DRAGONS!

Disclaimer: I disclaim everything, including owning anything or making money off of any of the authors whose work I borrowed for this little story.

DRAGONS!

Harry stood with the other three champions in the tent waiting for the First Task of the Triwizard tournament. He knew it involved dragons, but didn't know any details. Did he have to fight one? Kill it? Just avoid getting eaten? The rest of the champions looked nervous, too.

Ludo Bagman and Mr. Crouch entered the tent, the first with a big smile, the second as sour faced as he always was.

"Hello, champions. This task is a task of courage and thinking on your feet. You will enter the arena on one side, and you must exit on the other. In the middle will be..." and he paused for dramatic purposes, "a dragon. In this pouch is a small representation of which dragon you are going to be facing. Ladies first." He held out the bag to Fleur. She reached in and pulled out a small, green dragon with a tag around it's neck showing the number 1.

Fleur opened the door leading to the arena and stepped inside. Ludo Bagman's amplified voice reached every corner of the stadium.

"And here's our first champion, Beauxbatons' own Fleur Delacour facing Puff, the Magic Dragon!"

Fleur bravely walked up to the dragon, and conjured a pile of string and sealing wax, which the dragon took with an appreciative nod, and made her way, flanked by the dragon, to the exit. They both walked through the exit, and except for some rumors of being seen on a sailing ship with a dragon, Fleur was never heard from again.

"Mr. Krum," Bagman held out the bag to the Bulgarian Seeker. He pulled out a blue and yellow striped dragon with yellow wings and a red horn baring a tag with the number 2.

"And second up, is Durmstrang's champion, Victor Krum facing Boris from the Mountains of Blueland!"

Victor walked up to the dragon which had a rope around it's back leg.

"You are vell?" he asked the dragon.

"They won't let me go home, and they don't feed me anything I want to eat," the dragon complained.

"Here, allow me," Victor waved his wand and conjured some skunk cabbage for the starving dragon, which ate it gratefully. When the dragon had finished, a quick untying charm later, and the striped dragon was flying away. Victor made he way out the exit to be docked points for letting the dragon escape.

"Mr. Diggory?"

Cedric pulled out a blue green, fuzzy creature with a tag labeled 3.

"And the Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, is now going to face Elliot, the Milleville Dragon!"

Cedric looked at his dragon. It was bigger than the previous two dragons, though he didn't know that. Covered in long shaggy hair, it was indeed a dragon with a long tail, huge wings, and a mouth full of sharp teeth, including one and half (it must have broken at some time) tusks jutting up from the lower set. A huge chain was attached to a collar around its neck, and embedded somehow in the middle of the arena. The chain was long enough to allow it to reach both sides of the area, leaving no way Cedric could see to easily get past.

Cedric carefully approached the dragon.

"You're not going to eat me, are you?" he asked nervously. The dragon grunted with a noise that could have been "No." Or not.

"In that case, Alohomora!"

The cotter pin that attached the collar to the chain popped off, and the dragon was free. Dragon handlers, not wanting to lose another dragon raced in, wands ready, only to be chased out by a blast of fire from Eliot. The handler's retreated, and Eliot gave Cedric a smile then took off, wings beating too slowly to provide as much lift as he was obviously experiencing. The dragon handlers raced into the arena and raised their wands only to watch as the dragon turned invisible.

Cedric too, lost points for losing a dragon.

"And finally, the last one is yours Mr. Potter."

If the sizes of the animated models meant anything, Victor had the smallest, and Cedric the biggest. This one was slightly smaller than Cedric's. Harry wasn't even sure it was a dragon. There were no wings. It appeared even hairier than Cedric's, with a larger head, but two floppy ears. It's body was long and the tail was thick.

As Harry opened the door to the arena, Bagman announced him, "And our amazing fourth champion, Harry Potter will now face Falkor of Fantasia!"

In person, the dragon proved that the impression the model gave him was correct. It looked like a giant dog. The collar around it's neck that chained it to the arena only reinforced that image. It was lying with its snout on its paws, eyes closed.

Observing it for a moment, Harry couldn't tell if it was sleeping or not. Hoping that his luck would be with him he tried sneaking around the monster.

"Going somewhere?" rumbled a big voice.

Harry looked and the dragon's eyes were open, looking back at him.

"Ah, well, I was just, er..."

"Sneaking away?"

"Yes. I mean, well..."

The dragon laughed. It wasn't a mean laugh. Harry would say he was finding the conversation funny. Which it sort of was, if it wasn't him that was fumbling in a battle of wits with someone who could fit two of him in its mouth.

"Why?" the dragon asked.

"Because I have to perform for this stupid contest!"

"Why?" it asked again.

"Someone put my name in, probably trying to kill me."

"Then why are you doing it? Why not refuse to compete? It's only a game, right?"

"If I don't compete, I lose my magic."

"Hmmmm. That would be bad. Are you sure?"

"No one's sure, but with my luck, it would probably just kill me."

"I think I can help you."

"How?"

"I'm a Luck Dragon. And if you need luck, there's no better way to get it than from a Luck Dragon. However, you'll have to do one or two things for me."

"What?"

"I have an itch right under this collar that is stopping me from reaching it..."

"And you want me to take off your collar?"

The dragon laughed. "Oh, no! I want you to scratch it."

Harry approached slowly, but the dragon made no move. As Harry got right next to the dragon, he asked, "Where is the itch?"

"Right at the top of my neck. You'll probably need to climb up. I'll be still while you do."

Harry did, holding on to the thick fur covering the hound-like dragon. He reached under the collar and started scratching.

"Oh yes," the dragon answered. "That's wonderful. Here, let me help you a little."

It happened quick. The front paws came up and pushed the collar over the dragon's head, and FalKor was free. Once again, the dragon handlers raced into the area, but the dragon was too quick. Harry held on to the fur while the dragon hit speeds faster than his Firebolt.

"Falkor? Can we go back now?" Harry asked, after a while.

"Eventually. We can return after the contest is over."

"But I might lose my magic."

"Only if you're unlucky. And you can't be unlucky when you're with a Luck Dragon."

Harry eventually returned to Hogwarts after many adventures and quests, including the defeat of the Dark Lord Dumbledore.

But that is another story.

AN: The author wishes to thank and advertise the works used in this story:

Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow, Ruth Stiles Gannett, David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks, and Michael Ende.

And J. K. Rowling.