Aeternum: Group Chat

Chapter 12: First Task

Hermione stared ahead, ignoring a few glances at her. She knew her face shouldn't look the friendliest right now. She was angry, her teeth clenched as each step she took seemed heavy. The fingers of her hands moved slightly before clenching into a fist, then relaxing and clenching again.

There was only one day left... no, in fact there were only hours left until the first task of the tournament. Hermione felt nervous and scared because she now knew what Harry would have to face. But at the same time, angry that Ronald Weasley had the audacity to hide it from her and Harry. Ron's brother Charlie worked at the reserve that brought in the dragons, and he had told his younger brother about this, so that he could warn Harry about what he would have to face.

However, the younger Weasley didn't say anything; he simply stayed quiet and then simply forgot about it until just a few minutes ago.

Hermione knew that, at the moment, her relationship with Harry was not the best. But she didn't care about that, she wanted Harry to be safe tomorrow and for nothing serious to happen to him. That's why she was looking for him, but she couldn't find him and, the more she searched, the angrier and more nervous she became.

She was also worried about the obvious change in Harry. She could see that he barely smiled in front of others. And, as impressive as it was to others, he spent a lot of time in the library, reading and writing things in a notebook. Many noticed this, and simply ignored him or pointed at him, but Harry ignored them as if they didn't exist.

She felt sad for Harry's apathy, at the same time that she had doubted him.

A troll, Voldemort, the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, a basilisk, dementors, Sirius Black, Professor Lupin and his werewolf transformation, the Quidditch World Cup and the attack on it; Hermione had been through a lot since she entered the wizarding world, and all of it had been around Harry. Perhaps, she was scared, especially when she was petrified. Right now, perhaps she didn't feel all that well, she didn't fully understand herself and wanted peace.

But, when she went over all of this, she not only managed to understand that she was scared and longed for some peace, but that her friend, Harry Potter, also longed for these things. She only managed to feel worse for doubting her friend and avoiding him.

After what seemed like hours of searching back and forth, she saw Harry about to go down one of the moving stairs.

"Harry!" she exclaimed as she approached him faster. Hermione smiled a little when she saw him turn to her and raise his eyebrows in a little surprise.

"Do you need something, Hermione?" Harry asked with a little curiosity.

"Can we talk somewhere else, please?"

Now Harry was really curious, from the moment his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Hermione doubted him, even ignored him at times, and at others she kept further away. Now she wanted to talk to him in privacy?... a little strange for him, but perhaps not so much when he remembered what was in those digital books that Rias gave him.

"Well...", he nodded before following her slowly, not saying much to Hermione's questions. Things like: Have you eaten? Did you study? Where have you been? What have you done? And, meanwhile, she bit her lips a little at the sharp answers that Harry answered with. Finally, when they reached a quieter place and without anyone interrupting him, Hermione stopped in front of him before inhaling and exhaling loudly.

"Harry... the first task is dragons... Well, one dragon for each champion"

"I know, Hermione"

"Yes! You have to be careful! You can't- Huh?", Hermione had started to scream, until she managed to process Harry's answer. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung slightly agape.

"You... What... How did you know?", she managed to ask in shock.

"Hagrid told me. He took me out for the night recently, he showed me the dragons that would be used for the first task," Harry replied with a small smile. He was a little glad that Hermione decided to tell him this, it meant that she was still the same Hermione.

"I... I see...", Hermione sighed in relief before looking at Harry with an apologetic look: "Harry... I... I'm sorry"

"Why?"

"For everything! I haven't been a very good friend, Harry!"

Harry sighed this time, shaking his head: "Easy, Hermione. I can understand you a little. You wanted some peace, right?"

"How do you know that?" she asked in surprise, but Harry smiled kindly at her, stopping any further questions she might ask.

"Because I wanted it too. My life has been full of problems, ever since I was born. I can completely understand that desire for peace and quiet."

Hermione was silent for a few moments, processing the answer, especially the first part.

"You wanted it, Harry? You don't want it anymore?"

Harry shook his head, "It's not that I don't want to, but I accepted the fact that I'm not a normal person. My life will have more complicated problems than a normal person. And I also realized that I don't need anyone."

"My problems, my battles, my future... those things are something that only I can solve on my own. The teachers, the headmaster, the people who whisper behind my back, right now, they're of no use to me. Well, maybe the teachers are, but only for classes, the rest are completely useless to me."

"But... But... Harry... Am I sure they want to help? The headmaster always has!" Hermione took two steps back and said, surprised and doubtful of her own words.

Harry let out a laugh, one that was cold and emotionless. Hermione was surprised by that and could only watch as Harry pulled a book out of his bag. He held it out in front of him and Hermione could see its title.

The Triwizard Tournament: Rules and Important Topics.

"This book was almost inside the restricted section of the library. It says a lot about the Triwizard Tournament, including a part where someone can leave in case of trouble. And while Professor Dumbledore may have forgotten this, I don't think all the judges and part of the Ministry have."

"Someone did something to the Goblet to make it release my name. And, since this is not considered legal or fair in the rules, something could have been done perfectly. However, no one helped me."

"Hermione...", Harry put the book away and looked at her seriously and coldly: "I don't have the time, or the need to trust people who could betray me."

Harry extended his hands and showed them to Hermione.

"My path... my life... I will control with these hands. The hands of Dumbledore, the teachers, or anyone from the Ministry... I will not accept any of them putting their hands in those things. And if they do..."

"Well... I will just cut them off."

Hermione stepped back surprised and a little scared by Harry's voice and his words. And, seeing her reaction, Harry sighed.

"Relax. I won't hurt someone who hasn't done something to me," Harry said quietly, just enough for Hermione to hear.

"But... this is who I am right now. I only trust two people... and neither of them are actually part of this magical world, Hermione."

"B- But... Harry... I...", Hermione tried to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth. She knew that trust was something really hard to gain sometimes, but so easy to lose. Her words stopped because she knew that Harry couldn't trust her with what she had shown. Someone who wouldn't support their friend when he was in trouble, would easily turn their back on him when he needed help with some important things. Therefore, Harry didn't consider Hermione as someone to trust.

She could only watch as Harry turned around and gave her one last sideways glance before walking somewhere else. She couldn't stop him, she couldn't, not with their current friendship almost broken.

Harry could understand her, but it didn't mean that would make them regain their friendship so easily, not so quickly.

. . .

Students and teachers were sitting in the stands of the small makeshift stadium. Meanwhile, Harry was staring at the dragon several meters in front of him. Honestly, he didn't want to face the most violent and dangerous dragon of all, the Hungarian Horntail. Therefore, he simply snuck in taking the spot to choose another champion and picked up a small dragon figurine.

The dragon in front of him was a common Welsh green. The dragon was slowly moving the tip of its tail while wrapping the rest around its eggs. Its wings were slightly spread and its green scales were glowing a little.

Honestly, Harry didn't know how to get past any dragon without showing off his skills gained in Konohagakure or Memory-Maker. Both would be obvious to others, or they could see it as very advanced magic; anyway, there would be questions if he used any of his skills gained through the group chat app.

So, for the first try, he slowly approached the dragon, keeping his gaze on the beast's large orbs. He completely ignored the gasps as the dragon narrowed its eyes and shot out a thin tongue of flame, as if telling him not to come any closer. But, Harry, who licked his lips a little, came even closer, close enough for the dragon to hear him clearly.

Then, he spoke...

"(Can you give me the golden egg?... It's not one of yours)", his first option was to speak parseltongue. While the odds of such a thing working were very high, he had nothing to lose by trying. And as expected, the dragon simply growled before spitting fire from its mouth. Harry used a bit of his chakra to propel himself a bit further than normal before landing and rolling on the ground, narrowly dodging the fire.

The next thing Harry tried, was to use Accio on the egg, pointing his wand at it. But that didn't work either, so he simply moved away a bit and walked slowly around the dragon that had now stood up and growled at him as he took a step forward.

He could have used the same method as in the books, but he wouldn't risk something so dangerous. In the book, the character named Harry Potter had been lucky, very lucky. He could very well have died from the Hungarian Horntail.

In fact, now that he had his full attention on a better future and not risking his life foolishly, he wouldn't play Quidditch. He really liked the sport, but his current vision still gave him problems in some things. And, in fact, since he returned from the shinobi world, for the first time he questioned why he played with such bad vision like his.

Harry narrowed his eyes when the dragon roared angrily and spat out a huge column of fire. Harry gritted his teeth as he lost concentration, so he had to improvise; leaning forward and placing one knee on the ground. Then, he used his chakra to cast a doton jutsu that raised a wall of earth from the ground. But this, all while his right hand moved from the ground up, using his wand as a disguise for the technique, making it seem to everyone that it was silent magic.

The powerful fire hit the wall and began to melt the rock. And at the same time, the flames moved sideways, passing in both directions of Harry. As the flames continued to hit, Harry began to think about how to get the egg. The distance between him and the golden egg was no more than a hundred meters, so it was not that great a distance.

"Wait... I'm such a fucking idiot," Harry growled as he looked back and noticed that that part had no steps or people watching. It was just a large wall where the dragon had come out. So, he created a shadow clone and ordered it to use Doton: Doshuu Eigyo no jutsu.

It is a jutsu where the user can pass through the ground as if it were water. It is a very effective technique because the person can enter and exit the ground without leaving any trace. As he did so, the clone traveled across the ground and grabbed the egg before returning.

When the dragon stopped its fire, the earth wall crumbled into pieces and melted, revealing Harry completely safe and with the egg in one of his arms, hugging his chest. Then, as if he was making a maximum effort, he ran towards the exit while throwing confringo towards the dragon's eyes.

"Groooaaahh!" the dragon roared in pain as the curse hit its bare eye and exploded into crimson liquid. Everyone gasped in surprise as Harry ran out safely with the egg in his hands before shouting in excitement as the dragon was injured.

As he exited the arena, he looked up at the judges waiting for his score for this task.

Karkaroff gave him one point for not being able to see what he had done, Madame Maxime gave him two points for having raised such a strong earth wall and achieved the goal without injuries. Dumbledore gave him three, without much explanation. Ludo Bagman gave him three points, and Harry knew it was because he had bet on him and wanted him to win. Finally, Bartemius Crouch Snr; who gave Harry two points.

Harry moved towards the infirmary tent as he saw that he had eleven points in total.

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Honestly, I forgot about the maximum points a judge could award. So, I did it as I thought best. Each judge can give a maximum of three points. Therefore, the maximum score a competitor can get in the first round would be 15 points.