This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokemon, which belong to the Pokemon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.

I thank both Rowling and the Pokemon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.

A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back and with me I bring the first chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Trials of Champions'. I hope you've enjoyed the series so far and I hope you continue to enjoy them so, without further ado, lets get started.

Harry Potter had never had a summer so good. Mind, good was a relative term. Lets just say that he had never had a summer that was this easy.

Life at Number 4 Privet Drive had been something of a hell for Harry, especially since finding out about the world of Pokémon and embracing his position as a young, aspiring, Pokémon trainer. But this summer things had been much less dissatisfactory than the last. Mostly because of the last.

Last summer the Dursleys had made the huge mistake of inviting Vernon's sister Marge around for two whole weeks. As someone who hated Pokémon and anyone connected to them Marge had thrown insult after insult at Harry, but the true hostility of the visit occurred when Marge's prize bulldog, Ripper, had succeeded in sneaking into Harry's room, only to be defeated, with serious injury, by Harry's Charmeleon.

Needless to say the Dursleys did not make the same mistake this summer and had, in fact, gone out of their way to avoid Harry at all costs themselves, even going so far as to cook their own meals and do their own household chores, leaving Harry free to spend almost all of his time in his room.

In none of the Dursleys was this reaction so obvious than it was in Dudley. He stayed away from Harry at all times except meal time and the one time Harry had wandered out of his room as Dudley was passing the rotund boy had gone completely white and had sprinted down the stairs.

The change in Dudley didn't just stop in his reactions towards Harry. The boy was noticeably slimmer than he had been one year ago, although he was easily three times as big as Harry was, and the change in weight could be put solely down to his new hobby, boxing.

As Dudley had never shown any real interest in getting fit, aside from when it involved bullying the other neighbourhood children, Harry could only assume that this was some attempt by Dudley to learn self defence to try and protect himself against Harry and his Pokémon. He spent much of his day in the garage, where Vernon had set up a large punching bag, when he would usually spend his time watching tv or playing computer games in years passed. What was perhaps more shocking was the change in eating habits. While at school, Uncle Vernon's private alma mater Smeltings, Dudley had insisted that his coach draw up a diet plan and he stuck to it religiously, ignoring any attempt by his parents to treat himself every once in a while.

While Harry wasn't exactly happy that Dudley was terrified of him he didn't really think it was the worst thing that could have happened. If anything it had worked out for the best. Dudley had never been in better shape.

Still, Harry didn't care too much about what Dudley, or indeed any of the Dursleys, did in their lives. He was much more interested in the lives that accompanied him in the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive.

"Pika," Pikachu said, stretching out his limbs as he awoke from a light doze, sitting up on Harry's bed and blinking blearily up at him. Pikachu was still a young Pokémon, though he was certainly strong, and Harry had only just caught him in the past year, meaning he had never met the Dursleys before. Needless to say, in his childly innocence, he had not expected them to be so unpleasant towards him.

Across the room Charmeleon gave a short grunt to Pikachu, acknowledging the smaller and younger Pokémon. Harry's starter, and also the Pokémon to thank for the current state of fear the Dursleys felt for Harry, was leaning idly against the wall beneath the window, waiting.

What they were waiting for was due to arrive at any moment and Harry quickly checked through his desk drawers to assure himself that everything he needed was already packed away in his trunk.

The doorbell rang and Harry was quick to leap from his chair and go to the front door.

Two years ago Uncle Vernon had been the one to open the front door to meet Mr Weasley, leading to a rather unpleasant face to face. This time Harry beat him to it, the Dursley patriarch seeming to decide to stay out of the way on this occasion, and Harry opened the door.

"Harry!"

Harry had to struggle not to laugh. Mr Weasley stood before him, smiling broadly, and perched upon his head was a large, emerald green hat, shaped like a shamrock.

"Hi Mr Weasley," Harry greeted, smiling broadly as Mr Weasley beamed at him. The father of his best friend Ron, Mr Weasley was someone you just couldn't help but like. He had an infectious enthusiasm for even some of the most mundane things and never stopped smiling.

"Well then, let's not stand around here all day," Mr Weasley said excitedly. "We must be off. Ireland versus Bulgaria. Tonight! We mustn't miss it."

"My trunk's up in my room," Harry told him, preparing to go and get it, but as soon as Harry turned to run up the stairs Mr Weasley followed.

"Hello there, Charmeleon," Mr Weasley said excitedly as he walked into Harry's room. "Oh, and you have a Pikachu too. Wonderful." Harry smiled.

"This is Mr Weasley," Harry told Pikachu, who looked really confused. "He's Ron's dad." That Pikachu seemed to understand for he cried out happily and ran over, climbing up Mr Weasley's legs and all the way onto his shoulder.

"My, aren't you a friendly one," Mr Weasley said cheerfully. "Got everything? Then lets go," he said, grabbing one end of the trunk at the end of Harry's bed as Harry grabbed the other, Charmeleon following bemusedly behind them as they clambered awkwardly down the stairs and out the front door.

"See you next summer!" Harry shouted back into the house, spying the Dursleys watching his progress from behind the living room window as Harry and Mr Weasley sidled over to Mr Weasley's vehicle.

Mr Weasley had brought his minivan with him this time and Harry could quickly see why, several sets of vivid red hair visible through the windows as Harry and Mr Weasley brought his trunk round the back and opened the door.

"Harry!"

Harry had expected it but still the wall of noise that sounded as the door was opened caused him to jump. Sitting in the back of the minivan, grinning widely, were four of the seven Weasley children; the twins, Fred and George, the only daughter, Ginny, and, of course, Harry's best friend Ron.

"Well don't just stand there," Ron shouted loudly over the babble as each of the Weasley children tried to say something at once. "Get in here." Harry was pulled up by a multitude of arms into the vehicle, Charmeleon clambering up after him as Mr Weasley stowed away Harry's trunk as best he could with what little space they had available.

"Alright, that looks like it will hold," he said contemplatively as he succeeded in lodging Harry's trunk between two seats. "Lets be heading off. Do you want to join me in the front, Pikachu?"

"Pikachu," Pikachu responded affirmatively and Mr Weasley chuckled as he shut the back doors with a slam, seriously darkening the interior of the minivan, before he walked round the side and jumped into the drivers seat.

"You'll have to sit next to me, Pikachu," Mr Weasley told the electric type, who quickly hopped off his shoulder. "You can be my navigator." Pikachu looked honoured. "Everyone ready?" Mr Weasley called into the back, getting an affirmative murmur in response. "Then lets go."

The minivan kicked to life and they pulled away from the curb leaving Privet Drive, and with it the Dursleys, behind.

Ron grinned. "Blimey it's good to see you again," he said leaning over the back of his seat to talk to him.

"We were simply lost without you," George said dramatically.

"Oh how we yearned to never again be parted," Fred added.

"Boys," Mr Weasley called with a slight warning note in his voice.

"It's good to be back," Harry admitted, grinning at Fred and George's antics. He had missed the troublesome twins almost as much as he'd missed Ron and his other best friend, Hermione Granger. Indeed, now that he was seeing them again it made him yearn to see the rest of his friends from Hogwarts; Hermione, Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, Hagrid, Oliver Wood, Colin Creevey, Professor Dumbledore…

"Your Pokémon are looking good," Ron commented, giving a thumbs up to Charmeleon. "Dad seems to like Pikachu."

"I think the feeling's mutual," Harry commented dryly. Up front Pikachu had taken up a position just behind the windscreen, seemingly taking his job as navigator very seriously.

"I keep forgetting Pikachu's still young," Ron commented as he glanced over too. Pikachu had been found by the trio almost exactly a year ago, searching through Harry's bag for shelter after being separated from his parents.

"Still, we're quite used to this sort of behaviour at home," Ron added.

"Why?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well we've got a new member of the Weasley Pokémon Squad, don't we," Fred said loudly.

"You do?" Harry asked. "You caught a Pokémon?"

"Not us," George corrected. "Weasley number seven." It took Harry a moment to figure out what he meant but as he did he turned to Ginny.

"You caught a new Pokémon?" he asked interestedly. Ginny blushed. She had a tendency to do that when Harry spoke or even looked at her.

"Yep," Fred replied, robbing Ginny of the chance to do it herself. "A cute little grass type to add some extra spice to the family."

"Not that this family needs any more spice," George corrected hurriedly.

"Quite right," the quiet voice of Mr Weasley was heard from the front. Fred and George sniggered.

"What Pokémon did you catch?" Harry asked, turning back to Ginny. She blushed again and, in her attempt to answer, let out a small choking sound. Harry did his best not to say anything, instead waiting for Ginny to gather her composure.

"A Chikorita," she explained quietly.

"Can I see it?" Harry asked. Again Ginny blushed but she nodded, pulling out a Pokéball.

"Chiko!" The Pokémon, cute just as Fred had said it would be, appeared on the floor of the minivan and looked around, eventually turning to look towards Ginny.

"Hey Chikorita, I want you to meet a friend," Ginny said softly, and Harry had to be impressed with the way Ginny's shyness in front of Harry disappeared when talking to her Pokémon. "This is Harry. Remember I told you about him." A moment after these words passed her lips Ginny blushed red once more and didn't look up.

"Hey there Chikorita, it's nice to meet you," Harry said in a friendly voice. Chikorita tilted her head to the side, intensely cute, before giving out a happy cry.

"Chiko!" she shouted, leaping up and jumping into Harry's lap, nuzzling affectionately into his chest.

"Wow, you are friendly," Harry gasped, trying to contain his surprise. After gathering himself he started to pet the small grass type, Chikorita practically purring under his touch.

"Will you look at that," Fred said incredulously.

"That Chikorita sure works quick," George agreed with an impressed note in his voice. "To think, Ginny's been trying for two years to get that far." This time Ginny went red for an altogether different reason.

"Boys," Mr Weasley called again, much more sternly than before, giving the twins a hard look in the rear view mirror. The twins, though usually unapologetic in their mocking, seemed to realise they might have gone too far this time.

"Sorry, Gin," they muttered.

The rest of the trip passed by much more pleasantly, although not without a certain undertone of tension. The five teenagers spent their time entertaining themselves with various games, including I Spy, which Mr Weasley was shockingly good at, and PFG, Harry being able to use a new piece he'd bought over the holidays, Sliggoo, which he used in place of his Marill. Ron still beat him but Harry felt he had a better chance with the second stage dragon Pokémon as opposed to the second stage water one.

During this time Ginny, as though to spite her twin brothers, was incredibly outgoing, speaking loudly and without reservation and generally acting, Harry assumed, like her normal self. Harry hoped it could continue, even though Fred and George didn't look so happy, as it was much easier to get along with Ginny when she wasn't acting all weird around him.

"How can you say that?" Harry said tiredly, leaning back in his seat, eyes closed. They'd been travelling for hours and the sky had darkened outside. Despite this Mr Weasley remained upbeat, insisting repeatedly that they were 'almost there'.

"Easy," George replied, slouched over the back of his seat. "Kecleon would beat Fletchinder, he's got more battle experience." Harry snorted.

"Fletchinder can fly, you wouldn't lay a hand… er, tongue, on him," Harry argued back.

"You wanna bet?" George countered. "Kecleon can lick anything, it's kind of his thing."

"You really want to lick Fletchinder though," Ron added his two cents. "All those feathers."

"Not to mention the fire," Harry pointed out. "If you try and lick Fletchinder you'll just burn your tongue." The twins glanced at each other.

"He's got a point there," Fred acknowledged. George grimaced.

"Alright, what about Illumise?"

Harry's snort of reply was drowned out by Mr Weasley in the front of the car letting out a jubilant cry.

"We're here," he called into the back, a grin covering his face as the occupants of the minivan quickly turned to scramble to the windows.

Everywhere Harry looked he could see fire. They were trundling towards a large field and as they got closer they realised that the fire they were seeing was in fact originating from hundreds of small camps, each arranged neatly in a small square of land such that rows and columns of firelight spread out as far as the eye could see.

The Minivan pulled to a stop at a large wooden gate, a man walking up to Mr Weasley's window.

"Name?" the man asked with the air of having done this a thousand times already.

"Weasley," Mr Weasley said quickly. "Two sights, side by side I believe. We booked a couple of days ago."

"Alright," the man replied, consulting a clipboard in his hands. He flipped over a couple of pages while Mr Weasley waited anxiously. "Weasley, two sites, one night," he finally said, finding the name. "Will you be paying now or in the morning?"

"Now, I think," Mr Weasley said nervously and he moved to open the glove compartment. Gold galleons, silver sickles and bronze knuts glistened in the light of the minivan and, due to the movement of the glove compartment, fell to the floor.

"Whoops," Mr Weasley said nervously. "Oh dear." He leaned over and started to reach out to pick up the smattering of coins on the floor. Pikachu went to help.

"Oh, thank you Pikachu," Mr Weasley said in relief as he was able to straighten up, unloading the pile of coins on the poor camp manager awkwardly. The manager sifted through the coins.

"You're a galleon short," he said shortly, looking up at Mr Weasley expectantly. Mr Weasley paled.

"I'm sure I had enough there," he said nervously, looking down in worry at the now clear floor at the foot of the passengers seat. "Do you see any Pikachu?" Pikachu shook his head solemnly.

"Found it," Harry said, quickly standing up so he could kneel down behind Mr Weasley's chair, rising to show one glistening golden galleon in his hand.

"Oh, bravo Harry," Mr Weasley congratulated him with no small amount of relief, taking the coin from him and passing it on to the manager. "There we go then."

"You'll want to take the first right and drive until you see a sign with your name," the manager said dully, walking over to a large bucket where he dumped his fee before walking over to the gate. A minute later they were through and trundling slowly between a sea of tents.

"You didn't have to do that," Ron muttered quietly, keeping his voice low so as not to alert Mr Weasley.

"What?" Harry asked.

"The galleon," Ron pointed out. "You didn't find that on the floor, did you." Harry didn't reply to that, there was no point lying. The problem was Harry knew exactly how difficult it was for Mr Weasley to give up so much money to pay for this trip, having seen the contents of the Weasley family vault first hand. Anything he could do to help was well worth it in his opinion.

"Ah, here we are," Mr Weasley said, the cheerfulness back in his tone as he pulled up next to a battered wooden sign sticking out of the ground on which the name 'Weasley' was roughly carved.

"Alright, everyone out," Mr Weasley called through the back. "Fred, George, you're in charge of unpacking the tents, okay. Tent building is not a forte of mine so we'll need to work together." He turned to Pikachu. "Thank you for an excellent journey," he said to the small electric type. "You were a great help." Pikachu beamed.

Vacating the minivan was harder than Harry would have expected. With Harry's trunk packed away and the many bags filled with tent poles and pegs there wasn't much room for movement and Harry was very grateful to get out and get some good clean fresh air.

"Alright, let's start getting those tents up," Mr Weasley said, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically. "This shouldn't be too difficult."

It was.

Mr Weasley, it quickly became apparent, had never put up a tent before in his life. Neither had any of his children. In fact, Harry's vague memories of reading a camping guide back when he went to school in Little Whinging was the greatest expertise they had on the subject.

Nevertheless they stuck at it and soon enough the campsite, or rather two separate adjacent campsites, were filled with five two man tents.

"Whew, that was hard work wasn't it," Mr Weasley said with a smile, wiping sweat from his forehead. "We'll keep most of our stuff in the van so we should be quite comfortable in these."

"Speak for yourself," Ron grumbled. The absence of a comfortable seat was clearly changing his mind on the benefits of camping.

Suddenly Harry was blinded by a bright light and he threw a hand in front of his face to block it out, the sight painful as night had really fallen now. Soon the light moved on and he was able to look and see its source; Mr Weasley's blue Ford Anglia.

"Sorry we're late," a voice said as the car doors opened. "Got stuck in a bit of traffic." Charlie Weasley, second eldest of the Weasley brothers, had appeared from the front passenger's seat, grinning broadly at them.

"Good to see you, Harry," he said, grasping Harry's hand firmly as they met. Harry had met Charlie a year and a half ago while spending Christmas at the Burrow and had instantly taken a liking to the boy. Having already graduated from Hogwarts he now worked at a reserve for dragon type Pokémon, holding an array of powerful dragon types in his party, along with his starter, Charizard.

Also exiting the car was Percy, the third eldest brother, looking quite pale and giving Harry the impression that the most bookish of the Weasleys didn't travel very well.

From the seat beside Percy appeared a figure Harry knew only too well.

"Harry!" Hermione Granger squealed, throwing herself at Harry and wrapping him in a bone crushing hug that even Hagrid, the enormous groundskeeper at Hogwarts, would be proud of.

"Easy Hermione, let the man breath," Ron said, though he was grinning. Hermione did so with a huff to Ron before turning her attention back to Harry.

"It's been too long," she proclaimed, positively beaming. "Oh Harry, you're looking well."

"So are you," Harry replied. Indeed Hermione was a vision of health, her skin obviously tanned even in the poor lighting and even her hair appeared somewhat tamed.

"My parents took me to France this summer," she explained, looking thrilled to be recounting the trip. "Two weeks in Paris. Oh Harry, you should have seen it. Absolutely beautiful, and with such interesting history."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron interrupted. "Save it, Hermione, you've got a whole year to bore us to death with stories." He turned to Harry. "Anyway, I don't think you've met. This is my brother, Bill."

Bill Weasley, the oldest of the Weasley brothers and easily an adult in his own right, had appeared from the drivers seat and Harry could not help but be impressed. He looked, for lacking a better word, cool.

"Hello there Harry," he greeted, griping Harry's hand in a firm handshake. When Harry had heard others talk of Bill, most often how he'd got excellent grades and was Head Boy at Hogwarts, Harry had always pictured him as an older version of Percy. Yet his long red hair, tied up in a ponytail, and his piercing, from which a large fang dangled from, suggested anything but.

"Where are Fred and George?" Charlie asked, scanning the area and realising that the twin pranksters were nowhere to be seen.

"Out collecting firewood," Mr Weasley explained. "We're not far from the forest so I didn't expect them to be gone for so long… ah, here they are now." Fred and George had just appeared round the back of Mr Weasley's minivan, arms filled with twigs and branches.

"Sorry we're late," Fred said uncaringly, dumping his load to the ground unceremoniously. "Bumped into Lee in the forest."

"Lee's here?" Harry asked in surprise. Charlie snorted.

"Pretty much everyone's here," he told him. "This is the first time the Quidditch World Cup final has been held in Britain in years. Everyone who's anyone in the world of Pokémon will be here."

"Which is why we were so lucky to get such good tickets," Mr Weasley said excitedly.

"How did we get such good tickets?" George asked curiously. Bill laughed.

"You can thank Ludo Bagman for that," he told them, to everyone's confusion.

"Ludo Bagman? You mean the Head of the Department for Pokémon Games and Sports?" Ron asked.

"Exactly," Bill confirmed. "He's the reason we got tickets at all. Top box at that. He must have really owed you big time, dad." Mr Weasley waved it away.

"Oh, it was nothing," he said airily. "I merely helped out his brother when he got in a spot of bother with the muggle authorities. It was no big deal, a bit of a misunderstanding really, but Ludo was still very grateful and offered me the tickets as a thank you. And with such a Quidditch mad family as I have I just couldn't say no." The various Quidditch fanatics in the Weasley family grinned at each other. Percy still looked sick.

A/N: And that's the first chapter of 'Trials of Champions'. I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you all next time.