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The Phoenix Rises	By : greenwizard11 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 44621 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Over the next few weeks James spent as much time as he could with Harry without anyone suspecting something. He could tell Harry was incredibly nervous, and he felt bad. James knew what the first task was, and part of him wanted to tell Harry and help him with it. On the other hand, his more rational side knew it would be cheating, and if he was caught it would raise suspicions.

The situation between Harry and Ron wasn’t improving either. Hermione was doing everything she could think of to try and get the two stubborn boys to talk to each other, but nothing worked. James’ heart went out to her too.

The Saturday before the first task was a Hogsmeade day. It was also the day the dragons were to arrive, and James decided he was going to show Harry. Even though it was technically cheating, James figured that Harry was at a disadvantage because of his age. Besides, the others would probably cheat if they could.

Harry hadn’t wanted to go to Hogsmeade, but Hermione eventually convinced him to go with her hidden under the invisibility cloak. James sighed when Harry asked him about the cloak. The sight of it gave him mixed feelings. “Well… the cloak is a family heirloom,” James explained. “It was left to me by my mother.”

“How long has it been in the family?” Harry asked curiously.

James shrugged. “No idea. “Harry, what I’m about to tell you might come as a bit of a shock. I don’t know that much about my family because I was given up pretty much the minute I was born. I’ll fill you in on the details later, when you don’t have so much on your mind.”

“Oh….” was all Harry said.

James thought his son’s response was a little odd, but he figured it was probably just nerves. James didn’t envy Harry at all.

With a heavy sigh James headed down to Hogsmeade himself for a bit. There was still a lot to do, but he needed a little relaxation. He had a few drinks and did a little shopping before heading back up to the castle to make sure everything was ready for the dragons’ arrival. Once he finished with that, he waited on the lawn for the kids to return.

When Harry and Hermione returned neither looked happy. James decided not to ask. “I have something to show you when it gets dark,” he told Harry.

“What is it?” Harry asked curiously.

“I can only tell you it has something to do with the first task,” James answered.

Harry went quiet again. It made James want to hunt down whoever was responsible for this and kill them slowly.

When the sun had finally set James stood up and turned to Harry. “Put your invisibility cloak on.”

Harry complied quickly. He was incredibly nervous. He couldn’t decide whether it was better to know, or to be surprised. If he knew what he was facing it might make him more on edge. But his dad seemed to be of the opinion that he should know, and Harry trusted his dad.

Hermione bade them goodnight and headed back up to the castle. James strode casually down to the Dark Forest, where the dragon enclosure was set up. They ran into Hagrid who was escorting Madame Maxime toward the edge of the forest.

“James….” Hagrid stopped in his tracks.

James shook his head and pulled the half giant aside. “James, it… it isn’t… well….” Hagrid stuttered.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that someone has a little crush,” James mused.

Hagrid blushed furiously. “Yer not gonna tell are yeh?”

James shook his head and chuckled. “Only if you promise not to tell anyone I brought Harry down.”

“The cloak?”

James nodded. “I can’t let him go into that unprepared.”

Hagrid nodded in agreement and the small group continued to the dragon enclosure. Harry followed a few paces back.

The moment Harry saw the dragons his whole body went numb. There were four of them, Harry guessed one for each. The dragons were angry, and several wizards were rushing around trying to calm them.

“Is this some sort of joke?” Harry whispered to his father.

“I’m afraid not,” James answered. “You’re going to have to get past them.”

Harry nearly fainted at the thought. James had to guide him back to the castle without giving away that he was there, which was no easy task. “Don’t worry Harry, we’ll figure something out,” James tried to assure him as they parted ways.

When Harry told Hermione what he’d seen, she went white as a sheet. Once the shock wore off an expression of silent resolve appeared. “Your dad is right, we’ll figure something out.

***

The days seem to pass for Harry in the blink of an eye. He and Hermione spent hours in the library trying to find spells that would work against dragons, but found nothing. James wasn’t coming up with much either.

In no time at the entire first task was only two days away. Harry and Hermione sat in a dark empty classroom with James, and they were joined by Lucius who had come to watch the first task.

“Dragons…. They must be loony,” Lucius mumbled as he wracked his brain for ideas.

“Moony overheard me telling Cedric,” Harry said. “And he told me to play to my strengths, but my only strength is flying. I’m only allowed to have my wand.”

“Yes, your wand,” James repeated, trying to put everything together. “But you could use your wand to get….”

“And then he could put up….” Lucius joined in.

“He’d only have to keep it going long enough….”

“And all he’d have to worry about is the ….”

“Yes, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Harry shifted his gaze back and forth as the two men spoke in a way they seemed to understand, but Harry was lost.

“Harry, do you know how to do a summoning charm by chance?” James asked.

“Well, we were learning them in class the other day, but I’m not very good at them,” Harry answered.

James sighed. “Well, you’ll need to get good at them. Moony said to play to your strengths. Your strength is flying, ergo; you need to use your wand to summon your broom.

“That’s brilliant!” Hermione cried out. “Why didn’t I think of it?”

“Of course because of the fire breathing hazard it wouldn’t hurt to put up an ice shield,” James continued.

“An ice shield?” Harry repeated with a confused expression.

“Yes,” James nodded. “It’s elemental magic. “Ice shields are the strongest shield you can conjure against fire. Hermione, do you think you can work with him on summoning charms?”

The young witch nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, we’ll practice every chance we get.”

“Good. And I’ll teach him how to put up an ice shield. Now that we have a plan, let’s execute it.”

***

For the rest of that day, and all day Monday Hermione and James took turns working with Harry in empty classrooms every chance they got. Two a.m. Tuesday found Harry and Hermione in the common room with Harry summoning a rune book from Hermione’s hands.

“You’ve got the summoning charm down well,” Hermione said encouragingly.

Her words didn’t make Harry feel any better. “But I’m still having trouble with the shield.”

Hermione let out a deep sigh and put the book away. “Well, your broom is the most important part of the plan. And besides, your dad will be there and he’ll intervene if anything goes wrong. You should probably go get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

Harry nodded in agreement and headed to bed. But getting some sleep was easier said than done. He spent most of the night staring at the curtains around his bed.

The next day classes were to end after lunch, and the champions were supposed to head down to the arena. James took Harry into an empty classroom after breakfast to give him one last quick lesson in shielding before heading down to the enclosure to help set everything up.

After his last class of the day Severus decided to go and find Lucius and James. After a lot of searching he found them coming out of the woods, both of them with messy clothes and hair. He folded his arms and watched them approach with a sour incriminating expression.

James returned his steady gaze. “Not that it’s any of your business Severus, but I needed a little stress relief.”

“We both did…” Lucius added as he went about straightening himself back up.

“You two are acting like hormone crazed teenagers,” Severus shook his head. “Are you even using protection? James does have a little Elvin blood running in his veins Lucius.”

“Well, no….” James admitted. “But at my age I honestly don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

“Famous last words,” Severus mumbled under his breath as he followed the couple to the enclosure.

Lucius gave James a quick kiss on the cheek before he and Severus headed to their seats. James stayed behind and monitored things while the rest of the school made their way to the arena. Then with trembling knees he headed for the champions’ tent where the kids were receiving their instructions. They all looked equally nervous as Ludo Bagman pulled out a little silk bag and had each of them pick their dragons.

James let out an audible groan when Harry was paired with the Horntail. “Something wrong?” Bagman asked.

“I don’t like that one,” James answered quickly.

Bagman didn’t seem to think anything of it and took Harry aside to have a word with him. Everyone in that tent knew what was going on, but no one said anything.

James grabbed Cedric’s hand and led him out into the enclosure. The crowd watched the two small figures enter, James quickly moving off to the side. He was supposed to stay where he could intervene quickly, but at the same time not be in the way.

James watched in nervous anticipation as the boy transfigured one of the rocks into a dog and quickly hid. James thought it was clever, but wondered if it would actually work. Sure enough, the dragon went after the dog, giving Cedric an opening. Everyone held their breath as the boy ran for the nest; but at the last second the dragon turned her attention back to Cedric. No sooner had he grabbed the egg when he was hit with a blast of fire.

James threw up a very large shield and raced to rush the boy to the first aid tent while the dragon handlers rushed in to subdue the dragon. Madame Pomfrey quickly attended to the burns before the scores were given.

Next up was Fleur. She was a horrible snotty little girl, but after toying with the idea, James decided he couldn’t in good conscience let her die. It was his job to protect all of the champions, no matter how much they got on his nerves.

He slapped his forehead and shook his head when she tried to charm her dragon. It seemed to be working at first, but then the dragon spat fire and her clothes caught fire. She did eventually get her egg without James really having to do anything but help her to the first aid tent.

After Fleur was Viktor Krum. Even though he was a bit of a celebrity, right then he looked to James like a scared boy. There were lots of rumors about Karkaroff, but James honestly didn’t sense any darkness in Viktor.

He didn’t seem to be much brighter than Miss Delacoeur either. His strategy was to hit the dragon in the eye. While that successfully made it so the dragon couldn’t target Viktor, it also caused the creature to stomp blindly about in agony. When it started stomping on and crushing the eggs, James had to blow his whistle and freeze the dragon so the dragon handlers could rush in and save the remaining eggs.

Freezing charms were difficult to do on any object, but freezing a dragon in place was exceptionally draining. James was only able to hold it long enough for the handlers to get out of the way.

Viktor watched James in awe, even as the older wizard fell back against the side of the enclosure looking rather pale. Viktor managed to get his golden egg as well, but it was Dumbledore who came down to help him to the first aid tent before checking on James.

“Are you all right?” Dumbledore asked James in concern. “Do you have enough strength to cover Harry, or do you need someone to take over?”

James looked up at Dumbledore, his eyes sparkling with determination. “Oh, I’ll have the strength, even if it kills me.”

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head as he returned to the stands. He knew better than to argue with James once his mind was made up.

James, still a little unsteady on his feet, went to get Harry. Harry was too nervous to notice how worn and exhausted his dad was, which was probably a good thing.

Adrenaline was the only thing keeping James on his feet as Harry called for his broom. Summoning something from across the room wasn’t that difficult, but Harry was summoning his broom from inside the castle. The crowd watched and waited, cheering when Harry’s Firebolt zoomed into view and stopped right beside him.

James had never been more proud as he watched his son zoom through the air. The strategy was to lure the dragon away from the eggs, then zoom down and snatch the golden one.

It took a few minutes and one or two close calls, but eventually the Horntail reared up on its hind legs and let out a vicious roar. Harry dived down before the dragon even knew what was happening, a pale blue bubble surrounding him and the broom.

The crowd roared as Harry landed with the egg. James rushed over along with many others to congratulate him. Fortunately Harry’s worst injury was a fairly deep scratch on his shoulder. Madame Pomfrey healed him up while James plopped down into a chair and was out cold almost instantly. He never saw the scores, and wouldn’t know until many hours later when Lucius woke him for dinner that his son was tied for first place with Viktor Krum.

***

A/N: Thanks to all who are still with me. I got writers block, then had my gallbladder out recently, so it’s been a while since the last chapter. Hopefully it won’t take so long for the next chapter.
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The Phoenix Rises