Chapter 13: Year Four (II)Summary:Holly is tactless as ever, Sirius is protective, a certain bird makes an appearance, and Holly has a Brilliant Idea.
Notes:If you're wondering why the chapter is a day later it's because I'm planning on switching to posting on Saturdays. It just makes more sense and will be easier for me.
I was considering posting something like "Update: chapter delayed to tomorrow" but I didn't because personally I hate seeing a notification and being disappointed. Better to not say anything and explain now.
Also, I went back and added memes to the end of chapters. They're probably trash but fuck it, they made me laugh. Here's the one for 1st year: Link
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextHolly stood up and slowly started walking between the silent tables, her mind racing.
'Why would someone enter me into the tournament? Did they do it as a prank or is someone actually trying to kill me? Could it be Adult Tom? Or Karakoff? Did they not have any way to check if someone entered someone else's name? Fucking wizards with no security precautions. At least Hermione and Sirius will-'
'Sirius! He'd probably want to know about this right? Aren't guardians supposed to care about this sorta thing?'
She abruptly stopped walking in the middle of the great hall and flicked her wrist, dropping her wand into her hand. A second later her raven patronus was hovering in front of her.
"Hey Sirius, someone entered me into the tournament and my name came out. I, uh, thought you might want to know." With that she sent her patronus message off to Sirius who would get her message minutes later and promptly lose his shit.
Message sent, she walked into the side room, oblivious to the shocked silence behind her.
Immediately everyone in the room turned towards her. Before they could say anything she spoke up, "somebody entered my name and it came out. I'm not happy about it either."
With that said she walked over to the nearest wall and conjured herself a comfortable seat. She had a feeling this was going to be a long, annoying conversation.
By the time she sat down the others had gotten over their shock and were shouting incoherently.
Their protests were interrupted when the doors slammed open, Dumbledore in the lead.
All eyes turned to Dumbledore as he approached her. She didn't feel any legitimacy probes yet which was a nice surprise . Still, she made sure to keep her eyes lowered to his beard as he got uncomfortably close to her.
"Holly," he asked calmly, "did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"
"No. Why would I? The tournament is stupid, I'm already rich, and I hate attention." There was a moment of silence before the majority of the people in the room started making offended noises.
Dumbledore turned back to the rest of the room. "It would seem somebody else entered her name." When the other headmasters started complaining he silenced them with a raised hand, "Holly has consistently shunned attention since her arrival to Hogwarts. As she rather bluntly said, entering herself in the Tournament is not in her character."
While the other headmasters started argued, she noticed the veela girl, Fleur Delacour, glaring at her.
When they made eye contact Holly (using her shapeshifting to hide a blush) spoke up in French, "I thought you of all people would understand how awful constant attention can be." For a second Fleur looked stunned before quickly turning away.
From there professor Moody started throwing around accusations (she didn't trust Karakoff in the slightest either. Turncoat Death Eater or not, she'd at least rob him blind one day.) and the room descended to infighting.
Holly was morbidly amused nobody besides professor Moody had made any mention of her safety. As far as they knew she was a normal 14-year-old who was woefully unprepared to compete.
Apparently her life wasn't as important as school pride.
Granted, she was probably more magically knowledgeable then any of the other champions by a wide margin, but they didn't know that. Of course, the age difference still put her at a massive disadvantage.
She was significantly shorter than even Fleur and hadn't reached her full magical development from turning 17-years-old yet.
She'd be like a lightweight boxer trying to fight above her weight division. Her skill advantage would help but could only do so much to make up the difference. If she was forced to compete she'd need to compensate for them somehow.
If this was an assassination attempt she refused to let it succeed. She wasn't about to die without taking Adult Tom, his Death Eaters, and hopefully plenty of dementors down with her.
Eventually Holly managed to interrupt the arguing to speak. "Is me being entered still binding since it wasn't myself who put my name in?"
All eyes turned to a rather strict and oddly sickly looking official, "It is clearly stated in the rules that the names of any who come out are required to compete. As Headmaster Dumbledore said, there is no backing out."
"Even if I'm underaged? And are you really telling me you had nothing to ensure people couldn't put somebody else's name in?" While most of the other adults looked slightly sheepish the sickly official puffed up in offense.
"The Goblet of Fire-"
"Is an ancient artifact you don't understand. And because of it I, a minor, am apparently being forced to compete in your stupid gladiator deathmatch against my will. Am I missing anything?"
The official looked furious but as she looked around the room thankfully he was one of the only ones. The other champions actually looked surprisingly chagrined, not meeting her eyes.
Maybe they'd be willing not to screw her over? That'd be nice.
Before the official could spew more bureaucratic nonsense the doors slammed open again and Sirius rushed through. He immediately wrapped her in a too tight hug before seeing the official.
"Well well well, if it isn't my least favorite ministry stooge. I'm not sure why I'm surprised you're behind this Crouch, you do love throwing innocent people into things they don't deserve."
Holly was confused for a second before she connected the dots. The official must be Bartemius Crouch, the overzealous prosecutor who threw Sirius in prison without a trial.
(Sirius would certainly approve if she robbed him. She'd have to remember that for her next gift to him.)
Recognizing the incoming meltdown, Holly settled deeper into her chair, wishing she had popcorn to munch on.
Crouch, clearly at his limit, started yelling back. "The Ministry was not required to give-"
"13 Years, Crouch! 13 years I sat in Azkaban because you wanted to become minister!" His face twisted into something malicious, "you were too busy with your job to notice your own son-"
"I HAVE NO SON!"
Before the two could draw wands Dumbledore intervened. "Gentlemen, this is hardly the time. Madam Maxine, Igor, we can meet tomorrow to discuss this. I suspect you would like to convene with your champions to discuss tonight's' events."
As they left Holly was shocked when all the other champions gave her some form of acknowledgement on their way out. Even Krum nodded goodbye. She didn't understand.
Was it as simple as them believing her? That seemed too naïve to be true.
Once Dumbledore dismissed everyone he led them to his office, Sirius's arm too tight around her shoulders the entire way. Holly meanwhile was too busy thinking to pay attention.
She already knew her main disadvantages, now she had to figure out countermeasures.
Being under 5 feet tall meant she'd be screwed in any physical competition. Wizards may not consider it important, but if the tournament had a physical component she'd be screwed.
Her shapeshifting seemed like an easy solution: she could fake an extreme growth spurt and shift a few inches taller.
Only, wouldn't that mess with her center of balance? She'd be a clutz until she got used to being taller.
That meant she couldn't immediately shift into a more practical height. She'd need to do it slowly, gaining maybe an inch a month. Then practice running and dueling at her new height until she felt normal. By the end of the year she'd be a more practical height without drawing suspicion or being clumsy if all went well.
It wasn't a perfect solution but it was better than nothing.
Now her lack of raw magical power, that didn't have a good solution.
She already suspected she was above average in raw power for her age. It was hard to judge, wizards didn't seem to have a way to quantify it. But she had noticed that she was always less tired then her classmates looked after practical lessons. That Hermione's spells always had a little less omph behind them.
Still, compared to someone who'd already finished their magical growth it'd be no competition. They undoubtedly had her beat in that regard.
(When Holly had learned that both the wizarding age of majority and their magical growth completion were at 17 she was surprised. It was almost too logical by wizards' usual standards.)
She'd skimmed enough questionably legal and illegal books to know there were sacrificial rituals and blood magic that supposedly made someone more powerful. But both of those tended to have the side effect of physical deformities and mental instability.
Even Diary Tom was slightly wary of them, which was really saying something. That alone made it exceptionally clear to her they were a terrible idea.
Unless she could come up with an entirely new way of increasing her raw magical power that problem wasn't getting solved anytime soon. She'd need to compensate for it in other ways.
But how? The tournament was run by wizards wanting a spectacle, it'll undoubtedly be more dangerous than was reasonable.
Healing magic would be a good place to start. That'd help with the whole not dying thing.
(In hindsight it was a massive gap in her knowledge . Why the hell didn't they didn't teach basic first aid in classes?)
Holly was drawn out of her thoughts as they reached the privacy of Dumbledore's office. Immediately Sirius turned and started shouting at Dumbledore, desperately trying to get her out of the tournament. Dumbledore only stood there, calmly letting the panicking man express his fears.
It was sweet. She knew Sirius greatly respected Dumbledore, yet here he was yelling at the man for her sake. The thought that she had someone who truly cared about her had her eyes starting to water before she blinked it away.
(She ignored the twisting feeling in her stomach, knowing that she was betraying his trust by not telling him about Regulas. But she still couldn't risk it. Not yet.)
Eventually she cut in to Sirius's yelling, "Sirius! Yelling at him isn't going to change anything. If I'm stuck in this stupid tournament then the best thing to do is focus on ways for me to survive this thing."
Immediately she was tackle-hugged by him. His entire body was shaking as he mumbled into her hair, "I can't lose you kid. I already lost James and Lily, not you too."
(Her stomach twisted in guilt again, harder this time.)
He pried himself off her to face Dumbledore again. "How are you going to ensure her safety Dumbledore? She's a brilliant witch but she's only 14 for Loki's sake."
"My boy-"
"Don't 'my boy' me, Dumbledore. I need you to keep Holly safe."
"I am bound by the tournament's-"
"That's bullshit and you know it!" Before Sirius could keep yelling or draw his wand (something Holly would pay money to see) they were interrupted by a musical trill sounding through the room.
Holly looked over to see a massive bird (a phoenix, the hoarder had a bloody phoenix!) fly off its perch and barely contained her shock when it landed on her shoulder.
It was massive for a bird yet somehow she hardly felt its weight. Its plumage was a mix of yellow, oranges, and red, looking like fire itself. For lack of a better term, the bird was regal looking. Rather impressive considering it was still a bird, albeit a very magically powerful one.
With suspiciously intelligent eyes it craned its neck to look at her, seemingly evaluating her. After a second she was horrified to see its eyes starting to water.
'Great, even the phoenix thinks I'm a dead girl walking. That's confidence inspiring.'
Only, that's when realization hit her like a freight train.
Phoenix tears. The most potent healing substance in the world, capable of healing nearly any non-immediately lethal wound.
She quickly used her free hand to conjure a vial and watched as a trickle of iridescent tears fell into it. After a timeless moment the tears stopped and she had a tiny vials' worth. She pocketed it, promising herself to guard that vial with her life.
She looked back at the bird and scratched its stomach. "Thanks a ton. I'll be sure not to waste your gift." The phoenix rubbed its head against hers like an affectionate cat before taking off and landing back on its perch by the hoarder's desk.
After a second she looked up to see both Sirius and Dumbledore silently staring, frozen in shock.
"What?" Strangely that didn't seem to snap them out of it. Both of them kept staring, seemingly incapable of saying anything.
Well, if they weren't saying anything that meant she'd need to. She could do that.
"Well, I think that covers the whole 'not dying' thing." She quickly hugged the still strangely silent Sirius, "nice to see you again Sirius. Headmaster, I'm glad your hoarding includes legendary magical birds. Thanks again bird!"
With a final wave to the phoenix she walked out of the office, leaving them still silently staring behind her.
For several seconds they stared at the door after it closed behind Holly before slowly turning to each other.
"Did that just happen or am I still in Azkaban imagining things?"
"I believe it did."
"...Huh."
"Indeed."
After all, they both knew it was extraordinarily rare for phoenix tears to be gifted away. They were only given to worthy individuals in extreme times of need. Even then, it was usually only a tear or two, no more than necessary. Yet Holly had been gifted a (tiny) vials worth.
And she didn't have any idea the significance of that.
From his perch the phoenix known as Fawkes trilled in amusement watching the humans flounder.
"Well then. I'm, uh, going to head out now. See you at the First Task.
"Do take care Sirius."
Meanwhile Holly was walking through the halls, thinking of how to use the tears best.
Obviously she could use them to save her life if she was badly wounded. That was the main known use for them. But something about that seemed almost wasteful. Sure, she would very much appreciate the not dying bit but surely there was a way to get more use out of them.
If only she could extend the effects somehow…
It was that thought that caused her to walk straight into a walk in shock. She absentmindedly pinched her bleeding nose, not registering the pain in the slightest. She had more important things occupying her mind.
'Eternal elixirs! Its perfect! The ingredients are kinda expensive and the effects are weak since they last your whole life but that's no problem. Phoenix tears are stupidly potent. If I could add them to the standard eternal elixir base I'd have a permanent regenerative elixir! I'd heal faster for the rest of my life!'
'I need to research and figure out other possible ingredients to add. Some dittany or bezoar dust would probably work well.'
'If I do this I'll only be able to use the potion once. That means I need the best: the freshest, most potent ingredients. Preferably harvested myself for maximum strength and ritual significance. I need a better cauldron too, probably a copper or bronze one, with engraved runes for potency.'
'Everything has to be perfect.'
'Hmm, I probably could make some other useful eternal elixirs if I got the right ingredients. Maybe if I use some basilisk hide I could permanently increase my magical resistance? Maybe another for stamina? Or a Liquid Luck elixir!'
'Wait, isn't liquid luck extremely toxic if taken too much? An eternal luck elixir, even if it was a weak one, would probably kill me. Or get me killed earlier. Damn, that would've been nice. At least I can still make myself some and have it ready for the end of the tournament. Or I could buy some. That'd be easier.'
'Now I need to figure out other useful ingredients to add. Maybe some unicorn hairs? Guess I'm finally exploring the Forbidden Forrest. Bet I could find some useful plants in there too.'
'If this works and I do make several eternal elixirs to permanently enhance myself… well, I suppose that'll make life more interesting. And me wildly badass.'
Holly finally reached the door to the Room and pushed it open. Sure enough, Hermione was already inside, nervously pacing back and forth. The instant the doors opened she ran over and tackle-hugged Holly.
(That kept happening to her recently. Was that normal?)
Holly let Hermione ramble incoherently into her hair until Hermione finally let go. Before she continued her babbling Holly stuck a hand over her mouth.
"I've got a plan Hermione: I'm going to become a Total Badass."
Hermione, despite having still half her face covered, was visibly unimpressed.
"Eternal elixirs, Hermione, eternal elixirs! They're neglected because they're difficult to make, the base components expense, and since the effects are significantly weaker because they last forever. But if you had a powerful enough core ingredient, say phoenix tears, and possibly several other healing ingredients… well, then you'd have a permanent regenerative elixir. Badass, right?"
Hermine, still clearly not seeing her wisdom, pushed her hand away to talk. "But Holly, you can't just buyphoenix tears. They have to be given freely."
"I know, that's why I'm glad Dumbledore's such a hoarder because his just gave me some." She held up her tiny vial to show a now stunned Hermione.
After slowly blinking several times Hermione eventually managed to speak, "…so you already have some. I can try to help Holly but you're the potions master here, not me."
Now it was her turn to not understand. "Potions master? Me? I only care about potions because Snape will win if I finally make a mistake. I mean, sure they're useful but that's not why. I refuse to lose to that bastard."
For some reason Hermione looked like she'd said something incomprehensible. "You- I- Holly… You know what? That's not important. I like your idea Holly."
"Good. Time to get started on Operation: Become a Total Badass."
Notes:Holly and Hermione's conversation at the end summed up: Link
Anyone remember how I said in an older Note that potions were never going to become the central focus of this story? That's still (mostly) true. Honestly, I came up with the eternal elixir subplot after I wrote that but I'm trying to keep to that promise. I won't focus on any pseudo potions logic and will keep the story moving forward.
Eternal Elixirs are actually canon. Shocking right? They're name dropped once or twice but that's it. Nothing else. You'd think any potion that (sounds like) it lasts forever would be important but nope, never mentioned again. I wrote in my own headcanon explanation about why they're never relevant in canon but still, c'mon Rowling.
Given Holly's skill in potions, general resourcefulness, and piles of gold it only seems reasonable (to me at least) that she'd do anything necessary to improve her odds of surviving the Tournament. If that means revolutionizing an irrelevant potions field then that's exactly what she'll do.
Chapter 14: Year Four (III)Summary:Operation: Become a Total Badass is put into action, Holly gets caught up on recent events, meets two very different blonds, and causes Hermione significant stress.
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextHogwarts suddenly became annoying again after her name was drawn. Everywhere Holly went normal abruptly conversations stopped. People stared and whispered constantly. Even her own roommates (she still didn't know their names) had hissed conversations when they thought she was asleep.
Of course, nobody had dared to confront her yet. Her reputation for being violently reclusive was protecting her from that so far.
According to Hermione people were heavily divided on if she put her name in or not.
Allegedly some believed she hated everyone and would never willing interact with people, not even for prize money. When Hermione told her she laughed. It wasn't that far off.
The other half believed Holly ignored everyone because she thought she was better than everyone. That, out of some kind of narcissism, Holly had entered to show off.
What seemingly wasn't in doubt was if Holly could've entered her name if she wanted. Hogwarts collectively agreed that she could've figured out a way around the age line.
Which again, was true. She would've simply levitated a paper with her name on it over the age line.
Either way, her fame and reclusiveness had apparently made people think she was wildly powerful and skilled. Which, ok, she was exceptionally skilled for her age but they didn't have any way to know that. Clearly wizards were easily manipulated. No wonder they kept having dark lords if it was that easy to form a cult following.
The night her name was drawn she'd snuck out to Diagon Alley for supplies. A high-end potions equipment shop she found sold cauldrons with engraved runes designed to increase a potions potency. Holly wasn't sure which metal type would be best so she bought one of each 4 standard metals, plus another made of solid gold.
The clerk looked extremely suspicious but didn't question the piles of galleons she paid with.
Unfortunately, they had no good way to precisely measure the strength multiplying effect of the runes, only advertising that potions any brewed in them would be "several to many times stronger." Fortunately she had an idea to figure that out.
Using her 5 new cauldrons and a standard pewter cauldron for a control group, she brewed 6 fertilizing potions. After that it wasn't hard to ask a bewildered Professor Sprout to use her potions on a couple dittany sprouts and measure the results.
She watched the plants rapidly grew, several of them practically shooting up. By the time the plants were finished growing a few were taller then Holly, with the one using the gold cauldrons' potion reaching the ceiling.
Professor Sprout seemed a bit stunned by that for some reason. Thankfully she didn't protest when Holly asked if she could take some dittany clippings with her. It wasn't until she'd finished harvesting dittany that professor Sprout managed to ask for more of her potions.
Obviously, she agreed, but asked to be paid in fresh clippings.
'Dittany, grown with a potion I made and personally harvested. This'll go quite nicely in my regenerative elixir.'
---
The next ingredient was a bit harder to get. She knew from her Care class there were unicorns in the Forbidden Forest but had no idea where. Blindly stomping around the Forest looking for them seemed like asking for trouble.
Thankfully there was somebody who knew and was certain to have an unguarded mind.
During Care class she subtly dove into Hagrid's mind and was horrified.
Acromantulas. There were fucking acromantulas were in the Forest right next to Hogwarts because Hagrid bred them. He didn't understand how that might be a problem.
Somehow that wasn't even the worst of it.
During her first year something had been killing unicorns and drinking their blood. Later it was revealed to the staff by Dumbledore that Quirrell had been possessed by Adult Tom, drinking unicorn blood in an attempt to gain strength for stealing the philosopher's stone. When that failed Adult Tom abandoned Quirriel to die.
She'd been taught by Adult Tom for a whole year and didn't realize! She hadn't thought his incompetence and her headaches were anything other than him being a creep. Clearly she hadn't been paying enough attention that year.
That same year Hagrid had illegally won a dragon egg and hatched it, only for it to burn down his hut. The only reason he didn't have it still was because Dumbledore arranged for it to be smuggled away.
She was starting to realize Dumbledore was suspiciously skilled at covering things up.
'How the hell did I miss all that? I guess I really should pay more attention to what's going on. Seems like this place is even more dangerous than I thought.'
Hagrid, as a professor and Hogwarts' gamekeeper, also knew a surprising amount about the tournament's tasks, including the number, schedule, and his own contributions.
First up: dragons. Nesting mother dragons. It was worse than she'd expected. Her planned regenerative elixir would heal any burns but it'd be useless against being eaten! She needed to plan.
At least she still had a full month to prepare.
After that Hagrid knew the second task was something to do with the Lake. Exceptionally vague but still a good lead.
The final task Hagrid had been asked to provide some creatures for the champions to fight. Which, considering Hagrid's usual taste in creatures, was a horrible miscalculation. He wouldn't see anything wrong with tossing a few acromantula at someone.
With everything else he knew she nearly forgot what she'd originally been looking for: a mental map of the Forbidden Forest.
She spent that class hardly paying attention, instead sifting through Hagrid's mind. Hermione looked upset when she realized what Holly was doing so she mouthed "later" at Hermione. She doubted any of Hermione's moral objections would last after Hermione knew what she'd learned.
By the end of class she had a rough idea what she'd need to avoid (territorial centaurs and the acromantula colony) and where to find the unicorns and valuable plants. Thestrals too.
(Which, oddly enough, she knew she could already see pulling the carriages. Apparently the vague hint of the memory of her parent's deaths was enough? Weird.)
---
Unsurprisingly, her next class was far less helpful.
Her first potions class after getting her name was unpleasantly routine. Snape harassed her like normal but she'd long learned to expect it. Thankfully, for some unknown reason they were still focusing on medical potions, with an occasional other useful potion mixed in.
She brewed her Fire Resistance Potion to perfection, making a minor alteration to allow it to handle higher temperature fires. As usual, he assigned her a paper and let her take her leftover potion.
It wasn't until she was packing up she was caught off-guard. Just before she left Snape called out, "Potter, stay behind."
She tensed up, not knowing what to expect. The rest of the class took the chance to escape, some of them giving her pitying looks as they hustled out.
Once they were alone he spoke, an unreadable expression on his face, "since you have been entered into the Triwizard Tournament you are not eligible to take your potions N.E.W.T. this year. You will have to wait until next year."
There were several silent seconds as she tried and failed to understand what was going on. Snape stared back with that same unreadable expression before becoming visibly annoyed and explaining.
"If you had been listening to the Tournament announcement, you would know champions have been excused from their final exams. As such you cannot take your N.E.W.T. this year." He arched a brow, "unless you are arrogant enough to believe you are capable of preparing for both at once."
For a moment she was too furious to respond without yelling at him.
'Oh that bastard. He's challenging me. Trying to prove I can't handle this stupid tournament. I'll prove you wrong, just you wait.'
She smiled a fake, too sweet smile, her eyes blazing. "I appreciate your concern professor, but I think I'd like to take it this year. I wouldn't want to waste any more of your valuable time."
They stared at each other silently before Snape finally spoke. "Very well. If you do find yourself unable to effectively prepare for your N.E.W.T. inform me and you will be excused. Dismissed."
With that Holly spun on the spot, racing out of the classroom and slamming the door behind her, not seeing the smirk on Snape's mouth.
Needing to do something to distract herself, she furiously walked through the halls, already heading towards the front gates. Just before she stepped outside she disillusioned herself and walked into the Forbidden Forest for the first of many times.
She could tell the Forest was ancient. The trees were massive, rising high, with the canopy shadowing the Forest floor. She walked down the path, occasionally picking a couple fresh berries Hagrid knew the unicorns liked or a useful plant clipping.
Soon she was deep in the Forest, the path hardly visible anymore. She turned towards the unicorn's territory and kept walking, confident in Hagrid's knowledge of the Forest.
Sure enough, she started seeing the occasional pure white hair stuck on a bush or tree trunk. Each one she saw she grabbed and shoved in her pocket. They were stupidly valuable after all.
No wonder the school talked up how dangerous the Forest was: students would risk their lives for a couple unicorn hairs if they thought they could survive getting them.
She knew these random hairs could work in her regenerative elixir but she wouldn't be using them.
Magic was about intent, something that was obvious in rituals which required not only ingredients, but also the symbolic actions behind them. A random fallen unicorn hair would work, but one willingly given to her personally would be far more powerful.
It was why she was personally collecting as many of the ingredients for her regenerative elixir as possible. Those she couldn't she'd pay extra for an apothecary to ship in extra fresh.
She came upon a small clearing and, deciding it was a good spot, sat down and started humming quietly.
She wasn't sure if this would work. Or if unicorns would like her. They were supposed to be embodiments of purity after all. Physically she might be, but mentally? She'd been plotting murder for years. If unicorns were moral absolutists they'd never help her.
She kept humming quietly, letting her mind empty for once. It was peaceful listening to the sounds of nature. Maybe the hippies really were on to something. Besides drugs that was.
She abruptly pulled out of her pseudo meditation when she her a twig snap nearby. Her eyes flew open and she nearly gasped at the sight.
A large unicorn was standing directly across from her in the clearing. Its coat was such a pure white that even in the shadows it seemed to be faintly glowing. It was looking at her cautiously, giving her the impression of intelligence.
Holly stood up slowly, careful not to startle it. Making eye contact, she slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out some of the berries she picked earlier.
With the berries in her palm spoke in an a (hopefully) soothing tone, "hey there, I have some berries that Hagrid thinks you guys like."
It hesitantly walked closer, never looking away from her. Eventually it was close enough to her hand and sniffed her several times before eating the berries out of her palm.
She'd never felt a horses' lips before, magical or otherwise. It was a strange sensation. Or maybe that was from magic?
Once they were all eaten she slowly reached back into her pocket to get more berries for it to eat and repeated the process . After several times she was out of berries and her hands were stained with berry juice, but the unicorn seemed more comfortable.
"You know, you're quite majestic looking and I don't say that lightly. I'd ask to pet you but I imagine you don't want berry juice in your hair. Somehow I can't imagine you getting dirty."
The unicorn snorted, seemingly amused, ('oh god, are they sentient? That'd made wizards taking their hairs an ethical nightmare') and started licking her fingers clean. Once they were she hesitatingly started running her hand through its mane.
"How is your hair so perfectly straight and knot free? Is that an innate part of being a unicorn or do you secretly have a haircare routine? You gotta help a girl out." Again, it snorted in amusement, this time also bumping her with the side of its head.
"Not to sour the moment but I was hoping to ask you something: you remember that awful guy from a few years ago?" This time the unicorn whined, clearly upset. "He's still out there somewhere. I'm going to fight him one day but I need to survive this stupid tournament first."
It turned its head around to look at her eye to eye. "I know you guys are apparently all about purity and that's not exactly me but… I could really use your help. Adult Tom is a monster that shouldn't be allowed to live, but I need to be able to grow up more before I can fight him."
The unicorn stared into her eyes, seemingly measuring her worth, before shaking out its mane, several hairs falling from it. Holly quickly ducked and snatched them out of the air, storing them away in a separate pocket.
She wrapped her arms around its neck, burying her face in it's shockingly soft hair.
"Thank you so much. Seriously. I'll bring you some more berries and visit sometime."
"I need something to call you too. Hmm… if I want to go the Tolkien route then you should be called Shadowfax. He's the lord of horses in Lord of the Rings. How's that sound?"
She got a loud whinney and head bump in response, a clear sign of agreement. "Glad that's decided. Thanks for the help Shadowfax, I'll seeya later."
With a wave goodbye she started walking back towards the path, still reeling from the encounter.
'First the phoenix and now Shadowfax. Am I catnip for suspiciously intelligent magical creatures or something?'
Still thinking about her encounter with Shadowfax, she wandered off the path to collect more potion ingredients, being careful to stay away from both the acromantula and centaur territories. She'd rather not sour her first experience in the Forest.
Although… acromantula venom was a useful potion ingredient. Acromantula silk was stupidly valuable too.
Something to remember for the future.
Holly was pulled out of her plotting when her faintly heard an airy voice singing. She slowly stalked closer, wondering what someone else was doing in the Forest.
There in a clearing was a tiny girl with almost white blond hair, singing to herself as she tossed what looked like bloody chunks of meat towards some nearby thesterals.
'So that where the Thestrals go when they're not pulling the carriages. And the girl can see them too. That's... something all right. Hopefully she's not disposing of a body.'
She watched for a moment before another thought occurred to her. 'I'm on a good streak with intelligent magical creatures helping me. Maybe she could help me get a thestral hair? That'd be useful. Plus, its not like the girl could tell a professor I was in the Forest without admitting she was too."
With thought in mind she walked closer, clearing her throat so she didn't startle the girl.
The girl turned, her large unfocused blue eyes turning in her general direction. "Hello Holly Potter, I was wondering when I'd meet you."
And just like that Holly was caught off guard. "That's… ominous. Have we talked before?"
"You drove off the nargles in my 1st year. Now they never steal my things anymore."
"Err, you're welcome?"
"I wanted to thank you then but you had too many wackspurts blocking your ears. You're doing better now though." The girl sounded sincere, if completely nonsensical. Somehow Holly knew the girl was focused on her despite seemingly staring into the distance.
'What the hell does that mean? Is that code? Is she imperioused? Is she a seer? Or maybe she's getting stoned in the Forest?'
'Oh wait, I forgot something.'
"What's your name?"
"Luna Lovegood, although others call me Loony sometimes. They don't like that my father runs The Quibbler."
That explained it. She'd seen several old copies of The Quibbler in the library. As far a she could tell it was for the magical equivalent of flat earth conspiracy theorists.
Still, Luna couldn't be much younger than Holly and could see thestrals. That, along with her odd behavior didn't paint a happy picture.
"Well Luna, maybe you could help me? I've been collecting potion ingredients: I have some phoenix tears and unicorn hairs. Some thestral hairs would be useful but Im not familiar with their behavior enough to ask."
Luna's eyes went wide, "even so, you must be quite the magizoologist. I'll have to tell my father so we can put it in the next issue."
Oh shit, she didn't want that getting out. "I'd, uh, appreciate it of you didn't. I'm working on something important that I'd like to keep secret."
Somehow Luna looked even more excited. She looked back and forth before leaning in, "does it involve the Rotfang conspiracy or the Hindenbergists?"
"Maybe?" Seriously, she couldn't tell what Luna's deal was. Everything she said somehow managed to sound like complete nonsense and code at the same time.
Luna squealed and clapped her hands together, "I'd be happy to help!"
What followed was one of the oddest experiences of her life yet. Which, frankly, was really saying something.
It was some combination of petting a skeletal, winged, and hopelessly edgy looking horse, Luna saying Luna-esq things, and the fact the thestral willingly gave her several hairs. By the end Holly was feeling emotionally numb as she waved goodbye to a cheerful Luna and stumbled out of the Forest.
When Holly got back to the Room she was too tired to be surprised when Hermione asked where she was.
"Getting ingredients, there's tons of useful stuff in the Forest. I'm pretty sure the reason its forbidden is because the professor want to keep secret how packed with valuables it is." She took out her (somehow not tangled) bunch of unicorn hairs she'd found laying around, ignoring Hermione's shock.
"I'll sell these to Gringotts. Ollivander would offer a better price but he would ask questions. Plus he's creepy."
Hermione, still slowly recovering from her shock, spoke up, "but isn't the Forbidden Forest dangerous?"
"Maybe? I got a good mental map of it from Hagrid to stay safe. By the way: guess what else he knew?"
The following conversation about everything she'd learned from Hagrid's mind took several hours, likely some of Holly's hearing, and seemingly most of Hermione's trust in authority. By the end Hermione looked terrified.
Which was rather understandable. She did just get a heavy dose of wizarding bullshit.
"Ok Holly, we're going to train. If this school can't protect us we'll have to do it ourselves."
"Duh, what you do think I've been doing? I could use a training partner."
---
The day after Hermione's impromptu training declaration they were seemingly rewarded. As they were leaving Defense class professor Moody asked her to stay behind.
One side glance showed Hermione was staying behind with her. It seemed she was serious about her newfound vigilance.
Of course, professor Moody was proud of her for it. "Staying behind with your friend so she'd not left alone with me eh? That's a good thinking. Five points to Gryffindor for proper vigilance."
"Now Potter, this Tournament is dangerous. Your opponents are all older, more experienced then you, and have their angry headmasters whispering in their ear. I'm offering you my help to train you up to par."
It was a good offer. He was a skilled auror and could coach her better than even Sirius.
Too good of an offer. Maybe it was paranoia, but, well, it wasn't paranoia if they really were out to get her. She needed some reassurances.
"I want Hermione to be trained with me, to have Sirius supervise, and a predictable meeting schedule."
Naturally, that made professor Moody give his twisted grin. "Excellent! Ten points to Ravenclaw! Talk with miss Granger and Sirius so we can set a time. I'll see you then."
They walked out together, both still unnerved enough not to completely show their back to professor Moody. Of course, she heard him give them more points for it as the door was closing.
"That man is far too paranoid Holly" Hermione muttered as they walked.
"Oh yeah, big time. Guy definitely has untreated PTSD from his long career. Unfortunately for him, wizards don't seem to have any concept of mental health other then calling them 'mad.' It's pretty sad honestly."
On that cheerful thought, she had a letter to write Sirius.
---
Thankfully the rest of her week wasn't nearly as eventful. Sirius wrote back agreeing to supervise lessons twice a week, she collected bubotuber pus in exchange for giving Professor Sprout more fertilizing potions, and repeatedly kicked Hermione's ass in practice duels.
It wasn't until Friday night she went to collect her next ingredient: murtlap tentacles.
Murtlaps were an aquatic rat-like creature with tentacles growing from their back that lived off the coast of Britain. If she wanted to personally gather them she'd have to apparate to the coast, dive underwater, find some, and cut off their tentacles. Ideally without killing them.
All while in dark, freezing cold water with poor visibility.
She was not looking forward to it.
Five hours later a freezing cold and miserable Holly staggered back into the Room, victorious. She wasn't wet thanks to a transfigured wetsuit and impermeable charm, but that was a small mercy.
She collapsed in front of a roaring fireplace, desperate for warmth. There was a quiet popping noise before Tilly suddenly appeared with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
"Thanks Tilly, you're the best."
With a bony hug Tilly popped away, leaving a very concerned looking Hermione staring down at her.
With her arms crossed and seemingly passing judgement somehow she arched a brow, "should I ask where you went?"
"Murtlap tentacles Hermione. Went to gather some myself." She help up her large filled jar, "should be plenty for a while. I do not want to do this again anytime soon."
"…Don't they live underwater off the coast?"
"Yeah, why?"
Hermione simply shook her head, "is that the last component?"
"I think so? Now I need to do all the theorycrafting and math to figure out how to best optimize the elixir with the limited supplies I have. Shouldn't take more then a week."
"A week!? Let me get this right: you, Holly Potter, are going to invent a permanent healing elixir. Which will apparently only take you a week."
"Probably? Potion brewing is like if a poet tried to do chemistry while high: completely nonsensical but surprisingly intuitive."
Hermione didn't seem to like her metaphor because she still looked flustered. "Maybe you could get Professor Snape's opinion?"
"Can't do that, that bastard delights in seeing me suffer. Plus, he used to be a Death Eater and a spy. If Adult Tom ever comes back Snape will get drawn in. I can't risk him knowing the details."
Before Hermione could make the next obvious suggestion she continued, "the only other potions master I know of is Horace Slughorn but he's just as bad: a cowardly and easily manipulated influence peddler. He'd help me now but sell me out to save his own skin later."
"Fine, but I'm helping. I'm not letting you drink an experimental potion without checking it over."
"Of course, what are friends for?" For some reason that had Hermione laughing hysterically. Instead of explaining, she waved off her concern and left, leaving Holly to soak up warmth alone.
---
To outsiders during the next week it seemed as if the stress of the Tournament was getting to Holly. She looked exhausted in class and disappeared even faster then normal afterwards. The students who hated Holly saw it as her knowing she was doomed while her sympathizers hoped she was so tired looking from her training.
It was during this week that a few students tried something very stupid: they tried to bully Holly Potter.
As Holly and Hermione were walking out of class a small group blocked their way.
"Oi, Potter" a blond boy with a terrible hairstyle called out, "you finally realize you won't survive the Tournament? I've got a bet going that you won't make it through the First Task." The blond and some of the others behind him laughed.
"Uh, who are you supposed to be?" Seriously. Did people she's never even talked to expect her to know their names? That... did sound on brand for wizards.
For some reason that made everyone, even Hermione, turn to stare at her. The blond, apparently not expecting that, looked offended as his face turned red.
"I'm Draco Malfoy, Heir of the Malfoy family! How dare you not know me?!" He drew his wand, "you need to recognize your betters, Potter!"
Before he could do anything Holly let her wand drop into her hand. A silent flick had him flying upwards, slamming face first into the ceiling and sticking there.
"You sound like a dog owner bragging about their poodle's pedigree."
Not saying another word she tugged on Hermione's sleeve and marched forward. As they got closer the suddenly uncertain looking wannabe bullies drew their wands. Before they could say a single spell Holly casually batted them aside, sticking them to the walls.
Without a single glance backwards she kept walking to the Room.
"Now, I think we've nearly got it, Hermione. We just need to figure out exactly when and where to brew it."
---
A few nights later, on the night of a new moon, they were were hunched over her gold cauldron, completely focused on their brewing. They'd decided to brew near the schools' anchorstones, not directly connected to the leylines, but close enough her cauldrons' engraved runes were glowing from the ambient magic.
(She didn't want her elixir to be too strong. If she healed too fast any broken bones could heal wrong. Or maybe it could increase her chance of cancer. Magic might prevent any negative side effects somehow but she'd rather not risk it.)
First was the base solution for an eternal elixir. If they did it right it would spread the effects of additives out over the course of her life. It was annoyingly complicated being a NEWT level potion, but after several hours they managed to brew Holly's slightly altered version of one.
From there Holly slowly and meticulously added her healing ingredients: phoenix tears, unicorn hairs, murtlap tentacles, bezoar dust (stolen from a random goat she'd found), hydra blood (the goblins really did have everything for a price), bubotuber pus, and crushed lionfish spines (taken from a lionfish she'd bought at a London pet shop).
It wasn't until the early morning their brewing was done. She set down her gold stirring rod to examine her work.
Her so called regenerative elixir was an indescribable shade of vibrant red. Not quite the same as blood but somehow making her think of life itself. Just looking at it as it magically churned itself made her heart beat faster, like her body was already being filled with vitality.
Or maybe that was just anticipation and sleep loss. It had to be almost morning by now.
"Well, here goes nothing."
She lifted her cauldron to her lips and chugged her elixir. Somehow, despite there being a pint of potion she didn't choke or need to stop for air. Feeling anticlimactic, she set down her cauldron and took stock.
She felt… strange. Nothing dramatic, no sparkling skin or feeling like she could one punch her enemies.
But she felt something. Some ineffable difference that she knew, somehow, her elixir had worked.
She wandlessly cast a weak cutting curse at her forearm, hardly breaking skin. Staring at her cut she watched as blood rose, only to seal her cut closed. Soon her cut was nothing but a fading pink line.
She looked back up to a gaping Hermione, "well, I think it worked. Phase One of Operation: Become a Total Badass is complete. Time for Phase Two."
Jerking out of her daze Hermione looked up with a wary expression. "Phase two?"
"Mhm, I had a Great Idea for the dragon."
For some reason that had Hermione looking even more wary. "A great idea?"
The following explanation of her plan had Hermione's expression going from wary, to dubious, to furious, until she settled on resignation.
With her head slumped in her hands, Holly couldn't see Hermione's face under the mass of bushy hair. Eventually she started muttering into her hands, Holly only vaguely hearing "-my only close friend is a suicidal idiot-savant nutcase."
"Hey, I take offense to that. I am well aware of my limits. Speaking of which: you want to test my healing speed with me?"
For some reason that had Hermione's head crashing into the table as she wordlessly groaned into her hands.
Notes:Did I really have Holly manage to give herself a healing factor? Yes, yes I did. In terms of strength it'll be nowhere near Deadpool/Wolverine's level, but somewhere roughly around MCU Captain America's level. Fast enough to heal from severe injuries in a few days but nowhere near being functionally immune to getting shot/stabbed.
Hopefully I managed to balance Holly needing to put effort into making her elixir without having too much bs potions logic.
Thoughts?
Chapter 15: Year Four (IV)Summary:Holly does public relations, gives a terrible pep talk, and puts her Great Idea into action.
OR: it's the First Task
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextLooking around the room she wasn't surprised to see the other champions had already arrived. She was walking in quite late.
She'd been exercising to adjust from shapeshifting herself slightly taller when Tilly popped in telling her they needed her for some tournament thing. After a couple spells to freshen up she hurried out.
Almost instantly when she walked in, a middle-aged woman with gaudy glasses ambushed her. "Rita Skeeter writing for the Daily Prophet, care to answer a few questions miss Potter?"
Here was a perfect chance for free good public relations! She wouldn't even need to bribe someone for it. How convenient.
Now all she needed was to improvise a good statement. Not so convenient.
"I want this quoted directly, no alterations or I'll set my solicitor on you. Got it?" Skeeter paled but Holly didn't care. She glanced over at the other champions, "and make sure to accurately report on the other champions too. They're the ones who wanted to be part of this shitshow."
"Quote: I was entered into this tournament against my will by parties unknown. Now people are too blinded by jealousy to care about how my life is at risk against my will. I think this whole tournament is an awful idea and wish I could drop out. End quote."
Without another word she walked off.
She approached Fleur, using occlumency to try and block out the veela allure (it didn't seem to help much. Was she just that attracted to the girl?) and using shapeshifting to hide her blush. "Do you know why we're here?" she asked in French.
Fleur glanced down at her (dammit, she was still roughly half a foot shorter), looking surprised, "did they not tell you?"
"Nope, they sent a house elf to come get me. I guess they didn't know where I was."
"It's the-"
Before Fleur could explain what was going on Dumbledore called the room to order.
"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" said Dumbledore, standing by the other headmasters and bureaucrats. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."
Sure enough, there was Ollivander looking old and vaguely unsettling as ever.
He called Fleur up first and examined her wand, making a comment that sounded suspiciously like a backhanded insult against her Veela heritage.
Instead of paying attention to the others Holly was deep in thought.
Wandcraft was something she knew almost nothing about. She'd only seen a couple books on it in Hogwarts' library either or while shopping. For how dependent wizards were on their wand they had shocking little interest in making them.
Which guaranteed that almost nobody could make themself a wand. The entire population was dependent on Ollivander's shop (or blackmarket equivalents). If his shop was destroyed the entire country would be crippled.
Fucking wizards and their society that's entirely dependent on one creepy old guy.
That thought alone made Holly decide to eventually research wandcraft when she had time.
It'd be useful having a backup wand. Plus, she might have a better connection with it too if she made it herself.
Holly was dragged out of her thoughts when her name was called and handed her wand over to Ollivander. As expected, he did his creepy examination routine. He spent a suspiciously long time silently examining it before conjuring a fountain of wine with it.
After that he announced her wand was in good condition while Holly was left wondering if he'd just casually broken Gamp's Law. She filed the thought away to ask Hermione later.
After an obnoxious amount of pictures (she had to hide her blush again when she was squeezed between Fleur and Cedric. Damn distractingly attractive people) she was finally free to go.
---
Over the next few days Holly was too consumed in thought to care about people's reaction to her interview. She already knew about the dragons but she doubted any other champions did yet. She didn't give a shit about breaking the rules, she wanted to tell them.
They might've willingly entered but she doubted they'd expected to face dragons.
They'd be told eventually but they might not have enough time to prepare.
Mind made up, Holly bought several copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, placed a vaguely helpful note in the dragon section, and asked Tilly to deliver one to each champion's beds.
A few days later Holly was surprised when a nondescript owl delivered a book on dragons with a note written in Sirius's handwriting attached. It was unnecessary but sweet. The fact he went through the effort of bribing someone to (in his mind) help save her life was touching.
She wasn't going to analyze what that said about her morality.
Sirius wasn't even the only adult to try to help her. During class Hagrid kept trying to drop hints about the task. She tried to stop him, but he couldn't take a hint and kept trying to "subtly" drop hints, each more obvious than the last.
Or at least, his idea of subtly. Hagrid was nice but subtle as a brick to the face. By the end of the class everyone there knew the task had something to do with dragons. A few hours later the rest of Hogwarts knew too.
---
After that the next 2 weeks passed in a blur of grueling training.
Professor Moody was impressed with her skill and, as expected, suspicious. At least Sirius could cover for her. While alone (Hermione refused to help) she practiced her plan for the dragon until she'd mastered it. With Hermione she exercised to adjust to shifting slightly taller. By the end of the first week she felt natural in her body again.
(She'd also tried to shapeshift herself into a bodybuilder's physique and was extremely disappointed when she couldn't. Sadly it seemed shapeshifting had its limitations. For some reason Hermione had found her disappointment hilarious.)
The last bit of her preparation was simple: she anonymously asked the Weasley Twins start a betting pool (promising to give them a cut of course) and bet 10 galleons that "Holly Potter will defeat the dragon she has to fight in the first task" and a that she'd receive "only minor to no injuries doing it."
Naturally, the money started pouring in from people betting against her (seemingly insane) prediction. According to Hermione, by the night before the task the betting pool had hundreds of galleons in it, almost everyone betting against her.
---
On the day of the task Holly found herself in a tent with the other champions. All of them were showing signs of losing their nerves: Cedric was pacing, Fleur was frozen in place looking extremely nervous (but still distractingly attractive as ever somehow), Krum was brooding like no tomorrow.
"Remember when I called this tournament a gladiator deathmatch? This is the kinda shit I meant. You all obviously underestimated the stupidity of wizards. You're welcome for the books by the way."
Instantly the other champions focused on her, Cedric speaking up first. "That was you?"
"Of course. I don't give a shit about the rules. What are they going to do: kick me out or disqualify me? Oh no, how terrible."
That made both Cedric and Fleur give a nervous laugh. Even Krum cracked a smile.
"Anyway, good luck people and try not to die."
The tent flapped open again and a pudgy, past-his-prime looking ministry official came in.
"Well, now we're all here, time to fill you in!" said the overenthusiastic pudgy official. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag." He held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them, "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different, er, varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too… ah, yes… your task is to collect the golden egg!"
They reached in one at a time, each pulling out a tiny model dragon. Holly was happy when she pulled out the Hungarian Horntail. It was perfect for her plan! The larger and more powerful the better.
The only downside was that she'd be the last to compete.
She waited cross legged while playing with her mini dragon, feeling ready for what was coming. The pudgy official awkwardly tried to talk to her but she brushed him off until he eventually let her be. She wished both Fleur and Krum luck in their native languages when they were called, something that visibly surprised Krum for some reason.
Finally, it was her turn. She put her hair in a bun, charmed her tracksuit fire resistant, drank her fire protection potion, and stepped out of the tent.
The instant she entered the arena she ducked behind a boulder and started casting. After a few seconds she charmed herself disillusioned, silenced, and even scent masked. She'd (hopefully) be almost undetectable now.
Blocking out the audience she started looking around the arena. Sure enough, there was an extremely angry (and thankfully confused) looking dragon in the center, on her nest looking around for her.
She moved from boulder to boulder, doing her best to stay out of its focus. Watching her step wasn't easy while invisible but she managed to flank the dragon without being spotted.
Finally in position, she started the next part of her plan: she concentrated for a moment and conjured an oversized needle with an empty vial attached. It was exactly the same kind used by doctors for taking blood samples, only several times larger.
Holly was practical to a fault: when she learned of the dragons her first thought was about how useful dragon's blood was. If she was being forced to fight a dragon then she was damn well going to get some dragons' blood out of it. This would probably be the only time she'd get to legally fight one, how could she possibly pass up such a good opportunity to get a rare and useful ingredient?
She'd skimmed enough knowledge from passing doctors to know how to draw blood, all she had to do was upscale it for a dragon. The dragon wouldn't even be at risk: its hide was so thick any needle holes she poked would seal the second she took the needle out.
If she used it in a strengthening solution instead of the standard fire salamander's blood, it'd make the potion many times more effective. Even more so if she personally took the blood by force.
It went without saying she was already planning on using the dragon blood she gathered to make a strength elixir.
With a silent flick of her wand she launched her dragon-sized blood drawing needle at the dragons' neck. Immediately she started running for a new boulder to hide behind.
She heard the dragon give a roar of shock and anger when it was hit. She doubted it was in real pain, just surprised and very angry.
Unable to see the threat it knew existed, the mother dragon started wildly breathing fire back and forth. Behind her boulder Holly quickly added cooling charms to her tracksuit. Her current boulder was plenty large to block the fire but she could feel the invisible sweat running down her neck.
When she saw the dragon spewing fire in the opposite direction she conjured another needle, launching it at the dragons' shoulder this time. Immediately she took off running. When her needle landed the dragon whipped around and focused its fire until her former cover boulder was glowing red hot.
Holly repeated the process several times until the dragon had a half dozen needles sticking out of her. A couple times she had to dive for cover but thankfully her invisibility held up.
Peeking from behind her cover she could see the vials were filled with blood, plenty for her purposes. Satisfied, she decided it was time to finish the task.
She snuck closer to the enraged dragon, several times ducking behind cover just in time. Soon enough she was only a couple dozen feet away, crouched down behind cover and waiting to strike.
She saw the glow of fire to her right and took the opening: she ran closer to the dragons' head until she could see its slitted pupil. Pulling on her magic she channeled her full power into a single silent and extremely overpowered dornröschen.
The purple spell hit the dragon in the eye, making it stagger. It swayed in place for a moment before abruptly collapsing, sound asleep, thankfully not crushing its eggs.
Dornröschen was a spell to put someone in a permanent magical coma she'd found in a Room provided book of original spells. Of course, on a dragon it could only put them to sleep for a bit.
The spell was obscure and morally ambiguous to say the least, she didn't want to popularize it by saying it out loud in front of an audience. Hopefully everyone would assume it was simply an overpowered sleeping spell.
Which, technically, it was.
(She knew she could have knocked the dragon out at the start. That certainly would've been easier. But without the struggle any blood taken would lose some of the added strength from the magical significance of overpowering the dragon.
Plus, the judges might've interrupted if they realized what she was doing.)
Ignoring the cheers, Holly undid her concealment spells and approached the sleeping dragon. She detached the vial from the needle in its neck, quickly replacing it with another conjured one. After repeating the process for a few minutes she had a dozen vials full of blood. She quickly put them away into a bottomless pocket and walked around the dragon, carefully pulling out her other needles and vials.
Blood collection complete, she casually walked up to the egg nest, pulled out the golden egg, and walked out of the arena.
She walked down the path and found herself in a medical tent, immediately getting accosted by Madam Pomfrey.
Before the woman could shove her into a cot, Holly interrupted her fussing. "I'm fine, just magically drained and a bit sore." Looking extremely dubious, Madam Pomfrey cast several diagnostic spells, looking more and more surprised each time.
"See? Completely fine." Before she could get held up again she walked off to check on the other champions.
Cedric was sitting upright with a shell shocked expression on his pretty face. He was missing a bit of hair on the left side of his head and had an ear covered in burn healing paste but seemed ok.
Fleur was, somehow, looking unflappable once again with her egg under her arm and her dress slightly ruffled.
(Holly was distracted enough wondering how the hell she'd fought her dragon in a dress to forget about her veela allure.)
Krum looked completely unharmed, his usual brooding look replaced with subtle but visible relief.
Before Holly could talk to any of them she got tackle-hugged (she'd lost count how many times that was now. Was that normal?) by Sirius, Hermione right behind him, both with glistening eyes.
"Prongslet, that was brilliant! You did such a good job! That said: you're never going to do it again, especially without my help. Also you're grounded for not telling me your plan."
Before she could say anything Hermione interrupted, "what does he mean you didn't tell him?! I thought you were getting help from him when you went off to practice?"
Oh. Well then. In hindsight she should've guessed that'd be another one of those things a guardian would care about. Funny how that didn't occur to her until now.
"It kinda just didn't occur to me you'd that want to know? Sorry? At least it worked out perfectly." Hermione and Sirius, both visibly unimpressed and furious, glanced at each other before glaring back at her.
Before they could continue the scores getting announced interrupted them. Holly, seeing her chance to escape an awkward conversation, ducked out of the tent.
---
Watching the scores get announced was a blatant show of favoritism. The two foreign headmasters gave high scores to their own champions and lower for everyone else. Strangely both the pudgy official and Crouch gave her an oddly high score. Dumbledore, jerk that he was, gave her a low score for collecting the dragons' blood while also praising her for inventing a new way to humanely collect it.
By the end Krum was in first, followed by Fleur, then Holly, and Cedric in last.
After a crushing hug and making her swear to talk to him more, Sirius left Hermione and her alone. As they turned to leave Fleur approached, speaking in heavily accented English. "I wanted to thank you for the help."
From his bed Cedric cut in, "same here Holly. Your help might've saved my life. I won't forget that."
Krum, in a shocking display of emotion, nodded at her in agreement.
'Is their goodwill genuine or are they trying to lure me into a false sense of security? They didn't have enough time to coordinate this response so maybe it's genuine? I guess there's no way to know yet.'
"You guys might have questionable judgement being willing contestants in this shitshow but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you die." For some reason that had them all looking surprised. With nothing else to say she nudged Hermione and started walking back to the castle.
They were almost inside when Hermione spoke up, "I'm surprised you care so much about the other champions' safety. You aren't exactly a people person."
"I'm not going to let a few teenagers with questionable judgement die because of wizarding bullshit. Besides, I'm pretty sure me being entered is an assassination attempt or a trap somehow. If someone is targeting me I won't let anyone else get hurt as collateral damage."
Hermione abruptly stopped walking, smiling brightly. "Holly Potter, you are such a secret hero. I can't believe nobody has realized it."
"That's on purpose. Once you get better at occlumency I have a couple stories about that."
Hermione, ever wanting to learn more, got the determined gleam in her eye that Holly was slowly learning to be wary of.
Notes:Since all champions had more time to prepare their strategies all of them did better. Krum shielded the eggs before cursing the dragon, Fleur and Cedric both fireproofed their clothes. Cedric's fire-proofed clothes mitigated his burn while Fleur's dress was only rumpled, not lit on fire.
I responded to a comment before that Holly's plan for the 1st Task was very on brand for her. I hope it's clear now what I meant then: ruthlessly practical, smart, highly competent, and reckless to a fault.
In case it's not obvious, I'm doing my best to completely avoid writing accented speech. Expect more of italics for Holly speaking in other languages or "in accented English'' bits.
Credit to Rowling for the bit of dialogue taken right from the book. Also, full credit to White_Squirel's Arithmancer-Verse for the original spell Dornröschen and the idea of using it on a dragon.