K.I.S.S.

A/N: Thanks as always to Suzanne of Dragons Breath for the beta.

Harry stepped out of the champions' tent and looked at the Hungarian Horntail he was supposed to face, and then up at the hordes of spectators. Harry knew few were expecting him to succeed, and many expected him to be injured. He turned back to the dragon; at least its enmity was merited.

He continued to watch as the huge, black-scaled creature crouched over her nest, just waiting for him to get within her range. Harry raised his wand to summon his broom, and he suddenly paused as a thought struck him.

No, surely it's too simple. He waited a moment, lowering his wand, considering his options and weighing the various possible outcomes. Finally, he shrugged. I guess it's worth a try. The worst that can happen is nothing.

He raised his wand again and quietly, so as not to broadcast his attempt should it fail, said "Accio golden egg!"

Thousands of eyes watched as the egg slowly eased its way out of the nest and out from under the dragon. The Horntail watched Harry so intently that she did not notice its progress until it had crossed nearly half the distance between her and Harry. The dragon moved to retrieve the egg (and punish the interloper), but in so doing, she uncovered the rest of her eggs, and a quick Patronus sent to "threaten" the nest distracted her, and she quickly turned to focus on the more immediate threat.

The crowd watched in stunned silence as the golden egg dropped gently into Harry's waiting hands. As he turned to walk back into the tent, the crowd erupted into cheers, jeers, and gasps of outrage.

…

"Albus, this is preposterous!" Karkoff raged. "The entire point of the competition was for the champions to face the bloody dragons, not to stand safely outside of the wards and summon the damn egg!"

"Nothing in the rules forbade it, Igor." Dumbledore said calmly.

"Still, Dumblydore, it does rather violate the spirit of the competition."

"You could have warded against it, Olympe, or requested that the dragon handlers do so."

"I did not think that any of the champions would have the – the – the sheer gall to act so cowardly!" Mme. Maxine said, her color rising.

"Perhaps that is the point, Olympe," Karkoff sneered. "None of the champions acted cowardly."

"That is enough, Igor," Dumbledore said, putting steel in his voice for the first time that evening. "As I have noted on numerous occasions, the goblet chose Harry, and Harry is bound by that choice. Furthermore, I would argue that it is prudence and good tactics that kept Harry out of direct combat with the dragon."

"Tactics, Dumbledore!?" Karkoff's face was nearly purple. "The boy's so-called tactics—"

"—resulted in him retrieving the egg without injury and without any damage to the other eggs. I believe he is the only champion who can make that claim, despite the Horntail easily being the most dangerous of the four dragons."

"Dumbledore, this is a flagrant violation of the rules—"

"Enough, Igor. Harry broke no rules. If you felt that accio was inappropriate under the circumstances, you should have taken steps to prevent its use. If you truly feel his actions were improper, score him accordingly."

The three headmasters rejoined the other two judges, where the discussion of Harry's technique was just as intent, if somewhat less contentious. There would be no accord reached regarding this champion, but Dumbledore expected no less.

…

After Professor McGonagall ushered him out of the dragon enclosure, Hermione and Ron rushed to join him. Ron stopped a few feet from Harry and looked at him. "Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet - I - I reckon he's trying to do you in!"1 Then he grinned. "I'll bet he got a shock when you managed to not fight the dragon."

"That was brilliant, Harry," Hermione squealed, interrupting the impending argument. She cast a worried look at the judges as they retreated into their pavilion. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"They're probably mad that Harry didn't actually fight the dragon," Ron replied.

"But what he did was so much smarter! He retrieved the egg in the least amount of time, and he and the other eggs made it through without damage! None of the others managed that!"

"Fleur wasn't hurt."

"Her robes caught fire, Ron! Honestly!"

"The judges didn't seem to like it. That's not going to help his score."

"His score! Ron, we want him to stay alive! I don't care if he gets a zero if it means he's not savaged by an angry dragon! Besides, he performed a textbook perfect Patronus Charm. They have to give him credit for that.

Harry watched bemusedly as his friends bickered.

"I dunno," Ron continued, "I still think it would have been cool to watch him out fly it. This was kind of—what's that word Percy used to use all the time?—anti-climate-attic or something."

"Anticlimactic, Ron?! Are you mad!? Did you see how fast the dragon moved? Not to mention the claws and the spines on the tail and the fact that it breathes fire!"

"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted, "You were in favor of that plan!"

"As an alternative to fighting with spells, yes, I was! Also, that was before I saw the dragon you were facing. I don't care how good a flier you are—you could have been seriously injured!"

"Never!" Ron grinned at Harry over Hermione's head, their earlier quarrel forgotten. "He does have a Firebolt."

"Honestly, Ron! I don't understand—"

"Wait," Harry broke in. "The judges are coming back." The trio stood in silence as they waited for the scores. Harry grinned. Maybe he'd survive this tournament after all.

…

1 line taken from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire