Tuesday November 22, 1994
The Daily Prophet feature on the TriWizard Tournament ended up being mostly about Nova. She wasn't surprised, seeing as she was the only one that irritating reporter had chosen to interview. Fleur had proved to be vapid and air-headed, Viktor's Quidditch record was already old news, and Potter was too afraid of everyone to stick around. Potter had been acting like a real pussy, by the way. So the article on Nova, and the list of teams that had all begged her to play, was big news around the school. Everyone wanted to know why she didn't choose their favorite team. Nova's answer was always the same, "I only want to play for the best."
Also, because Nova was Head Girl, Quidditch captain, a champion, and already famous, she had convinced Professor Dumbledore to let her keep practicing her skills, so she got to fly around the entire grounds whenever she wanted. The Gryffindor captain argued that Potter should get the same privilege, but Dumbledore said no. Even though Nova was a Malfoy and Dumbledore avoided families with Dark connections, Dumbledore still liked her more than Potter. Anyways.
It was the night before the first tas, and Nova and Professor Snape were silently gliding across the grounds towards the Forbidden Forest under one of Nova's brilliant Concealment charms. Professor Snape had complimented her on her ever impressive magical skill, and even smiled at her. Her family had known Severus for Nova's entire life, and the man only got nicer the more Nova proved herself. She didn't feel the need for approval and never intentionally sought it out, but she got it anyways because she was pretty damn awesome.
"This way," Professor Snape turned quietly, leading the way to Hagrid's hut.
Professor Snape had been in the Three Broomsticks when Hagrid had told Potter to meet him near midnight. The Slytherin wizard hadn't been able to eavesdrop on them, but he was a Legilimens so he listened in on Potter's thoughts and then read Hagrid's mind to see what he was up to. Professor Snape had already told Nova that dragons were the first task, but she needed to see them up close, and they needed to make sure Potter didn't.
They reached Hagrid's hut just a couple hours before midnight. Nova had convinced Professor Snape to let her handle the spell casting, because she was already of age and really good at cursing people anyways. Nova crept up to the window, pointed her wand at Hagrid, and silently placed him under the Imperius curse.
Hagrid was really easy to manipulate, because he was already highly inclined to do what Nova wanted. She controlled him and forced him to drink all the alcohol in his house so that he wouldn't be able to take Potter to see the dragons. Hagrid was a fat lazy drunk anyway, so Nova reasoned that it wouldn't be very out of character for him to be found passed out in his own vomit. That would take Potter plenty of time to clean up.
Once their first mission had been achieved, Professor Snape took the lead walked almost to the edge of the grounds and the castle was completely out of sight. As they kept walking, perfectly Concealed, Nova began to hear deafening roars.
"Dragons, really?" Nova rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "Do I really have to waste my time and effort on a dragon?" Professor Snape laughed quietly.
"Always so modestly blasé," Professor Snape said with good natured sarcasm.
When Nova was much younger, she went to a wizarding summer camp where the students raised and rode baby and adolescent dragons. The full grown adults were much more fearsome, but the camp had educated her on how to sedate and, if necessary, how to kill a dragon. Nova had found the camp experience really dull ,but she guessed it would come in handy now. She would have done just fine without the specialized knowledge, but now she felt even more assured that she would not struggle at all with the task.
They watched the dragons quietly a little longer until Nova had identified all their breeds. There was a Peruvian Vipertooth, which liked to eat humans, a Catalonian Fireball, which was capable of breathing Fiendfyre, an Antipodean Opaleye, which was a beautiful but notoriously vicious species, and a Hebridean Black, also really aggressive.
Nova hoped she got the Vipertooth. Not only did it have a taste for human blood, it was also highly venomous, which would make it the most impressive dragon to defeat. Nova made a mental note to check and see if she was allowed to kill the creature when the task was officially announced tomorrow.