Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters, and yada yada yada. You get the idea surely.
This is from Fleur's POV durring the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, as if that's not obvious.
It's funny when you think about it, how, despite all the words and people use to describe a situation, human nature demands that you focus on the ones that seem most important. That's how, despite the Triwizard Tournament being considered the bloodiest and most brutal of all Wizarding Events, coming close to matching Glatorial Events during the Roman era, that so many people would be attracted to such a bloody piece of meat after some old codgers stamped the word "safe" onto it with glowing letters. At least, with a dragon of all fucking things staring into her face, Fleur was realizing this amusing fact.
Why was it such a big deal? After all, a Dragon was a well known predator of the Magical world, and covered in N.E.W.T. level classes at the end of the year. The difference was all in the minor details, of which could only be described as the amount of control put into the situation. Right now the Veela stood in front of a Mother dragon, with the nearest aid being hundreds of yards away, and was about to attempt to steal an egg from said ferocious apex predator. The very thought was so ludicrous that she felt the overwhelming desire to give off a giant Fuck You to the entire crowd and walk away from the very likely chance of death that stood in the center of the pitch, breathing an ominous amount of smoke from its nostrils.
Any sane person would have done as such, and Fleur, having been living the life of a very sane person, found that such a path was horrendously tempting to take, if it were not for the hundreds if not thousands of people gathered all around the ring, watching her every move with hawk-like precision that was just as uncomfortable, if not more so, than the lecherous ones that follow her around when traveling through any populated area. This unfortunate situation couldn't be avoided, and would follow her around for the rest of her life, branded onto the memory of the Magical nation, as people everywhere realized that the Fleur, and by association the French, and Beautabonx were all cowards unable to take on a single challenge that the others had entered into with no hesitation.
Fleur wasn't stupid though, all those other 'Champions' hadn't even bothered to pretend to be surprised when it was announced that dragons would be their opponents. They had days, if not weeks to psych themselves up and prepare a good, if not proper, strategy to deal with the dragon, while she was stuck here frozen staring up at the behemoth's angry gaze trying to fly by the seat of her pants and finding out just how little she was capable of handling the stress of the situation, unable to do anything more than think over the situation, rather than leap into action, like the others.
That razor sharp, armored, fire-breathing giant lurched forward and spewed forth a ghastly shot of flames, kick starting her survival instincts and making her move faster than she ever believed possible. Adrenaline kicking into her system, Fleur finally went into action, unable to believe that she was actually doing something now.
AN: This is just a little drabble I guess you could say. It always bugged me how in all of the Harry Potter books, the outlook we're given makes everything seem all kuddles and stuffing, as if there was hardly any danger, despite their lives being at risk multiple times. J. wasn't very good and building up suspense, or atmosphere, despite writing what amounts to a horror book.
Fleur's actions still turn out the same as in the story, in case anyone was curious about the general outcome. Really, we're given such a bare portrayal of the girl throughout the series that to flesh out her character like this presents one with greater liberties than you'd think possible, so no, I don't think this is OCC either.
Obviously there are some spelling errors, I wrote this up in 5 min, and decided to post it on a whim.