me and all." He smiled slightly at that, knowing that quite the opposite was true.
 
"Nobody thinks I hate you," Cedric replied, giving Harry a warm hug. "I've been trying to get everybody to stop wearing those beastly buttons since it's not at all fair to you. Still, wouldn't want them getting suspicious."

Especially since he wasn't at all sure how to explain to his friends that he and Harry were seeing each other, should he need to. He still wanted to tell everybody of course but now he was starting to realise how incredibly akward that was. Especially with current feelings being against Harry due to this whole Triwizard Tournament.

"I'll chat with you later Harry," he agreed. "If I have any ideas about what to do about the dragons, I'll try to tell you."
 
He could hear the screaming of the crowd as Victor Krum took on his dragon. They were all yelling and gasping as the wizard performed tricks to get his egg. Harry wasn't looking at him though, hell, he wasn't even thinking about the dragons at all, he was more worried about Cedric. As far as he knew, Cedric still didn't have a plan to get around the dragon and that terrified him. Harry was a bit more prepared, seeing as Professor Moody gave him a rather large hint the other day that he could use magic to summon his broom and then Hermione had taught him the summoning charm. He had his plan all figured out, he'd be flying to get around that dragon.

Harry hesitantly walked over to Cedric's part of the champions tent, making sure he didn't look scared or nervous for the male, not wanting him to worry. "You okay?" He questioned, sitting next to the male on his bed.
 
Cedric nodded, though he didn't look quite as confident as he was trying to feel. He had a plan in mind but he wasn't sure how well it would work and he was feeling uncharacteristically nervous. This wasn't like Quidditch after all, the whole school was counting on him now and though Harry was competing too it was still a lot of pressure.

"I'm pretty good," he replied. "Just feeling a little nervous is all. The pressure is getting to me a bit I guess."

Well that and the dragon of course but if his plan worked, he would be able to get past it with little difficulty.
 
"You'll be great." He whispered softly, placing his hand on Cedric's for just a moment before removing it. Public displays of affection weren't really possible when the two were secretly dating, so he didn't want to linger too long. That was one of the things that absolutely sucked about having to keep their relationship a secret, he couldn't even touch his boyfriend when they were in public in case anyone was watching.

Victor Krum entered the champion's tent with a grin on his face as he held the egg up in the air, proclaiming his victory as his headmaster ran over and cheered the man on.

"Mr. Diggory, you're up." Dumbledore said as he walked over to the male and picked him up by the shoulder.

Harry sucked in his breath and was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to breath again until Cedric was safely back, golden egg in hand.
 
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Cedric walked out of the tent and prepared himself. Drawing his wand, he readied his plan in his mind and hoped the dragon he was facing was as well fed and lethargic as he'd convinced himself it would be.

'Hope Hagrid's been feeding you well,' he thought to himself. 'Wouldn't want an alert fire breathing lizard at this point, now would we?'

Either way this likely wasn't going to be easy but Krum had pulled it off and so could he, he just had to focus.

[At this point I must confess that I've forgotten what Krum's plan was. Do you recall? Long time since I read the books.]
 
(I don't remember either, sorry. I do remember that Cedric turned a rock into a dog to distract the dragon though.)

Harry wanted nothing more than to run up and hug Cedric. He wanted to reassure the man that he believed in him, that he thought he could do this. Sadly he couldn't without some questions being raised and he wasn't ready to deal with all of that yet. Well, actually if he was wanting to do things, it was to go out there and fight the dragon with Cedric, to try and keep the male safe. He knew Cedric was more advanced than him in spells and knowledge, but he had never gone up against something before; or at least Harry never thought he had. Harry had fought Voldemort quite a few times and survived so he was more than fit enough to take on a dragon, but Cedric hadn't. He had faith though, he believed his boyfriend could do it.
 
It had been a harrowing experience to be sure, but in the end Cedric's trick had gone off without a problem and though he'd unfortunately broken one of the real eggs Cedric had gotten the golden egg and that was what was important. Well that and never having to try something like this again, though he looked confident enough Cedric was almost certain that everybody in the crowd could see him shaking in his shoes.

"If that's just the beginning, I'd hate to see what they come up with for the rest of the tournament," Cedric said, as he entered the tent. How did one top a dragon anyhow? Cedric wasn't sure he wanted to know but was very sure that he was going to find out regardless.
 
Harry had done it. He had actually got past the dragon. He summoned his broom and just flew around the whole castle, dodging fire and making his broom go as fast as it possibly could. He grasped the golden egg close to him, a symbol of his victory as students and teachers cheered at him as he walked into the champion's tent, grateful for the show they received.

"Congratulations, champions!" Dumbledore said as he beckoned them all towards him. "You all performed magnificently on the first task. The golden egg you all hold will give you a clue as to what the second task is, I wish you all luck." With his short speech finished, Dumbledore excused himself and exited the tent, the other teachers following swiftly.

He looked down at the golden egg in his hands as everyone exited, his mind racing as he attempted to figure out just what the clue was to the second task.

(Sorry about the crappy post, I had a better one but I got logged out while typing it and couldn't remember a large part of it. D; Shall we time skip to when Harry and Cedric are going to the prefects bathroom, Cedric explaining what he figured out?)
 
[I think perhaps it might be better if Cedric sought Harry out, thinking he's deduced how the golden egg works and then seeks out Harry so they can work it out together. Does that work for you?]
 
It had taken him sometime to work out how the golden egg's secret was unravelled, at least Cedric was pretty sure that he'd unravelled it. The screeching sound was quite unintelligable when he'd opened the egg at the Hufflepuff Common Room, not to mention headache inducing and apparently traumatising for at least one of the first years so Cedric figured it needed something to translate it. Since they hadn't been provided with anything else, whatever was needed to translate it must be relatively easy to find.

It had been while he was studying that he'd hit upon the idea. According to one of his texts mer-people language sounded like screeches to the ears of humans and could only be understood underwater. Figuring it was worth a shot, he'd used one of the school owls to send a message to Harry to meet him near the library.
 
Quite frankly, Harry had absolutely no idea as to what the egg could possibly be hiding. The screeching noise that came out of the egg once he had opened it nearly made his ears bleed, so obviously that was absolutely no help, so he was excited to receive the letter, hoping it meant that the male had figured it out so they could prepare for the next task together.

Harry's lips transformed into a smile once he saw Cedric waiting there patiently for him, looking as handsome as ever. He quickly walked over to the male and stopped right in front of him. "Well, do you know what the second task is?" He questioned, eager to hear the news.
 
"Not yet," Cedric replied. "But I think I know how to find out. Follow me, we're taking a bath."

It seemed an odd statement to make certainly but he hoped Harry trusted him enough to follow his lead. Besides even if this didn't work, he'd be alone in the Prefect's Bath with Harry so it was a win win situation as far as Cedric was concerned.

"I think listening to them under the water might be the key," Cedric explained. "That screeching might be the language of merpeople, or at least that's what my studies led me to belive. In one of my texts, it says their voices can only be understood underwater."
 
Harry's brow raised as Cedric said that they were taking a bath together. He certainly wouldn't mind that, but he didn't know how that would reveal what the second task was, that is until Cedric mentioned merpeople. He guessed it would make perfect sense, mainly because there really was no other explanation. It was either this or they would go into the second task with no idea as to what was going on. For both their sake, Harry hoped he was right. "You're sure?" He questioned, desperation in his voice. "I mean, I've never heard a merperson in my life, have you?"
 
"Well no," Cedric admitted. "But at the moment it's the only lead we have. Besides, even if it leads nowhere at least we'll be in the bath together."

Cedric winked playfully as they arrived at the entrance to the Prefect's Bath, quickly opening the door and motioning for Harry to enter. As he wasn't a prefect he really wasn't supposed to be in there but Cedric didn't think anybody would mind so long as they weren't caught.

"Quickly, before somebody sees us."
 
Harry smiled and blushed as Cedric winked at him. The male had this effect on him that he couldn't help, he made him giddy like a schoolgirl just to see a smirk or a smile. He hurried into the prefect's bathroom and was completely shocked at what he saw. The place was absolutely gorgeous, marble was nearly everywhere and the bath looked more like a small pool rather than a regular bath. "I've never been in here before." He said to Cedric, his eyes scanning the room. "This place is massive." He commented as he took off his robe and dropped it to the floor.
 
Shedding his own room, Cedric nodded in agreement. As the Hufflepuff Prefect he'd been here more then once before but he was still impressed by the sheer size of the room. Say what you will about Hogwarts, they certainly didn't skimp on the amenities for their prefects.

"The bath is pretty deep in the middle too," Cedric replied. "Can't go diving or anything mind but it's good enough for swimming, if you've a mind too."

Kicking off his shoes and removing his tie, Cedric thought that his entire year could have a pool party in the Prefect Bath with room left over for an entire other party.
 
Harry was surprised that they could actually go swimming in that thing, he was only joking about the bath looking like a mini pool, but obviously there was some truth to his statement. He resumed with taking off the rest of his clothes and put them in a pile, looking back at Cedric while wearing nothing but a smile before leaning over and grabbing his egg before going into the bath, sighing softly as soon as he had.

The water was warm and full of colored bubbles, both felt relaxing against his abused body. He ached from the first task, dodging a dragon wasn't exactly the easiest challenge in the world, but he figured he had done a good enough job and a few light bruises proved that he had. "Coming?" He question Cedric as he surfaced, water dripping down his face.
 
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