9 Hermione's Bright Idea

"I decided that I am going to keep the map and my cloak in the new trunk now. My school trunk isn't really that secure and I don't want to risk losing either of those items." Harry stated.

The Room of Requirement looked the same as it did when Hermione had first called it into being the day before. Looking around in wonder at all the room provided, Harry walked over to the library area, took off his cloak, and draped it across the back of the couch.

He flopped down onto the couch after grabbing the spell list from Sirius and Remus out of the resized trunk. Hermione had come over and was sitting on the other end of the couch with her feet tucked under her as she began reading one of the books about the history of the tournament. After about an hour of reading, Harry wanted to try a couple of the new spells. The Room of Requirement responded by providing a practice dummy in the dueling area.

Getting up from the couch, Harry called over to Hermione, "I'm going to try out a few of these spells that Snuffles and Moony gave us." He walked over to the dueling area and stood fifteen feet from the practice dummy. Pulling his wand from his sleeve, he called out, "Reducto." The force of the spell knocked the dummy back about six feet and left a smoking chest plate with a hole in it where his spell had hit.

Hermione had put down her book and was watching Harry practice. When she saw what the spell had done to the training dummy, she got up from her spot and joined Harry in the dueling area. "Harry, do you mind if I practice with you?"

"No. Do you know the wand movement for Reducto?"

Hermione gave Harry a look that plainly conveyed that she did indeed know the spell and proper wand movement. Harry smirked at her and reset the training dummy on the platform, then stepped behind Hermione so he would not distract her.

"Reducto." Hermione cried aloud while taking aim at the target. The spell knocked the dummy almost three feet back, the hole in the chest was only about half the size of the one that Harry's spell had created. "Wow. That is a strong spell. I didn't do as much damage as you did though. I always knew that you were a powerful wizard."

"Thanks, Hermione, but I'm nothing special. I may be powerful but I'm not a great wizard or anything." Harry said softly while looking at the damaged training dummy.

"Harry, please look at me." When he had turned to face Hermione, she continued. "You are a powerful wizard. The difference in our results clearly shows that. I do believe you will be a great wizard one day. You have already done some amazing things that most adult wizards and witches will never do, nor would most of them want or be able to." Hermione said with conviction. Seeing that Harry was about to argue this point, Hermione held up her hand and cut him off before he could begin. "Trust me, Harry. You are becoming a great wizard and an even better man."

.....

The rest of November passed in a blur for Harry and Hermione. They spent all of their time outside of classes in the Room of Requirement completing their homework, preparing for the tournament, and for Harry, learning to dance. They were both sitting on the couch in the library section that the room had provided when Winky popped in.

"Hello Winky." Harry and Hermione called at the same time to the tiny elf.

Winky gave a small curtsy and began speaking. "Good afternoon Sir and Miss. Winky has found out what the first task is from Professor Moody when he was talking with the Headmaster. Master Harry Potter has to get by a dragon and retrieve a golden egg." Winky was clearly agitated as she stood there wringing the hem of her apron in her hands.

"Dragons!" Hermione practically shouted. Standing up and beginning to pace around the room she began muttering under her breath about "Irresponsible adults." and "Insanely dangerous tournaments."

Coming out of his stupor, Harry knelt down in front of Winky and he gave her a hug. "Thank you very much Winky. You did a great job."

The surprised elf patted Harry on the back and gave a muttered "Thank you." before popping out of the Room of Requirement.

Getting up from his spot on the floor, Harry walked over to Hermione and pulled her into a hug. After a few moments of listening to her mumble about crazy wizards and their stupid tournaments, he spoke softly to her, "Hey, its okay. Now that we know what I need to do we can start focusing on getting that golden egg."

Hermione gave Harry's waist one last squeeze before she pulled back from the embrace and went over to her bag to retrieve the communication mirror. She called out "Remus Lupin." as she sat down next to Harry on the couch.

After a few seconds Remus' face appeared in the mirror and he said; "Hello Harry; Hermione." He turned his face to the side and called out "Sirius come here, Harry and Hermione are calling."

When Sirius had joined them, they both listened as Harry and Hermione explained the first task. It turned out that Remus was a veritable fount of knowledge when it came to dragons but in the end, it was a suggestion from Hermione that caused everyone to pause and look at her in bewilderment.

Getting a bit nervous Hermione cried out "What? Nowhere did the teachers mention anything about having to battle the dragon. You should summon the egg. That way you don't have to get too close to it."