Harry Potter the First Nemea Leonthrope Chapter 23 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Harry Potter the First Nemea Leonthrope! Champion selection and First Task! How will the Tasks change without Crouch Sr.?

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Chapter 23 – Champions and the First Task

Everyone was sitting in the Great Hall on Halloween. Dumbledore had dimmed the lighting of the Hall so that the Goblet of Fire was the brightest source of light. The Magical Artifact burned brightly as Dumbledore stood next to it. As the Headmaster of the Hosting School, it was Dumbledore’s role to announce the names of the Champions that the Goblet of Fire chose.

“It seems it is time.” Dumbledore intoned, his voice carrying throughout the quiet Hall. The Goblet’s blue flames turned red for a moment as a smoky piece of parchment was ejected from the Artifact. Dumbledore plucked the parchment from the air and looked it over for a moment. “The Champion for Durmstrang is Viktor Krum!” He announced and the Hall exploded into cheers and talking.

The Bulgarian Seeker stood from the Slytherin Table and made his way forward. He stopped to shake hands with Dumbledore, Karkaroff, and Reginald Crestwood, the new Head of International Magical Cooperation. Krum then exited the hall through a door behind the Head Table. The Goblet burned red again before another piece of smoking parchment was ejected and Dumbledore caught it a moment later.

“The Champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!” Dumbledore read aloud and more cheers rose in the Great Hall. Though it was distinctly noticeable that the majority of the enthusiastic cheering came from the male population of the students; even one’s from Durmstrang and Hogwarts. 

Now it was time to find out the Hogwarts Champion. Harry looked over to the corner of the Great Hall were Sirius stood. His Godfather had all but demanded to be present, ‘Just in case.’, as he’d told Dumbledore. Dumbledore had tried to assure Sirius that nothing untoward would happen. But the Lord Black hadn’t put up with his reassurances and made it clear he WOULD be attending or Hogwarts had better get some Legal Counsel together. The Headmaster had allowed Sirius to ‘visit’ on Halloween afterwards. Hogwarts couldn’t afford to deal with a lawsuit while trying to host an International Event. The Goblet flared red again and another piece of parchment floated through the air with a bit of smoke trailing behind it.

“The Champion for Hogwarts is….” Dumbledore stopped reading and looked very confused for a moment. “Harry Potter?” Harry dropped his head into his hands in frustration when he heard his name. Lavender, Parvati, and Hermione all reached out to him in support while Sirius’ face held a look of thunderous rage. “Harry…erm…Mr. Potter, could you come up here please?” Harry grudgingly stood up and made his way forward. Already whispers and muttering were filling the Great Hall. Sirius met Harry at the Goblet and glared daggers at Dumbledore. The Headmaster looked both confused and apologetic as he motioned for both of them to enter the antechamber behind the Professor’s Table. Harry and Sirius entered the room just as the Great Hall really erupted into noise.

“What is eet?” Fleur Delacour asked the two of them when she noticed them enter the room. “Has something happened?” Viktor Krum looked away from the fireplace and a look of confusion over took the surly young man’s face. There was a loud stamping of feet as the antechamber door was thrown open and many people began to enter the antechamber all at once. Dumbledore walked towards Harry but Sirius stepped between them before the Headmaster could get close.

“What the hell happened, Dumbledore?” Sirius all but snarled at the old man. “You assured me that nothing ‘untoward’ would happen tonight involving my Godson!”

“Sirius, I’m not sure.” Dumbledore shook his head. “We need to know if Harry put his name in the Goblet.”

“I didn’t.” Harry answered back dully. “I was hoping Angelina was going to be chosen.” When Angelina had put her name in the Goblet the entirety of Gryffindor had cheered! Their Quidditch Captain as a Champion would be great! Now, because Harry apparently couldn’t have one ‘normal’ Halloween as a Hogwarts student, his friend and Captain wouldn’t even get the chance.

“But of course he eez lying!” Madame Maxime huffed and Sirius turned his angry glare on the almost three and a half meter tall woman.

“My Godson didn’t want ANYTHING to do with this bloody Tournament! I won’t sit back and have you call him a liar!” Sirius coldly raged at the Headmistress.

“Of course Black is covering for Potter, somethings never change.” Snape scoffed and Sirius turned a baleful glare on the greasy man.

“Shut your worthless mouth Snivellus!” Sirius snarled at the Potions Master. “Unless you want to be seeing me before the Wizengamot with whatever Legal Counsel you can scrounge together!” Snape sneered at Sirius but didn’t retort. The Black Family Fortune could hire every Barrister, Attorney, and Lawyer in Magical Britain without a noticeable dent. Snape would be left with NO counsel whatsoever if Sirius pressed the matter.

“Severus, please remain silent.” Dumbledore urged the dour man before turning back to face Sirius. “I’m sure there is something we can do, Sirius.”

“I’m afraid there’s not too much we can do.” Reginald Crestwood sighed. The man looked to be in his forties with dark brown hair and sharp blue eyes. His face was currently frowning as he tried to figure out what had gone wrong that allowed an underage Champion to be chosen. “The Goblet of Fire instigates a Binding Magical Contract. If young Mr. Potter doesn’t adhere to the Rules of the Tournament, he’ll forfeit his Magic.”

“Consider the Ministry, more specifically the Departments of International Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports sued then!” Sirius growled at the man before turning his glare on the fidgeting Ludo Bagman. “I want to see this parchment that supposedly binds my Godson to this Tournament! I also want the Aurors called and an investigation into how an underage student was forced into a competition that is for ‘Of Age’ Wizards and Witches only.”

“All reasonable, Lord Black, I’ll Floo Amelia myself.” Crestwood nodded as he turned to walk towards the fireplace while pulling a small bag from within his robes. The bag turned out to be Floo powder as the flames turned green the instant Reginald threw the powder into the fire. Meanwhile, McGonagall, at Dumbledore’s insistence, went and retrieved the Goblet and the parchments that named the Champions. Harry watched as Crestwood talked with Amelia through the Floo and McGonagall came back with the Goblet and the parchments a few moments later. All the while Sirius’ hand was placed comfortingly on Harry’s shoulder. It was nice to have a Godfather like Sirius on his side; Harry actually felt like he was being shielded from a lot of accusations with Sirius here.

“Let me see the parchments.” Amelia requested mere moments after having exited the Floo. She was followed by two older Aurors, neither of which Harry had ever seen before, and a second later a fully cloaked figure exited the flames behind them. Harry couldn’t make out any distinguishing features of the cloaked figure. He couldn’t see their face and the cloak kept their body fully hidden. It only took a few moments for the Aurors to find discrepancies between the parchments that Fleur and Viktor had submitted and the one with Harry’s name on it. In the same time the cloaked figure, whom Amelia had introduced as the Unspeakable, Glen, from the Department of Mysteries, had examined the Goblet of Fire.

“The Goblet has been Charmed.” The completely monotone voice came from the Unspeakable. “But the Goblet is a centuries old Artifact; no average Witch or Wizard is capable of completely fooling it or changing its function. Mr. Potter was submitted under a false Fourth School. The Goblet rejected this and made him the Hogwarts’ Champion as it had already chosen for both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. While the one who did this has technically succeeded in getting Mr. Potter bound to the Goblet’s Contract, they were not able to alter the Goblet’s rules. So long as Mr. Potter puts forth an effort in each Task, he will have complied with the Contract.”

“So Harry, still has to compete?” Sirius grumbled and the Unspeakable nodded.

“Yes, but as I said, he merely needs to put forth an effort. So long as he presents himself for each Task and sets foot in the challenge he has fulfilled the obligation. Using a single spell, no matter what it is, would be advised as a safety precaution however.” Glen the Unspeakable informed them. Harry let out a sigh of relief. At the very least if a Task seemed too much for him he’d be able to fulfill the Contract without having to risk his life.

“Thank you, Glen.” Amelia nodded to the Unspeakable. The cloaked person nodded back and the flames in the fireplace flared green again just before they stepped into them and vanished. “As for the parchments involved in the selection,” Amelia pointed to the three singed pieces. “We’ve noticed a stark discrepancy between the two that were submitted by Mr. Krum and Ms. Delacour compared to the one with Mr. Potter’s name on it.” She held up the pieces with the French and Bulgarian names and continued. “These two are on parchment provided for the students who wanted to submit their names for the Tournament.” The pieces were rectangular and clean, clearly precut. “This is Mr. Potter’s.” Amelia picked up Harry’s and while it was the same size and shape it was noticeably a different color of parchment, slightly more yellowed than the other two.

“It looks like it was taken from the parchment Hogwarts uses for school assignments.” Sirius spoke up, having recognized the color, both from using it in his school days and buying it with Harry in Diagon Alley.

“Indeed, Lord Black.” Amelia nodded. “Whoever placed Mr. Potter’s name in the Goblet of Fire went out of their way to make the parchment look as close to the others as possible. That clearly shows premeditation on the culprit’s part. So the Aurors will be treating this as a criminal attack on a Minor.” Amelia then turned to face all of the Staff, Headmasters and Headmistress, as well as Crestwood and Bagman. “I’ll expect all of you to comply with the investigation.” This was followed by assurances from everyone under her gaze and after a quick ‘Goodnight’ from Sirius, Harry was sent off to Gryffindor Tower while the adults began talking with Amelia about what the Aurors would need.

Harry entered Gryffindor Tower to cheers and an ongoing party. Parvati, Lavender, and Hermione quickly blocked others from swarming Harry. The party quieted down to listen as Harry explained the situation. Needless to say, no one felt much like partying once it was made clear that someone outside of the Tournament had forced Harry to compete. Hermione bringing up the reason why the Tournament had been discontinued back in Seventeen Ninety Two only made it clearer that whoever had forced Harry into the Tournament probably wanted him dead. Harry sat on the couch in the Common Room with his Gryffindor girlfriends as he shared what he’d learned in the antechamber. All three of the girls were relieved when Harry told them he only had to put forth a minor effort to satisfy the Goblet of Fire’s Contract. That would, hopefully, keep Harry safer while going through the Tournament. A few goodnight kisses were shared between Harry, Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender before they separated for bed. Harry entered the Fourth Year Boy’s Dorm to find Ron sitting on his bed with a surly expression.

“How’d you do it, Harry?” Ron asked and Harry was confused.

“What?” Harry questioned.

“How’d you get past the Age Line? You could have told me, you know?” Ron huffed and Harry quickly realized he hadn’t seen Ron down in the Common Room.

“I didn’t…someone Charmed the Goblet. They stole a piece of parchment with my name on it from one of my assignments and cut it to look like the other slips of parchment.” Harry explained what he knew.

“Are you serious?” Ron demanded, looking like he didn’t fully believe Harry.

“Yes, Ron, why would I lie?” Harry asked his first friend.

“It’s just, eternal glory and the thousand Galleons prize, that’s pretty tempting, Harry.” Ron almost sounded accusing as he replied.

“I didn’t enter, Ron. This is someone else probably trying to kill me, again.” Harry exhaled deeply to keep his cool. He couldn’t believe Ron would doubt him like this! They’d known each other since First Year! Ron knew ‘something’ always seemed to happen on Halloween!

“If you say so.” Ron shrugged before pulling his curtains closed and going to bed.

‘Doubts me? Doubts the King?’ Harry’s Therian Instincts flared for a moment at the unbelieving tone in Ron’s voice. With a deep breath and a slow exhale Harry calmed himself. There was no need to get angry about this, even if he felt slightly betrayed by Ron’s lack of trust in him. The redhead had been slowly pulling away from Harry ever since he’d started dating Parvati and Lavender. Harry didn’t know why, but suspected that Ron may not be approving of his relationships. This seeming refusal to believe him about the Tournament brought to light another possible reason though. Ron might be jealous of Harry’s relationships. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Ron had shown a jealous side of himself. With a shake of his head, Harry changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed. He wouldn’t worry about Ron’s mood or lack of faith, if Ron didn’t want to believe him now, Harry was sure he’d change his tune when the culprit was eventually found. For now Harry would focus on reassuring Padma, Luna, and Susan come tomorrow morning. He was sure his girlfriends in other Houses were worried about him right now.

-November 24th ~ First Task-

“Be careful, Harry.” Hermione hugged him tightly as Harry was preparing to head for the stadium they’d constructed for the Tournament’s First Task.

“If you don’t want to deal with it just cast a random spell and bow out.” Parvati kissed his cheek. “I’d rather you be safe than try and win this dumb Tournament.”

“You’ll be fine, Harry.” Luna smiled at him softly, the smaller blonde moving to hug him when Hermione let go.

“Please don’t do anything reckless, I want you back in one piece.” Susan forced a smile as she held him. “You promised me a date this weekend, remember?” The redhead had small tears in the corner of her eyes. Harry brushed them away and gave her a small kiss to ease her nerves a bit.

“I remember, Susan. I won’t do anything to have to cancel our date.” Harry promised and Susan nodded into his chest as he held her.

“I still think this is stupid.” Lavender huffed as she pulled him into a hug of her own. “Just conjure a big middle finger and walk back out, that’s what you should do.” Harry chuckled at Lavender’s fire. The buxom blonde still hadn’t forgiven the Ministry, or even Hogwarts, for getting Harry involved in the Tournament.

“I have the next date after Susan, mister.” Padma reminded him while hugging him tightly. “Don’t make either of us wait. Please stay safe, okay?”

“I will, Padma, I will.” Harry hugged her close to reassure the clearly worried girl.

“Mr. Potter, please follow me.” McGonagall called out to the teen surrounded by his girlfriends. Harry gave another quick round of hugs to the six girls before heading over to his Head of House. The two started a brisk walk towards the stadium the First Task would take place in. “Are you prepared, Mr. Potter?”

“As much as I can be, Professor.” Harry replied. Without anything to really go off of, Harry had mostly spent the last few weeks just going over every spell he knew and practicing as much as he could with them. Better to be good at a dozen or so spells than to only have a passing familiarity with a hundred. At least that was what Susan had kept saying when they practiced together.

“Even we weren’t informed until this morning about what this Task entailed.” McGonagall admitted to her student. “The Ministry was wary of any further ‘interference’ with the Tournament.”

“Great.” Harry huffed as they entered the Champion’s Waiting Area.

“This is where I must leave you, Mr. Potter.” McGonagall nodded to him. “Please try and stay safe.”

“Yes Professor.” Harry responded as he looked around the area. Fleur was sitting in a chair and looking nervous. Not hard to understand why considering none of the Champions knew what was about to happen. Krum stood off to the side his surly look firmly on his face and arms crossed. Harry thought the older teen might be doing this to hide his nerves.

“Alright, Champions, gather round, gather round.” Ludo Bagman called out as he and Reginald Crestwood entered the Waiting Area. “We’ll now explain the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament!”

“In this bag are three cards, each has a number on it as well as the picture of the creature you’ll be facing. The number on the card will determine what order you’ll challenge the task in.” Crestwood informed the three as he held up a small bag. “Ms. Delacour, if you would?”

“Yes sir.” Fleur nodded as she placed her hand into the bag and pulled out a card. Upon seeing the card a look of confusion crossed Fleur’s beautiful face before her eyes seemed to widen in realization and she paled noticeably.

“Number two, you’ll be going second then.” Crestwood nodded. “Mr. Krum, you’ll be next.”

“Sir.” Krum grunted as he reached in and pulled out his own card. The Bulgarian looked it over and grimaced.

“Number one, that puts you first.” Crestwood informed the Seeker. “Lastly, Mr. Potter.” Harry reached into the bag and pulled out the last card. Obviously it had the number three on it, making him last, but it was the picture of the creature on it that made Harry widen his eyes involuntarily. The creature on the card was a snarling beast, covered in reddish-brown fur. It had five large legs and a gaping mouth filled with vicious looking fangs. The creature’s eyes seemed to glow with malevolence as they image darted around on the card. Thanks to Lupin’s lessons last year Harry knew what this was.

“Quintaped? You’re making us fight Quintapeds?!” Harry scowled at the two Ministry Heads. “They EAT humans! They literally prefer human flesh to all others! They’re XXXXX-Rated Creatures! Wizard Killers!”

“We-well yes, Mr. P-Potter.” Ludo stuttered out at seeing Harry’s shocked anger.

“Quintapeds are indeed all of those things, Mr. Potter.” Crestwood nodded. “But they were the best we could get since my predecessor was removed from his position before he could secure his original choice of Creature for this task.”

“Vat was ze Original?” Krum asked from where he stood next to Bagman.

“Bartemius Crouch Senior wanted to ship in Dragons from the Reserve in Romania.” Crestwood informed the trio of Champions. “I, however, do not have his decades of connections to get that done in such a short time. So we looked closer to Magical Britain for a similar challenge for this task.” All three Champions paled even further at the mention of Dragons. Most XXXXX-Rated Creatures had an ability that killed near instantly, or were incredibly magically resistant, or were just so large that most spells didn’t do much to them. Not to mention all were untamable and usually hostile to humans. Dragons had all four of these traits. They were large, very magically resistant, breathed fire that could turn a person into a blackened corpse in seconds, and incredibly hostile to pretty much everything! They were the Apex Predators of all Europe before they had been wrangled into the Reserves to hide them when the Statute of Secrecy went into effect.

“I suddenly prefer ze Quintapeds.” Fleur spoke softly as she looked blankly at the card in her hand.

“Very.” Krum nodded in agreement.

“Torn apart might still be less preferable than incineration.” Harry muttered.

“The Task is to retrieve the Golden Egg in the center of the Arena.” Bagman spoke up. “You’ll need it to help you figure out what the Second Task entails!”

“As the Quintapeds are XXXXX-Rated, killing them is allowed. You may use any spells you wish in defense of your life. However do be aware that anything like the Unforgivables will see you in a meeting with the Aurors at the end of the Task. I wish you all good luck.” Crestwood nodded to each Champion in turn.

“When you hear the Cannon Spell go off you’re to enter the Arena and begin the Task!” Bagman explained. “Mr. Krum if you’d proceed to the entryway we’ll begin shortly. With that the two Ministry Heads left and Krum walked through a small hallway in the Waiting Area that led to the Arena. Within five minutes the Cannon Spell rang out over the Arena and Bagman began commentating on Krum’s attempt.

“Are you not nervous?” Fleur questioned Harry a minute later. Harry looked towards the Veela girl and gave her a lopsided smile.

“Very nervous actually.” Harry replied. “But I promised my girlfriends I’d be safe and just bow out if I thought the Task was too dangerous.”

“Girlfriends?” Fleur raised an eyebrow at the plurality. “Are all of those girls you spend time with your girlfriends?”

“Yeah, Lavender, Parvati, Padma, Hermione, Luna, and Susan are my girlfriends here at Hogwarts.” Harry smiled as he thought about them.

“‘At’ Hogwarts?” Fleur now looked confused. “You have MORE outside of Hogwarts?”

“Just one.” Harry shook his head at the Veela’s look. “Her name’s Tonks, she’s an Auror.”

“You have quite ze…open mind, ‘Arry Potter.” Fleur looked amused, color returning to her face and restoring her natural beauty.

“It was their idea, believe it or not.” Harry chuckled lightly. “I never expected trying to date would lead to this.” A loud gong-like sound rang out followed by Bagman announcing Krum’s success.

“It would seem to be my turn.” Fleur sighed before rising from her chair.

“Do you have a plan?” Harry asked as Fleur walked towards the hallway.

“I doubt zat even vicious beasts like ze Quintaped enjoy being set on fire.” Fleur smiled back as a brief flash of fire appeared in Fleur’s upturned hand for second. With that Fleur disappeared down the hallway and towards the Arena.

“She’s probably not wrong.” Harry admitted as he sat alone in the Waiting Area. He listened in to Bagman’s commentary this time and cheered when Fleur apparently kept the Quintaped away from her throughout her attempt with a near constant stream of fire. The gong-like sound came again and Harry stood up and made his way towards the entrance to the Arena. The Cannon Spell went off and Harry gripped his wand tightly as he stepped into the Arena.

At first Harry didn’t see the Quintaped he was supposed to face. A loud roar let him know where the beast was as Harry ran from his spot just as the large Quintaped crashed down on where he had just been standing. The thing looked exactly like its picture on the card, five legs, reddish-brown fur, malevolent eyes and giant fang-filled mouth. The monstrosity roared again it charged towards Harry. Seeing his plan to bow out completely unsalvageable at this point Harry fired a series of Reductos at the Quintaped. The five-legged beast stumbled a bit from the onslaught but leapt sideways and hid amongst the rocky terrain of the Arena.

Harry rushed towards the center of the Arena to try and get to the Golden Egg. HE made it to a more cleared area only for the Quintaped to land in front of his with a roar. A swing of one of the beast’s club-like legs sent Harry sprawling, knocking his wand out of his hand in the process. Harry scrambled to get back on his feet as the large, hairy monster charged him. The Fourth Year leapt to the side to avoid the first charge but the Quintaped was quick on its five feet and spun to face him almost immediately.

‘It dares challenge the King?! Prey doesn’t hunt Predator!’ Harry felt his Therian Instincts roaring in his head, his blood felt like it was beating in time with his heart throughout his entire body. He snarled at the Quintaped and with the blurring and stretching sound of the Therianthrope transformation Harry grew. He quickly out-sized the Quintaped and his robes shredded from his size change. A Nemean Lion now stood across from the Quintaped. With a loud roar that shook the Arena, Harry challenged the XXXXX-Rated Quintaped as a XXXXX-Rated Beast himself. The Quintaped leapt backwards at the loud roar, visibly shaking and let out its own snarls and growls to try and look more intimidating.

It failed.

Harry leapt onto the Quintaped, crushing the smaller beast under his new weight, and began to viciously savage the man-eater. His claws tore into the Quintaped’s flesh sending blood flying across the rocks. His fangs latched onto one of the Quintaped’s legs and with a twisting motion, followed by a horrible sounding crack, the Nemean Lion tore the leg completely off. The Quintaped screeched and tried biting back. Its fangs cracked, chipped, or outright broke against the Lion’s legendary hide. With a roar Harry bit into the Quintaped’s ‘head’ and quickly crushed the flesh and bone in his massive jaws. The Quintaped stilled and the Nemean Lion held on for a few more seconds before letting go. Seeing the other beast dead Harry roared loudly again, shaking the Arena, before padding towards the shiny Egg in the center. He picked the large, golden egg up with his jaws and then turned to walk back out of the Arena.

Most of the crowd was still sitting in stunned silence. Seeing Harry Potter turn into a massive lion for the first time was terrifying. A few crushes on the Fourth Year died that day, not that Harry ever noticed, but he’d certainly made one thing very clear. You do not mess with the Nemea Leonthropes! Several people in the crowd, including all of Harry’s Hogwarts girlfriends, found the sight of the massive Nemean Lion striding towards the exit, with its almost golden fur glistening in the light of the afternoon sun, to be majestic. Truly a King of Beasts if there ever was one.

It was only after he’d calmed down and left the Arena did Harry, still in Full Lion Form, realize he’d forgotten his wand back in the Arena. The blurring and stretching sound happened again as he returned to Human Form in nothing but his boxers. They’d finally had some underwear made with a similar ability to his glasses; which could ‘change’ with him, so he wouldn’t be completely starkers every time he transformed into the Full Lion Form. But even still, there was no way he was going back out into the Arena in nothing but his boxers with all those people out there! He’d have to ask someone to go get it; or wait until he could get another robe and then go get it himself.

‘I really need a full wardrobe update.’ Harry thought to himself as he laid down in Lion Form to wait for someone to come get him. Maybe he could write to Liam Thrane and see if the older Therianthrope new a good Magical Tailor?

-End Chapter-

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First Task Completed! But you didn’t see that Champion Selection coming! Not to mention the loss of Crouch Sr. and what it meant for the Tournament! I continue to surprise! At least I hope so! Now everyone knows what a Nemea Leonthrope can do, even to another XXXXX-Rated Beast! They look Majestic as Hell! But they will still viciously maul you to death if you give them a reason to! Also…Harry needs new clothes!

Until I get your reviews, later!