Phoebe's Magic

Chapter One

DISLCAIMER: I own only my ideas.

Okay, I haven't checked this pairing out in a while and a story idea just SMACKED MY FACE!

OW! It did it again because I tried to ignore it!

CedricxHarry, SLASH FOR THE DUMMIES! And YES, this might be out of order, BUT IT'S A FREAKING FANFIC! I'LL HAVE IT SO OUT OF ORDER THAT IT'LL MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN IF I WANNA!

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Harry gazed at all the little badges everyone was wearing…that everyone was using to mock him. With a soft sigh and the long-practiced ability of ignoring people, he shouldered his bag a little higher, holding the strap with one hand. After all, they're only doing it because they don't know any better, he thought to himself.

Looking up, he caught sight of Cedric Diggory, one of his three rivals in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Is he really a rival? We're both in this for Hogwarts…so I suppose he isn't… He snapped out of his own little world when he heard the usually calm and gentle Hufflepuff shout in anger.

"NO! I will not!" Cedric yelled at who he thought was his friend. "If you knew me half as well as you should and not half as well as you'd like, you would know that I would never do that to him!

"Harry Potter is my fellow Champion, not my rival!" he continued, taking the tormenting badge that his classmate held. "I will not treat him the way the rest of you lower yourselves to!" He threw the palm-sized pin on the ground and stomped on it harshly. "I will help him any way I can! If I have to start with these ridiculous things, then I will!"

The seventeen-year-old nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Thank you," Harry murmured with a soft smile. "But I wanted to tell you, the First Task is getting around dragons."

"Isn't it against the rules to share information like that?" Cedric asked him, turning to give Harry his full attention.

"The difference between breaking the rules and being punished for it is merely getting caught," Harry answered with a wink of his lime-emerald eyes.

He does have really beautiful eyes…a lovely smile, too…and beautiful lips… Instead of giving evidence to the less-than-pure track his thoughts were quickly taking, he grinned. "You've got a point," he replied. "Thank you for the…ah…advice."

"You deserve to win this…I'll help you in any possible way I can," Harry said with another gentle smile before easily slipping away into a passing crowd of students.

"I don't deserve this anymore than you do, Harry," Cedric thought aloud, ignoring the insistent tapping on his shoulder. He snagged the offending finger, bending it backwards as he turned to face the one who had tried to get him to wear that horrible badge. "Do you see now? I will not hurt someone like him…someone who would be so selfless…so…so…so Hufflepuff."

Cedric's classmate took the badge from his robes and made a show for everyone to see as he stomped it into bits, much the same way Cedric had only a few minutes before.

Cedric smiled and looked up, catching very-green eyes and smiling wider before the owner of the dazzling eyes disappeared into the castle.

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Harry smiled to himself as he walked to his next class, thinking about the light-brown-haired Seventh Year. "Hello," he said to Hermione as his best friend came up beside him.

"Did you tell him?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice. Harry nodded. "What I really want to know is…what's got you in such a good mood?" she questioned with a sneaky smile and a glint in her eyes.

"You should know," Harry answered with a secretive smirk before entering the classroom.

Break

Harry took a deep breath as Cedric's hand slipped inside the bag then came out, revealing the Swedish Short-Snout. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Harry's breath hitched only slightly when he realized he would have the Hungarian Horntail. Giving a soft, low hiss in Parseltongue, the miniature creature calmed as he pulled it from the bag.

"Good luck, everyone," Bagman stated before leaving the tent to make his way to the commentary stand.

"Psst! Harry!" Harry looked over at the split in the tent.

"Hermione? You know you aren't allowed back here," Harry replied as he stepped over to where her voice was coming from. "I'll be careful, promise."

"Remember the Summoning Charm you worked so hard on," she hissed in reply, wanting so badly to hug him but knowing she couldn't.

"I will," Harry responded before moving away and back to the gathering of Champions. The sad thing was that he would have to use the training he had up his sleeves that he had been doing since he was a small child...the training he hid from Hermione. I hate to keep this from her…but I couldn't let anyone know of my advantage until I'm ready to use it, he thought to himself as he stepped up beside Cedric. "Good luck," he mumbled.

"I'm going to need it," was the Hufflepuff's lightly-shaky response.

"You'll be fine so long as you keep your head."

Cedric snorted at the ironic statement, getting a laugh from Harry. "Good luck to you, too, you crazy Gryffindor."

"There's a thin line between insanity and genius," Harry informed with a crafty smile before the older teenager's name was called. Just be careful, Cedric… he thought to himself. When he heard the cheers, he gave a sigh of relief. That relief turned into a groan of displeasure when his own name was finally called. "Time to face the music," he grumbled while staring at the dragon.

He leapt easily to the side when a jet of flame was shot at him, the dragon hoping to roast him alive for the threat to what she thought was her egg. Using his momentum, he continued, twisting around the flames with shocking ease. Taking a quick moment to hide behind a boulder, he scratched his cheek before giving a sheepish smile. Now or never, he realized, using the magic within his body to amplify his voice and toggle the voice box within his throat.

Harry leapt out from behind the boulder and roared.

The dragon shrank back slightly, curving her wings around her egg to keep it safe from the creature before her.

Harry gave a soft, soothing hiss when the dragon was calm enough. "Do you sense a being within what you guard, Great Lady?" he asked in gentle Parseltongue, getting a resounding gasp from the audience.

The Hungarian Horntail turned her head to stare at the egg before giving a loud cry of anguish.

Harry stepped up close to her, reaching his hand out to rub soothing strokes along the great beast's snout. "The egg is not real… It is conjured, Great Lady," he informed as he continued to carefully and gently slide his hands across the dragon's snout.

"Magic is the basis of life!" the dragon replied. "Of all life! Magic is miracles! Life is a miracle! How dare they do this do me…to us?" she roared in anger.

Harry reached out with his magic to pull her head down so that he could look directly into her eyes. "They do not know better… These people you see are like younglings compared to your lifetime, Great Lady," he explained calmly and with a small smile. "They do not know that they have hurt you because they do not know of the Great One's ways."

"What of you, then? You are tinier than the ones you call younglings! Will you treat us this way?"

"My body is the only young thing that I possess, Great Lady," Harry answered, sadness swallowing his voice. "I will take the egg for you…and I will keep it safe as if it were my own until the magic leaves it."

"I understand, wise one… You treat us as equals…and so you shall be treated," the dragon replied, rubbing her nose against Harry's cheek.

The spot was still warm when Harry was laying on the sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room, cradling the golden egg to his chest and blatantly refusing to open it.

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Harry kept the egg with him at all times, holding it close to his heart, much like a dragon would. Professor McGonagall had asked him to put it away as it was disrupting her class, but he had replied that he made a promise and would not break it. Professor Snape, however, had not been so kind, and Harry nearly bit his hand, holding the egg closer and getting sniggers from the Gryffindors.

"What's with you and that egg, Harry?" Cedric asked him one afternoon, catching Fleur's and Viktor's attention.

"He does 'ave a good point, Harry," Viktor stated, reaching over to poke the golden piece of magic.

Harry pulled a flysmacker from nowhere and swatted the offending hand with it before smacking Viktor's forehead for good measure. After withdrawing his weapon of choice amid laughter, he said, "I made a promise to the Great Lady," with a small smile on his face as he held the egg a little closer to his heart.

"I thought there was something…strange…when you went up against that Horntail, Harry," Cedric admitted. "I didn't hear anything from it."

"I used Parseltongue. What is a dragon but a great snake?" Harry asked rhetorically as he ran his fingers gently over the golden shell. "I only wish it was real… I agree with the Great Lady…"

"Vat did yoo talk avout?" Viktor asked, not attempting to touch the egg Harry held so carefully again.

"I told her that I would treat this egg as if it were a youngling of my own," he answered. "I am ashamed of wizards in her stead… They treated those mothers horribly…having them guarding eggs that held no heart…no soul… I would have this small egg be alive with a heart and soul… I want it to hatch into a small youngling that I can take care of where a Great Lady cannot…where I can teach the youngling what no other human understands…"

"Vou hav a big 'eart, 'Arry," Fleur said as Harry stared sadly at the egg. "But vou are going to hav to open eet," she added. "Eet is a key part in zis tournament."

"I would rather lose this silly competition as to have to kill my dream," Harry murmured, feeling as though his heart was crying for the mother dragon. He hadn't even realized that he was actually crying until a teardrop splashed on the egg.

"Harry-!" Cedric's call did not reach the teen as a white glow enveloped Harry and the large egg he held.

The glow broke into sparks before something started causing the egg to bulge out in places.

"Get back!" Viktor pulled Cedric and Fleur to him and away from Harry, getting a small fight from the struggling, elder Hogwarts Champion.

Suddenly, the egg cracked, a small snout poking out of the little hole that was created.

"Harry…how did…wow…" Cedric stuttered before just staring as Harry picked a piece of shell off the small, golden, green-eyed dragon's head.

"Phoebe," Harry murmured with a soft smile before a jet of black flame nearly singed his eyebrows. The fire doesn't hurt me, he realized with an even wider smile.

"Mama!"

"Of course I'll be your mum," Harry said with a laugh, lifting the small dragon and being careful of her fragile, tiny wings.

"You…Harry…" Cedric came up beside him, having gotten away from Viktor's slackened grip. "You're amazing."

"Thank you," Harry said with a kind smile, laughing as he spun little Phoebe around in a circle.

"Why Phoebe?"

"Phoebus is Latin for 'sun,' and she is my little ball of sunshine," Harry answered as she crawled up his arm to sit on his shoulder, flapping her wings to catch a small bit of air. "You're still too small, Phoebe. You will fly, I promise you," he said to her.

"Can ve touch 'er?" Fleur asked with a smile.

Harry introduced his fellow Champions to his little youngling, unaware of the eyes that followed him before the owner dashed into the castle.

Break

"Mr. Potter…" Dumbledore came up behind the teen as he sat beside the lake, watching Phoebe swim. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to keep that dragon."

"Phoebe is part of my magic, Headmaster… She is my youngling and my familiar," Harry replied softly as Phoebe sent a small, black fireball at the Headmaster. "Now, Phoebe…"

"He upset you, Mama."

"He wants to take you away from me…" Harry told her, dashing into the water to get her when she gave an anguished shriek. "Shh…shh… I won't let him take you, little sunshine…" He looked over at Dumbledore. "Don't you wonder how I got her, Headmaster?"

"I do, Harry, but I am more concerned for the safety of the children," he answered.

"Do you remember the dragon I was supposed to face in the First Task? The egg she was guarding?" Dumbledore nodded. "Phoebe came from that egg. My magic gave her a heart and a soul. I am, quite literally, her mother. Taking a dragon from its mother…it is against the Great One's Law."

Dumbledore gave a small smile. "I can't take your familiar, either, Harry. You may want to be ready for the hand of the Ministry. I could not take action, but they will try everything to take that small dragon from you."

"Thank you for the warning, Headmaster."

"Can I see her?" Harry laughed at the childlike glee in the Headmaster's eyes and question.

Break

Professor Snape glared at the dragon on Harry's shoulder as she nuzzled her mother's cheek. He sneered even more when Harry gave a little laugh. "Potter! I will not permit that beast in my classroom!" he snarled, finally having had enough of the touchy moments.

Harry glared at him before a stream of black flame came at the Professor.

"I'll set that greasy hair on fire, you bastard!"

"Phoebe!" Harry tried to scold but his laughing took away from his actual intentions.

"What? He made you mad! I'll burn that snarky expression right off his face!"

Harry laughed until he could not breathe correctly…until his cauldron exploded. "Gah!" He pulled Phoebe off his shoulder and held her close to his chest as he turned away. When nothing hit him, he turned to see a golden shield keeping him safe. "Phoebe?"

He could've sworn the dragon grinned at him.

Break

"You're getting too big to be on my shoulder, little sunshine," Harry murmured sadly.

"I'm magic itself, remember?" she asked. "Mama, how's this?" She slowly shrunk until she was small enough to fit on his shoulder again.

"But…what?"

"Silly Mama… I can shift! I can grow until I'm as big as I've grown so far, but I can shrink to the size I was when I was born!" she answered with a happy cry. "And I stay as strong as I would be in my actual size!" she added as she flew up and tackled Harry.

Harry landed on his bum with a laugh. "I love you, Phoebe," he murmured softly while holding her tightly.

"I love you, too, Mama."

"Are you going to get all kissy-kissy with that thing?"

"Phoebe ees not a zing!" Fleur yelled as she came up beside Harry. "Do not even zink of asking me to ze Yule Ball, vou horrid slime! I know zat was vour plan!"

"You deserved that, Ron," Hermione said to him as Harry and Fleur walked away, Cedric and Viktor coming up beside them. "Phoebe is like Harry's child. You remember when he said how she was born! She is part of him! Phoebe is Harry's child!" Hermione gazed at him for a few moments. "You used to think dragons were wonderful, Ron. Wait a minute… You're still jealous! Oh my God!"

"Sounds like Hermione has your back, Harry," Cedric said to the teen while rubbing under Phoebe's chin. She gently thumped her tail on Harry's back in pleasure, whining when he stopped. Cedric laughed until she sent a belch of fire at him.

"Don't anger the dragon," Viktor advised. "Er…Harry… How vill yoo find out the clue to the next task?"

Harry looked up at the older Champions with puppy eyes, Phoebe doing the same beside him. "Won't you guys tell me?"

Cedric was the first to cave under the onslaught.

Break

"He likes you, Mama," Phoebe said suddenly as she touched down on the ground, Harry perching on his Firebolt beside her.

"Who does?" he asked, mildly confused.

"Cedric. I can feel the waves of attraction he gives off when around you…only when he's around you," she answered, rubbing her slender form against Harry's to get him to scratch her between her shoulder blades.

"Really? …I like him, too…"

"Speak of the devil," Phoebe replied with a sly, draconic smirk.

"Hey, Harry! Harry!" Cedric ran up to him, holding onto his broom. "Were you getting ready to go for a fly?"

"Sure. Join us?" Harry asked, holding up a small, golden ball with wings. He grinned at the excited expression that overcame Cedric's face. "A man after me own heart," he said, letting the little ball go before rocketing off into the air, Phoebe hot on his tailwind.

Cedric came up beside him and grinned. "After your heart, indeed," he murmured, shooting off when Harry blinked at him and Phoebe sniggered.

Break

"Getting awful close with the enemy, aren't you, Harry?" Ron asked one day, glaring at Cedric, Viktor, Fleur, and especially Phoebe, who was in her full size, her head resting on Harry's shoulder.

Phoebe snorted at Ron, a plume of black flame coming close to hitting him.

"Why are you so jealous that I have people who care about me, Ron? You have eight people in your family who have always loved you…when I have barely had any," Harry said softly. "You become jealous of the fame and trouble that follows me like a plague… You are jealous of my youngling because she is a dragon and because you will never have one… I don't understand you, Ron."

Phoebe wrapped her tail around Harry and nuzzled his cheek, giving a soft whimper.

Cedric wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders, moving close enough for the teen to bury his face in the Seventh Year's chest without moving away from Phoebe. Viktor and Fleur moved closer to him, as well. "You don't deserve him, Weasley. He has the heart of a Hufflepuff and the bravery of Gryffindor to let people see it…"

"And ze brilliance of Ravenclaw to know when to let people see eet…" Fleur continued.

"Vith the cunning of Slytherin to not let the same people rip it out ov his chest," Viktor finished. "That is vy ve are vith him… He does not treat us as a rival vould."

"You aren't my rivals," Harry stated, his voice lightly muffled by Cedric's chest. "And you're really warm," he murmured to the Hufflepuff.

Phoebe sniggered, leaning up to nuzzle Cedric's cheek in acceptance.

"I see how it is, then… Never knew you for stabbing someone in the back," Ron stated, snarling the last part at Harry.

"Vou are ze one who turned 'is back," Fleur reminded. "'Arry did not put 'is name in ze Goblet. He was with vou ze entire time. Remember zat," she continued.

Harry looked up at his friends and fellow champions. "Thank you."

"No problem," the three replied as they left Ron standing with his mouth hanging open.

"TOLD YOU SO!" Hermione's voice rang down the hallway.

Break

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Well, I'd say that was a good note to end on. :P

Up next: Second Task with a twist.